Weeknight
3489 recipes found
Cacio e Pepe Ramen
Ramen noodles bring a bouncy twist to this classic Roman pasta dish. You’ll want the black pepper to be very coarse so that it can infuse the butter and achieve that fruity heat without burning. If you have a pepper mill, make sure to turn it to the coarsest setting. You can also crush the peppercorns using a flat bottomed mug or cast iron pan. If you can’t find fresh ramen noodles (which have the best bounce), you can also use the dried instant ramen noodles that come in a 3-ounce pack, discarding the seasoning packet it comes with.
Smoked Salmon and Avocado Toast With Carrot Salad
This toast makes for a perfect solo lunch. A thick slice of sourdough is toasted and topped with smashed avocado, capers and salty slivers of smoked salmon. Rounding out these ingredients is the real star of the show: a tall pile of shaved carrot salad tossed in vinegar and olive oil. Sweet, salty and briny, the raw carrot salad offers a nice textural contrast to the rest of the toast. Like most toasts, this one is best eaten right away.
Sticky, Spicy Tempeh
Crispy tempeh glazed in a spicy-and-sweet soy sauce can anchor many a dinner, whether served over rice and vegetables, rice noodles, lettuce wraps or soup. Tempeh is a fermented vegan protein with a nutty flavor and firm texture that can stand up to assertive seasonings. That could be the fresh sambal in tempe penyet, a famous street food in Indonesia, where tempeh was first made — or this easily memorizable ratio of two parts soy sauce to one part each rice vinegar, brown sugar and chile sauce. Crumbling the tempeh into small, irregular pieces so that it resembles ground meat creates a variety of textures in each bite. To make it a complete meal, stir in spinach, peas or another quick-cooking vegetable with the sauce — or accompany with crispy raw vegetables like thinly sliced cucumbers or radishes on top of rice.
Grilled Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
A PB&J is pretty good no matter how you make it, but grilling it makes it glorious. If you toast the sandwich in a buttered skillet, like you would a grilled cheese, the outsides brown while the peanut butter and jam warm and ooze — no more tacky peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. (And that’s right: This sandwich is best with fruit jam or preserves, not jelly.) It’s still a trusty PB&J, but warm, creamy and crisp. It might become your new standby.
Apple Cider Chicken With Apples and Parsnips
In this skillet dinner, seared chicken cutlets are topped with stewed, melt-in-your-mouth, tart Granny Smith apples; earthy, nutty parsnips; and sweet apple cider. The apple cider is used to deglaze the pan, extracting maximum flavor from the seared chicken bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Serve with mashed potatoes, olive oil-fried bread or a simple green side salad. To bring more warmth to the dish, don’t hesitate to infuse spices into the simmering apple cider sauce, like cinnamon, black pepper, a dash of cardamom or nutmeg. Depending on the sweetness of the apple cider, you might prefer a little more acidity to brighten each bite, in which case a small splash of apple cider vinegar at the end would be welcome.
Seared Tofu With Kimchi
A simple, meatless weeknight recipe, this tofu and kimchi braise has deep flavors but comes together in just 30 minutes. The two main ingredients are tofu and kimchi. Equally delicious warm or at room temperature, this tofu braise makes a fun addition to meal prep. Serve it with rice, to soak up the delicious kimchi sauce, or tuck the tofu and kimchi into a sandwich. Store-bought kimchi vary in flavor and salt level and the more fermented kimchi will be softer, juicer, and a bit more sour. The recipe can take all levels of fermentation, but adjust seasoning as you see fit, sweetening with sugar or salting with extra soy sauce.
Cabbage Parm
Cabbage confirms its status as one of the vegetable kingdom’s most versatile ingredients in this untraditional yet deeply comforting dish. Roasted at high temperature, the cabbage becomes sweet and smoky, providing a complex vegetarian foundation for the classic parmesan treatment often applied to eggplant or mushrooms. The traditional bread crumbs are replaced with chunky croutons, which deliver a textural crunch — and it’s a good idea to make extra, for soaking up the sauce or even just for snacking. Experiment with different varieties of cabbage; conical Caraflex will deliver a sweeter finish, while savoy, with its looser leaf structure, has a milder flavor and can cook in less time.
Salsa di Noci (Walnut Sauce Pasta)
Simple yet luxurious, this creamy Ligurian sauce makes good use of walnuts, which are grown throughout the Italian countryside. A variant of pesto, it requires few ingredients — walnuts, milk, bread, garlic, cheese and oil — and can be prepared while the pasta cooks. Many methods call for blanching walnuts, some roast the nuts and others don’t call for either (there are also versions that add pine nuts). Here, a quick blanch softens the nuts and gets rid of any bitterness, resulting in a more buttery and creamier sauce. Traditionally paired with “pansotti” (a greens and herb-filled ravioli ), the nutty sauce works well with trofie and all sorts of pasta shapes. Fresh woodsy marjoram is a classic finishing herb for this sauce, but its slightly piney bitterness can be strong; you could try chopped parsley for a lighter alternative.
