Weeknight
3429 recipes found
Chicken Tenders
These chicken tenders pack a punch, thanks to a generous helping of a savory homemade spice blend, revved up with Cajun seasoning. A spoonful of mustard in the marinade helps the spices adhere, serves as a tenderizer, and lends a slight tanginess. Adding a bit of that marinade to the flour mixture helps create a crust that fries up shaggy and crackly. For a crispy exterior and juicy interior with less oil, this recipe calls for pan-frying rather than deep frying. Pair these tenders with your favorite dipping sauces, and they’re sure to be a hit.
Burst Cherry Tomato Orzotto
Peak-season cherry tomatoes and fragrant basil join forces in this light and summery one-pot orzotto. Cherry tomatoes are first cooked down with aromatics until they burst and their juices thicken. This concentrated tomato mixture fortifies the broth, imparting its flavor to the orzo. Stirring every minute or so releases the pasta’s starch, while a pat of butter makes this dish silky and that much more reminiscent of a saucy risotto. The orzotto is only as good as the tomatoes you use, so be sure to use the best ones you can get your hands on. Topping each serving with a handful of arugula is a wonderful way to incorporate more greens and add a bit of fresh, peppery zing.
Chile-Garlic Salmon With Mango and Cucumber Salad
Colorful and complex, this spicy glazed salmon with mango-cucumber salad packs a ton of flavors and textures into a quick weeknight meal. While the salmon roasts in the oven, you chop up a refreshing salad of crunchy cucumber, sweet ripe mango and creamy avocado. Side by side, both components make a bright, breezy meal, but you can also serve with white rice if you’re craving a more filling dinner. The spicy-sweet salmon sauce is built from pantry ingredients (soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup, garlic and chile-garlic sauce) and readily adapts to your preferred sweetness and spice levels. While the salmon can be eaten the next day, the mango-cucumber salad is best eaten right away, when it’s at its best and brightest.
Zesty Grilled Chicken With Citrus Slaw
This flavor-packed chicken draws inspiration from Sonoran-style charcoal-grilled chicken that’s marinated in a blend of orange juice and aromatic spices. Here, the chicken is served on top of a quick, tangy carrot and cabbage slaw that adds a refreshing pickle-like crunch and beautiful color to your plate. For deeper flavor, marinate the chicken overnight, then bring it to room temperature before cooking. Whether you prefer the smokiness of an outdoor grill or the convenience of a cast-iron skillet in your oven, the chicken emerges juicy and deeply flavored. Eat as-is, or serve alongside quinoa, rice or French fries.
Zucchini Salad With Sizzled Pistachios
In this clever salad, fresh raw zucchini is bathed in a nutty oil accented with big bursts of jewel-like lemon; each bite is equal parts rich and bright. Warming the oil with the pistachios until they sizzle infuses it with their flavor. Whole lemons, peeled down to the flesh and then sliced, are then stirred into the pistachio oil. A little black pepper, spicy red pepper flakes and feta cheese (which is optional) turn this into a salad equally ready to grace a summer spread or pack ahead for lunch. It can also be a great side for hot-mustard grilled chicken, roasted salmon, sheet-pan feta or even just a bowl of hummus and some thick-cut toast.
Spicy Vinegar Chicken Over Artichokes
There’s something undeniably comforting about the combination of chicken and artichokes. Bone-in, skin-on drumsticks and thighs are seared until the skin is deeply golden, then gently braised with onions and garlic, plus a splash of white wine vinegar for brightness. The addition of green olives adds a briny punch, while canned artichokes — an underrated pantry staple — make this a complete meal. Unlike fresh artichokes, which require trimming and peeling, canned artichokes are ready to use and soak up the flavorful pan juices beautifully.
Strawberry Pasta
This Polish childhood staple of creamy strawberry sauce over pasta is a fast, fuss-free way to make the most of peak summer berries.
Tangy Tzatziki
Inspired by the tzatziki served at Sto Kastro, a Greek restaurant in Germersheim, Germany, this thicker, fluffier iteration of the sauce lets the pairing of cucumber and yogurt shine. The main technique here is to really squeeze the liquid out of both the cucumbers and the yogurt, which results in tzatziki that’s both creamy and almost fluffy. A second trick, from the cookbook author Suzy Karadsheh, is to use distilled white vinegar instead of lemon juice. The vinegar’s straightforward acidity delivers the best of the cucumber and yogurt. This cool, creamy mix tastes fantastic when spread on warm pita bread and crackers or used as a dip for chips and fresh crunchy vegetables.
Turmeric Chicken Skewers With Green Olive Yogurt
These skewers offer a simple yet delicious way to bring the bold flavors of Moroccan cuisine to your table using a handful of spices. But what truly sets this dish apart is the green olive yogurt sauce; the creamy, tangy addition ties everything together. Inspired by the way olives are paired with chicken in Moroccan tagines, this briny sauce balances the warm spices. It's perfect for gatherings but just as great for busy weeknights, and while grilling adds depth, a grill pan works beautifully, too. Serve with a simple tomato salad, roasted or grilled vegetables or flatbread.
