Pork Recipes & Meal Ideas

Most small homestyle restaurants in Mexico City serve a variation of this dish — hearty meatballs smothered in a smoky tomato sauce, with lots of warm tortillas for sopping it all up. Occasionally it’s the star in the three-course, economically priced meal called comida corrida, a lunchtime tradition in the city.

What is a Swedish meatball? Köttbullar, like all traditional recipes, have thousands of variations, but what nearly all Swedish meatballs have in common is that they are made of ground pork and beef, use bread and milk as a binder, are covered with a rich gravy, and are served with lingonberry jam. With this recipe we’re sticking with tradition and delivering meatballs spiced, fried, and sauced to perfection.

Diner-style meatloaf cooks up tender and tasty when made in the pressure cooker. Topped with ketchup and enjoyed warm or cold, it's easy to see how meatloaf became a classic.

A few pantry staples give this classic a sweet and tangy twist you'll love.

Swedish meatballs are one of the easiest, most delicious ways to switch up your weeknight meatball routine. Unlike their Italian counterpart, Swedish meatballs are warmly spiced (think: nutmeg and allspice) and simmered in a creamy gravy, perfect for ladling over mashed potatoes or egg noodles. These meatballs are too good to only be enjoyed inside the IKEA food court. Here’s how you can make an even better version any night of the week.

The meatloaf to make when you want glaze on every bite.

A heads up: It's definitely spicy.

Both fried rice and frittatas are known as perfect dishes for cleaning out the refrigerator. Perhaps it’s because both cold rice and eggs act as a blank slate for whatever you wish to throw at them. In addition to being versatile, fried rice and frittatas are fairly simple to make — coming together quickly using whatever vegetables, meats, cheeses, or sauces you have on hand. This recipes combines the two dishes and adds in kimchi and bacon for maximum flavor with minimal effort.

This isn’t the kind of thin frittata that’s a sad substitution for a buttery quiche or an overfilled omelet. No, this is one seriously hearty frittata — one that will keep you full until the next meal (and perhaps then some). It will make you forget all the sad frittatas of brunches past that just didn’t cut it, and make you love the egg dish all over again. Does that pique your interest? Good — me too.

Have you ever woken up and wished you could walk into the kitchen to find a hot breakfast (or really, any breakfast) ready and waiting for you? I have this exact wish on a weekly basis. That’s why I want you all to meet the slow-cooker sausage and egg casserole, otherwise known as the recipe that lets you wake up to breakfast.

This rustic casserole is inspired by an omelet that was my go-to brunch for years at the small cafe in my old New York City neighborhood. It’s filled with thick chunks of breakfast sausage, sweet apples, and smoky cheddar, making it appropriate for holiday get-togethers and those evenings when you want a cozy breakfast for dinner. I love this casserole for many reasons, but for me it elicits strong feelings of warmth, comfort, and happiness in that special way only food can manage.

I feel pretty strongly that a frittata can solve a multitude of problems: It answers the question of what to feed overnight guests in the morning, what to pack for lunch for the week, what to make when there’s barely anything in the fridge (and, conversely, what to make when there’s too much in the fridge). I often turn to this mix-and-match formula for frittatas to use up what I have on hand.

This is your key to a quick and easy 30-minute dinner.

As the weather gets warmer, I like to do everything I can with cucumbers — including using up the peel. Like any good Southerner, I often make marinated cucumbers, or “refrigerator pickles.” This quick mix of thinly sliced and peeled cucumbers, vinegar, sugar, salt, and chili flakes is a fail-proof and delicious side salad, but it always leaves me with a heaping pile of peels I hate to throw away.

When it comes time to host brunch this holiday season, use this recipe that can feed a crowd. It also offers a fancy (yet super-easy!) upgrade to the classic ham and cheese breakfast casserole, starting with cubes of day-old sourdough soaked in a velvety custard that’s laced with rich caramelized onions, bits of ham, and sharp provolone cheese.

Being Southern and all, I grew up eating, and loving, breakfast casserole. (Some of you may call it a strata or bake. To be honest, I still don’t know the difference.) My mother’s recipe is basic—just sausage, bread, eggs, and cheese. Any time mom has to feed a crowd, whether for company, early football games, or Christmas, this is the dish she makes. I love hers to no end, but I recently discovered one I like just a bit better.

This is what happens when an old-fashioned country recipe called scalloped cabbage gets dolled up and heads into town for a dinner party. It elevates cabbage into elegance with a creamy Gruyère sauce and a tumble of sautéed mushrooms. The Gruyère and bacon add flavor, of course, but cabbage still reigns in this dish. Should you prefer to keep this meatless, all is not lost — simply omit the bacon and replace the bacon fat in the béchamel sauce with butter.

Slow-cooker breakfast casseroles are sort of like a culinary superhero. They work through the night to save the day — all you have to do is throw in a few of your favorite breakfast ingredients and turn it on. But you can take this culinary cunning to the next level by stowing away a few breakfast casserole kits in your freezer, so that late at night you can call to your culinary superhero and be rescued from breakfast boredom.

