Summer is hot dogs and ice pops, shaggy dinners at dusk, the melting mixture of energy and malaise that gives the season its shape. But that’s not fall. Fall is crisp. Fall is orderly. There’s no malaise and no melt. Those anything-goes August dinners give way to meal plans sketched out on Sunday and empty lunchboxes waiting to be filled.
I’m guessing the last thing you want to do is figure out those meal plans (and don’t even get me started on those lunchboxes). Maybe you even want to reboot your cooking altogether? Let me help you.
I write a newsletter for New York Times Cooking called Five Weeknight Dishes, and last September, I created a list of 100 dinner recipes for you to try. Now I’m back with a whole new list for you to make in the months ahead, in honor of the back-to-school energy that rolls off Labor Day weekend and propels you through the months ahead. (And, to keep that momentum going, and to answer the eternal question of “what should I make for dinner?,” we’re also starting a new newsletter, Dinner Tonight. Starting Sept. 16, it’ll send a fast, easy recipe to your inbox every Monday through Thursday around 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Sign up here.)
The list below is brimming with jammy eggs, chile crisp, citrus and feta. There are smooth sauces, crisp edges and caramelized crusts. There are many, many ways to chicken. But the thing all of these recipes have in common — aside from their fast cook times and streamlined approaches to ingredients — is that they are all delicious.
CHICKEN | PASTA, NOODLES & RICE
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Chicken
Skillet Chicken With Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions Reminiscent of French onion soup but ready in a fraction of the time, this chicken recipe will make you look like a genius.
One-Pan Crispy Chicken and Chickpeas Everyone needs a recipe like this: Simple, solid, deeply satisfying.
Ginger Chicken With Sesame-Peanut Sauce You’ll want to eat this sauce on everything.
Dijonnaise Grilled Chicken Breasts Mayo and mustard join forces to form a caramelized crust. Cook this one on the stove if you don’t have access to a grill.
Blackened Chicken Breasts Memorize this technique!
Seared Chicken Thighs With Cherry Tomatoes and Olives Briny olives bring salty depth to a pan of seared chicken and tomatoes.
Chicken-Zucchini Meatballs With Feta Double the lemon-feta sauce and serve everything in a bowl over rice, farro or orzo.
Ginger-Lime Chicken There’s an excellent trick written into this fast, vibrantly flavored dish.
Crispy Cheddar Chicken Tacos Layer tortillas on melted Cheddar for tacos with a cheesy crust.
Ginger Chicken With Crisp Napa Salad The cabbage-cucumber salad is the real star here: crunchy, refreshing, cool.
Sheet-Pan Chicken With Jammy Tomatoes and Pancetta I’ve overheard people out in public raving about this recipe — that’s how good it is.
Hara Masala Murgh (Green Masala Chicken) This is a shortcut version of the South Asian classic, but it still blazes with flavor. It’s gorgeously green from handfuls of cilantro and mint.
Ritzy Cheddar Chicken Breasts Ideal for kids, and reportedly amazing with Cheez-Its instead of Ritz. (Whoa.)
Miso Chicken The ultimate in simple weeknight cooking.
Spiced Roast Chicken With Tangy Yogurt Sauce A little of the sauce goes a long way.
Suqaar Digaag (Spiced Chicken and Vegetable Sauté) Buy or make a batch of xawaash, the cumin-rich Somali spice blend, to use here and in the baasto iyo suugo tunna (pasta and spiced tuna sauce) below.
Sheet-Pan Chicken and Potatoes With Feta, Lemon and Dill Breezy enough to throw together for a post-work dinner, yet nice enough to serve to guests.
Grilled Tahini-Honey Chicken Thighs Easy, great and versatile — you can use the grill, stove or oven. Add a sprinkling of za’atar if you really want to have a good time.
Roasted Chicken Thighs With Hot Honey and Lime One of the flavors of the moment — hot honey — mingles effortlessly with butter and lime.
Lemongrass Chicken Punchy, spicy, salty, bright and extremely straightforward to make.
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Pasta, Noodles, Rice and Other Grains
Peanut Butter Noodles This latest contribution to the New York Times noodle canon is this nutty, salty, creamy dish that you could make with your eyes closed.
Spinach One-Pot Pasta A pound of greens stirred into the pot means you don’t need to bother with a vegetable on the side.
Angel Hair Pasta The pasta darling of the 1990s turns out to be a timeless choice.
Brown-Butter Orzo With Butternut Squash It’s giving chic but cozy autumn vibes.
Kale Sauce Pasta Blend kale with garlic and oil to coat this easy and dazzlingly green dish — an NYT Cooking classic.
Lemon-Garlic Linguine Kids can eat this silky, lemony pasta plain, and adults looking for something more can add seared shrimp, scallops, fish or mushrooms.
Baked Spanakopita Pasta With Greens and Feta Spinach pie, but make it gooey pasta.
Cheesy Baked Pasta With Sausage and Ricotta Made for the first evening the temperature threatens to dip below 55 degrees, and then maybe weekly after that.
Pasta With Spicy Sausage, Broccoli Rabe and Chickpeas Go with the spicy sausage and rabe if you’re feeding adults, or swap in sweet Italian sausage and regular broccoli for kids.
Easy Spaghetti With Meat Sauce A faux ragù for nights when you want a dish that tastes like it simmered for hours but is actually done in a matter of minutes.
