Canned Goods

Chicken soup is one of my favorite things to make in the slow cooker. As long as you use dark meat, the chicken never overcooks during the long cooking time, and making a big batch means that you can have it for dinner and stock the freezer at the same time. This Tex-Mex version has fire-roasted tomatoes, carrots, and black beans in a lightly spiced broth, and hits all the notes when you need a bright-yet-warming meal.

Meatball sandwiches are one of those hearty meals that I don’t mind eating as a filling lunch or for dinner — whenever the craving hits for some comfort food. Marinara sauce and mozzarella are a classic combination, but with the help of some enchilada sauce and Monterey Jack cheese, these meatballs can go in a spicy Mexican direction instead.

We rely on chickpeas as our go-to ingredient for everything from dips and salads to stews and stir-fries, but chickpeas also have a sweet side. The most practical pulse gets playful here and gives these blondies more snack-worthy substance, not to mention a welcome protein boost. Blondies are the golden, vanilla-flavored cousin to brownies.

This recipe is the poster child of the perfect weeknight meal. It’s fast (done in 30 minutes); cooks in one pot, so cleanup is minimal; and it takes a familiar ingredient, in this case salmon, and makes it feel fresh and new. All that might seem like a tall order for a recipe, but this dish of braised salmon rises to the occasion quite deliciously. Weeknight braising isn’t often an option unless you got your act together the night before and put the slow cooker on in the morning.

I don’t know about you, but for me the question “What’s for dinner?” is a daily tussle between good intentions and lack of time; between a desire to eat wholesome foods, and the temptation of take-out. I crave vegetables, but need easy ways to eat more of them. Enter my latest strategy for eating better without spending too much time in the kitchen: Flip the bowl!

If you’ve ever wanted to make homemade ketchup, but found it a little too fussy for your taste, the slow cooker is about to change that. Short of measuring the ingredients for you, it takes care of all the heavy lifting, slowly producing you a deep, vibrant sauce that’s like nothing you’ll ever taste from the grocery store. I understand if homemade condiments feel a little fussy to you. I used to feel the very same way. Plus, that squeeze bottle is pretty darn convenient.

Here’s the salad you serve at a sit-down dinner. And when your guests inquire what it took to put together something so elegant and pleasing, you can simply bat your lashes and say, “Hardly had to lift a finger!” And you know what? You’d be telling the whole truth because even the baked and breaded goat cheese patties that grace this fennel-based salad are easier than they appear. This is the salad you put together when you’re meal prepping for the week.

Quick-cooking shrimp is an ideal contender for a fast weeknight skillet dinner — especially when juicy tomatoes and hearty white beans join the party.

There’s no need to order chicken tikka masala takeout when you can make it lightning-fast in the pressure cooker. Boneless, skinless chicken thighs bring lots of flavor and tenderness to this recipe. Before cutting the thighs into pieces, remove any excess fat. You want the chicken pieces to be bite-sized, so aim for a cut about 1 1/2 inches. Traditional chicken tikka masala recipes start with marinating the chicken in a yogurt sauce.

Vegetable tagine, a North African stew of spiced vegetables, goes from freezer to table with the help of an array of frozen veggies and trades the eponymous tajine for a slow cooker set to low. With a few extra ingredients, you’re six hours closer to turning the contents of your freezer and pantry into a rich, flavorful dinner. Here’s how you bring this colorful freezer-to-table meal to life. As far as convenience foods go, frozen vegetables are at the top of the list.

A few weeks ago, I needed to make a hearty meal for a six hungry folks in less than 45 minutes. When I opened the refrigerator, I saw a bunch of odds and ends of other meals and a few leftovers from other dishes. I didn’t have enough leftovers of anything to reheat and eat or serve, so I need to put things together to create something new.

Leftover pasta always seems to be in my fridge, sitting in plastic containers, waiting to be repurposed. This extra pasta is perhaps as a vestige of when my kids were really young and I needed fast and simple meals. Sure, I could throw together a pasta salad with mayo or vinaigrette and some vegetables, but in the fall and winter, I want to serve — and eat — a warm, hearty meal.

Perhaps this really should be called lazy lasagna. When cheese ravioli is tossed in an abundance of marinara sauce, piled in a casserole dish, layered with even more cheese, and baked, it takes on all the good qualities of the classic layered pasta dish. Why haven’t we always been baking our ravioli? Sure, it’s lovely tossed in a sauce and served in a bowl, but it’s even better when you pile each raviolo on top of one another, tucking extra cheese in between for good measure.