This hearty strata is our seasonal take on the classic ham and cheese breakfast casserole. Laced with Black Forest ham and nutty Gruyère, and built on a foundation of pumpernickel and sourdough bread, this version uses spicy mustard to give the eggs a zippy boost. The beauty of this recipe is how easily it delivers a hot breakfast to the table in the morning.

When you want an egg dish to feed a crowd or make enough breakfast for the week, breakfast casseroles are just the ticket. Eggs hold together whatever ingredients you want to put in the baking dish, and in this case it’s a filling combination of frozen diced potatoes, savory sausage, a whole bag of baby spinach, and, of course, a few handfuls of shredded cheese.

Made-to-order omelets are a breakfast I always enjoy but rarely execute in my own home. The extensive prep and required attention over the stove so early in the morning means I reserve filling egg breakfasts for when I am the guest of honor. That is, until I realized that with a bag of frozen potatoes, fresh spinach, pork sausage, and Swiss cheese at my side I can mix up a mean breakfast — and most of that cooking takes place while I sleep.

This one-pot version couldn't be easier.

When you hear “pancakes for dinner,” you probably don’t think of bindaettuck, the traditional Korean mung bean pancakes. But while they may require ingredients you haven’t used before, they’re just as quick and easy to make. At Revel in Seattle, chef Rachel Yang offers ever-changing twists on tradition, from sweet corn pancakes (crusted with corn flakes, natch) in the summer to everything bagel-spiced pancakes with whitefish in the winter.

These breakfast burritos were created with busy weekday mornings in mind, fulfilling the egg, cheese, meat, and carb foursome that’s guaranteed to deliver a hearty morning meal. Gone are the days when breakfast burritos were reserved for weekends. Most of us surely don’t have time to cook breakfast during the week, but reheating a frozen burrito in the oven while we shower and get ready for the day is a different story.

I’m a huge supporter of using store-bought ingredients and making them special. As if using two waffles as your breakfast sandwich bread wasn’t awesome enough, this super-impressive spicy maple butter will knock this meal out of the park. Whipping up a special butter right after you’ve crawled out of bed may seem to you like climbing Mount Everest with one leg, but you can make it ahead, and I promise you it is so worth it.

Take breakfast burritos from weekend treat to everyday staple with help from the slow cooker.

This is your classic ham, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich reimagined into a freezer-friendly quesadilla. Creamy scrambled eggs are piled between slices of deli ham, along with a layer of mild, nutty Gruyère and a swipe of Dijon, for a hot, make-ahead breakfast that will get you excited for the morning meal. To make these breakfast quesadillas freezer-friendly, we ditched the classic wedge cut for a technique that keeps all the ingredients nestled in a fully closed tortilla.

Egg boats are the breakfast sandwich you wish you’ve been eating all along. This new take on the classic sausage, egg, and cheese mixes the trio into a custardy filling that’s baked together in a hollowed-out mini-baguette. Think of these boats as breakfast sandwich meets quiche. It’s a combination that delivers the best of both worlds: the convenience and portability of a sandwich, plus the creamy egg filling that makes quiche such a treat.

If you’ve been limiting your slider consumption to just burgers, I encourage you to broaden your horizons. Grab a muffin pan, a carton of eggs, and a tube of biscuit dough — it’s time to bring these bite-sized sandwiches to breakfast. With all the ingredients baked in a single muffin pan, this may be the easiest sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich you’ll ever make. The individual portions also mean you can cook the eggs to satisfy everyone’s yolk preference.

You’re either an egg yolk person or you’re not. If you’re the latter, drippy egg yolks are confusing and repulsive — and this recipe is not for you. If you’re among the former, welcome! You have come to a place where egg yolk oozes over garlicky kale, crispy bacon, and a toasty bun, pooling on the plate for extra dipping as you eat. Ready to start your day off right?

To make a breakfast sandwich fit to feed a crowd, you’re going to need your Bundt cake pan. That’s right — the dome-shaped cake pan is the key to baking the bread, which gets cut in half to sandwich a sausage and cheese frittata. Better yet, this whole sandwich requires just five ingredients. Here’s how to do it. If you have a bundt cake pan hidden in the depths of your baking cabinet, now is the time to dig it out.

The name translates literally to "flame cake," but flammekueche is neither a cake, nor is it on fire.

What's not to love about a buttery, flaky tart crowned with roasted asparagus, diced ham, and a cheesy egg custard?

When I decided to visit Taiwan for two weeks to learn about their food culture, my boyfriend could not have been more excited. He’s the type that can eat Asian cuisine 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week. (Unfortunately I’m the opposite. I could survive off of pizza for the rest of my life but only prefer takeout every few months.) He eagerly hoped that I would return with not only a new found passion for Chinese food, but all the secrets to their cooking, as well.

Transform your favorite sandwich into a savory muffin and suddenly your lunch routine is instantly more exciting.

