Side Dish
4106 recipes found
Classic Bean Salad
You can use any kind or combination of canned beans to make this classic picnic salad, but a mix of white beans, chickpeas and red kidney beans makes it especially colorful. Although this is delicious when freshly made, it gets even better as it sits. If you have time, make it at least an hour or two before serving; it can rest at room temperature for up to 4 hours — but after that, slip it into the fridge. If you want to make this the day before, add the celery and parsley just before serving, so they stay crisp and green.
The Store’s Green Dip
Bert Greene was one of the owners of the Store in Amagansett, a gourmet shop and catering outfit on the eastern end of Long Island, N.Y., that was in the early 1970s a kind of lodestar of casual-elegant cooking and entertaining — expensive and, to those with the money to spend it, worth it. (He was like a cross between Ina Garten and Anna Pump, of Loaves & Fishes in Sagaponack.) This is his recipe for a tart, abrasive and wildly delicious dip to serve, garnished with watercress, with an enormous quantity of iced, slivered vegetables. (It’s also great on fish, sandwiches, or even as a dip for slices of delivery pizza.)
Cold Udon Noodles With Carrot and Egg
This simple udon dish is a perfect to-go lunch or easy dinner. Catherine Eng, a website designer in Los Angeles, makes this for her son. "I've got it down to a science, so it only takes me 10 or 15 minutes," she said. "And I can be sure he gets his carbs and protein." For the bonito-flavored soy soup base, like Kikkoman Hon Tsuyu, check your local Asian market or order it online.
Aloo Samosas (Potato Samosas)
Filled with a Punjabi-spiced potato and pea mixture, these samosas prioritize convenience without compromising flavors or textures. Use store-bought spring roll wrappers to make a big batch when you have time, then freeze the samosas to fry and serve as near-instant snacks for iftar, at parties or intimate gatherings with chai, or as low-fuss everyday cooking. With a crispy exterior and a filling citrusy with coriander and sweet from peas, these vegan samosas are perfect any time.
Classic Caprese Salad
This classic summer dish doesn’t get any simpler or more delicious. Use different-colored heirloom tomatoes for the prettiest salad, and buffalo milk mozzarella for the best tasting one.
Broccoli Aligot
Traditional pommes aligot, from Aubrac, France, add enough cheese to mashed potatoes until they stretch like fondue. If you aggressively stir mozzarella cheese into a luxuriously creamy broccoli purée, you can get the same effect. This decadent side is a great accompaniment to a fancy steak dinner or your next holiday spread, and makes an indulgent filling to a baked potato. For best results, be sure to use only the deep-green tops of the broccoli florets. Using too much of the watery, light-green stem yields a purée that’s loose and lacks lusciousness. The rest of the broccoli can be used in an entire other dish: seared into steaks, shaved into a salad, chopped and tossed into stir fries, or employed in almost any recipe that calls for a head of broccoli.
Cloverleaf Rolls
A basket of cloverleaf rolls might look humble sitting next to a burnished bird or a crown roast, but don’t underestimate its importance at a meal. Buttery and salt-kissed, the little pillows are essential from beginning to end. Start dinner with a warm roll, maybe two, split and swiped with butter. End it with another one or two used to mop up the delicious dregs of gravy. Throw in a few more in the middle because they are just too good not to. Let's hope it is a big basket. Thank goodness the recipe doubles easily. They're at their very best served warm.
Potato Salad With Dijon Vinaigrette
There’s nothing complicated about this potato salad — it’s really just boiled red potatoes tossed with a simple Dijon mustard vinaigrette and a generous smattering of scallions and fresh herbs — and that’s the beauty of it. It’s served cold or at room temperature, and its flavor gets better as it sits, making it an ideal dish to bring to a potluck or a picnic.
Green Salad With Apple Cider Vinaigrette
With its delicate, crisp bite, this salad can be a simple addition to your holiday spread. Dressed with an acidic, lightly sweetened cider vinaigrette, it carries a lot of the bright notes of the season and uses ingredients you most likely have on hand. Green is the theme but not the rule, so any sour-sweet red apple will also work just great. The nuts are optional but add a hearty crunch.
