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It’s no secret that Bon Appétit editors cook a lot for work. So it should come as no surprise that we cook a lot during our off hours too. Here are the recipes we’re whipping up this month to get dinner on the table, entertain our friends, satisfy a sweet tooth, use up leftovers, and everything in between. For even more staff favorites, click here.
November 22
I’ve been on a freezer-friendly meal prep journey lately. Once or twice a month, I batch cook recipes that I know will freeze well and will make for comforting meals down the road. This week’s experiment was sheet-pan breakfast burritos. I took this concept that I saw on TikTok, but made the recipe my own by swapping ground beef for pork, adding some additional veggies—poblano peppers, lion’s mane mushrooms, and kale—plus some black beans. I also made my own paprika blend (inspired by Ali Slagle’s here) to replace the Italian seasoning. In my opinion, the hardest part of making burritos is not overfilling the tortilla. But cooking your egg and sausage on a sheet-pan allows you to cut out neat frittata-like bricks. Suddenly wrapping becomes way more manageable. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, associate director of social media
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New York weather has been on a journey this season. It’s been 83° one day, 32° the next, and jumping between those two poles for weeks. During one of the colder spells, I grabbed the knobby kabocha I’d set on my table as a wayward Halloween decoration and lobbed off the top to transform it into contributor Dorie Greenspan’s Pumpkin Stuffed With Everything Good. In place of the bacon, I used the last of a tub of premade pork barbecue, which paired stunningly with aged cheddar, hearty seeded bread, garlic, and thyme. I cut the baked squash into wedges and ate like I was preparing to hibernate for winter. The leftovers, chopped up and reheated in a sauté pan the next day so that the flesh of the kabocha took on a little char, were even better. —Joe Sevier, senior editor of cooking and SEO
To call the bananas on my countertop ripe would be an understatement. They were practically pudding, so far gone that I almost tossed them in the trash. But then I remembered Samantha Seneviratne’s Banana Bread Scones from her beautiful cookbook The Joys of Baking. They came together in a flash. I didn’t need to go out for any additional ingredients, though I did cheat just a bit: In lieu of heavy cream, I swapped in my favorite soy milk. The dough ended up a little looser than intended, but c’est la vie. I just scooped drop scones instead of cutting triangles, and they still turned out great. —Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking
The temps took a dip over the weekend, and like clockwork, my anxiety-addled brain wanted to lean into cozy vibes. My first thought was to make my colleague Jesse Szewczyk’s Caramel Apple Monkey Bread, the first iteration of his and fellow senior editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s Bake Club. For me, yeasted dough is always fun to work with, but this recipe upped the ante with a wonderful caramel sauce and seasoned apples. After a harried week, it was the sweet treat I didn’t know I needed. And the Bake Club community on Instagram has been so fun to dip into. Just nice people being nice to each other about their bakes! Like our very own Great British Bake Off. —Joseph Hernandez, associate director of drinks
November 15
When it comes to getting dinner on the table on a weeknight, I struggle as much as any person—and I love to cook! But life is busy, and there are only so many hours in the day. In need of something speedy and delicious, I gave test kitchen editor Kendra Vaculin’s miso-mayo chicken bowl a spin. As a big fan of her spicy salmon roll bowl, I knew her mayo-coating technique would work wonders when applied to juicy chicken thighs. I—rather, she—was right. Everything bakes on one sheet pan before a quick turn under the broiler, which helps the chicken and brussels sprouts char to a delightful crisp. —Carly Westerfield, associate manager of audience strategy
Every fall I bake Alison Roman’s pumpkin muffins. Nutty from brown butter, cozy from maple syrup, they are absurdly good. My only adjustment is to add a heavy pour of poppy seeds to the batter, then sprinkle more poppy seeds on top before they head into the oven. (Which reminds me: Never buy that little jar of poppy seeds in the supermarket spice aisle! Overpriced! Buying them in bulk from a site like nuts.com is a better deal.) I made my annual batch a few weeks ago for my in-laws, then baked another one this past weekend for a friend’s book party. Both times, instead of the cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg, I swapped in an equal quantity of Burlap & Barrel’s new Pumpkin Spice 2.0 by flavor scientist Arielle Johnson—delicious. And the second time, instead of scooping the batter into a standard size tin, I used a mini muffin pan for two-bite cupcakes. Topped with senior test kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s ethereal whipped cream cheese frosting and nuggets of candied ginger, they were a hit. —Emma Laperruque, associate director of cooking