Honey-Habanero Pork Chops With Carrots
In this sweet-and-spicy skillet dinner, lean boneless pork chops and carrots are glossed in a simple yet impactful trio of honey, habanero chiles and lime. The combination of ingredients is classic throughout the Yucatán, like in cochinita pibil, for a reason. Habanero chiles and honey are hot and sweet, sure, but they’re also upbeat, floral and fruity. Charring the chiles alongside the pork adds a hint of smokiness, while lime zest and juice add even more high notes. Eat on top of grits or mashed potatoes.
Sausage and Peppers One-Pot Pasta
This one-pot pasta is inspired by New England-style sausage with peppers and onions, the kind sold outside Fenway Park: The soft, slightly charred vegetables sit in a tangle on a juicy grilled Italian sausage, served on a roll. Here, the onions and peppers get a quick, hot sauté to brown them. Use loose, raw Italian sausage (either sweet or hot), or use raw sausage in casings and squeeze the meat out of the casings and into the pot. The pickled peppers added at the end give a nice pop of tangy heat, but if you don’t have them in your pantry, just squeeze in the juice of half a lemon instead.
Corn and Cod Green Curry
In this light, Thai-inspired curry, a trio of sweet ingredients — corn, coconut milk and fish — pair with the fruity and fragrant aromatics of green curry paste, which includes green chiles, lemongrass and galangal. Finishing with lime, basil and thinly sliced bok choy further brightens each bite. (The bok choy is cooked only a bit so that its crunchy stems and silky greens provide contrasting textures.) Instead of fresh corn, you can substitute 5 cups of frozen and unthawed corn kernels. Serve the curry on its own or with rice or rice noodles.
Marsala Chicken Meatballs
Chicken Marsala is an Italian American classic consisting of seared pounded chicken that’s smothered in a sweet-savory Marsala wine mushroom sauce. For more spoon-ability, this crowd-pleasing dinner replaces the thin cutlets with tender chicken meatballs, simmered in a similarly indulgent Marsala sauce. Ground chicken is very lean, so to ensure a perfectly moist bite, Marsala-soaked bread crumbs and extra-virgin olive oil are added to the meatball mixture. For a flavor-packed fond, take the time to brown the onions and mushrooms; the time spent will pay off. This recipe is dairy-free as written, but if you’d like to finish the dish with a few knobs of butter or a splash of heavy cream, the sauce will certainly accommodate the additional richness.
Malaay Qumbe (Coconut Fish Curry)
Variations of coconut fish curry abound up and down the Swahili Coast, so much so that the dish is often broadly referred to as East African fish curry. Although Somalia has the longest coastline in mainland Africa, seafood is not a prominent part of mainstream Somali cuisine. But you’ll find malaay qumbe in coastal Somali towns. This version of coconut fish curry leans heavily on xawaash, a spice blend that is at the heart of Somali cuisine. The mild heat from the xawaash’s black pepper balances beautifully with the sweet, cooling coconut milk and the acidity from the tomatoes. Serve over plain white rice, or soak up the creamy coconut gravy with a flatbread like muufo. Malaay qumbe would also work well on top of soor for a hearty meal of creamy spiced coconut fish and grits.
Slow-Cooker Jalapeño Pulled Pork
This four-ingredient recipe draws inspiration from carnitas, barbecue pulled pork and Vietnamese caramel pork for sticky, sweet and spicy pulled meat. Braising browned pork shoulder in a slow cooker in pickled jalapeño brine and fish sauce tenderizes the meat and adds savory depth. Part of the cooking liquid then simmers with brown sugar and pickled jalapeño slices for a glaze to drape over pull-apart, crispy-edged meat. Eat over rice, tortillas or burger buns.
Chicken Casserole With Mushrooms and Spinach
This casserole is chock full of delicious veggies with a homemade creamy base. Parmesan is mixed throughout the casserole and also melted on top, giving this dish some flair that’s more akin to a creamy risotto. Instead of relying on a condensed soup, this recipe makes a simple cream sauce: Flour is sprinkled on the cooked mushrooms and onions then heavy cream and chicken stock are whisked in just before the Parmesan is folded in. Be sure to season each layer of the casserole — from the spinach to chicken. For a shortcut, the meat from a rotisserie chicken works great here.
Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
With a focus on fast flavor, this pantry pasta recipe transforms a whole jar of sun-dried tomatoes into the perfect easy pasta sauce. To make the most of the sun-dried tomatoes, the majority of the tomato oil from the jar is used to sizzle the shallots until sweet and translucent. The lively sun-dried tomato tartness is balanced by the addition of heavy cream, savory Parmesan and perfectly mild spice. Al dente cooked linguine is tossed in the vibrant orange sauce, which is strongly reminiscent of a brighter, more complex vodka sauce. A big splash of starchy pasta water ties everything together for a glossy weeknight pasta.