Crispy, sandy, creamy, gooey, sweet, chocolatey, and nutty — this recipe is part-candy, part-cookie, and all delicious.

To make this dish more weeknight-friendly, we make stuffed cabbage rolls on the stovetop in a trusty skillet instead.

When you’re looking to add a little protein to your bowl of mac and cheese, things like shredded chicken or ground beef will do the job well, but so will something that’s a little more surprising — and arguably even more flavorful. Try a new protein on for size in the form of oil-packed tuna and consider your bowl of mac and cheese forever changed. There are a whole lot of cans of tuna out there, but we love oil-packed tins the best.

We already know the mighty chickpea to be a versatile legume, transforming itself into everything from creamy hummus to crunchy orbs inspired by Cheetos, but it manages to surprise us with another trick up its sleeve. In this case, it’s a slightly sweet and toasty spread, packed with protein and fiber. While it may sound strange to be spreading a sweet chickpea-based butter onto bread, you’ll be pleased once you try it.

Hearty and vegan? Is it possible? Yes, of course! We pulled recipes from a few vegan cookbooks hitting the market this year and asked one of our food photographers and stylists, Maria Siriano, who happens to be vegan, for her thoughts on the recipes. Vegan: The Cookbook by Jean-Christian Jury is a tour de force of vegan cuisine inspired by the culinary traditions from every corner of the globe.

For a fast way to way mix up your weeknight chicken routine, look no further than this boldly seasoned dish. Thanks to a quick honey-chipotle marinade, meaty chicken thighs and chunks of sweet potatoes pick up spicy, smoky flavor with a bit of sweetness. And since we’re making this on a sheet pan, your whole dinner is ready at once — easy prep and easy cleanup!

Hummingbird cake tastes like it could be the love child of banana bread and pineapple upside-down cake. In this Southern classic, bananas and crushed pineapple moisten a spiced cake sweetened with brown sugar and studded with pecans, and then whole the cake is coated in perfect cream cheese icing and decorated with pineapple flowers.

This ultra-comforting weeknight dinner skips the pasta in favor of a cheesy, creamy bowl of polenta as the base for a blanket of hearty sausage ragù. Inspired by our love for slow-simmered bolognese, this weeknight version blends the richness of crumbled sausage with bright tomatoes and fresh herbs for a fast sauce that will satisfy the whole family. You can always sear a few sausages for an easy weeknight meal, but this budget-friendly meat can do so much more.

With tender chickpeas swimming in an earthy oregano- and garlic-spiked tomato sauce and topped with plenty of melty feta cheese, you’ll want plenty of good, crusty bread on hand for this comforting meatless main — it’s one of those swipe-the-bowl-clean affairs. Need more convincing to make this tonight? The recipe is only a notch more involved than cracking open a can of beans from the back of the pantry and calling it dinner.

Fine by us!

You love spinach-artichoke dip and you love mac and cheese, so it only makes sense that these two crowd-pleasers come together to make this luxurious weeknight dinner. If you think each one is amazing on its own, you haven’t lived until you’ve experienced this dip-meets-dinner mash-up. With four (yes, four!) cheeses, a double dose of veggies, tender pasta, and a single pot, it doesn’t get much better than this easy-fancy mac and cheese.

Who doesn’t love dinner in just one bowl? We have a vegetarian spectacular for you today, one that looks fancy as all get-out, but hello! It only takes 30 minutes to make, and it’s gilded with a sauce of tahini and golden turmeric that’s as easy as open sesame! This bowl is perfect as a weeknight meal because it is endlessly adaptable.

Popular throughout Latin America, tres leches is a buttery cake baked and then soaked in a combination of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and whole milk, hence the “three milks” name. While milk-soaked cake might sound soggy, this cake is the perfect summertime cake, thanks to its cool serving temperature. The cake acts as a sponge for the milk mixture and takes on a rich pudding-like texture after the milks are added.

Beans and walnuts join forces for your holiday spread!

By now we hope every home cook knows the pure dinnertime pleasure that is chicken in milk. The original dish, credited most popularly to Jamie Oliver, turns a whole chicken into a succulent, fragrant delight with a rich sauce ideal for sopping up with fresh bread. This riff on that classic technique uses the slow cooker for ease and convenience, and coconut milk for those avoiding dairy or just looking for a flavor upgrade to this splendid supper sensation.

Add this vibrant vegetarian salad to next week’s meal plan and you can bank on an easy produce-packed dinner loaded with crunchy textures and big flavors. It’s a play on classic chopped salad that puts chickpeas at the forefront for extra heft, and tosses them with a mess of crunchy veggies, a pop of fresh cilantro, and a spiced honey-garlic dressing to bring it all together. I love including salad night in my meal plan rotation, but not just any salad will cut it.

