Lunch
2842 recipes found
Crunchy Queso Wrap
A wildly popular novelty snack from Taco Bell, the Crunchwrap Supreme combines elements of a burrito with the tidier portability of a sandwich, in a stacked, layered and wrapped tortilla package. It delights for two practical reasons (low cost and convenience) and two culinary ones (crunch and cheesiness). An at-home version is a fun party trick — and it is endlessly customizable. Once you cook up the assertively spiced ground beef, the rest of this recipe is basically assembly: Start with the largest flour tortillas you can find, then layer on the meat (or crispy tofu, or refried beans), cloak it in queso, stack a tostada on top, pile on some chipotle sour cream, lettuce and pico de gallo, then fold and sear. Would you spend less buying just one at a Taco Bell? Yes, but your ratio of filling to tortilla will be paltry compared to this homemade version, which cheaply and happily feeds a crowd.
Bacon Ranch Potato Salad
Destined to be the star of your next cookout, this potato salad is loaded with thick, crispy bacon, shredded Cheddar cheese, jammy eggs and crunchy scallions, all wrapped in a tangy, herby hug of ranch dressing. If feeding a crowd isn’t in the cards, this recipe is hearty enough to be a meal on its own, and lasts for days in the refrigerator. Feel free to add more vegetables to the mix, like tomatoes, cucumbers or celery; just be sure to add them right before serving to keep the bacon nice and crunchy.
Seattle-Style Hot Dogs
Nestled in a toasted bun, slathered with cream cheese and piled high with cooked onions and other toppings like sauerkraut and jalapeños, the split and seared Seattle dog is part of the city’s culinary identity. But, like so many regional dishes, the Seattle dog has evolved: Created in 1988 by Hadley Long, a street vendor in Pioneer Square during grunge’s heyday, the combination of hot dog and cream cheese was originally tucked into a toasted bialy bagel stick. By the early ’90s, other vendors followed suit, and the street food evolved to include butterflied hot dogs and toasted hot dog buns, becoming common at late-night hot dog carts outside of local music venues and sports arenas. While Mr. Long has since left the city, he has kept up with the evolution of his creation and maintains that while you can add whatever toppings you’d prefer, a true Seattle dog requires three essential ingredients: a bialy stick, cream cheese and a hot dog.
Skillet Orzo With Chorizo and Dates
This smoky, sweet one-pan orzo uses a hands-off approach that takes cues from paella, allowing the orzo to simmer, untouched, so that a golden crust (called socarrat) forms underneath. It’s not quite as crispy as what you’ll get from traditional rice-based paella, but it still makes for some nice textural contrast. Just be sure to use a well-seasoned cast-iron or nonstick skillet to prevent the orzo from sticking. Cured Spanish chorizo lends smoke and spice, dates provide pops of chewy sweetness, and a shower of goat cheese crumbles brings creamy tang.
Sheet-Pan Socca (Savory Chickpea Pancake)
Crispy on the outside and creamy at their core, socca are thin, olive-oil-rich chickpea pancakes. In Provence they’re often made on wide, flat copper skillets, but a screamingly hot sheet pan works extremely well, too — and makes an extra-large chickpea cake that can serve as a light dinner or an easy appetizer. Socca are usually not topped with anything more than black pepper; they are delicate and can’t support more than minimalist additions. However, a light scattering of toppings — like anchovies, pecorino and scallions here — makes socca qualify as a simple and delicious meal. A handful of chopped olives added before baking would also work, as would a garnish of torn slivers of prosciutto, draped on top just before serving.
Lemon Turmeric Chicken Salad
Afghan murgh kebab (chicken kebab) and white sauce is a classic combination — the tangy, earthy sauce complements the turmeric-stained grilled chicken. Here, the two inspire a creamy, lemony chicken salad. Traditionally, Afghan white sauce is made with mayonnaise, milk, dried dill, vinegar and often MSG. A bit of Greek yogurt balances the richness of the mayo while maintaining a texture sturdy enough for a pita pocket. Fresh dill, sugar, salt and vinegar pay homage to the original seasonings, while the lemon zest, turmeric and garlic draw from the traditional murgh kebab marinade.
Calamari Salad With Potatoes and Olives
Make this fantastic seafood-meets-potato salad for your next potluck or summertime party. Calamari turns tender with just a quick boil and readily absorbs the tangy lemony dressing while warm. Crunchy celery, briny olives and pickled spicy pepperoncini add piquancy and personality to the salad, while scallions bring lovely mild onion flavor. (Chives would also work nicely.) The salad is equally tasty at room temperature or chilled, and can be made a few hours ahead. Leftovers are wonderful tossed with warm pasta and a bit more olive oil.
