American Recipes
2884 recipes found
Pot Roast
At Spoon and Stable, his Minneapolis restaurant, Gavin Kaysen cooks a version of his grandmother Dorothy’s pot roast using paleron (or flat iron roast), the shoulder cut of beef commonly used in pot au feu, as well as housemade sugo finto, a vegetarian version of meat sauce made with puréed tomatoes and minced carrot, celery, onions and herbs. This recipe uses a chuck roast and tomato paste, both easier to find and still delicious.
Spicy Party Mix
When a recipe for a seasoned snack mix first appeared on the back of the Chex cereal box in the 1950s, people went crazy for it. Years later, a Google search for the recipe yields more than two million results for various riffs, from savory to spicy to sweet. Many call for tossing the dry ingredients with the wet, then letting the mix dry on paper towels, but baking it at a low temperature yields crisper, more flavorful results. Hot sauce gives this version a bit of a kick, but if you don’t like heat, you can leave it out. View this recipe as a template to tweak as you see fit: Use crunchy, roasted edamame or green peas in place of the nuts, substitute Thai red curry paste or Sriracha for the hot sauce, or double up on whatever ingredients you like best. Keep the dry-to-wet ratios the same and you can’t go wrong.
Pepperoni Rolls
Found throughout West Virginia, the pepperoni roll was born in the early 20th century in the north-central part of the state as a convenient lunch for Italian coal miners. Giuseppe Argiro is credited with first selling the rolls commercially, sometime between 1927 and 1938, and his Country Club Bakery, in Fairmont, W.Va., still uses his recipe, the standard by which all other rolls in the state are judged. The recipe remains a secret, but this version — from the chef Travis Milton and featured in Ronni Lundy’s cookbook, “Victuals” (Clarkson Potter, 2016) — is a close approximation. Look for a hunk of pepperoni to slice into sticks, as it gives the roll more chew. Many West Virginians add cheese to their versions, so feel free to experiment once you’re comfortable with the recipe.
Pumpkin Spice
A jar of pumpkin spice always comes in handy when baking pie, cake or quick bread, added to your favorite coffee shop-inspired latte, or even sprinkled in judicious amounts to savory dishes like stews. A homemade blend takes no time and, chances are, you already have all the required warm spices on hand. Just make sure they aren’t too old — this mix will keep for as long as the spices you begin with stay fresh. You can tweak these measurements as you wish, omitting any spices that you don’t like.
Sweet Cherry Upside-Down Cake
There’s a little black pepper in this cake, which provides just enough heat to enhance the sweetness of the cherries. If you’re worried about the pepper, cut back on the amount called for, but if you’re excited about it, you may want to double it. This is a sweet, rustic and rich upside-down cake that’s sturdy enough to hold up to its juicy fruit topping. Once the finished cake gets inverted onto a platter, the extra cherry juice soaks back into the cake as it cools, which means it gets better as it sits. Serve the cake with lemon whipped cream made by beating cold heavy cream with the leftover lemon juice and some sugar until stiff. It’s helpful for covering up any imperfections in the cake, too!
Seven-Layer Dip
For this recipe, the traditional 7-layer dip has been revisited so that each layer is good enough to eat on its own, but isn’t so much effort that the whole thing can’t be finished in 20 minutes. The order of the layers offers some delightful moments, like where the cheese melts into the warm refried beans or where the cool sour cream meets the fiery salsa. Cilantro and scallions serve as a refreshing counterpoint, and Fritos lend added crunch. No need to dig out your trifle bowl: A platter with a lip is preferred here for easier scooping.
Salted Maple Pie
Sort of a Yankee riff on the South’s chess pie, this buttery and rich custard pie is adapted from “Sister Pie: The Recipes and Stories of a Big-Hearted Bakery in Detroit” by Lisa Ludwinski. Use the best dark maple syrup you can find, and don’t forget the flaky sea salt. It takes the pie from simply sweet to sophisticated. Keep an eye on the crust while it's baking: If it’s browning too much for your taste, lightly cover the entire pie with a sheet of aluminum foil for the remaining time.
