Weeknight
3434 recipes found
Kale and Quinoa Salad With Tofu and Miso
A hearty base of kale, quinoa and crisp tofu give this easy salad enough bite to serve as a meal. Curly kale provides heft and holds up nicely to the sweet, sour and spicy dressing. Use your hands to massage the vinaigrette into the kale, and let it marinate for at least 10 minutes to tenderize the sturdy greens. Finish the dish with a drizzle of sriracha and honey, but use a light touch: The point is to balance the heat and sweetness levels without overwhelming the delicate miso vinaigrette. If you like, double the dressing and refrigerate it for future use; it makes a fantastic dip for grilled chicken or pork, or a glaze to brush on salmon before broiling.
Sesame-Brown Butter Udon Noodles
This weeknight meal is silky, slurpable and so quick to pull off. It follows the tradition of wafu or Japanese-style pasta, and combines brown butter, udon and spinach, but the classic combination of savory sauce, chewy noodle and green vegetable allows plenty of room for improvisation. Instead of soy sauce, you can add umami with Parmesan, miso, seaweed or mushrooms. Instead of black pepper for heat, grab ginger or chile flakes, oil or paste. For more protein, boil eggs or shelled edamame in the water before the udon, or add tinned mackerel or fresh yuba along with the sesame seeds. Udon noodles, found fresh, frozen or shelf-stable, are singularly bouncy and thick; if you can’t find them, use the thinner, dried style that resembles linguine.
Quinoa and Broccoli Spoon Salad
This easy chopped salad fits loads of texture and flavor onto a spoon by combining finely chopped raw broccoli with chewy dried cranberries, crunchy pecans, fluffy quinoa and chunks of sharp Cheddar cheese. The mixture is tossed in a punchy mustard vinaigrette that soaks into the florets, only getting better as it sits. Feel free to substitute the quinoa for any grain, like brown rice, farro or buckwheat groats, though the cook time may vary.
Creamy Braised White Beans
Everything you need to make this humble-but-satisfying meal is probably in your kitchen at this very moment. Two cans of beans (chickpeas and white beans) are simmered with milk, a whole head of garlic, herbs and nutmeg for a rich and creamy vegetarian dinner that can be on the table in under a half-hour. Be sure to use whole milk here — it's the most flavorful and will yield the best results. Feel free to wilt greens like chard, watercress, arugula or basil into the beans, and serve with grated Parmesan and red-pepper flakes. A slice of crusty bread slicked with caramelized garlic is the perfect crunchy accompaniment to velvety beans.
Ramen With Charred Scallions, Green Beans and Chile Oil
Scallions can be so much more than a garnish. Raw scallions bring an assertive pungency, but when cooked, they take on a sweet tenderness that is very pleasing to the palate. In this vegan recipe, treat scallions as you would a bunch of greens. Take cues from the Chinese cooking technique used for stir-fries, and add the scallions to very hot oil to let them “bao” (to crack, explode or burst), drawing out their natural aroma. Those packets of ramen noodles stashed in your pantry are perfect for this quick yet intensely satisfying weeknight noodle dish. The chile oil makes just enough for this dish, so if you want extra for future meals, make double.
Puttanesca Chickpea-Tomato Salad
This recipe turns tomato salad into a meal by marrying creamy beans with some of the briny, salty ingredients found in pasta puttanesca, like tomatoes, capers, olives and garlic. While Parmesan isn’t traditional to puttanesca, coarsely chopped pebbles of it add bursts of umami to this salad. Feel free to omit the cheese for a vegan dish, or embellish the mix with fresh or dried chile, tinned fish or more vegetables. This recipe is not only adaptable but also improves as it sits: The tomato juices mingle with the oil, olives and capers — and the beans drink it all up.
Three-Cup Vegetables
This vegan dish is inspired by three-cup chicken, a deeply savory Taiwanese specialty that can be traced back to the 13th century, to the execution of Wen Tianxiang, a scholar-general of the Song dynasty who resisted Kublai Khan’s invasion. The night before Wen’s death, a guard is said to have made him the surprisingly pungent chicken dish with the prison’s limited resources. It has many variations, but usually calls for braising chicken in rice wine, soy sauce and sesame oil with plenty of ginger, garlic and basil. Here, root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and turnips take the place of the chicken, but feel free to also add tofu and quick-cooking vegetables like broccoli or snap peas with the roots. Serve over rice or ramen noodles to soak up sauce.
Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich
The Reuben sandwich — corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing on rye bread — has inspired many meat-free versions. Tempeh, seitan, vegetables and mushrooms have stood in for the corned beef, but they’re not really needed, because outsize quantities of the other traditional elements make a punchy, gooey sandwich on their own. Both sides of the buttered rye get melted Swiss. The mountain of sauerkraut doesn’t warm long enough to lose its crunch. The specks of pickles and onion in typical Russian dressing become layers in the sandwich. And while the dressing has mayonnaise and ketchup, as usual, it also has coriander and black pepper to evoke corned beef’s brine, plus hot sauce for kick. Because this rejiggered sandwich relies mostly on condiments and pantry staples, this homemade Reuben is within reach any day.
Tofu and Bok Choy With Ginger-Tahini Sauce
This simple dish showcases the uniquely silky texture of soft tofu. The tofu is steamed on top of a layer of bok choy, eliminating the need for a formal steamer and making this meal a cinch to prepare. (Napa or savoy cabbage leaves would also make a nice bed for the tofu.) Once steamed, the warm, mild tofu soaks in all of the bright flavors of a tangy and creamy tahini sauce that’s spiked with aromatic ginger and fragrant herbs. For a heftier meal, either double the tofu or serve with a side of rice. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Sook Mei Faan (Cantonese Creamed Corn With Tofu and Rice)
Creamed corn over rice is a quintessential Cantonese dish often served at cha chaan tengs, casual diners that are ubiquitous in Hong Kong. There are many variations of sook mei faan, or corn rice. Some include chunks of pork or chicken, while another rendition has the creamy corn ladled over fried fish fillets. While this dish is traditionally made with canned creamed corn, this vegan version uses fresh corn, which offers a well-rounded sweetness that still feels bright, and is served over cold silken tofu, offering a pleasing contrast in texture and temperature.
Crispy Bean Cakes With Harissa, Lemon and Herbs
This recipe embraces any beans you’ve got in your pantry. Canned beans are easiest, but fresh shelled beans can be ready to go with a quick blanching, and dried beans can be used, too, if they’ve been soaked and cooked in advance. Toss the well-drained beans with harissa (or any red chile paste), scallions, herbs, lemon zest, cornstarch and a lightly whipped egg white. (The egg white and cornstarch give these bean cakes their crispness.) Shape them into patties for frying, and slice some lemon wedges for serving. Eat the patties as a vegetarian main dish, a side to roast chicken or fish, or as a snack with a dash of harissa.
Creamy White Beans With Herb Oil
Canned beans are transformed into a hearty, elegant main swirled with an herb oil that comes together in no time with the aid of a food processor. This particular oil includes chives, cilantro and basil, but feel free to use what you have on hand. Parsley and mint would also work well. Serve with a chilled glass of red wine, a big green salad and a loaf of crusty bread.
Turkish Eggs With Olives, Feta and Tomatoes (Menemen)
Scrambled eggs lend themselves to customization because they're a blank, breakfast- or brunch-friendly canvas. Almost any stir-in works: Add cheese or butter for richness, vegetables for heft and herbs and spices for flavor. If you like a little bit of everything in yours, then menemen –– the traditional Turkish egg dish loaded with peppers and tomatoes –– is for you. This version uses plump olives, crumbled feta and a pile of fresh herbs -- and comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Air-Fryer Grilled Cheese
This easy air-fryer grilled cheese recipe yields an evenly toasted exterior, crisped frico edges and a perfectly melted middle — in record time. As Julia Moskin points out in her stovetop recipe, some patience and attention are required to ensure that the outside doesn’t burn before the cheese melts. But the air fryer’s convection heat results in the ideal grilled cheese with minimum effort. Like Ali Slagle’s sheet-pan recipe, this version is flexible: You can use any sliced bread or melting cheese. A schmear of your favorite condiment is also welcome here; try gochujang, kimchi or sauerkraut. If you have a larger air fryer, this recipe can easily be doubled to fit more than one sandwich.
Baked Bean and Cheese Quesadillas
These quesadillas have little in common with fast-food varieties, which are made with flour tortillas and a lot more cheese. A Taco Bell cheese quesadilla has 480 calories and 1,000 milligrams of sodium; if you order cheese quesadillas at Baja Fresh, you’re asking for 1,200 calories and 2,140 milligrams of sodium. I make a meal out of quesadillas by including beans or vegetables with the cheese, and I use corn tortillas rather than flour. Another plus: Quesadillas make a great destination for leftovers. Beans in a thick sauce make a delicious and comforting quesadilla filling.
Crispy Tofu With Cashews and Blistered Snap Peas
A ginger and coconut milk reduction can coat pretty much anything that browns nicely on its own. Here, it’s pieces of pan-seared tofu, but small morsels of chicken and pork will work just as well. The soy and the teaspoons of molasses give the sauce a little caramelization, and a little shine and gloss. For a fresh side, add some blistered snap peas, tossed with sliced scallions, a little mint and a splash of rice vinegar. Snow peas, green beans, broccoli or asparagus? If it’s fresh and green, it’ll work just fine.