No-Cook Chili Bean Salad
All the usual suspects found in a vegetarian bean chili appear in this salad — canned beans, tomato, bell pepper, red onion and spices — but there’s no cooking-with-heat required. The tomatoes are salted to tenderize and coax out their sweet, umami juices. Cumin, coriander, smoked paprika and dried oregano inject smoky earthiness and complexity. While black and pinto beans are used here, it is absolutely viable to use whatever beans you have on hand for this pantry-friendly recipe. Best of all, the salad can be dressed up with the usual chili toppings such as avocado, sour cream and cheese. Eat as is, or with tortillas or corn chips on the side.
Crispy Suya-Spiced Salmon
Traditionally used to season grilled meat skewers in Nigeria, suya spice (also called yaji) is a spicy peanut-based blend that brings a bold, layered flavor to anything you are throwing on the grill — and it has plenty of other uses, too. Here, the coarsely ground peanuts in the suya meld with panko to give the crunchiest crust to roasted salmon while adding a Nigerian spin. Using a bit of oil helps the panko mixture cling to the fillets, creating a crispy, flavorful dish that pairs perfectly with rice and a fresh cucumber and tomato salad.
Lemony Peas and Dumplings
With no kneading or fussy shaping required, these easy, spoon-formed dumplings make the perfect dinner in a pinch. More like German spaetzle and Hungarian galuska than Italian gnocchi, these dumplings are made with a thick, pancake-like batter that comes together in minutes, ready to scoop and plop into boiling water. A fresh nod to chicken and dumplings, these lemon-scented dumplings develop an irresistibly chewy texture as they simmer. Thanks to the residual heat from the water, the frozen peas thaw in a couple of minutes, before getting dressed in the buttery lemon sauce. To ensure a silky-smooth sauce, gradually stir the fridge-cold butter in the lemon juice, two tablespoons at a time. Highlight the sweetness of the peas and the brightness of the lemon juice and zest with a generous sprinkle of salt to finish.
Grilled Honey-Mustard Chicken Thighs
Boneless, skinless chicken thighs are a great choice for grilling any night of the week: They take well to marinades, cook quickly and develop a nice crispy exterior without drying out. This crowd-pleasing recipe, inspired by classic honey-mustard sauce, starts with a simple but flavorful Dijon mustard marinade. Since marinades high in sugar can burn when chicken is grilled over high heat, this recipe calls to brush the chicken with a rich, sweet and savory three-ingredient glaze (honey, Worcestershire sauce and more mustard) as soon as it comes off the grill. For a little kick, add a few dashes of your favorite hot sauce to the glaze, and be sure to pass any leftover glaze around the table for dipping. Serve with grilled vegetables and a crowd-pleasing picnic side, such as pasta salad or potato salad.
Shrimp Salad
This Southern shrimp salad is so easy to throw together. It uses fresh or frozen shrimp, quickly and gently cooked in a pot of just-boiled water that’s well seasoned and spiked with lemon. Once cooled, the shrimp is then tossed in a savory, tangy, creamy dressing with a crunch from crisp vegetables for a perfect balance of texture. It’s an ideal light lunch, and also keeps in the fridge for a few days, ready to serve as a snack with crackers when you need something in a hurry.
Asparagus and Tofu With Black Bean Sauce
While asparagus shines with light spring-like flavors, it also carries bigger and bolder seasonings extremely well. Here, tender asparagus is quickly seared to unlock its juiciness and then tossed with a salty, spicy and funky Chinese black bean sauce. Known as dou si (Cantonese) or dou chi (Mandarin), fermented black soy beans are made by inoculating cooked black soy beans with a mold similar to koji (which is used to make miso paste), followed by salting and drying them. While they look like wrinkled and shriveled watermelon seeds, they are intensely savory, with multidimensional umami that also hints at sweetness and bitterness. While store-bought black bean sauce is an easy convenience, making your own at home using fermented black beans allows more control over salt and spice levels (see Tip). This sauce will quickly become a weeknight workhorse, a quick way to inject a savory kick to vegetable or meat stir-fries, stews like mapo tofu and even salad dressings.
Sheet-Pan Roasted Salmon With Tuscan Bread Salad
Panzanella, the peak-summer bread-and-tomato salad, turns into a satisfying dinner when you toss in tender flaked chunks of salmon. A simple anchovy-Dijon vinaigrette does double duty as both a quick marinade for the fish and the dressing for the colorful salad. Roasting the fish and toasting the bread on a single sheet pan makes for easy cleanup. This salad is delicious served as soon as it’s been tossed, when the bread cubes retain a crouton-like crunch, but it can rest a bit, too, at which point the bread cubes soften after soaking up the dressing and tomato juices.
Kai Jiew (Crispy Fried Thai Omelet)
This classic Thai omelet — with just enough fish sauce and sugar to enhance its pure eggy flavor — is equally friendly to home cooks, serving as a staple in dorm rooms and home kitchens alike. Unlike its French cousin, cooked softly in butter, kai jiew is cooked through in a generous amount of oil, making it delicately crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Beaten with cornstarch and poured into a hot pan, the eggs puff and sizzle as they cook. Serve this as is over a pile of fragrant jasmine rice or alongside curries or stir fries.
