The 31 Best Recipes to Cook This January
Happy New Year! My approach to January cooking is always the same: I give myself a little cooking reset, I lean hard on cozy, comforting meals for cold winter days (like hot and sour soup and red lentil chili), and, most importantly, I ease into the new year with a short roster of easy, low-effort recipes (think: 5-ingredient no-boil baked ziti, 20-minute pork and broccoli rice bowls, and skillet chili mac).
Resolutions and goals are so often made around food and cooking. I’m focused on drinking more water (again!) and meal prepping lunch for the week ahead. If you’re focused upping your breakfast game, peanut butter oatmeal and egg muffins are a great place to start. Want to eat more greens? Go for sautéed escarole (you thought I was going to say a green smoothie, didn’t you?) — it’s a fun change from spinach and kale, easily cooks up in minutes, and goes with almost everything. For aspiring meal preppers (as well as anyone who’s following Whole30 or looking to limit carbs), sheet pan baked chicken and veggies is an ideal place to start.
Use the long weekend that falls mid-month for a baking project, like a loaf of cinnamon-raisin swirl bread. This month snacks are also a must, whether you’ll be spending extra time hunkered down indoors or refueling after being out in the snow — and you won’t regret having a big batch of Chex mix on hand.
January is a month to cozy up with warming, hearty pots of soup and chili, noodles dishes, and comforting casseroles. We have all of that and so much more. Here are 31 our favorite ideas to inspire your cooking (and baking!) all month long, because we want you to have a positively delicious January.