Corn Soup
This simple corn soup tastes like sweet, buttery popcorn, though its richness comes more from the corn than the half-and-half. Blended silky smooth and studded with whole kernels for texture, this soup is an excellent canvas for almost anything. Serve as recommended with a sprinkle of minced chives, or round out the sweetness by adding minced tarragon instead. A dollop of sour cream or Mexican crema, a sprinkle of cayenne and a squeeze of lime will drum up the flavor of Mexican street corn. Bulk it up by serving whatever roasted protein or vegetables you're craving in a pool of it.
Roasted Pepper, White Bean and Mozzarella Salad
Sweet, fruity jarred roasted peppers power this hearty cannellini bean salad that comes together with almost no preparation. Like many jarred vegetables, store-bought roasted peppers are a timesaver without any sacrifice in flavor; opt for fire-roasted ones, if available, for smokier notes. Here, the succulent texture and vibrant hue of roasted peppers pair beautifully with tender cannellini beans and creamy mozzarella. You can put down that knife: As there’s no chopping required, you’ll create a range of textures by simply tearing the peppers, mozzarella and herbs. If you’ve got a glut of fresh summer bell peppers available, you can take advantage of them at their prime by roasting them for this salad, using any color or variety; check the Tip for instructions.
Potato Salad With Pickles
Those who love salt and vinegar chips already know that potatoes thrive when paired with acid, and this recipe shows that this same formula also works in a salad. Pickles bring lively acidity, imparting their classic tang to lighten potato salad. The mustard dressing is punchy, and sharpened by the addition of pickle brine. Dill pickles vary in sweetness, saltiness and acidity, so taste your brine and add accordingly. Dill, chives or parsley freshen the potatoes, but consider this as an opportunity to use up whatever soft herbs you have around. Boiled eggs make this potato salad feel more like a main meal than a side, but there are many ways to customize; crispy chickpeas or crumbled feta achieve similar effects.
Shrimp Aguachile
Aguachile, the bright and punchy seafood dish from coastal Sinaloa, Mexico, gets its name (which translates to “chile water”) from the vibrant blend of chiles, lime juice and salt that transform the sweet flesh of raw shrimp into tender, tart flavor bombs. Unlike ceviche, where seafood marinates in citrus until it's fully “cooked,” aguachile hits the table soon after the shrimp meets the zesty chile water. While the aguachile is on your plate, the lime juice continues its work on the sweet, delicate shrimp, so each bite offers a slightly different texture without ever turning rubbery. Use as many serranos as your heart desires and your palate can handle.
Tomato, Bacon and Corn Salad
This super-summery salad is all about big, bold bites — juicy tomatoes, sweet corn, creamy avocado and crispy bacon. It’s tossed with nothing more than a generous squeeze of lime and a little reserved bacon fat for extra richness and smokiness. Plenty of cilantro (or another herb of your choice) keeps it fresh. It’s hearty enough to be dinner, but also plays well with anything grilled, roasted or just eaten outdoors. Some thick toast on the side could make this a full meal.
Chicken Yakhni Pulao (Pakistani Chicken and Rice)
Pakistan’s original meat and rice dish for special occasions, yakhni pulao is the demure rival to the more lavish, layered and spiced chicken biryani. Unlike biryani, yakhni pulao is delicately spiced and the rice is cooked in a quick yakhni (broth) made from the bone-in chicken pieces, which get added back to the rice toward the end of the cooking process. Golden sautéed onions give the pulao its distinct earthy color, while aromatic peppercorns, cumin, cloves and cinnamon flavor the rice. Green chiles provide a kick and yogurt a bit of sourness. Serve with a hefty curry like kaddu with greens and shrimp, butter paneer or Kerala-style vegetable korma, or alongside dal like masoor dal, sabut masoor dal or chana masala, or by itself.
Creamy Lemon-Miso Dressing
If I were a singer-songwriter, I would write a power ballad about my love for Kismet Rotisserie in Los Angeles. The shoebox-size, mostly takeout restaurant serves the kind of food I’d eat every day if I lived in the neighborhood: golden roast chicken, fluffy pita and perfectly seasoned side dishes piled high with vegetables. But what I love most are its sauces and dressings. Especially its miso-poppy seed dressing, which I set out to re-create a couple of years ago. At some point, though, my journey took a detour, landing me here with this recipe from my book, “Good Things” (Random House, 2025), at what just might be my new favorite all-purpose dressing. Tangy, sweet, creamy and rounded out with umami, it manages to hit every note you could want in a dressing without being cloying. Add some poppy seeds for classic flavor or leave them out to make the dressing more versatile for drizzling over roasted vegetables, in potato salad or anywhere else you can imagine.
