Coco Morante

Yes, it’s true. You can cook a whole chicken in the Instant Pot. Just keep in mind a couple of things: The chicken must weigh four pounds or less (essentially a broiler-fryer), and it won’t come out with a crispy, crackling skin like it would from the oven. I find that the convenience and the speed of the Instant Pot make up for those two differences, as does the delicious mushroom sauce this chicken is served with.

Thanksgiving requires a lot of oven space, but these riffs on your favorite sides don't.

Mashed sweet potato recipes generally start with roasting your sweet potatoes, but this can be a tricky proposition when oven space is limited. For a stovetop adaptation, simmer those sweet potatoes in a rich cooking liquid that gets blended right in at the end. This keeps things more flavorful and less waterlogged than if you’d just boiled the sweet potatoes in water.

You may be used to cooking stuffing in the oven, but did you know it can be made on the stovetop too? Don’t bother with the prepackaged stuff (i.e. those iconic red boxes) if you can help it, though. Homemade stuffing made with crusty, artisan bread and fresh herbs and vegetables is so, so good. The best part about stovetop stuffing? You’ll save precious oven space, which you’ll need for that turkey, sweet potato casserole, and green beans casserole.

Save yourself the trouble of peeling potatoes and go the rustic route instead. Red potatoes have delicate, tender skins, so they’re perfect for mashing whole. Even better, you can mash the potatoes right in their cooking pot, where they’ll stay warm until you’re ready to serve them up. A handful of whole garlic cloves simmer right along with the potatoes, becoming soft and mash-able just as the potatoes cook through.

Sliced into thin ribbons and sautéed with butter, onions, and pancetta, these deluxe Brussels sprouts get dressed up even further with a topping of butter-browned walnuts and crispy fried sage. Yes, please! So much holiday flavor in one little vegetable dish. This recipe has changed the way I think about Brussels sprouts — I’ll never steam them again! You can slice the sprouts yourself, or buy them pre-shredded (I know Trader Joe’s carries them this way.

Green beans have earned their spot as the obligatory Thanksgiving vegetable for good reason — they are delicious, kid-friendly, and easy to prepare. Whether steamed, roasted, or folded into a creamy casserole, chances are they’re on your holiday menu. Try a new method this year and steam-fry your green beans with shallots and mushrooms. Simple but unexpected, it’s a vegetable dish that will please even the pickiest of eaters.

I dare you not to twirl your fork into this simple pasta dish! Once your pasta pot is at a rolling boil, you’re about 10 minutes away from noodly bliss. Succulent shrimp and linguini are tossed with a super-quick tomato cream sauce — one that’s fragrant with aromatic garlic, shallots, and white wine. Seriously, what’s not to like?

Item: Cuisinart Gelateria Ice Cream Maker Price: $119.95 Overall Impression: Well-designed and so simple to operate, the Cuisinart Gelateria is a great option for making generous batches of customized frozen treats. Sometimes, all of the popsicles, slushies, and granitas in the world just don’t cut it. What you really want is a bowl of silky-smooth, soft and melty ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Product: iDevices Kitchen Thermometer Price: $68 Overall Impression: A fun gift for your favorite gadget-loving cook, this thermometer lets you leave the kitchen while dinner cooks to perfection. When it comes to high-tech kitchen tools, I’m a big fan of ones that help me get dinner on the table faster and more easily. Bonus points if they get my husband interested in helping with the cooking.

Item: Mama O’s Kimchi Paste Price: $19.95 (set of two 6-ounce jars) Overall Impression: Mama O’s Kimchi Paste removes all the guesswork (and a good amount of actual work) from making the perfect batch of kimchi. Kimchi is such a wonder-food. Its flavor profile is pretty versatile — I use it in place of hot sauce and salsa with all kinds of different meals. A scoop of kimchi on my morning eggs? Next to grilled chicken thighs?

Cookbook: The Broad Fork by Hugh Acheson The Skim: Need some inspiration for cooking with your CSA share? Want to know what the heck to do with kohlrabi? Chef Hugh Acheson will lure you in with his unpretentious, relatable style, and then help you turn out restaurant-quality recipes in your home kitchen. My favorite cookbooks come at vegetables not from a health standpoint, but with the goal of highlighting their deliciousness. After all, I know this stuff is good for me.