Fresh Ranch Dip
Creamy yogurt served alongside salty chips and vegetables, like crisp Persian cucumber, never disappoints. In this superbly simple recipe, a tub of Greek yogurt is transformed into a delicious dip that’s loosely inspired by the dominant flavors of ranch dressing. Add a handful of fragrant dill and chives, brighten things up with a little lemon juice and lemon zest, and you have yourself a party for a crowd (or for one!). This dip can be made a day in advance and travels well if kept cool.
Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts
This recipe yields the classic flavor of baked cider doughnuts. For the most traditional result, a doughnut pan is recommended, but you can also bake these off in a muffin pan.
7Up Cake
I love a clandestine soda in the preparation of food, a flash of carbonation where the French might use wine, or brandy. It may be transgressive to say so, but I’m hardly alone, for all those who cringe at the thought. Page through church or community cookbooks and you’ll find examples: Coke-spiked Jell-O situations, root beer-glazed fillets of salmon, beans simmered in Moxie. This recipe for a lemon-and-lime soda cake came to me a while back from a Times reader who thought I’d appreciate it (I did!). She said she’d gotten it from a grandmother down south, who stored it on an index card placed in her copy of the cookbook published by the Symphony League of Jackson, Miss., in 1971. The original called for oleo and Crisco oil. I swapped these out for dairy and neutral oil, and a little less soda, and an additional 15 minutes in the oven. This leaves the cake toast-brown and glistening, glossy-crumbed and high-risen, a marvelous moist yellow within. I’m no shill for Big Soda. You could just as easily make it with plain sparkling water and a spritz of lemon or lime. You could make it with sparkling wine!
Tater Tot Casserole
I first ate this hot dish, a Midwestern favorite, on a late fall evening in the humid kitchen of the cook and television star Molly Yeh, at her farmhouse in Minnesota. The casserole accompanied venison, lefse and talk of the sugar beet harvest outside. I thrilled to the cream-beefy, umami-strong flavors that sat beneath its golden, cobbled exterior, and I loved the way the potatoes soaked up the gravy that pooled below the venison. You could substitute other ground meats for the beef, and other frozen vegetables for the peas or corn, but the tots are mandatory, and I do love the addition of cheese at the end.
Pumpkin Maple Muffins
These muffins are just the right amount of sweet, lightly spiced and deeply orange, thanks to the addition of ground turmeric. Browning the butter beforehand may seem like a fussy step, but it provides a vaguely nutty, deeply caramelized flavor that makes for a superlative muffin.
Pork Chops With Apples and Cider
There are some culinary combinations that cannot be improved upon, and apples and pork is surely one of them. This recipe calls for pan-frying boneless pork chops and serving them with butter-browned apples and a Normandy-style sauce made with cider and cream. It makes for a perfect cold weather meal.
Cheddar-Stuffed Turkey Burger With Avocado
The secret to keeping lean turkey juicy as a burger? Adding fat. The burgers in this recipe, stuffed with cheese and a bit of butter, are moist, flavorful and, best of all, hold together and flip easily. These are best cooked on a flat-top griddle, burger-joint style, or you can use a large, wide skillet (like cast-iron) if that’s what you have. Both give the outside of these burgers an irresistible sear that keeps the juice and flavor inside the burger, not dripping through grill grates. Finally, Hawaiian buns are a must. Their softness and subtle sweetness give these burgers a universal appeal.
Mushroom Bread Pudding
Wonderful served as a brunch centerpiece or as a holiday side, this rich meatless casserole can be assembled in advance, refrigerated overnight, then baked just before serving. You could certainly prepare it day-of and let the bread soak for 15 minutes before baking, but allowing it to sit overnight will make it more tender. Delicate brioche is the ideal bread for this pudding, and it is available in most supermarkets, often in the form of hamburger rolls, which are a good size and shape for this dish. Challah is also a good option, but it’s a bit denser, so it may take more than 15 minutes for it to soak up the custard.
Sweet Potato Casserole Pie
This showstopping dessert, which is inspired by the classic Thanksgiving side dish, is really a pie baked in a springform pan. (Don’t try it in a pie pan because the filling will likely overflow.) What makes this dessert a winner is the textural contrast between the creamy sweet potato filling, the crisp pecan crust and the gooey marshmallow topping. Here are a few tips for best results: Roast the sweet potatoes instead of boiling them because it enhances their flavor, and use smaller sweet potatoes because they are naturally sweeter than larger varieties. Also, it may seem fussy, but chilling the cooked potatoes, then aggressively whipping them aerates them, resulting in a silkier texture. Once baked and cooled, refrigerate the pie until right before it’s time to serve.