House Dressing
This perfect vinaigrette recipe comes from Via Carota, the charming West Village restaurant run by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi. Since I first wrote about this recipe, it’s become indispensable not only for me but also for my entire Culinary Brain Trust, who now simply call it House Dressing. This version comes from my book, “Good Things” (Random House, 2025). The warm water in this recipe might surprise you. “We add warm water to make it more palatable,” Ms. Williams said. “Pure vinegar is just too strong — it assaults the taste buds. We want a salad dressing so savory and delicious that you can eat spoonfuls of it. We want you to be able to drink it!” Drizzle this liberally over everything: boiled asparagus, farro salad, steak, fish or roast chicken. And if you don’t have both types of mustard on hand, just use twice as much of whichever you do have.
Creamy Sesame-Ginger Dressing
This is the recipe that inspired my book, “Good Things” (Random House, 2025), and my entire palate still puckers with pleasure every time I make it. After I’ve balanced and adjusted the flavors and dipped a bit of lettuce or cabbage into the dressing for a final taste, I always marvel at the way it manages to take every element — salt, acid, umami, fiery ginger, garlic and spice — right to the edge . . . without stepping over.
Berbere Brown Sugar Chicken
These smoky, slightly sweet chicken thighs are braised with orange juice, a touch of brown sugar and berbere spice, that warm, smoky and spicy blend that’s essential to Ethiopian and Eritrean cuisines. Roasted with savory onions and garlic, the chicken develops a rich, saucy base that’s packed with big flavor. The brown sugar mellows the heat of the berbere, creating a deliciously bold, barbecue-like sauce. To save some time in the kitchen, feel free to chop your onions and garlic while the chicken is searing. Enjoy this chicken recipe with roasted carrots and rice, polenta or grits, or shred and use as a filling for tacos.
Pesto alla Trapanese (Pasta With Tomatoes, Almonds and Mint)
There’s an inspiring casualness to the best Italian cooking: Combine a handful of high-quality, local ingredients, season them simply and let them be. A great example is pesto Trapanese, a simple sauce that digs deeply into the Sicilian soil it comes from. Rich almonds and fruity olive oil mingle with fragrant herbs while tangy tomatoes make it brighter and sweeter than green pesto, its more famous cousin from Genoa. This mint version, adapted from “Made in Sicily” (Ecco, 2012) by Giorgio Locatelli, the London-based chef and restaurateur, swaps out the traditional mortar and pestle for a food processor but keeps the earthy soul of the dish intact. Besides tossing this pesto with pasta, try spooning some over fish, shrimp or roasted potatoes.
Summer Roll Noodle Salad
Taking a cue from Vietnamese summer rolls, this rice vermicelli noodle salad is packed with the bold, bright flavors and textures reminiscent of its namesake dish. With tender lettuce for its sweet, earthiness (and a nod to the lettuce often used to wrap around spring rolls), a hefty handful of fresh herbs and plump shrimp, this salad is texturally rich and full of fresh flavors. The dressing — a hybrid of peanut dipping sauce and nước chấm — is nutty, punchy and deeply savory thanks to the fish sauce and hoisin. To lessen the fiery bite of the Thai chile in the dressing, let it sit in the lime juice before adding the rest of the ingredients. A combination of carrots and bean sprouts bulk up the salad, but feel free to swap more of one for the other.
Cumin Beef and Green Bean Stir-Fry
Borrowing from both Hunan and Indo-Chinese cuisine, this speedy stir-fry features a generous amount of crushed cumin seeds for their aroma and earthy flavor. While ketchup is commonly used in Indo-Chinese cooking to provide tangy sweetness, sriracha does double duty, delivering a spicy kick without needing to reach for the chile powder. Green beans are ideal here for their mild sweetness and crunchy texture, but any quick-cooking vegetable will work in their place.
Zucchini and Fennel Salad
It’s not properly summer until you have too much zucchini in your life, spilling out of your market bags and collecting in your crisper drawer. This recipe takes what might feel like a bumper crop burden and makes it a star of the season once more. Fresh, crisp and bright, this plucky, lemony shaved zucchini and fennel salad is easy to throw together for a lovely summer luncheon or dinner. An incredibly à la minute salad, the vegetables are basically softened in the moment with the salt and the acid, so make sure to serve this salad quickly for optimal texture and taste. While it is crispest and freshest as soon as it’s made, leftovers will be just as lovely, albeit not as crisp, the next day, and can be perked up with fresh herbs or even repurposed: Roughly chop and toss with arugula and cooked chicken for a great, hearty lunch. This is a salad that gives and gives.
Broccoli Soba Salad
Inspired by the flavors of crave-worthy yamitsuki, a Japanese cabbage dish named for its addictive qualities, this broccoli soba salad is an assured crowd pleaser. A brief marination in salt tenderizes the broccoli, making it more receptive to a humble yet powerful trio of seasonings: salt, garlic and sesame oil. The unlikely addition of vegetable stock paste or bouillon powder bolsters the emphatic umami of this dish; if you have MSG in your pantry, you could add a few pinches of that instead. Using both the flower and stalk of the broccoli adds both texture and crunch to the foundation of nutty soba noodles. This is the perfect prep-ahead dish, as it benefits from chilling to allow the flavors to meld and the soba to become firmer and less fragile.