Weeknight Meals

A half a cup of olive oil may seem like whoa, too much, but that's the key to crisping up the chicken.

Instead of chicken, this curry recipe is really good with boneless pork chops. Cut into ½" pieces and proceed as written. Check out step-by-step photos here.

If you don’t happen to have or particularly enjoy pastrami, bacon or pancetta would be a delicious substitute for this minestrone recipe. Check out step-by-step photos here.

For a hearty vegetarian version of this pasta recipe, use squash, mushrooms, or eggplants in place of shrimp.

Think of this butternut cacio e pepe recipe as pasta cacio e pepe...with sausage. It’s comfort food-y, so it could use some fresh greens and/or veggies to help balance it out. Check out step-by-step photos here.

As you’re crisping the rice for this chicken salad recipe, the leeks and carrots may look very dark. Don’t be scared or angry at us; the veggies aren’t burnt, they’re just deeply caramelized and will add lots of flavor to the final dish. Check out step-by-step photos here.

This is going to seem like a lot of oil, but you really need it to a) crisp up the rice and b) make it seem like fried rice and not a rice pilaf. To that end, you can’t use freshly cooked (meaning, still warm and moist) rice for this recipe. If you do, it will get gummy in the pan and won’t crisp. Day-old rice is ideal, or you can quickly dry out a just-made batch. Spread rice on a sheet tray and put in a low oven 5–10 minutes. Let air-dry for about 1 hour and up to 5. Seems nitpicky, but worth .…

The ingredient list for a curry can be a little daunting with all those spices, but the technique isn’t very far from a pasta sauce: you just toast the whole spices and then move on to a sort of sofrito of onion, garlic, and ginger. From that flavor base, you add tomatoes and whatever veggies you desire. At the end, a quick chutney, really just a rough chopped blend of herbs and coconut, gives the stew a bright pop of flavor (the way a few torn basil leaves make that tomato sauce sing).

For this carb-on-carb fried rice recipe, you can use anything but boxed stuffing (the texture is too fine and will turn to mush). We chose a cornbread and chorizo stuffing, which can handle being cooked again and tossed in the stir-fry.

The smoky sauce and mix of spices in this meatball recipe complement lamb perfectly. It would be great with ground beef too, if that’s more your thing.

This roasted carrots recipe makes extra dressing, which is good because you’ll want to use it on your next burger, over broiled salmon, or in a grain salad.

Kimchi gives this porridge recipe a spicy twist, while the 6-minute egg keeps it hearty and perfect for breakfast.

When overlapping the phyllo over the filling in this recipe, work carefully but quickly so the phyllo doesn’t dry out before baking.

Don’t skip on the fresh herb garnishes for this recipe; they will serve as a good contrast to the curry.

Garlic and collard greens make a healthy addition to this porridge recipe, but you can use any leftover greens you have on hand.

Spicy, mouth-tingling, porky: Those are the words you’ll be using to describe this tofu recipe.

To cut up the kabocha squash for this recipe, slice ¼" off the stem end and base. Stand it on a cut end and halve from top to bottom. Scoop out seeds, peel, and you're home free.

Fennel and celery share more than just the dubious honor of being incredibly underrated vegetables. Their snappy crunch is awesome raw, as proven by this densely textured salad recipe.

This is an overstuffed, saucy little sandwich, but our pita trick in this recipe ensures that the pocket won’t implode while you’re eating it.

Take a breather from roasting. Our stovetop method for this glazed vegetables recipe yields glossy, tender results and works on basically any firm veg.

We know, another kale salad recipe! Don’t write this one off. Roasted ginger makes this one extra special.

Cooking the brussels in two stages for this recipe ensures that the cores will be tender and the outer leaves will still have bite.

For this porridge recipe, pulsing long-cooking spelt, wheat berries, or barley in a blender yields a tasty base for a hearty, savory supper.

After a heavy Thanksgiving meal, we look for recipes that double as a palate cleanser, with spice, zing, freshness—and vegetables that, you know, still have some crunch.