Sauce and Marinade Recipes & Ideas

This recipe was inspired by a very traditional Indian dish and my travel experiences. You’ll find a variation of Badanekai Tumbida, or stuffed eggplant, in a lot of Indian households (including mine), mainly from Maharashtra and South India. The stuffing is generally a mix of sautéed onions, garlic, peanuts, and a lot of different spices. You make an x-shaped cut in the rounded end of the eggplant, stuff it, then flash sear the eggplants in a hot pan.

The sweet and spicy spread is perfect for cheese boards.

This pork shoulder ragù is so restorative that this is now the recipe I reach for time and time again when I need to come back to myself.

It seriously tastes good on everything.

Stir-fry it with greens or noodles, make a decadent XO and egg fried rice, or spoon it on top of simply steamed fish

This recipe calls for frenched lamb chops, which are chops with the meat cut away from the end of the rib so part of the bone is exposed. Frenching the chop makes it cleaner, and let’s call it fancier — almost like a lamb lollipop, if you will! Your butcher can do this with the quick swipe of a knife; asking him or her to do this makes fast work of this simple-to-prepare dish. Croute simply means “crust” in French. Fancy.

It’s generally made to accompany pork ribs, but it's also great with grilled sardines, thin strips of beef stir-fry, broiled octopus, and roasted chicken thighs.

It's the secret to a fancy steakhouse-style dinner at home.

It's the only Bolognese worth making.

I can confidently say it's the only Bolognese recipe I'll ever make.

One surprising ingredient really takes things up a notch.

I tried it to find out.

It's the ultimate expression of pure garlic flavor in a light, fluffy spread.

Did Ina unknowingly create the perfect pandemic pantry recipe? Yes, yes she did.

The melted Swiss cheese on top is what sets these enchiladas apart.

Perfect for Sunday meal prep.

An onion and mushroom gravy for everyone at the table.

There's no excuse not to make this tonight.

It's better — and faster — than delivery.

The luscious pulled pork will please even the pickiest of eaters.

This five-ingredient recipe is the fastest, easiest way to make enchilada sauce from scratch.

The versatile South Indian condiment is ready in 15 minutes.

When thin-sliced zucchini stand in for lasagna noodles, the emphasis shifts to the best parts of lasagna: the tomato sauce, the cheese, the veg.

No matter how busy you are.

It's my favorite foolproof way to eat more veggies.

I've been making it almost every week for the past 3 years!

It's actually incredibly easy to make a dairy-free pesto — and it's so darn tasty you'll never miss the cheese.

Can we just call it magic sauce instead?

Homemade caramel sauce is swirled into every bite.

Want to make a better grain bowl this year? The secret’s in the sauce. The answer to a better grain bowl is all about how you’re topping it. And these five quick sauces — made with ingredients you probably have waiting in your pantry — are an easy way to up to kick up the flavor and make those grain bowls pop. The sauce is the final touch to your grain bowl.

From chips and tacos to grilled salmon and chicken.

They'll instantly upgrade everything you're eating right now.

I make it every single week.

It's a creamy, herby, umami dream.

Drizzle it on salads, grilled chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, and more.

It's great for salads, sandwiches, and chicken fingers, too.

It lends nutty, smoky flavor to everything it touches.

We're basically in love.

These impossibly easy sauces give an instant flavor boost to boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

The ultimate sauce to wake up tired boneless, skinless chicken breasts is also the easiest to make.

These meatballs have ruined all other meatballs for me.

I was not expecting these results.

They're as easy as it gets — which may also be their downfall.

A fully customizable gravy for every diner at the table.

Fish sauce is that magical, secret ingredient that somehow completes any dish that it’s added to. Traditional to most asian cuisines, a version of fish sauce was also used in ancient Rome. Fish sauce is obviously based on fish, so what’s a vegetarian (or vegan) to do if she wants to cook Thai or Vietnamese food, for example? Can’t she have some of that magical savoriness, too? The answer is yes!

There are many versions of prepared vegan ‘mayonnaise’ out there on the grocery shelves. But they’re also quite simple to make at home where you can adjust the sweetness/tang ratio to your taste. Read on for two versions, one made with tofu and another made with almonds.Raw Almond MayoThis recipe calls for peeled raw almonds (making it also is good for raw foodists.

I go back and forth on what I think is the most useful piece of equipment in my kitchen. My cast iron skillet is always high on the list, as is a good Dutch oven. But these days, as it gets colder, I think my slow cooker is definitely in the top spot. When you realize that you can make wonderful dishes like this vegan pumpkin curry while you are gone, it’s easy to see why the slow cooker is #1. See those lovely cubes of fresh pumpkin? That is seriously the hardest part of this recipe.

This is my favorite spread for making veggie nori rolls, but I also love it as dip for raw vgetables, a sandwich spread, or even a salad dressing, thinned with a little water. I would never say that this really tastes like cheese, but it does make a fine plate of nachos spooned over tortilla chips topped with warmed black beans and scallions. I learned this recipe about a year ago from my sister Jill, and she learned it from raw foodist friends of hers.

Can I just say how excited I am to share this recipe with you today? Joe Yonan’s book, Eat Your Vegetables, is a casual, homey celebration of all things vegetarian — aimed towards the solo cook and those who don’t need six servings of everything. It’s delicious and surprising, but it never pushes recipes into impractical territory.

This is the absolute easiest vegan mayonnaise that I know. It’s the one I pull out when I have a vegan friend coming over for lunch, or if the host of a dinner party asks me to bring a light dip for an appetizer. It calls for three ingredients and a blender, and it makes a creamy, slightly tangy mayonnaise that’s ready to go with your favorite sandwich or salad. Specifically, the secret is silken tofu. This tofu has the texture of barely set custard and a fairly neutral flavor.

This 15-minute meal is packed with flavor.