Sheet-Pan Shrimp Oreganata
This breezy weeknight meal loads fresh shrimp with fistfuls of garlicky, seasoned bread crumbs, which crisp and brown on top and plump up and soften underneath as they roast, soaking up the buttery wine sauce at the bottom of the sheet pan. It’s inspired by the Italian American classic clams oreganata, clams stuffed with bread crumbs and dried oregano, but instead swaps out the bivalves for shrimp. Slip the sheet pan in the oven to melt the butter, then stir in white wine before adding the shrimp and bread crumbs, creating a quick, tasty pan sauce that reduces as it cooks. A final spritz of lemon as soon as the pan comes out of the oven adds a nice zippy finish. Serve as an appetizer (plate required!), or alongside a plate of pasta or vegetables.
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The Lemony Couscous Salad I Make on Repeat All Summer
This lemon and thyme couscous salad is bright, make-ahead friendly, almost endlessly adaptable, and great for cookouts or weeknight dinners.
Chilled Cucumber-Spinach Soup
This chilled soup is easy to put together and most welcome on a hot day. The soft tofu garnish, dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce, is a lovely contrast to the bright green base. It is worth hunting down shiso leaves or Thai basil at an Asian grocery. Their bright flavors add interest.
Tamarind-Glazed Chicken Thighs
In this rich, schmaltzy chicken roast, the energetic pucker of tamarind joins forces with the sweetness of orange juice to create a refreshing glaze. Tamarind is one of those magical ingredients that adds complexity through fruity, caramel and sour notes. Although prepping fresh tamarind is a straightforward task, jarred paste is becoming more widely available and is oh-so-easy to use. Ensure your chicken thighs are bone-dry before seasoning and searing to get a deep, even color on the skin and the flesh, which is a crucial first step in developing the flavor of the dish. Finishing the chicken thighs slowly in a low-heat oven guarantees tender, juicy results.
Spaghetti Napolitan
Spaghetti Napolitan should be thought of as a yaki (“fried”) noodle dish more than an Italian-style pasta. This smart, effortlessly delicious version comes from ketchup lover Chiaki Ohara of Davelle, a Japanese café on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Frying the ketchupy noodles and vegetables over high heat, in a generous amount of oil, results in a deeply satisfying sauce, so don’t be afraid of a little fire (or oil, for that matter). This is Japan’s yoshoku (“Western-style”) interpretation of Italian tomato spaghetti, a dish that’s hard to get right, but Ms. Ohara’s Napolitan ratios are quietly precise and genius. If you can relish it, the soft fried egg on top adds so much.
Spicy Cucumber Noodle Salad With Clams
Based on the classic Korean banquet dish, golbaengi muchim (sea snail or whelk salad), this refreshing noodle salad makes use of lovely canned clams in place of the snails. When paired with chile, lemon and umami, the seafood in this recipe recalls shrimp cocktail at the Grand Central Oyster Bar and eating local conch in the Bahamas. In other words, it’s a party. The key to this recipe is using the liquid from the canned clams to both season and thin out the dressing so it can really coat the luscious, bouncy noodles. If you have fresh herbs like perilla or mint lying around, use them here with great abandon.
Soy Butter Fish and Peas
Some dishes feel like they take hours to develop deep flavor, but this one comes together in minutes. The fish gently steams in a rich, buttery soy and black pepper sauce, soaking up its deeply savory notes while staying perfectly tender. Just before serving, snap peas (or snow peas) are tossed in, adding a fresh green crunch. Everything cooks in one pan, making this dish fast, effortless and packed with flavor. Feel free to swap in other quick-cooking vegetables like bok choy or asparagus for a different take.
Poached Chicken Breasts
This quick and versatile poached chicken breast recipe can stay in your stable through many seasons. Need an elegant topping for a bright spring salad? An easily portable contribution for a potluck picnic? A simple sandwich anchor for a midday lunch? The chicken is ready in just a few minutes, and works just as well after a day or two in the fridge. As written, the poaching liquid’s aromatics skew on the lighter side, so as not to overwhelm any accompanying condiments, dressings and sauces, but you can always double or triple your preferred elements to strengthen the flavor profile.
Light Soup With Mushrooms
Impossibly rich but never heavy or thick, light soup is a Ghanaian favorite, made by gently simmering dried fish or meat in a pot, then briefly adding onion, tomato, ginger and chiles to the broth. This version replaces the protein with mushrooms and is endlessly adaptable. You can add any summer vegetable of your choice, such as baby potatoes, spinach, squash or zucchini. If you prefer to add fish, toss in some chunks of a simple white fish at the end of the cooking process. The choice is really yours.