Adobo Roasted Potatoes
Using a classic Puerto Rican adobo seasoning — an island staple blend of garlic powder, oregano and black pepper — this recipe yields simple, savory roasted potatoes. They pair well with grilled meat and seafood, or make for a flavorful addition to any vegetable plate. The seasoning mix can be doubled or tripled (or more), with the rest stored in the pantry as an all-purpose seasoning, as it’s often used in Puerto Rican cooking to add instant flavor to stewed meats, beans and more. Roasted potatoes will keep for at least a week in the fridge, so make a big batch to snack on, add them to salads and soups, or smash and fry them for breakfast home fries.
Classic Potato Salad
The recipe for this Southern classic came from the chef Millie Peartree’s mother, Millie Bell. The sweet relish melds with the creamy potatoes for a deep, balanced flavor. Onion powder adds savory notes without the texture of diced onion, which could overpower the dish. Make sure that your eggs are rinsed thoroughly, so no pieces of shell remain, and that your potatoes are uniformly cut in roughly 1-inch cubes so they all finish cooking at the same time. (Millie Bell used her thumb as a measure.) And, most important of all, don’t overcook the potatoes — they take only 15 to 20 minutes to boil. You want potato salad, not mashed potatoes. You can prepare potato salad ahead of time and refrigerate it for up to 4 days.
Vegan Twice-Baked Potatoes
The best of both worlds, twice-baked potatoes give you the creaminess of mashed potatoes and the crispy skin of baked potatoes. Vegan butter and milk give this dairy-free version a silky texture, nutritional yeast and jammy-soft onions make it rich in flavor, while vinegar and chives lift and brighten. You could add grated vegan cheese to the filling, but these potatoes are chock-full of exciting bites as they are. Eat alongside a big green salad, BBQ tofu, tomato soup, vegan sausages or mushroom bourguignon.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes With Roasted Garlic
There’s no reason we can’t treat sweet potatoes like regular potatoes, meaning mashing them with butter, cream and lots of salt. Roasting sweet potatoes in the oven — individually wrapped in foil to help them steam — is not just a hands-off way to cook them by avoiding large pots of boiling water, it also concentrates their flavor. Roasted garlic is an easy addition here; since the potatoes already need an hour’s worth of oven time, the garlic can cook alongside. The mellowed, caramelized garlic cloves are then smashed into the silky spuds, creating a minimalist yet rich and savory side dish. Make this the night before and reheat it in a buttered casserole dish in the oven — or even in the microwave — with a couple of extra pats of butter on top, right before eating.
Sweet Potato Fries
These addictive seasoned "fries" from Mark Bittman are actually baked, but we promise you won't miss the grease. The spice mix – garlic powder, paprika, salt and black pepper – can be used on regular potatoes as well (you'll just need to increase the baking time a bit).
Vegan Potato Salad With Tahini
This robustly seasoned vegan potato salad is lively and earthy from a dressing of cumin, charred scallion and loads of tahini, which gives it a rich and creamy texture. This is a good one to make a day before you want to serve it as the flavors get better as they sit. Just be sure to let it come to room temperature so everything is at its brightest and most supple.
Creamy Double-Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Roasted garlic is the secret to these deeply flavored mashed potatoes with a lively crunch from garlic chips. This dish takes a little more planning and prep than your average mashed potatoes, but it is well worth the effort. You can roast and fry the garlic and peel the potatoes ahead of time, storing the prepared potatoes submerged in water in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours before cooking. Feel free to use either red or russet potatoes here: Red potatoes will make a thick and creamy mash, while russets will yield a lighter and fluffier result (see Tip). If you run short on time, trim the garlic chips from your to-do list. Canned fried onions from your local supermarket, or fried shallots or fried garlic flakes from most Asian markets provide the same jolt of texture on top.
Roasted Butternut Squash
This is the simplest roasted butternut squash recipe, and it shows off the vegetable’s greatest qualities: custardy, sweet and nutty, with caramelized and crisp outsides. Cube the squash into 1-inch pieces, then drizzle generously with oil and salt. (If you’d like to use pre-cut pieces from the store, trim until they’re uniform in size for even cooking.) So that the squash browns efficiently, roast it on the bottom rack of a hot oven mostly on one side, then stir and cook for a few more minutes until tender. Squash this good can stand alone as a side dish, or costar in salad, soup, pasta or other meals. The roasted squash will keep, refrigerated, for up to 5 days. If you want to add ground spices, like spicy hot paprika or warming cinnamon, do so after the initial roasting when stirring. (You could also try Ali's roasted butternut squash with brown butter vinaigrette.)
Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Honey, Almonds and Chile
Tossing sprouts with a simple honeyed vinaigrette brings out their natural sweetness, while roasting them helps develop their deep savory notes. To avoid soggy steamed sprouts, heat your sheet pan in the oven. When you add the sprouts to the hot pan, you’ll know by the accompanying sizzle that they’re on track. For a sunny jolt, top the charred sprouts with a drizzle of honey, sliced chiles tempered with a splash of vinegar, smoky almonds and fresh orange zest and juice.
Harissa-Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Red Onion
This simple salad is powered by two naturally sweet vegetables – sweet potato and red onion – but harissa, the popular north African spice paste, balances everything out. Harissa adds more than just a subtle heat to a dish; it injects smokiness, tang, richness and overall intrigue. When shopping, look for harissa that has a deep, brick-red color, a thick consistency and dried red chiles listed as one of the first ingredients. Cutting the sweet potatoes into wedges creates sharp edges so that they get crispy and golden in the oven. This dish is easily adaptable, and simple to make into a complete meal by adding roasted chickpeas, cooked lentils or grilled radicchio.
Hashed Brussels Sprouts With Lemon
A shower of lemon zest and black mustard seeds on a fast sauté of hashed brussels sprouts makes a traditional side dish with unexpected, bright flavors. Slice the sprouts a day or so before (a food processor makes it easy) and refrigerate until it's time to prepare them.
Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
For the silkiest fluffy mashed potatoes, start with firm, cool Russet Burbank spuds, also known as baking potatoes. They’re the easiest to mash without becoming pasty and are even tastier steamed instead of boiled. Boiling potatoes can leave them waterlogged, diluting their earthy subtle sweetness, but steaming them preserves their inherent flavor. As the potatoes soften, they absorb just the right amount of moisture. Seasoning the dish only at the very end heightens their intrinsic subtle sweetness. If you have a ricer, use it for an exceptionally smooth texture: Press the steamed potatoes through the ricer back into the pot, then gently fold in the butter and milk with a wooden spoon or flexible spatula.
Cheesy Hasselback Potato Gratin
This golden and glorious mash-up of potato gratin and Hasselback potatoes, from the acclaimed food science writer J. Kenji López-Alt, has been engineered to give you both creamy potato and singed edge in each bite. The principal innovation here is placing the sliced potatoes in the casserole dish vertically, on their edges, rather than laying them flat as in a standard gratin, in order to get those crisp ridges on top. Allow extra time for the task of slicing the potatoes, for which it's helpful to have a mandoline or food processor (though not necessary, strictly speaking). And do buy extra potatoes, just in case; you want to pack the potatoes tightly and keep them standing up straight.
Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts
Brussels sprouts caramelize to a deep, delicious brown while retaining a fresh bite in minutes when cooked on the stovetop. In this adaptation of wok stir-frying, the sprouts quickly sear in a single layer in a skillet, then steam through with a splash of water to tenderize their tough cores. Crushed garlic cloves release their aroma into the hot oil, but are in chunks big enough to not burn and get bitter. A final sprinkle of sugar, soy sauce and red-pepper flakes give the sprouts a nice balance of sweet, salty and spicy. You can eat this with other stir-fries and steamed rice or alongside any main dish. Leftovers, reheated or cold, can be tossed into grain bowls and salads.
Miso Gravy-Smothered Green Beans
In this modern take on green bean casserole, beans simmer in creamy gravy until completely tender and supple. Inspired by classic Southern gravy, this one gets unexpected savory depth from earthy miso. A final swirl of tangy sour cream and acidic lemon juice lightens the rich sauce. For some crunch, try topping the beans with fried shallots or onions, or chopped nuts, like roasted pecans or almonds. The dish makes a perfect side dish for the Thanksgiving table — or alongside a simple weeknight roasted chicken.