Want to make your mornings a whole lot easier? Of course you do. Well, a batch of easy egg muffins is the answer. Loaded with savory breakfast sausage, earthy mushrooms, and spinach, these make-ahead muffins are for people who love eggs and crave a satisfying breakfast that will get them through the morning. They’re also great for anyone in need of a one-handed morning meal they can eat on the go, or dig into when they get to their desk.

These make-ahead egg muffins are a breakfast win for anyone following a keto diet, but speaking from experience as someone who isn’t on a keto plan, they are so much more than that. These loaded, protein-packed egg muffins are for anyone who loves the satisfying combination of cheesy eggs, sweet potatoes, and bacon. Consider it a bonus that they can be made ahead of time and practically fall out of the pan.

You only need four ingredients to make it.

This mash-up of baked potato skins and baked potatoes comes together to create one dreamy, creamy, crowd-pleasing casserole.

Sheet pan pizza isn't reinventing the wheel or anything (see what I did there?), but it's a classic that never gets a single complaint.

With its combination of tender roasted pork, smoked ham, Swiss cheese, pickles, and mustard, a Cuban sandwich is pretty close to the ideal sandwich. It checks all the right boxes of salty, smoky, meaty, melty, and tangy. But what if you were to take a classic Cubano and cross it with a grilled cheese? We thought it sounded like a good idea, too, when we spotted it on the menu at chef Richard Hales’ Bird & Bone (the fact that it was served with waffle-cut fries didn’t hurt either).

Tender pieces of pulled pork often end up on slider buns, but tonight we’re piling them into charred tortillas instead. With just a jar of pickled jalapeños, a drizzle of maple syrup, and a few hours in the slow cooker, you can transform a cut of pork into a sweet and spicy taco filling. More: These Easiest-Ever Tacos Only Need 3 Ingredients For this recipe you only need a boneless pork butt (or pork shoulder), a jar of pickled jalapeños, and a bottle of pure maple syrup.

If you, like me, grew up eating a lot of dry and chewy pork chops, you’ve likely avoided this thrifty protein as an adult. Thankfully, I’ve discovered that marinating a pork chop is the fastest, easiest way to make sure your chops are tender and juicy every time. Dry red wine and red wine vinegar give this marinade its acidity, and Italian herbs and red pepper flakes add flavor and a bit of heat.

Slow-cooker meals are a godsend for folks who want to eat at home but don’t actually get home until the witching hour, feeling crazy hungry. If you’ve done your prep work in advance and have the trusty slow cooker working for you, you can return home to a fantastic meal. These seasoned pork chops fit the bill perfectly with their sweet and savory cranberry riff.

Make a big pot of this on Sunday and eat your greens all week long.

This is how to do the Thanksgiving leftovers sandwich.

This slow-simmered sauce makes ground turkey shine in ways you never thought it was capable of.

Boeuf bourguignon is so much more than just another beef stew.

Close enough to classic coq au vin to feel like the real deal.

Fusion foods are created when ingredients, flavors, or a technique from one cuisine combine with those of another. I like to call these kinds of dishes “When Harry Met Sally” recipes. These recipes are born when you think two different things can’t possibly be friends because something will inevitably get in the way. But those two flavors keep bumping into each other (sometimes in your dreams) because — despite their differences — it’s just meant to be.

When chopped up and left to melt and brown in salty, savory bacon fat, cabbage transforms into a pot of soft, mellow vegetable magic that soothes the soul.

This technique is brilliant.

This changes your whole summer rib plans!

It's infused with the rich, smoky flavor of BBQ sauce and melts in your mouth.

They're tender, juicy, and practically foolproof.

They're all so different, your family might not realize you're serving leftovers.

We all have a trusty list of comforting dishes we turn to when the weather changes or we need a little cheering up. I suggest you update yours immediately to include this twist on an old standby: pasta with chorizo bolognese and buffalo mozzarella. This recipe turns the traditional beef bolognese on its head by subbing in dried chorizo instead.

Put this 3-ingredient recipe on repeat.

Trader Joe's garlicky compound butter is a brilliant shortcut for instant flavor.

These two-bite snacks are low-carb, high-fat deliciousness.

Pork chops meet brown butter.

The surf-and-turf-bites are shockingly easy to make at home.

Making bacon jam is the greatest gift you can give to your future self.

If you’ve never met a loaded baked potato you didn’t like, you’re about to meet your new favorite dinner casserole. It’s inspired by loaded potatoes, but calls for roasted cauliflower as the base. The florets are drenched in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce, mixed with plenty of crispy bacon bits and chopped scallions, and baked until bubbly and golden. Decadent isn’t often a word used to describe vegetables, but the rules change when cheese sauce gets involved.

Photos of perfectly cooked porkchops are seriously drool-worthy. With their golden-brown exterior and perfectly seasoned crust, to many they can seem unobtainable. But why is that? Pork is just pork and it shouldn’t be that complicated. The problem with cooking the perfect chop is that there are so many bad ones out there that they suddenly seem daunting. Well they’re not, and this quick 30-minute meal is here to prove it!

Pork on pork can never be a bad thing.

Try this twist on the classic for dinner tonight.