How To

They're perfectly chewy.

Your favorite pasta impersonator, in under 15 minutes.

Tomato purée is a cooking essential you might be missing. Simpler and a bit thicker than its flavorful cousin, tomato sauce, tomato purée is a fast way to quickly prepare and freeze a bushel of fresh tomatoes for future cooking. Plum or Roma tomatoes are best for purée because they are generally grown for preserving. Paste, oven-dried tomatoes, and sauce are all made from these varieties — they are low in water content and rich in flavor.

The minimalist dessert gets a maximalist upgrade.

Once you learn how easy it is to make, you may never return to the store-bought stuff again.

Move over, ketchup and Sriracha! When it comes to versatile red condiments, harissa is my absolute favorite. This Tunisian chile sauce is a fantastic shortcut to spice up a meal and can be used with everything from meat to vegetables, couscous, roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, as a dip for bread … the list is truly endless. Making them is easy; you can blend the chiles into a thick paste with garlic, olive oil, and aromatic spices.

Milk kefir is an easy sell for anyone who loves yogurt, which I most definitely do. KefirsmoothieprobioticsAll you need is a teaspoon of active kefir grains and a cup of whole milk. Milk kefir is a fermented dairy product similar in many ways to yogurt and buttermilk. It’s how kefir is cultured that makes it really unique — instead of heating the milk, adding a culture, and keeping it warm as you do with yogurt, all you need to make milk kefir are kefir grains.

Achieve crispy, juicy results while barely lifting a finger.

They take about 10 minutes to assemble and last for weeks in the refrigerator.

Save your pennies! Watch the video to learn how to make your own kombucha at home.

Fry a few and it will become second nature.

A step-by-step guide for making a sourdough starter.

At any moment, should the desire present itself, you can whip up your very own ball of creamy mozzarella, still warm from the whey whence it came.

It's as rich and creamy as you could ever hope for.

When it comes to eating out for breakfast or brunch, for me, ordering is a no-brainer — I go for the savory option every time. I’m in it purely for the home fries. And the only thing better than ordering this side at my favorite diner is making them at home, whether for a big brunch with friends or just for myself. In this recipe, learn how to make home fries that are slightly starchy, with just the right balance of a soft, creamy inside and crispy, crunchy exterior.

The icebox cake needs no cooking or baking, and yet it yields what you would swear are slices of tender cake layers, filled with airy whipped cream and fresh fruit.

Paneer is the star ingredient in some of my most favorite Indian dishes — and probably yours too! I often find myself scooping just one more nibble of chewy, milky-tasting paneer from the dish long after I’m officially full. Sure, you can buy this firm cheese at the store to make your own homemade curries, but where’s the fun in that?! If you have a pot, a strainer, and some cheesecloth, you can have fresh homemade paneer cheese in about 30 minutes.

Turn 5 ingredients into the dreamiest dessert.

It's what comfort food dreams are made of.

Can you slice vegetables and boil brine? Then you can make refrigerator pickles.

No espresso machine required!

It's packed with rich and smoky flavor.

Everything you need to know about grilling eggplant, summer squash, bell peppers, mushrooms, asparagus, and more.

You just need 5 ingredients and there's no baking required.

A loaf of tender, warm bread in less than an hour? It's not magic — it's no-time bread!

Spread it onto bread, fold into omelets, or eat spoonfuls with ricotta.

Have you ever tried making your own crackers? Your very own crispy, crunchy, seed-topped crackers? My recommendation: try it. Definitely. Crackers are surprisingly easy to make at home with just five basic ingredients, a rolling pin, and a baking sheet. There is no kneading required nor yeast needed; just mix the dough for a minute, then roll, cut, and bake it. Make yourself a quick batch tonight and have homemade crackers for lunches, snacks, and dinners all week long.

Kombu broth, or dashi, is as quintessential to Japanese cooking as chicken broth is to American cooks.

It's foolproof!

While the idea of churning my own butter appeals to the part of me that obsessed over the Little House on the Prairie books as kid, I think that if Laura Ingalls Wilder landed in the present day, she’d ditch that butter churn for a blender in a heartbeat. In a blender, making your own butter becomes a practical, everyday affair for us modern-day home cooks. Find a sale on your favorite heavy cream? Have half a carton leftover from the weekend? Treat yourself to some homemade butter.

Learning how to properly brown ground beef for tacos, salads, and soups is a meal prep game-changer.

This is the recipe that can make *anyone* a jam maker.