Mayo Corn Fried Rice
This fried rice tastes and smells like movie-theater popcorn and is a celebration of summer corn. Fried rice without oil is not only possible, it’s delicious. In this recipe, a smidge of mayonnaise stirred into cold, day-old white rice results in separate grains. When fried, this lubricated rice toasts and browns beautifully with zero oil splatter and not using oil lets the corn shine. What you’re left with is pure-tasting fried rice, where the rice and vegetables are the stars, not the cooking fat. This smart trick comes from the chef Brendan Liew, as documented in his cookbooks “Konbini” and “Tokyo Up Late” (Smith Street Books, 2024 and 2022).
Zha Jiang Mian
A budget, weeknight meal that is classic to the Chinese diaspora, zha jiang mian is a noodle dish traditionally made with a mixture of diced pork belly and lean pork, plus a rich sauce made from Chinese soybean paste and sweet bean paste, both of which can be likened to a rich, deeper miso. The recipe is likely to vary from family to family, but this version uses ground pork, a speedier alternative that gives the sauce a nice richness. Chinese soybean pastes vary in saltiness, so make sure to season lightly with salt in the beginning to help build flavor. (You can always adjust the seasoning at the end if you need more salt.)
Vegan Zha Jiang Mian
Zha jiang mian is a popular Chinese noodle dish that is the quintessential pantry meal: Staples in many Chinese households, the fermented soybean pastes are like richer, deeper misos, and add significant depth to this quick dish. Traditionally, zha jiang mian is made with pork belly, but this vegan version captures a similar texture with sautéed eggplant, which cooks down to become soft and creamy, adding to the body of the sauce. Crumbled tofu helps the sauce coat the noodles when mixed. Chinese soybean pastes vary in saltiness, so season lightly with salt in the beginning to help build flavor without overdoing it. (You can always adjust the seasoning at the end if you need more salt.) These noodles are typically served with mung beans and slivered cucumber, but a variety of fresh vegetables could step in; shredded romaine lettuce or carrots would also be delicious.
Little Gem Salad With Tamarind Dressing
While this sweet-and-sour tamarind-date dressing can be made year-round, it feels meant for the abundant produce of summer and early fall. Developed with turmeric in mind — an ingredient many Somalis add to salads — this recipe balances heirloom tomatoes with the tang of tamarind; it offsets the pungent sharpness of onions and radishes with the caramel-like flavor of dates and maple syrup. This colorful Little Gem salad maintains a glossy coat of dressing, but you can opt for heartier vegetables such as brussels sprouts or kale, depending on the time of year. Pair this salad with a bowl of maraq misir (red lentil soup) for a lovely vegan meal, or eat it alongside a plate of white rice and malaay qumbe (coconut fish curry).
Maraq Misir (Red Lentil Soup)
Maraq misir, also known as shurbo cadas, is a hearty red lentil soup found in Somali cuisine. This soup is great year round but is often in heavy rotation during Ramadan, when it makes for a light and nourishing option for breaking one’s fast. Alongside a foundation of quick-cooking red lentils, this soup gets its body from tomatoes, onions and carrots, and deep flavor from a layered blend of spices and fresh cilantro leaves. While many lentil soup variations exist, the warmth of the xawaash spices builds with each sip and makes this a uniquely Somali interpretation. The texture can suit your preference: Serve it as is, with some bite, blend it until smooth and creamy, or opt for a partly blended, half-chunky soup.
Roasted Cod With Burst Tomatoes and Olives
In this effortless one-skillet meal, cod fillets are simply pan-roasted — basted in butter on the stovetop — then gently finished in a moderate oven to guarantee even cooking and tender, flaky fish. While the cod rests, the flavorful pan juices quickly turn into a bright, lemony sauce with sweet cherry tomatoes, briny olives, tangy capers and fragrant dill. The balance of buttery richness and bright acidity in the sauce complements the mild seafood, but this dish is versatile: Hake, halibut or some other similarly mellow white fish would also work nicely.
Miso Mushroom and Leek Pasta
Alchemy is at play here with the delightful union of miso and sherry vinegar, both working to amplify mushroom’s savory, umami notes, and create a rich, layered pasta in just over 30 minutes. Sautéed leeks and mushrooms form the core flavors of the pasta, but it is the addition of miso that completes the dish: Whisked with the starchy pasta water and grated Parmesan, it forms a quick sauce to coat the noodles. A farro, spelt or whole-wheat pasta would nicely complement the earthy flavors of this dish.
Chicken au Poivre
This playful take on steak au poivre features chicken thighs that are pan-fried until golden then simmered in a peppery pan sauce until tender and juicy. The caramelized browned bits left on the bottom of the skillet from searing the chicken add deeper flavor to the sauce. Though Cognac is often used in classic au poivre, there is no booze in this version. Instead, a kick of lemon juice brightens the rich, velvety sauce. Serve the chicken over egg noodles or with crusty bread to sop up all that sauce. Tuck any leftovers into sandwich rolls with lettuce and tomato, or chop and toss with pasta and grated Parmesan for a quick lunch.