To start off my week, I made senior test kitchen editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s unimaginably flavorful Gochujang-Butter-Braised Tofu. The sticky, scarlet-hued sauce is so delicious, I’d like to braise everything in it. Chicken thighs, rice cakes, cauliflower, the list goes on. Funky gochujang mixed with a savory soy sauce creates a punchy base. The generous amount of butter rounds everything out and softens the tofu ever so slightly. In the final minutes of cooking, I threw in some chewy enoki mushrooms, then spooned it all over a bed of rice that took more time to cook than the tofu. —Nina Moskowitz, associate editor of cooking
This week I happily kicked off a long season of holiday gatherings with my first Friendsgiving of the year. My contribution was a batch of the vegetarian mushroom stuffing I’ve been making every year since I can remember, with a few tweaks. I swap in mixed wild mushrooms for the sliced criminis, toss in minced shallots along with the yellow onion, and use homemade veggie stock with a spoonful of miso. The challah dries out beautifully just sitting on the countertop for two days, but it’s still a thirsty bread and I find that a richer stock with more body makes all the difference in the final texture and flavor of the stuffing. (If you’re a meat eater, you can definitely use chicken or turkey stock too.) I always cook the aromatics and ’shrooms longer than suggested, letting them develop some color before tossing them with the bread. It’s a pretty simple recipe, perfect for making just the way you (or I) like. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor
For a weeknight side dish, I made my colleague Shilpa Uskokovic’s Brussels Sprouts Stir-Fry With Cheddar and Golden Raisins. I started by thinly slicing the little cabbages and cooking them quickly over a high heat until they got a wonderful char. I then mixed the brussels with a sweet and sour agrodolce, and topped them with tart dried fruit and nutty aged cheddar. It’s a stir-fry that meets a warm winter salad: the best of both worlds. —Hana Asbrink, deputy food editor
November 8
I’ve returned to recipe developer Asha Loupy’s lemony pilaf with brown butter mushrooms more times than I can count. I’ll be honest, if I had just come across it on the site, I’m not sure I would have made it. But because I got to edit the recipe in the test kitchen, I got to see first hand just how simple, cozy, and bright it is—and I haven’t stopped making it since. Sometimes I follow the instructions exactly as written, but more often I treat it as a template to use up whatever I have in the fridge. This week I cooked my basmati rice with frizzled red onion and chopped roasted red peppers, and finished each bowl with a showering of herbs and crispy garlic. —Kendra Vaculin, test kitchen editor
I’ve been on a mission to cook with whole fish to be more sustainable and to challenge myself. After bringing home a large blue fish from the local fishery at Tompkins Square Greenmarket, I had to figure out what to do with it. I decided to make a coastal Indian curry to complement the fall weather and remind me of home. Food blogger Nagi Maehashi’s Goan Fish Curry was a comforting recipe. The familiar blend of Indian spices paired with nutty coconut, tangy tomato, and meaty fish made for the perfect pick-me-up on a cloudy day. —Ketaki Malaviya, research fellow
The weather in the Northeast may still be warm, but I’ve been craving soup. I agree with content creator Catherine Perez’s philosophy: Soup should always have garlic and plenty of texture. So when I saw her recipe for vegan butternut squash soup, I saved it to make for the week. Her soup starts with roasting a whole head of garlic—I doubled it. Then, I crisped up sage in olive oil, removed the leaves, and used that infused oil to sauté my other aromatics before adding in cubed butternut squash, and Baba’s Meat Curry Powder (which I used instead of coriander). Perez’s tip to blend some of the soup with miso paste layered the soup with umami and made it creamy without having to add any dairy. The rest of the soup stays chunky—so you get sweet bites of butternut squash with an occasional crumble of crispy sage. Best served with some toasted sourdough. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, associate director of social media
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One of the first cookbooks I ever owned was Nobu: The Cookbook and 10-year-old me couldn’t get enough of the Miso-Glazed Black Cod. It’s deceptively simple to make for such an iconic dish. I always serve mine with a heaping portion of rice and baby bok choy. The bok choy gets tossed with a spoonful of extra marinade and oil before thrown on a sheet pan. For an indulgent election week feast, I made mine with the black cod from Seremoni, and it was among the most buttery and flavorful fish I’ve ever tasted. If you’re in the New York area (it’s available at Happier Grocery on Canal Street), it’s a very worthy splurge (and act of self-care) to buy some. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