Here’s the easiest way to cook mahi mahi, yielding flaky pan-seared fillets with a lemon butter sauce.

Toss the frozen shrimp straight onto the sheet pan.

Feels goods, right?

Make soft, creamy steel-cut oats in under 20 minutes.

Millet is an ancient seed, originally hailing from Africa and northern China, and it remains a staple in the diets of about a third of the world’s population. Rich in iron, B vitamins and calcium, millet has a mild corn flavor and is naturally gluten-free. Sure, on first glance you might be tempted to think that raw millet looks like birdseed.

Just 3 ingredients!

No tempering needed.

For whenever a craving strikes.

A pan sauce feels like something you read on a menu, doesn’t it? A bit of fancy chef magic that should only be attempted by trained professionals. But here’s the real secret: pan sauces are so incredibly simple. And fast. In the time it takes your steak or pork chop to rest, you can turn those pan drippings into a fantastic sauce, no culinary school degree required. Liquid, in a combination of wine or stock, is used to deglaze the pan and a little butter is added to make things rich.

Teff is a gluten-free whole grain that’s starting to get more attention these days. And for good reason: these tiny grains pack a big nutritional punch since they’re made up primarily of the bran and germ, where all the good-for-you stuff is. Making teff porridge is easy. Before cooking, first toast the teff for two minutes in a pan, then transfer in a saucepan and bring to a boil for 15 to 20 minutes.

Memorize this recipe and ditch delivery.

They're stuffed with fresh herbs and two kinds of cheese.

You likely have everything you need.

If you peek inside my cupboards, you’ll see countless little jars of herb and honey concoctions that are both delicious and healing. Making herb-infused honey has become one of my favorite ways to use leftover sprigs of thyme from cooking dinner, a handful of wild mint found while foraging, or the buds of an edible flower bouquet. There are five steps in making herb-infused honey.

They're also vegan.

Want to make pasta, but lack the motivation to do all that mixing and kneading by hand? No problem. If you have a food processor, you can have a batch of pasta dough ready in about two minutes flat. The fast-working action of the food processor blade mixes those eggs into the flour faster than your fingers ever could — and gives the dough a good kneading at the same time. The resulting dough is soft and supple.

It's the high-protein, make-ahead breakfast you need.

I’m lucky enough that I live in temperate California with weather that’s suitable for grilling pretty much all year long, save for a few rainy days here and there. When we decided to grill the turkey for our Thanksgiving gathering this year, I was really excited about it — it’s the perfect excuse to be outdoors yet still be getting the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner cooked.

Pounding chicken breast into thin, even pieces will make you a better weeknight cook.

Red beans and rice for Mardi Gras at home.

There's a much smarter way to buy it.

All the flavor of hot wings without any of the fuss.

Do you really need a reason to bake a single dark, chocolatey brownie? One that requires only pantry staples and a toaster oven? A brownie that you don’t have to share? Fine, I’ll give you a few — it’s better than a box mix and only takes about 20 minutes total to make, bake, and cool. Brownies are the champions of chocolate cravings, and this one is chewy, chocolatey, and fast. Baking in a toaster oven has a few benefits.

The best jam you can make with just fruit, lemon, and sugar.

Dutch crunch is the delightful sandwich bread you didn't know you needed.

A crock of slow-cooked grits is a dream to wake up to and an easy, no-fuss base for weeknight dinners.

Layered jello molds are easier to make than you think.

If you're looking for a quick way to preserve a bunch of cherry tomatoes, pickling is a unique way to put them to good use.

This has become our favorite cooking technique for vegetables! Not only does it require less hands-on work than sautéing on the stove top, but vegetables develop a nice char under the broiler. This translates into smoky flavor in our dishes. We also like the texture contrast. Since broiling is a quick cooking method, the outsides of the veggies soften while the insides stay relatively crisp. Yum! Want more smart tutorials for getting things done around the home?

File under: Another trick we learned from Alton Brown.

It’s no pretty jar of jam or row of canned tomatoes, I know, but I suspect that making your own fruit-flavored vodkas might just be the most fun way to preserve. It’s very easy and simple; choose some ripe fruits, cover them with vodka, and wait for a few days until the vodka tastes good.

Imagine the tines of your forking breaking through, almost snapping, the velvety crust of a fruit tart. It crumbles a bit, but is far from dry — each bite more rich and buttery than the last. That tender crust is typically known as pâte sablée. Unlike a flaky pie crust, pâte sablée is crisp and more cookie-like. The name literally means “sandy,” although it’s anything but.