Chicken Pot Pie
Tender chicken and vegetables in a thick, savory gravy under a flaky golden crust, with a filling cooled before it is covered so the pastry bakes crisp instead of steaming.
- Total time
- 1 hr 35 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Main Dishes
Dinners that carry the whole plate.
Everything here is the centre of a plate rather than something beside one. Most are weeknight dinner territory — under an hour, one pan where possible — and the few that are not say so in the timings at the top.
Each recipe explains the step that decides the result: why the pan has to be hot before the meat touches it, why the sauce comes off the heat before the cheese goes in.
Chicken and Dumplings
Southern chicken and dumplings: bone-in thighs simmered into a rich, lightly creamy broth, topped with fluffy drop dumplings that steam under a closed lid until light all the way through.
- Total time
- 1 hr 35 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Baked Ziti
Ziti boiled two minutes short, tossed in a beef and sausage tomato sauce, layered with seasoned ricotta and baked under mozzarella until browned and bubbling.
- Total time
- 1 hr 45 min
- Yield
- Serves 8
Fettuccine Alfredo
The American restaurant-style fettuccine alfredo: butter, cream and real Parmigiano-Reggiano tossed with hot pasta and a splash of its cooking water, so the sauce is silky instead of clumpy or oily.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Crock Pot Cashew Chicken
Takeout-style cashew chicken from the slow cooker: cornstarch-dusted chicken seared for color, cooked low in a soy, hoisin and rice vinegar sauce, with the cashews stirred in at the end so they stay crunchy.
- Total time
- 3 hr 20 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Air Fryer Chicken Thighs
Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs dried and dry-brined with salt and baking powder, then air fried skin side down first and finished skin side up for crackling skin and juicy meat.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Chicken and Rice Casserole
A from-scratch chicken and rice casserole where raw long-grain rice bakes right in a creamy, seasoned broth under seared chicken thighs, so the rice comes out tender and the chicken stays juicy.
- Total time
- 1 hr 40 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Tuna Casserole
A from-scratch tuna noodle casserole: egg noodles, peas and good canned tuna in a creamy mushroom sauce, baked under buttery toasted breadcrumbs until bubbling.
- Total time
- 55 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Egg Roll in a Bowl
All the filling of an egg roll without the wrapper: ground pork browned hard, cabbage and carrots stir-fried just until crisp-tender, and a ginger-garlic soy sauce, ready in twenty-five minutes.
- Total time
- 25 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Creamy Garlic Chicken
Thin chicken cutlets seared golden, then simmered briefly in a garlic, Parmesan and cream pan sauce built on the browned bits in the skillet. One pan, thirty minutes.
- Total time
- 30 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Loco Moco
Hawaii's favorite plate lunch: a bed of white rice, a seared hamburger steak, a rich brown onion and mushroom gravy made in the same pan, and a runny fried egg on top.
- Total time
- 40 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Sushi Bake
Seasoned sushi rice pressed into a dish, topped with a creamy salmon and imitation crab mixture, baked until golden and drizzled with spicy mayo and eel sauce. Scoop it onto roasted seaweed.
- Total time
- 1 hr 20 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Creamy Sausage Pasta
Italian sausage browned hard for its fond, deglazed with wine, and finished into a clinging sauce with cream, Parmesan and pasta water.
- Total time
- 35 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Greek Chicken Gyros
Yoghurt-marinated thighs off a screaming hot pan, folded into warm pita with tzatziki, tomato and raw onion.
- Total time
- 3 hr 34 min
- Yield
- Makes 6 gyros
Instant Pot Beef Stew with Vegetables
Thirty-five minutes under pressure for meat that would take three hours in the oven. The vegetables go in for a second, shorter round.
- Total time
- 1 hr 20 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Crockpot Tortellini
Italian sausage and a cream sauce that builds itself over four hours. The pasta joins for the last twenty minutes.
- Total time
- 4 hr 25 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Baked Honey Dijon Chicken
Chicken breasts baked plain, glazed in the last ten minutes with honey, two mustards and cider vinegar, then flashed under the broiler.
- Total time
- 45 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Big Mac Wraps
The familiar burger combination — tangy sauce, shredded lettuce, pickles, onion and melted cheese — rolled into a tortilla around seasoned ground beef.
- Total time
- 55 min
- Yield
- Makes 4 wraps
Crockpot Beef and Broccoli
Chuck steak braised until it gives, in a glossy soy and ginger sauce, with broccoli added at the very end so it stays green.
- Total time
- 5 hr 20 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Air Fryer Fried Chicken
Buttermilk-brined thighs in a craggy seasoned crust, crisp all over in 25 minutes without a pot of hot oil.
- Total time
- 4 hr 45 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Creamy Chicken Gnocchi
Browned chicken thighs and potato gnocchi in a thyme cream sauce built deliberately loose, because the gnocchi thicken it themselves.
- Total time
- 35 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Creamy Million Dollar Chicken Casserole
Shredded chicken in a tangy cream cheese and sour cream layer under a buttery cracker crust, baked until the edges bubble and the top shatters.
- Total time
- 1 hr 5 min
- Yield
- Serves 6
Baked Chicken Chimichangas
A dry, well-seasoned chicken filling rolled tight, brushed with butter and baked seam down on a preheated pan until the tortilla blisters.
- Total time
- 50 min
- Yield
- Makes 6 chimichangas
Beef Tacos with Peach Vinegar Slaw
Hard-seared ground beef in warm tortillas, topped with a cabbage and peach slaw dressed at the last possible moment.
- Total time
- 32 min
- Yield
- Makes 8 tacos, serves 4