Item: Gourmet Garden Lightly Dried Herbs Price: $3.99 Overall Impression: With impressively green flavor and a month-long shelf life, these herbs straddle the line between fresh and dried. We’re all looking for little helpers in the kitchen — ways to streamline the weeknight dinner-making process, add bursts of flavor to otherwise uninspired meals, and maybe most importantly, encourage us to cook more often.

Item: Colonel Pabst All-Malt Amber Lager Worcestershire Price: $13.95 Overall Impression: A condiment with hipster cred, the main ingredient in this Worcestershire sauce is — you guessed it — beer! It’s a mellow, rich brew, perfect for adding to meatloaf, Sloppy Joes, burgers, and cocktails. Worcestershire is one of those great condiments that rounds out the flavor of any dish it goes into. It has a magical trifecta of flavor-boosting attributes: salty, savory, and sweet.

Got a gross mess on your Le Creuset? All that's needed is one secret weapon you probably already have in your kitchen.

Happy almost Easter, Kitchn readers! Looking for a beautiful, natural way to dye your eggs this year? Forget the technicolor dyes and look to your pantry, because onion skins are all you need to produce lovely, variegated-toned eggs. In Easter Land, things can get a little out of hand when it comes to the arts-and-crafts aspect of the holiday.

Channel your inner crafter this weekend and get stamping! It’s time to raid the produce drawer for some artsy inspiration. Did you know that okra pods, when cut in half crosswise, look like cute little blooms? Celery resembles a rose, and cabbages make a dramatic print, like big mums or dahlias. With that knowledge in hand, we’re headed into the kitchen to make our own vegetable-stamped tea towels, just in time for spring.

Leftovers can be a boon rather than a ball and chain. Here’s the thing — they just have to be basic enough so they can be repurposed and incorporated into completely different meals. Just think about those days after Thanksgiving, when you’ve got pounds of roasted turkey for turkey sandwiches, turkey noodle casserole, turkey enchiladas, turkey soup … you get the idea. As it turns out, that strategy works for plain-old chicken, too.

Salty, briny feta and olives, and crunchy, lemony croutons are delightful little flavor bombs, making every forkful of this Greek-style salad a pleasure to eat. It’s one of those salads that works well as a one-dish meal — a great lunch or dinner that comes together in just a few minutes. While you could make this recipe even faster by using store-bought croutons, they are so simple and inexpensive to make at home. Furthermore, you can flavor them any way you want.

When you’re looking to liven up leftover cooked chicken, a sweet and tangy honey-mustard sauce goes a long way! Add a freshly steamed pot of rice and some sautéed vegetables, and you’ve got a quick weeknight meal that’s full of bright flavors and textures. Grain bowls are one of my favorite meals. They’re easy to serve and enjoy at the dinner table, on the couch for a Netflix marathon night, or as a packed lunch to take to work.

With grains, protein, and vegetables all in one pot, this soup is a complete meal unto itself! Ladled into bowls for a quick weeknight dinner, or stored in a thermos for a comforting hot lunch, it’s the perfect antidote to your winter cooking needs. It’s great to have some go-to recipes up your sleeve for using leftover, cooked chicken, and this soup is one of my favorites.

Sheet-pan suppers are one of my favorite no-fuss ways to get dinner on the table. Most of the cooking time is unattended, so you’re free to leave your kitchen post while your dinner is doing its thing in the oven. Pour yourself a glass of wine, kick back, and relax as the oven does all the work — rendering your chicken skin crispy and turning your potatoes golden-brown. This meal is not only super simple to put together, but it’s also very easy to customize to your liking.

Renters, rejoice! There’s a fun way to give your kitchen a little chalkboard love without painting a wall, drilling holes, or spending a lot of money. A trip to the craft store will provide you with the tools for this fun, easy DIY chalkboard, perfect for scribbling grocery lists, menu plans, or notes to your housemates. When my husband and I first moved into our apartment, we discovered something unfortunate about the walls.

