Our Best Dinner Recipes & Ideas

The sauce is so incredible.

Pure comfort.

It’s bursting with garlic flavor.

Big comfort with minimal fuss.

It doesn’t get better than this.

Crispy on the outside, buttery and tender on the inside.

It's time to take out your Instant Pot.

Sweet and tangy.

Is anyone else in disbelief that it’s almost Christmas already? I say let this be the year that you mix up the menu a bit with some new side dishes, or trade in your roast beef tenderloin and baked ham for something different, like Filipino beef short ribs adobo or French onion pot roast. I like the idea of this year’s meal having a festive start with Christmas appetizers (I’m looking at you, baked pepper jelly cream cheese dip!

It's packed with rich and smoky flavor.

Some people have always understood that soup can be easy. I’ve just never been one of them. I’ve found myself on more than one occasion eating lunch with a friend who packed leftover soup — incredibly delicious-looking soup they’d just casually “whipped up” the night before. What was this sorcery? Doesn’t soup involve lots of chopping and simmering and layering of flavors? Apparently not, as I discovered while working on this easy pumpkin soup.

And it’s perfect on the leftovers sandwich, too!

Pastina is classic Italian comfort food. It’s the kind of dish that a mom might serve her kids when they are feeling under the weather, and is often one of the first solid foods a baby might eat. It’s a nostalgic childhood treat in Italy and something your kids are sure to enjoy as well. The seasoning is as easy as it gets: Just a bit of black pepper and maybe a pinch of salt, depending on the saltiness of your broth and cheese. The simplicity is what makes this dish special!

They’re gonna be, gonna be golden.

It’s like beef bourguignon in pot roast form.

It’s shrimply the best.

We tried every method out there to come up with the very best.

Yee-haw!

It’s ready in under 30 minutes.

If your vegetable drawer is still stuffed with squash after you’ve already grilled it, made gratin, or packed it into a quick bread, it’s time to take a cue from Southern potlucks and holiday spreads, and make a cheesy yellow squash casserole. Squash casserole is a classic meat-and-three side dish in which mild yellow squash is baked in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce, and topped with a buttery cracker topping.

We promise you’ll fall in love, too.

When you’ve eaten just about all the turkey sandwiches you can stomach, it’s time to get a bit more creative with Thanksgiving leftovers. Enter: this decadent turkey stew. Chunky vegetables, shredded turkey, and a creamy, almost gravy-like broth come together in less than an hour for an irresistible seasonal bowl that fills your house with the aroma of a home-cooked holiday meal. Here’s how to make it. It’s the perfect way to use up leftover turkey.

Mashed potatoes have found their match.

You’ll love it.

Spoiler: it’s because of brown butter, garlic, and Parm.

Traditional lasagna is a once-a-year project for me. I love it deeply, but it’s rare that I can carve out time for it. When it does happen, it’s in the dead of winter when I have absolutely nothing else to do but spend the entire day in the kitchen.While it’s impossible to beat the classic version — with a homemade bolognese sauce and, when I can manage it, homemade pasta — I’m all about an easier version that makes lasagna a much more frequent occurrence.

I’ve never met a lasagna I didn’t love. Yes, there’s something about the way it’s assembled — with the rich sauce, melty cheese, and juicy bits of browned meat blanketing the noodles — but what really makes it stand out is how the ingredients come together for a warm, comforting meal. And that’s exactly what you can expect when you tuck into a bowl of this slow cooker lasagna soup.

You can have it all.

The broth is so delightfully smoky and flavorful.

Only better!

The stew is rich and flavorful.

It starts with jarred sauce, but tastes homemade.

The potatoes are loaded with flavor while being incredibly soft and tender.

A creamy, dreamy mac & cheese that you can prep days ahead of time and just pop in the oven.

The gooey cheese topping is incredible.

Who doesn’t love mini marshmallows?

The gravy is pure perfection!

My family devoured it.

These creamy, caramelized coins are almost too good to be true.

It’s the complete package.

Everything I know about cornbread dressing — and Thanksgiving — I learned from my mother, which she in turn learned from her mother. It is a long line of resourceful Southern cooks, and I trust them with this important meal completely. The secret? It’s all about the butter! My very wise nanna once said, “Whatever the amount of butter called for in a dressing recipe, double it, triple it, heck, even quadruple it!

I married into a family that believes pretty much everything is made better with cheese. I can’t say I blame them, because these potatoes are so decadent and showstopping that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to go back to the original. What’s more is that these mashed potatoes are the ideal make-ahead side dish.

With one delicious twist.

Editor’s Note: If you’ve cooked this beloved recipe before, it might look a little different these days! We recently improved it to make it even easier to follow and more delicious.Anyone else here think that the stuffing is the best part of Thanksgiving dinner? I love its mix of textures and flavors – the buttery aromatics, herbs, and broth-soaked bread — oh mama, that’s good stuff!

Cacio e pepe is one of my favorite simple pastas — just spaghetti, Pecorino Romano, and freshly cracked black pepper come together in a creamy (without a drop of cream!), cheesy sauce. My version adds a little twist: gochujang paste. It’s a one-ingredient upgrade that completely transforms the dish by adding depth, umami, and a subtle kick of heat that blends perfectly with the cheese and pepper.

Getting dinner on the table during the week can be a feat even in the best of times. Making that happen when you’re juggling a busy schedule can feel almost impossible. To avoid ordering takeout, eating a bowl of cereal, or grazing through the pantry, we lean on a roster of reliably quick and easy weeknight dinner ideas.

It’s no secret that one of the best ways to enjoy Brussels sprouts is when they’re deeply crispy and caramelized. While there are several paths that can get you there — including high-heat roasting and air frying — there’s nothing quite like the taste and texture of Brussels sprouts that have been deep-fried.

The sauce is everything.

They're not just for meatless Mondays.

Somehow it’s even better the next day.

I’m afraid you’re about to make your neighbors very jealous. They will smell this cooking as they walk up to, and then pass by, your door — forced to smell those aromas of garlic, chicken, and cumin, all without getting a single bite. You, and only you, will get to come home from work, take a bowl from the cupboard, and proceed immediately to the table without even needing to turn on the stove.

No time, no meat, no problem.

The most delicious leftover sandwich starts here.

Here’s how you make a pan-fried pork chop that can truly rival a great steak at home: Brine it with brown sugar, pan-fry it, and then baste it with butter. If that sounds a lot like how you cook a steak at home, you’re right — this is basically pork chop steak!

I still remember the sweet sense of victory I felt when I cooked one dinner that my whole family — including my toddler — adored and gobbled up. I’m still new to this, but have learned that feeding toddlers is tricky business that requires patience, understanding, creativity, and persistence. These days I put my meal-planning efforts into building a roster of easy dinners that my whole family enjoys.

Wait for the praise.

The sauce is perfection!

Plus, it’s a complete meal.

I can't believe I've never thought to use them before.

It’s the kind of comfort food you’ll want to make again and again.

Southern biscuits are the perfect fictional device for telling the narratives of Southern families. One cook makes his biscuits with White Lily flour only because that’s how his Maw Mae did it. Another swears by lard, as her family never had the funds for high-dollar butter or shortening. Most Southern cooks bake biscuits at least once a week — a ritual and rite of passage as the recipe is handed down through the generations. My biscuit recipe is much the same.

It's classic and potato perfection.

They're shockingly simple to make.

A delicious dinner as easy as one, two, fricassée.

The sauce is so vibrant and incredibly flavorful.

Got chicken in the fridge? Make one of these tonight!

It's key to the juiciest Thanksgiving bird.