Weeknight
3491 recipes found
Vegetarian Skillet Chili With Eggs and Cheddar
This soul-warming weeknight chili is made in a skillet because the shorter sides of the pan allow the liquid to evaporate more freely, encouraging it to thicken faster than it would in a traditional pot. Eggs are nestled right into the chili, so the whites cook and the yolks stay molten, in a preparation similar to a shakshuka, another popular eggs-for-dinner dish. Shower the chili with Cheddar, simmer for a few minutes and there you have it: a hearty vegetarian meal. Serve with any toppings you like and something starchy like tortillas to mop everything up.
Cod and Corn With Old-Bay Butter
This one-pot seafood dinner is inspired by the New England clambake, a festive meal cooked in a fire pit and enjoyed with melted butter. Here, cod and corn cook in a garlicky broth of bottled clam juice for instant shellfish flavor. A final swirl of paprika-spiked Old-Bay butter adds smoky depth to the dish, usually brought by smoldering logs. Leftover butter can be refrigerated or frozen for later use; it’s great on roasted potatoes and grilled shrimp or steak.
Pork Chops in Lemon-Caper Sauce
Here’s my favorite recipe in Toni Tipton-Martin’s excellent and invaluable “Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African American Cooking” (2019). It’s a remix of one that the chef Nathaniel Burton collected into his 1978 opus, “Creole Feast: Fifteen Master Chefs of New Orleans Reveal Their Secrets,” and one that Tipton-Martin glossed-up with lemon zest, juice and extra butter, a technique she learned from the restaurateur B. Smith’s 2009 collection of recipes, “B. Smith Cooks Southern-Style.” It’s a dish of smothered pork chops, essentially, made into something glorious and elegant. “The food history of Blacks in America has been a story of the food of survival,” she told me in an interview. “We need to start celebrating the food they made at work."
Crispy Pork Chops With Buttered Radishes
These crisp, panko-crusted cutlets are your weeknight answer to tonkatsu or Milanese with a simplified, one-step breading procedure, no eggs or flour required. Thin pork chops, either bone-in or boneless, are seasoned with salt and pepper, then simply pressed into panko bread crumbs before crisping up in a hot, oiled skillet. While any quick-cooking vegetable could be tossed in the brown butter and spooned over the chops, radishes are especially nice for the way they keep their bite even after a trip to the skillet. Whatever you do, don’t forget the lemon.
Citrus-Glazed Pork Chops With Gingery Bok Choy
Rich pork makes a perfect companion to tart oranges in this tasty weeknight meal. The bold, bright, citrusy sauce demands a robust cut of meat, so pick well-marbled, thick-cut pork chops with a nice fat cap. A dry rub of brown sugar creates a caramelized layer that lends depth to the pan sauce, and the gingery bok choy adds a delightful bit of freshness. This is quite a meal on its own, but you can steam some brown or white rice for a starchy side. Slice the pork to serve, and drizzle the pan sauce over everything.
Vegan Mac and Cheese
Many creamy vegan pasta recipes call for an arsenal of expensive ingredients, but this one relies on more approachable ones, like cashews and almond milk for richness, nutritional yeast for tang and soy sauce for complex saltiness. Sautéed onions do double duty: They serve as a thickener and help offset the sweetness of the cashews. This simple stovetop pasta is wonderful on its own, but feel free to add roasted vegetables, fresh herbs, spices, harissa or hot sauce. For a quick-baked version worthy of Thanksgiving dinner, pile the prepared mac and cheese into a casserole dish, top with panko and more nutritional yeast, and broil for a few minutes until golden brown.
Crispy Chickpeas With Beef
Related to a classic chili, this fast-cooking recipe combines legumes, meat and spices, with excellent results. This dish works equally well with canned or home-cooked chickpeas; if you like a bit more kick, double or triple the ancho chiles or chile powder. Turmeric or saffron also work well. Don't want to use ground beef? Ground turkey, chicken or pork would sub in well here; add a little oil to the pan first. For a bit more flavor, add a clove or two of chopped garlic to the browning meat. The point is: improvise.