When tangy BBQ chicken shows up in our weekly meal plan, my husband’s eyes always light up with excitement. But this time — when I told him it was coming in casserole form, that it involved tender riced cauliflower, and was Paleo — his eyes got squinty in the way that only happens when he’s skeptical. I, however, knew it would be a hit with him. So when he asked if there was enough for seconds after taking his first bite, I wasn’t surprised.

You only need three ingredients for these frozen treats: chocolate-covered pretzels, pumpkin purée, and peanut butter!

The trick is in how you cook the cabbage!

Huevos rancheros has been one of my favorite egg dishes since I first tasted it in Mexico, nearly 20 years ago. It’s a hearty, satisfying breakfast, which means it can also hold its own for dinner. In this version, huevos rancheros go the way of the casserole with a double layer of corn tortillas, a generous helping of beans and cheese, and the signature spicy-sweet tomato-chile sauce.

Until I was 30-something, I am ashamed to say that I didn’t “get” chickpeas outside of their use as hummus. I had tried roasting them as snacks, but didn’t see the point (there are tastier snacks out there!) — and my fascination stopped there. It wasn’t until a decade later that I realized their potential to become a meal in a flash, thanks to their pantry-staple friendliness.

What would some of our favorite comfort food classics looks like if we asked a nutritionist to give them a makeover? In this series of recipes, you see how smart choices around vegetables, meats, and cheese make for a lighter, more nutritious take on everything from mac and cheese to meatloaf without ever compromising the flavor. Enchiladas are a go-to weeknight meal for me because they’re easy to assemble and have a short bake time.

You know that bag of carrots sitting in the corner of your fridge? The ones you keep there as a backup vegetable to have on hand just in case because they last forever? (I know it’s not just me who does this). This salad is going to forever change the way you look at those carrots. They’re tossed with a sprinkle of coriander and roasted until lightly charred and paired with warm chickpeas that have been infused with the aroma of sunny citrus.

It's creamy, crunchy, and downright sexy.

Everyone loves brisket, a Texas staple. Texans — Tejanos — are especially obsessed. My beer-braised brisket is fork-tender, perfect for a crowd, and requires no babysitting. Place it in the slow cooker and go about your day. Your family will love it, and football fans will adore it! Using beer as the braising liquid immediately adds flavor to the meat — meaning you can get away with fewer ingredients total.

Migas are a breakfast favorite in every corner of Texas. I’ve taken the classic skillet migas and transformed them into a low-and-slow, cheesy migas casserole. Put on a pot of coffee, invite a few friends over, and enjoy this migas casserole for brunch. Most breakfast recipes that call for tortilla chips (huevos rancheros, chilaquiles, breakfast nachos, etc.) require poaching or frying eggs, too. Not so with migas casserole.

Pasta e fagioli translates to “pasta and beans,” but that doesn’t even begin to describe all the flavorful elements of this humble, comforting dish. Tender pinto beans cook all day, resulting in a rich and creamy broth, and vibrant tomatoes, pancetta, and herbs are added to round out the sophisticated Italian meal. Here, we use the slow cooker to pull this soup together, making it a hands-off dinner you can eat tonight and enjoy all week.

We streamlined the comforting classic so you can have it on the table faster.

My pantry is pretty trim, given the limited space I have in my apartment kitchen, but one thing I always keep on hand is a can of cannellini beans. Their versatility alone is worth giving them room in the pantry, among the boxes of pasta and bags of rice. Pop open a can or two, and in next to no time they become a simple and satisfying dinner any night of the week. Here are my 10 favorite ways to use them.

The next time you want to turn a humble baked potato into dinner, take a cue from taco night. This weeknight wonder is inspired by classic ground beef tacos, where the meat is kissed with garlic and tomato and laced with warm, smoky spices — just the way you remember. Best of all, the beef and potatoes cook together all day in the slow cooker, so all that’s left to do when it’s time to get dinner on the table is stuff the potatoes and pile on all your favorite taco toppings.

With a smart grocery list in hand, you can make easy enchiladas with just five ingredients and no tortilla rolling required. Tender slices of sweet potato are layered with black beans, spinach, cheese, and enchilada sauce, resulting in a gooey, bubbling vegetarian casserole. Sprinkle the top with chopped cilantro and diced avocado and serve with warm corn tortillas. Enchilada sauce is what makes this five-ingredient casserole possible.