I had the joy of food editing this Creamy Chili Crisp Pasta and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. At first glance, the recipe is wild: You mix Greek yogurt with spaghetti, pasta water, and a little bit of salt. After a bit of tossing, the trio comes together to create a perfectly emulsified sauce, almost like mac and cheese. Truly magic. Then you just dish it up and top with heaps of chili crisp for the easiest dinner ever. I’ve riffed on the recipe a few times now, sticking to the yogurt base but swapping up the toppings. I’ve tried a sprinkling of Parmesan, and za’atar mixed with olive oil. You really can’t go wrong. —Jesse Szewczyk, senior test kitchen editor
November 1
In the past two weeks, the test kitchen has been cooking salmon for a very good forthcoming recipe. Lucky for me, that means I’ve been taking leftovers home. Last week, I turned my salmon scraps into a riff on this Hot-Smoked Salmon Noodle Salad. I love any salad where the base is soba (yes, there’s lettuce too), and the vinaigrette is made of toasted sesame oil and soy sauce. Since I had leftover roast salmon instead of the hot-smoked variety, I flaked it up and tossed it in for an easy swap. If you’re cooking for one, like me, you can easily halve or quarter the recipe, or make extras for lunch the next day. —Kate Kassin, editorial operations manager
The best weekday breakfasts are those I can prep on Sunday and take to work and heat up in the microwave easily. This past week I went down the rabbit hole that is pancake bowls. You prep a pancake batter in ovensafe bowls, add in toppings like berries or chocolate chips, pop them in the oven, and voilà, they’re ready to go for the week. The version I made this time was from social media creator Selma, but I swapped some of the all-purpose flour with a mix of millet and hazelnut flours. While I normally get tired of eating the same breakfast four days in a row, I found myself eagerly grabbing my container each morning. The bowls come out light and airy, even after a couple days in the fridge, and the berries offer bright sweetness. Add some whipped cream if you can make it ahead of time. —Urmila Ramakrishnan, associate director of social media
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Lately I’ve been obsessed with H-Mart’s grab-and-go braised tofu. On nights where my husband and I are too tired to cook, one of us will grab a box of the stuff—rich in kimchi, gochujaru, and scallions—and serve it with rice and greens. Easiest dinner ever, and it still feels nourishing. This past week I felt like doing a bit more in the kitchen, so I made this Đâu Phu Rán Tâm Hành, or fried tofu with a scallion-oil sauce from chef Ni Nguyen of Sap Sua, a 2024 BA Best New Restaurant. It’s not as simple as grabbing a premade meal from the grocery store, but the minimal effort pays off. I’ll admit I didn’t want to shop for the recipe’s recommended dashi powder (one day), but I swapped in the equal amount of red miso paste to channel the umami vibes. The resulting dish is complex, all over the map with heat, spice, umami, and an uplifting herbaceousness thanks to the scallion oil. Our test kitchen editors advise doubling the batch, and I simply must agree—put this sauce on everything. —Joseph Hernandez, associate director of drinks
Due to a delightful confluence of celebrations this past weekend (birthdays! reunions! cookbook club gatherings!), I made a triple batch of chef Nancy Silverton’s butterscotch budino. This particular budino holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons, not least of which is that I had one on my 21st birthday and haven’t forgotten it since. The custard is ethereally smooth, the caramel topping is neither sticky nor watery, instead perfectly saucy and thick. It’s bitter enough to be balanced and sweet enough to definitely be dessert. A generous dollop of salty vanilla-speckled crème fraîche tops each cup to add tang and, well, freshness. It’s a real Goldilocks situation and one I couldn’t recommend highly enough. —Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior service editor
My colleague Kendra Vaculin and I stand proud as two lovers of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Sometimes they get a bad rap as being dry or flavorless, but Kendra’s bold, succulent ones prove otherwise. Here chicken breasts are seared off before nestled into a tomato and preserved lemon sauce—a tangy, acidic match made in heaven. Kendra suggests serving the dish with steamed couscous, but I served mine with a chunk of crusty bread to sop everything up and was just as satisfied. —Jesse Szewczyk, senior test kitchen editor