Skillet Pork Chops With Blistered Grapes
Pork chops make a great weeknight dinner, and this dish is no exception. It looks and feels special, but comes together in about 20 minutes with very minimal prep. Selecting bone-in pork chops is beneficial beyond appearance: The bones protect the meat to keep it moist. However, you could also use boneless chops or even chicken breasts, if you’d prefer; just be sure to reduce the cooking time accordingly.
Spicy Chorizo Pasta
Macaroni and chorizo is classic Spanish comfort food. While iterations abound, it typically starts by frying smoked chorizo with a little onion, adding canned or fresh tomato and maybe some oregano, then letting it simmer into a thick tomato sauce. It’s often topped with cheese and baked like a mac and cheese. Instead of fresh tomatoes, this recipe uses highly concentrated tomato paste, which is made by cooking down tomatoes for ages so you don’t have to. The paste fries in the chorizo’s rendered drippings for a very fast, silky, smoky and spicy sauce. When shopping for this recipe, look for Spanish chorizo, a shelf-stable sausage usually found near salami and other cured meats in the grocery store. Mexican chorizo is sold fresh and is made with different chiles and spices.
Zibdiyit Gambari (Spicy Shrimp and Tomato Stew)
This astonishingly simple stew, adapted from Yasmin Khan’s “Zaitoun: Recipes From the Palestinian Kitchen,” is bursting with the fierce, passionate flavors that are emblematic of the cooking of the Gaza Strip. You’ll mash together garlic, dill and jalapeños using a mortar and pestle and cook them in tomato sauce to add depth. Once the stew thickens, stir in the shrimp until they turn flushed and tender. To serve, drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and dot with toasted sesame seeds and verdant flecks of parsley.
Crispy Fried Rice With Bacon and Cabbage
This easy, hearty weeknight meal gets a lot of its brawny richness from just a small amount of bacon. The soft, wilted cabbage lends sweetness, while the kimchi (a nod toward bokkeumbap) zips things up. The secret to getting a crackling, crunchy texture is letting the rice sit in the hot oil without touching it until it browns, but using leftover rice also helps. (As the rice dries out, it crisps more easily.) If you’re starting from scratch, just cook 2 cups of dry rice to yield the 6 cups of cooked rice called for here. Then spread the rice out on a baking sheet and let it cool and dehydrate a bit before frying. Be sure to have everything ready and near the stove when before you start. The cooking goes fast, and there won’t be any time to prepare ingredients once you get going.
Mushroom Pasta Stir-Fry
While stir-fries have long gone hand-in-hand with rice, this recipe shows the versatility of the dish. Here, a quick stir-fry is transformed into a flavorful, unconventional pasta sauce. Five spice is a Chinese seasoning that is said to incorporate all five tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. In this recipe, its blend of star anise, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and fennel intensifies the robust flavor of the mushrooms. Don’t overcook the broccolini; it should be crisp, with a bright green vibrancy. You could easily substitute broccoli, green beans, snow peas or other crunchy greens. And don’t skip the butter (or use vegan butter, if you prefer), as it provides a beautiful richness which brings the sauce and ingredients together.
Baked Cod With Crunchy Miso-Butter Bread Crumbs
Shiro miso, also known as white miso, is a fermented mash of soybeans and rice with an incredibly rich, sweet flavor that packs a punch. It pairs particularly well with ginger and garlic, and is combined here with those aromatics, butter and panko bread crumbs for a crisp coating. As it bakes, the miso crust caramelizes and forms an addictive flavor that elevates the mild cod.
Spaghetti and Drop Meatballs With Tomato Sauce
This fast version of spaghetti and meatballs with red gravy is ready in less than 30 minutes, but you’ll be chopping, stirring and monitoring heat — actively working — from start to finish. You’ll be busy, but not frantic, and rewarded not only with the twirling of pasta in half an hour, but with the satisfaction that you made every second count.
