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Amiel Stanek head shot - Bon Appétit

Amiel Stanek

Contributing Editor

Amiel has worked at Bon Appétit in some capacity since 2012(!)—a sentence that makes him feel very old indeed. In that time, he has focused primarily on writing and editing service-driven cooking content across all platforms but has also developed recipes, penned travel guides, and hosted more than a few videos. These days, he mostly works on the Basically section of the print magazine and helps to report BA’s annual Best New Restaurants package. He has worked as a line cook, caterer, private chef, and in various other kitchen roles since he was 18, and is currently the culinary director of Moonburger, a plant-based fast food restaurant in Kingston, NY. Amiel lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife, Lauren, their snaggle-toothed puggle, Chunky, and more than a few jars of bubbling ferments.

For the Love of Cottage Cheese Salad

If the idea of cottage cheese in a summer tomato salad sounds weird to you, try to think of it like a caprese that just got back from a little Eastern European vacation.

Your Summer Needs More Cottage Cheese

It’s the season’s sexiest ingredient. Prove me wrong.

Enough With the Salmon Already!

You're tired of cooking salmon three times of a week, right?

I Fully Endorse Tipsy Wine Shopping at Bar Norman

You can drink wine *and* buy a bottle to take home.

Enough with the Ridiculous Extra-Long Grill Tools Already!

You don’t need the goofy oversized grill tools they’re always hawking at the hardware store—here’s what to buy instead.

Venezuelan Sticky Buns > Regular Sticky Buns, Always and Forever

Do your sticky buns have salty cheese in them? Didn’t think so.

30-Something Dinner Parties Are the Best Dinner Parties

By this point in your life, you know that all the cooking you're doing isn't for your friends. It's for you.

White Bean and Spring Vegetable Stew

This stew recipe is all about those lovingly cooked and seasoned dried beans and the glorious (vegan!) broth they create.

The Nashville Restaurant That Melted My Icy, Jaded, Overfed Heart

Monell’s is good, clean, all-you-can-eat, family-style fun.

I’ll Take Granny Rye Over Bread Bro Sourdough Any Day

Why shell out $10 for “Old World-style” loaves when you can get the real thing at Greenpoint’s Old Poland Bakery?

My Favorite Wine Glasses Are Actually Water Glasses

A newer, saner era of sensible drinking vessels has arrived.

I Fly This Airline Just for the Cocktail Mixers

Sure, it’s just a drink. But up there, it’s kind of everything.

Six Degrees of Chicken Cutlet: A Dish-by-Dish Explainer

How many ways can you possibly cook a pounded-thin piece of chicken breast? Well, as any self-respecting red sauce menu will tell you, the answer is…a lot.

If This Restaurant’s Tortillas Were Any More Lard-y, They Would Oink and Run Away

San Diego’s Las Cuatro Milpas puts flour tortillas in a whole new light.

Crispy-Gone-Soggy Is the Finest Texture of Food There Is, Fight Me

Chicken Parm. Nachos. General Tso’s chicken. Need I say more? (Spoiler Alert: I do.)

This One Thing Makes Buying Wine WAY Less Overwhelming

I used to be an anxious, freaked-out wine shopper. And then everything changed.

Our Go-To Crispy Tofu Method Could Not Be Easier

This is tofu we want to make again and again and again.

A Giant, Freaky, Joyful Pot of Greens to Redeem My Butter-Drenched Soul

Green gumbo makes stuffing your face with veggies a pleasure, not an obligation.