Nut Free

Meet your new favorite side.

Sliced cucumbers can't be boring when they're made to be bright and tangy.

It's amazing on fish tacos.

For me, the moment that marks the beginning of spring isn’t when I spot the first cherry blossoms or pack away my winter coat — it’s when I bite into my first strawberry of the season. Homemade strawberry shortcakes are the very best way to showcase the freshly picked, super-juicy spring berries.

Pitcher cocktails are smart party choices; they easily serve a crowd and don’t require you to be constantly shaking and stirring. These pitcher margaritas are even wiser than the rest, seeing as this recipe isn’t even a recipe — it’s a ratio. Just follow a ratio of three parts tequila, two parts orange liqueur, and one part lime juice.

Behold the single food that has revolutionized my weekly meal plan – shredded chicken! The very best thing about cooking up a batch of shredded chicken are all the possibilities it brings to mealtime. It can mean a week’s worth of dinners — everything from chicken tacos and chicken burritos to chicken salad are made more satisfying with shredded chicken. It’s an easy solution for make-ahead lunches and weeknight dinners the whole family will love.

Before my fellow Southerners read this and start thinking, “Are you kidding me? Who doesn’t know how to make sweet tea?” — hear me out. I am Florida-born and Georgia-raised, but when I moved to California, one of the first things I noticed was that no one drinks sweet tea out here! I always keep a pitcher ready in my fridge, and my friends inevitably ask me, “How do you make this?” Today you’re going to find out how.

It is hard to overstate how simple yet stunning pineapple upside-down cake is. This cake has retro charm, but it’s a classic whose appeal hasn’t waned since it first appeared on the home baking scene. It starts with a rich butter cake that, once removed from the pan, reveals a design of caramelized pineapple rings studded with maraschino cherries. Each bite is little treasure chest of flavor — tender cake, mingled with the sweet and slightly tangy notes of pineapple and cherry.

If you love creamy mashed potatoes, you’ll love colcannon, a traditional Irish dish. Keeping with tradition, we didn’t mess with the potatoes or cabbage, but swapped the plain melted butter that is typically served in a pool on top for fragrant browned butter. We just couldn’t help ourselves! The nutty browned butter is a wonderful warm contrast to the sharp green onions that get scattered before serving, giving this dish an easy, elegant twist.

If pork chops and beef steaks are the only chops you sear, it’s time to try lamb chops. Lamb chops have a distinctively rich and savory flavor, and while they’re fancy enough for a dinner party, quick-cooking lamb chops also add variety to weeknight meals. These easy lamb chops are rubbed with fresh thyme, seared in a hot skillet, and topped with a decadent (and oh-so-simple!) pan sauce flavored with dry white wine, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a knob of butter.

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. The broth is rich, but not heavy. When you dig in for a spoonful, the broth is not only stunning, but it’s also silky and rich without a drop of cream in sight. It’s easy to make.

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.

Unless you’re from Pennsylvania, you’ve probably never heard of Irish potato candy. I didn’t know what they were, but assumed they were candy made from potatoes. Wrong! Irish potato candies may look like adorable little potatoes, but they’re no-cook coconut and cream cheese candies with a coating of ground cinnamon — essentially the coconut equivalent of chocolate truffles. They’re the perfect St.

Homemade spice mixes can even the speediest meals taste better. To make your own chili seasoning, you only need five ingredients — and at least half of them are probably in your spice cabinet already. Homemade chili seasoning makes a near perfect pot of Classic Beef Chili, but can just as readily spice up a pot of Instant Pot black beans or a pan of roasted sweet potatoes. Here’s what you need to make chili seasoning at home.

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.

I love everything about chocolate-covered strawberries. I love the crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth shell and the cool, sweet strawberry beneath. I love giving them as homemade food gifts, and I love receiving them equally as much (especially for Valentine’s Day dessert!). But what I love most is how easy they are to make at home. It’s an afternoon fun cooking project with a result that looks fancy no matter your candy-making skills (or lack thereof)!