Sticky Cranberry Gingerbread
Sticky, spicy and full of cranberries, this gingerbread is perfect for the holidays. The recipe has been designed to make ahead, and will taste as good 2 days after baking as it does on the same day. (It will keep for 4 to 5 days.) To store it, wrap it well, stick it in the fridge and then bring to room temperature before serving. Whipped cream or crème fraîche, spiked with a little bourbon if you like, is nice on the side.
Macaroni and Beef Casserole
This homey casserole was developed by Pierre Franey in 1991 for the 60-Minute Gourmet column. It is hearty sustenance that evokes memories of childhood and sweater weather. Its preparation is simple, but its flavors veer elegant. Sauté onions, celery, green peppers and garlic. Add the meat, then oregano, basil and tomatoes. Whisk together a quick Cheddar cheese bechamel that's seasoned with cayenne and nutmeg then pour it on top. At the last minute, sprinkle a little Parmesan on top and slide it under a broiler to brown. Serve with crisp green salad and a hunk of French bread. Comfort food at its finest.
S’mores Blondies
These messy-in-a-good-way blondies capture the essence of s’mores — toasted marshmallows, gooey chocolate, malty graham cracker flavor — in a home oven. The blondie base replaces some of the flour with graham cracker crumbs, and is studded with large chunks of chocolate and marshmallow. Use chopped bar chocolate rather than chocolate chips, which contain stabilizers and don’t fully melt (though substituting chips will still result in a delicious blondie). As the blondies finish baking, they’re topped with a layer of marshmallows and another round of chocolate; messy and delicious, just like the real thing.
Old-Fashioned Doughnut Bundt Cake
This simple vanilla Bundt cake has plenty of freshly grated nutmeg to nod to the flavor of old-fashioned doughnuts. But since it’s baked rather than fried, it also gets a generous coating of melted butter while it’s still warm to give it some of that doughnut richness. Then it’s coated in cinnamon-sugar. It’s neither a doughnut nor a cake – it’s both. It’s delicious right after it’s made, but it tastes even more like an old-fashioned doughnut after sitting overnight. Store it tightly wrapped in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Baked Brie With Quick Cranberry Jam
Likely to be a hit at any party, this recipe updates the classic brie en croute with a sweet and savory cranberry jam that’s simple to put together. The trick here is to trim the dough as you wrap the brie: Too many layers of overlapping dough and the pastry won’t cook through. This is an excellent make-ahead appetizer since the puff pastry-wrapped brie can be assembled up to a day in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Brush the exterior with egg wash just before baking, for best results, and serve warm.
Vermont Cheddar Mashed Potatoes
To some, Cheddar is synonymous with Vermont, even if it is produced in several other states, too. For most, mashed potatoes are an absolute essential for a proper Thanksgiving table. Combining them seems natural, whether customary or not. Using two-year-old aged Vermont Cheddar, which is deeply flavored but not too sharp, gives these creamy mashed potatoes a subtle Cheddar presence, neither overwhelmingly cheesy nor gooey. (For everything you need to know to make perfect potatoes, visit our potato guide.)
Apple Butter Sticky Buns With Pecans and Currants
These sticky buns are so pillowy and sweet you may want to fall right into them and take a nap. Caramel-drenched currants and pecans blanket the top. Apple butter gives them a pleasant tang, and maple syrup nudges them toward fall. To bake these in the morning with a bit less hassle, make this recipe through Step 5 the night before, cover the buns with plastic wrap and refrigerate. About 2 hours before you plan to eat, remove them from the fridge. Let them stand in a warm place until doubled, then bake as directed.
Applesauce Cake With Cream Cheese and Honey Frosting
This super-simple cake, which requires one bowl and one cake pan, comes from Julia Turshen's cookbook "Now & Again," and it's so easy to make you find yourself doing so often, especially throughout the fall when apples are on your mind. (It'd be especially great for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, or for novice or time-pressed Thanksgiving bakers.) The cake's texture and appeal are similar to those of banana bread; if you like, you can stir a large handful or two of raisins, nuts or both into the batter just before you scrape it into the pan. And although you can use homemade applesauce for this, know that store-bought is just fine.