Lunch Recipes & Ideas

Summer rolls, also known as fresh spring rolls, are one of my favorite things to order at a restaurant. They are made from rice paper wrappers rolled around fresh crunchy vegetables partnered with cold proteins, fresh herbs, and sometimes noodles. Gỏi cuốn are Vietnamese in origin (along with chả giò, which are fried spring rolls) but there are countless variations of fillings made with an assortment of veggies and proteins.Summer rolls are also easy to make at home!

It takes only 20 minutes.

Hard-boiled eggs get the luxe treatment.

It takes just a little bit of time and patience with nearly zero effort.

It feels totally fancy, and is surprisingly easy.

It makes me actually excited to eat salad.

Drown everything in savory brown gravy.

If you’re a Thousand Island fan, it’s likely you’ll love this Russian dressing just as much, if not more. Both sauces have similar origins and start with that delicious combination of mayonnaise and ketchup or tomato-based chili sauce (such as Heinz Chili Sauce). It’s super easy to make and won’t take more than five minutes to prepare, but it’ll substantially increase the tastiness of whatever you’re slathering it on.

Bubble and squeak, with its cutesy name, is a classic British day-after-holiday dish. It is incredibly versatile, as you can throw in any leftover vegetables or mashed potatoes into this comforting recipe — perfect for a relaxing meal after a hectic holiday. Usually made to use up leftovers after a Sunday roast dinner, or a major holiday like Easter or Christmas, bubble and squeak is quintessentially British and makes for a hearty breakfast, lunch, or even a quick weeknight meal.

Almost every culture has a homey version of chicken soup to comfort the sick or the soul weary, or to stave off the chill of cold weather, but the Greeks might just have one of the best: the egg and lemon soup known as avgolemono. Here’s how to make this classic comforting soup at home. First of all, it’s gorgeous. The broth is vibrant yellow from the eggs and heavily scented with lemon fragrance. The broth is rich, but not heavy.

If you’re new to cooking with cabbage (or steadfast skeptic), I encourage you to give this kielbasa and cabbage one-skillet dinner a try. Watch the crunchy crucifer turn tender, golden, and buttery alongside smoky sliced sausage and a sprinkle of caraway seeds, and you’ll be hooked. And since apples and mustard are classic accompaniments to both kielbasa and cabbage, finish this 30-minute meal with a splash of sweet and tangy apple cider vinegar and whole-grain mustard.

One bad hard-boiled egg can ruin you for life. At least, that’s what I believed until I learned how to cook soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs, and precisely how I wanted to eat them. The perfect hard-boiled egg has no green ring around the yolk and the innards are creamy and mellow (plus easy to peel!). And if you’re in the mood, you can stop short of the hard-boil and make a gooey soft-boiled egg instead.

Say goodbye to your sad desk lunch.

All the pickle girls out there — this one’s for you.

Three words: crushed barbecue chips.

The key to a really good pizza is, of course, the crust. I make pizza at home at least once a week, so you can be sure this recipe comes to you after years of very meticulous kitchen testing! (Totally new to making pizza? Check out our absolute beginner’s guide to pizza making, too!)Also, the fact that this dough comes together in just a few minutes and doesn’t need time to rise means that you can have pizza for dinner any night of the week.

Meet your new favorite party recipe: slow cooker baked beans. Long loved for their sweet, tangy flavor and tender, creamy texture, baked beans for backyard barbecues, summer cookouts, and game day parties used to mean heating up the whole house to slowly cook the dried beans for hours upon hours. Here the slow cooker saves the day by doing all the work and keeping you cool at the same time.

Soup dumplings who?

So simple, so satisfying.

Pork shoulder is one of my secret weapons in the kitchen. Slow-cooked, it can become a thousand different meals. I can mix in some barbecue sauce and make pulled pork sandwiches, scatter it on top of tortilla chips for pulled pork nachos, or use it as a filling for pulled pork lettuce wraps. And that’s just to start! Here’s everything you need to know about pork shoulder — from choosing the meat to transforming it into a fork-tender meal that can last all week.

You might adore Olive Garden for the unlimited salad and garlic breadsticks (our copycat recipe is seriously legit!) or the ultra-comforting creamy pastas, but for me, it’s all about the luxuriously creamy chicken gnocchi soup. Just thinking about it, I can smell the herb and black pepper-flecked broth and feel the warm, satisfying comfort it brings to my belly.

Hint: Put down the extra-sharp cheddar.

All the cooking happens in the oven, so you barely need to stand in front of the stove.

Banish all thoughts of stringy, tough, sad chicken from your mind. For our chicken salad sandwiches and quick chicken weeknight meals, we want nothing but the best. And for that, poached chicken is definitely the way to go. This poached chicken method is easy, fast, and foolproof. Totally tender chicken breasts that are as good for dinner as they are for lunch the next day? Not a problem.

Oh, and it's done in 25 minutes flat.

I promise — this will be the best fried rice you'll ever make.

This is a bowl of pure comfort.

There's nothing your slow cooker can't do — and these recipes prove it.

Bonus: It's super easy.

These will warm you right up.

What's a bowl?

Easy, satisfying meals for whatever mood you're in.

Meet the anytime meal of your dreams.

Oh, and it cooks in just 30 minutes.

Crab cakes should be all about the crab — no questions asked. They should be crispy on the outside, moist and flaky on the inside, and taste exclusively of fresh, delicious crab. No fillers or excess spices getting in the way. If you agree, you’ve come to the right place. Our crab cake recipe is intentionally unfussy. We’ve put crab meat at the center of the equation, and thrown in just enough extras to hold the patties together.

It's the coziest thing you'll cook all winter.

Grab your sheet pan.

Everything you love about the classic cheesy pasta, without the fuss.

So. Much. Flavor.

Happy soup season, everyone!

You say bruSHETta, I say bruSKETta, we all say tartine! Open-faced sandwiches seem to have a special place, here at The Kitchn, with over a dozen recipes scattered through our archives. Why? They’re so pretty, their piled fillings on display, and they work well as lunch, dinner, an appetizer. From sweet potato goat cheese bruschetta to a ricotta, fig, and honey tartine for fall, here are 25 of our favorite open-faced sandwiches.

Slow cooker soups, quick and easy weeknight pastas, and the best-ever veggie burger topped the list of vegetarian mains.

Satisfying recipes that are extra portable.

Set yourself up for a great week ahead.

This pared-down red lentil soup is the one I make most often, and it never fails to please.

This is the best way to cook corn for a crowd.

Learn the secret to the spud.

Works like a charm every single time.

The slow cooker makes easy work of this creamy, comforting classic.

Take a plate of greens from blah to ooh-la-la.

Fried cornbread slathered with salted butter? Sign us up.

It's toasty, cheesy, and super comforting.