Watermelon and Grapefruit Salad With Tahini
This fruit salad is simple to make but thrilling to eat because it hits all the marks of a good salad in surprising ways. The base is crunchy-sweet watermelon and tangy-tart grapefruit. (If you can’t eat grapefruit, substitute orange sprinkled with lemon or lime juice.) These two fruits look similar, but taste different, and that is part of the fun of eating them together. Tahini is used like a nuttier, richer oil, and honey mellows the mix. The balance really depends on the quality of your ingredients, though, so adjust to taste until each bite races between sweet, savory, juicy and creamy.
Stir-Fried Snow Peas With Soba
Snow peas are a great source of fiber, vitamin K, calcium and vitamin C.
Salty-Sweet BBQ Salmon and Broccoli
This salmon and broccoli sheet-pan dinner gets a boost from bottled oyster sauce, which is made from caramelized oyster juices, salt and sugar, and tastes like a sweet yet briny soy sauce. It makes the perfect base for a rich barbecue sauce that comes together in just 10 minutes. Caramelized sugar, tomato paste and soy sauce quickly create depth, while vinegar balances the sweetness. The salty-sweet sauce complements the buttery salmon and does double duty as a glaze and finishing sauce. It also serves as a terrific marinade for chicken and steak, so you may want to make a double batch of it.
Coconut-Nut Macaroons
The reward of these classic one-bowl cookies far outweighs the effort of making them. They are so easy – just dump and stir – and you don't need any special equipment. Here, Mark Bittman adds a generous handful of pistachios for crunch and color. They are also gluten-free, and the perfect treat for Passover.
Quick-Braised Chicken With Greens
There’s a family of dishes that are both tangy and cozy: hot and sour soup, braised collard greens, puttanesca, brisket and now, this pot of braised chicken and greens. Its bite comes from hot pickled peppers and their brine, while the comfort comes from browned onions, tomato paste, cumin and chicken broth — and the knowledge that you can make this dish quickly with boneless thighs and any dark, leafy greens in your fridge. Eat the stew on top of something starchy to soak up the broth; it’s especially good with crunchy olive oil-fried toast (see Tip).
Squid Salad with Cucumbers, Almonds and Pickled Plum Dressing
Stir-Fried Swiss Chard and Red Peppers
This is particularly beautiful if you can find rainbow chard, those multicolored bunches with red, white and yellow stems. Slice the chard crosswise in thin strips. If the pieces are too thick, they’ll be tough.
Quick Ragù With Ricotta and Lemon
Meat ragù traditionally requires a long simmer over low heat, but this 45-minute version owes its slow-cooked flavor to a hefty dose of red-pepper or chile paste, which yields a complex, hearty sauce. (This recipe calls for sambal oelek, which is easy to find, but Calabrian chile or Hungarian paprika paste would work well, too.) Spoon the ragù over cooked, broken lasagna noodles and top it with a dollop of creamy ricotta, a sprinkle of toasted fennel and a few curls of lemon zest. This recipe uses beef, but you could also prepare it with spicy Italian sausage, or ground pork or turkey — though you may want to amplify the flavor by tossing in a little fennel seed and red-pepper flakes with the onion and garlic in Step 1.
Tuna Melt
Legend has it that the tuna melt was accidentally invented in the 1960s at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Charleston, S.C., when the cook didn’t notice that a bowl of tuna salad had tipped over onto a grilled cheese. We may never know if this story is true, but there’s no doubt that the tuna melt has become a classic American diner food. This recipe adds chopped cornichons and whole-grain mustard for a satisfying crunch and vinegary element. Extra-sharp Cheddar is a must, and as with grilled cheese, the key to achieving perfectly melted cheese and golden bread is to toast the sandwich over medium-low heat. If you prefer an open-face tuna melt, skip the top piece of bread and place the sandwich on a sheet pan under the broiler until the cheese melts.
Glazed Cod With Bok Choy, Ginger and Oyster Sauce
This quick one-skillet meal gets a boost of flavor from oyster sauce, a salty-sweet condiment made from concentrated oyster juice and soy sauce that’s often used in Chinese cooking. Here, it melds with garlic, ginger and butter to create a velvety glaze for cod fillets. If cod is unavailable, hake, striped bass or even salmon are fine substitutes. Steamed rice, soba or egg noodles are all perfect canvases for soaking up the flavorful juices.