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.

While it may feel like kale has overstayed its welcome in the food scene, the hype over the leafy green is very much still alive. And knowing the right way to cook it is a total game-changer. (Don’t miss our in-depth kale guide to learn about the different types of kale and more! )Mastering this method will convert kale-haters, yes, but it will also inspire kale fans who feared they’d never be able to get it right at home.

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.

Ready in minutes.

There's a reason it has 5 stars.

Those cans of chickpeas sitting in your cupboard have been hiding an amazing secret. Roasted in the oven, chickpeas transform into a crispy, salty, savory snack. So tiny. So easy to eat by the handful. So irresistible. Roasted chickpeas are easy to make and customize. Here’s everything you need to know. Canned chickpeas: Using canned chickpeas is the easiest method, but you can cook dried chickpeas if that’s what you have on hand.

A marinade is like an insurance policy for your grilled steak.

Let’s talk caramels. The candy kind. The chewy, melt-in-your-mouth, deeply sweet, and insanely addictive kind. These make some of the best gifts ever, whether the event is Christmas, a birthday, a thank you for a favor, or a thoughtful hostess gift. Or no reason at all. You probably already have the ingredients in your pantry, and if you haven’t made caramels recently, you probably don’t know how easy they can be. Grab a bag of sugar and your candy thermometer, folks!

Your morning self will thank you.

Our favorite way to eat cauliflower isn’t as a cauliflower pizza crust or cauliflower rice, it’s an extremely creamy mash. But before we designate mashed cauliflower as just a lighter version of mashed potatoes, let’s consider why it is a side dish with merits all its own. You can’t over-mash or over-whip cauliflower the way you can potatoes. Without potato’s starch to contend with, you can purée the cauliflower all day with no risk of gumminess.

They're shockingly simple to make.

Over my years of writing for The Kitchn, I’ve shared almost all of my favorite holiday cookies, from my mother’s famous peppermint cream-filled butter cookies (followed by the much less finicky peppermint cream squares the following year) to rugelach and gingerbread cookies. I’ve saved one of my most beloved cookies for last. These candy cane cookies are the best.

It's an easy and impressive way to feed a crowd.

No notes.

Shatteringly crisp!

And it's so easy!

It's in the dough.

Bananas turning black? Lucky you.

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

Works like a charm every single time.

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

Busting conventional steak-cooking wisdom to make a better, faster steak at home.

The best kind of kitchen magic we know.

It tastes like a big hug.

A zesty, vibrant herb-packed sauce for everything from meat to potatoes.

It's that good.

Crackly edges and creamy centers every single time.

They're crunchy, salty, snacking perfection.

It's the fastest, fanciest dinner around.

Learn how to make old-school meatballs just like an Italian nonna.

We tried every method out there to come up with the very best.

Set it and forget it.

Trust us: This is best (and easiest!) thing you'll cook in your Instant Pot this year.

What if I told you that I could guarantee perfectly cooked, perfectly tender pork chops, every time?

It's pure magic.

Further proof that there's nothing butter can't make better!

Put that frozen salmon right in the oven!

It pairs well with everything.

A one-ingredient wonder.

Plus: our secret for making them extra tall and flaky.

Freeze it now, enjoy great lasagna later.

For when you're bored of chicken (and pork chops).

It tastes good with everything.

If you're new to sourdough, start here.

The minimalist dessert gets a maximalist upgrade.

No road trip required.

Everything you love about the classic, but even more comforting — and way, way easier.

It doesn't get any more epic than this.

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

A savory breakfast that takes two minutes to prep for the slow cooker.

Memorize this surprising yet super-simple technique and you'll forever be rewarded with the crispiest skin and juiciest meat.

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

A wholesome take on the classic Chinese appetizer that you can eat for dinner.

This classic Cuban soup is inexpensive, hearty, and guaranteed to warm you up.