Pasta With Green Beans and Almond Gremolata
Celery, an underappreciated vegetable relegated to making stocks and mirepoix, rarely gets the attention it deserves. It’s available in the grocery store year-round. Come late summer, it starts popping up in farmers' markets everywhere, and it deserves to shine. In this dish, its pleasantly bitter leaves are used in a unique take on gremolata, a fresh herb condiment traditionally made with Italian parsley (which you can also use here). Snappy green beans, also readily available in late summer, round out this unassuming, but impressive pasta you’ll want to make again and again no matter what the season.
Chickpea Harissa Soup
When the day calls for soup but your schedule doesn’t, look to an assertive ingredient that doesn’t require hours of simmering to extract flavor. Harissa, a North African chile paste, packs a punch right out of the jar (brands range in heat levels, though, so adjust quantity to taste). Dump in 2 cans of chickpeas: The starchy, seasoned liquid thickens the soup quickly. Besides that, additional vegetables and toppings you want to add are up to you: Soup should bend to your life, not the opposite.
Crisp Gnocchi With Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter
For a fantastic meal that can be ready in 20 minutes, toss together seared gnocchi and sautéed brussels sprouts with lemon zest, red-pepper flakes and brown butter. The key to this recipe is how you cook the store-bought gnocchi: No need to boil. Just sear them until they are crisp and golden on the outside, and their insides will stay chewy. The resulting texture is reminiscent of fried dough. Shelf-stable and refrigerated gnocchi will both work here, but the shelf-stable ones do crisp up a bit better.
Mixed Sabzi
Some English words have become part of Urdu names for dishes, as with this one, which is called mixed sabzi. Sabzi is the Urdu word for vegetables and the recipe calls for a mix of vegetables stir-fried and simply spiced for a quick weeknight main, or hefty side. Whatever’s in season tends to taste best. In Pakistan, it is most often made with cauliflower, potatoes, peas and carrots. But, it is great with any vegetables really: eggplant, green beans, bell peppers, bitter gourd or pumpkin, too. For convenience, you can even use mixed frozen vegetables. Roti or cooked rice are ideal for serving alongside.
Pasta Aglio Olio With Butternut Squash
Stubborn butternut squash often resists being peeled or even cut. Its eventual smooth sweetness is worth it, but what if you could skip the whole having-to-be-patient part? By sautéeing a big pile of grated butternut squash, you’re on the fast-track to tender squash. From there, you need only some spice, garlic and oil to turn it into a belly-warming pasta sauce that's equally at home spooned onto warm or room-temperature grains — or on its own as a kind of squash purée. But don’t think you’re making baby food: This is a sophisticated pasta, silky but still has some bite, a sneaky heat and brightness from lemony nuts on top, which may just be the dish's secret star.
Baked Risotto With Greens and Peas
This easy baked risotto eliminates the constant stirring required in traditional risotto recipes. It’s laden with vegetables, namely kale and spinach, but other leafy greens like Swiss chard or collard greens would work equally well. If you happen to have some extra asparagus, sub it in for the peas. This risotto makes a great starter or side dish, but you can also turn it into a vegetarian main course by using vegetable or mushroom stock in place of the chicken broth, and topping it with sautéed mushrooms, a fried egg or crispy tofu slices. Leftovers can be refrigerated for two days and reheated with more broth, or repurposed into crunchy rice cakes or arancini. Simply form into patties or balls, coat in bread crumbs and shallow-fry until golden and crunchy.
Olive-Walnut Pasta
Double down on the olive oil flavor in this dish by warming a generous amount with torn green olives to dress your pasta. While you can use just one kind of olive, like mild Castelvetrano, a variety will create depth of flavor. Adding chopped walnuts provides texture and a nice dose of protein to this vegan dish, while lemon zest and juice perk everything up. It would also be good with soft herbs like oregano, dill or basil, a salty cheese like feta or Parmesan, or shrimp that's been cooked with the pasta in the last few minutes of boiling.
Yo Po Mian
A staple dish from the Shaanxi Province in China’s central northwest, yo po mian literally means “oil sprinkled noodles.” It’s traditionally made with biang biang, or hand-torn flat noodles, but wide wheat noodles are used here for a quick weeknight meal. (In a pinch, any dried noodles will work.) This dish packs a lot of flavor, but its preparation is deceptively simple: Noodles and greens are topped with raw garlic and chiles, then hot oil is poured over the top, which coaxes the flavor out of the aromatics. Yo po mian is typically very garlicky, but that’s been dialed back here with just four cloves. (Use more or less, depending upon your personal preference.) You could add ground Sichuan peppercorns for tangy spice, and if you have dark soy sauce, you can substitute it for half of the soy sauce in this recipe, as it will add deep sweetness and rich caramel flavor.