Even if you’re not the craftiest crafter in Craftland (I certainly am not), you can make a potato stamp. These sweet little napkins will add something special to your Valentine’s Day table without being too precious. I just love how they turned out! Inexpensive and easy to make, they’re more unique than any table linens you can buy in a store. Everyone I’ve talked to about this project has said something along the lines of, “Oh yeah, we did those in preschool!

Did you acquire an electric or stovetop panini press during the late 1990s craze, only to use it once or twice? Before you think about culling it from your kitchen, consider a few of the ways I use my stovetop model. It’s great for more than just sandwiches, and I find myself pulling it out of the cabinet often. Allow me to tell you about my top five uses for one of my favorite tools!

Winter weather provides the perfect excuse to crank up the oven to 500ºF and make some artisan-style pizza! If you want something better at home than you can find in a delivery box, then we have a great online class for you. In a 90-minute series of video lessons, Peter Reinhart will teach you everything you need to know to make perfect pizza. Best of all?

Small cracks in a wooden butcher block or cutting board aren’t just a cosmetic annoyance; they can also harbor bacteria, rendering your butcher block unsafe to use for food preparation. While major cracks and warps require professional repair, smaller hairline fractures can be repaired at home simply with just a few odds and ends from the hardware store. Here’s how to get your butcher block back into useable form!

When it’s cold and wet outside, be on the lookout: That’s the time when ants are on the march towards your kitchen, looking for warmer, sugar-stocked climes to hide out in for the winter. The solution? Make a bottle of this potent natural spray to use on your window and door frames, baseboards, and anywhere else the little critters tend to sneak into your home. There are plenty of ways to prevent ants from taking over indoors.

It’s so very easy to keep acquiring hot sauces until, what do you know, they’re taking up most of the prime refrigerator door real estate. That’s how it goes in my house, anyway, as my chili-head husband seems to add a new one to his collection each week. Here are a few ways I’m planning to get through some of our spicy condiments! 1. A few drops on your morning eggs. If you make it a habit, you’ll be surprised how quickly the bottle is gone. 2.

First thing in the morning, I am nothing without my steaming hot mug of coffee. Truth be told, you’d have to pry it out of my hands to get me to give it up! However, I have a one mug-a-day limit — any more caffeine throughout the day starts messing with my mood and sleep, and the acid isn’t so great for my tummy either. When I want the warm, comforting sensation of a cup of coffee without the acid and caffeine, I reach for one of these four substitutes instead.

You just need some beeswax and sunflower oil.

Instant oatmeal can be a lifesaver on busy mornings, but it’s also great when you want to throw together a quick dessert! With just two more ingredients, this pantry staple is transformed into a hot, comforting fruit crumble. Read on for easy instructions for this warming weeknight treat for two. One packet of instant oatmeal makes enough crumble topping for two servings of dessert, and you can use any flavor you’ve got in the cupboard.

Cookbook: My Little French Kitchen by Rachel Khoo Overall Impression: Drawing inspiration from her travels throughout France, Rachel Khoo puts her distinctive stamp on the country’s regional cuisines. What do you do when you’ve got a case of Parisian ennui? Why, cavort all over France with an ace photographer, gathering gorgeous images and riffing on classic recipes from the country’s various food-producing regions, of course!

If you’re looking for some new inspiration for your slow cooker, I have five cookbooks you definitely need to check out. Each one features recipes you’d never imagine could be made in a slow cooker. Whether you’d like to dip a toe into a new-to-you cuisine, make an effortless, hands-off dessert, or go vegan for a Meatless Monday, these books will give you tons of exciting new ways to put your slow cooker to work.

Cookie-baking season is in full swing, but I’m going the no-bake route this year! Instead of turning out sheets of sugar cookies, I’ve been melting chocolate into batch after batch of holiday bark — first with this White Chocolate Cheesecake Bark, then with this Elvis Bark, and now today’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark. This version is my favorite so far. White and dark chocolate get swirled together to form the base (so pretty!

It is widely known that the crowned King of Rock ‘n’ Roll loved peanut butter-and-banana sandwiches. With or without bacon, he enjoyed them often — they were one of his favorite indulgences at home and on the road. In homage to this delicious snack, here’s a holiday bark, fit for Elvis himself! This salty-sweet combination of flavors hits all the right notes.