Baasto iyo Suugo Tuuna (Pasta and Spiced Tuna Sauce) Use the xawaash spice blend from the suqaar digaag above for a fast tomato sauce laced with cumin and coriander.
Midnight Pasta With Garlic, Anchovy, Capers and Red Pepper The most satisfying choice at midnight is also a pretty fabulous dinner at 6.
Dumpling Noodle Soup If you don’t already have dumplings in your freezer, this cozy dinner is a good reason to get them.
Dumpling and Smashed Cucumber Salad With Peanut Sauce Yet another brilliant way to use those freezer dumplings.
Soy Sauce Noodles With Cabbage and Fried Eggs This version of a dim sum staple works perfectly for dinner, threaded with silky cabbage and cloaked with a fried egg.
Rice Noodles With Seared Pork, Carrots and Herbs A fantastic bowl of weeknight noodles that draws inspiration from Vietnamese cooking.
Caramelized Scallion Noodles The sauce is the standout in this recipe. I double it and store the rest in a jar in the fridge.
Vegetable Yakisoba The classic savory stir-fried noodles, but packed with enough vegetables for a one-pan dinner.
Perfect Instant Ramen American cheese?!
Chile Crisp Fried Rice With Tofu and Edamame Chile crisp lovers, this is for you.
Toasted Coconut Rice With Bok Choy and Fried Eggs A breezy way to make dinner more pleasing: Cook the eggs, rice and greens using coconut oil.
Curry Chicken Fried Rice Very minimal prep (you don’t even need to chop vegetables), juicy chicken, vibrant flavor.
Cumin and Cashew Yogurt Rice This is South Asian comfort food that you can adorn as you like, or leave alone for a satisfyingly simple meal.
Spanakorizo With Jammy Eggs The meadow-green, spinach-and-dill rice dish, now topped with the yolky sunshine of boiled eggs.
Farro With Blistered Tomatoes, Pesto and Spinach Because pesto doesn’t need to stay in the pasta zone.
Lemony Pearl Barley Soup You can bulk up this cheerful pot of soup for dinner by adding more vegetables, white beans, shredded chicken or maybe even an egg.
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Fish and Shrimp
Sticky Miso Salmon Bowl Casual, stylish, restaurant-ish cooking that you can actually make at home.
Broiled Salmon With Mustard and Lemon This recipe is so easy, anyone can do it. The mustard and lemon add savory zest and zing to skin-on fillets.
Ginger-Dill Salmon A large plank of salmon heaped with a gingery citrus salad, this dish is far more fabulous than it has any right to be.
Broiled Salmon With Chile, Orange and Mint The best simple dinners nail the details. Here, that’s the meeting of red pepper, citrus and mint.
Roasted Gochujang Salmon All you need to do is spread the fish with garlic, sugar and gochujang (or miso, or harissa), and then let the ingredients do their thing in the oven.
Tomato-Poached Fish With Chile Oil and Herbs The combination of juicy fish, toasted garlic, bright cherry tomatoes and handfuls of herbs makes this recipe just about perfect.
Sheet-Pan Roasted Fish With Sweet Peppers A pan of soft, colorful peppers is a beautiful sight.
West Indian Kedgeree (Coconut Curry Rice With Cod) Rich with coconut milk and tinged with scallions and lime, this tropical take on kedgeree is inspired.
Quick Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-Fry Recipes like this are why I always keep shrimp in the freezer (and why I think you should, too).
Shrimp Pullao Shrimp mingle with gently spiced rice in this recipe adapted from Madhur Jaffrey, the queen of Indian cooking in America.
Coconut-Lime Shrimp Poaching shrimp in coconut milk with lime is precisely as good as it sounds.
Spicy Tuna and Avocado Tostadas Serve this zippy salad of tuna, avocado and lime on tostadas or with tortilla chips, or pile it on greens or rice.
Tuna Mayo Rice Bowl Possibly the best instant dinner if you’ve got cooked rice in your fridge or freezer (keep cooked rice in your fridge or freezer!).
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Beef and Pork
Butter-Basted Steak With Asparagus Whenever I want to do something really nice for myself for dinner, I buy a steak. Here’s a simple yet deluxe-feeling way to cook it.
Pepper Steak The speedy classic stir-fry, made with soy sauce, honey and several grinds of black pepper.
Lomo Saltado (Tomato Beef Stir-Fry) Another excellent stir-fry, but with Peruvian influences (yellow chiles, French fries) skipping along in the pan.
Sweet and Salty Grilled Steak With Cucumber Salad Inspired by nuoc cham, the marinade here — fish sauce, brown sugar, garlic, lime and jalapeño — couldn’t be better.
Bistek Here’s a sublime rendition of the Filipino treasure, with simply cooked steak, onions and juicy citrus.
Easy Burritos Because I would never ask you to make difficult burritos on a Tuesday.
Korean BBQ-Style Meatballs The craveable flavors of grilled Korean-style steak, but rolled into meatballs that you can bake.
Chili Mac This endearing American classic is essentially a quick chili con carne with macaroni and melted Cheddar.
Herb-Marinated Pork Chops Steeping thin, fast-cooking boneless pork chops in a garlic-and-herb vinaigrette both seasons the meat and keeps it juicy.
Pork Chops With Kale and Dates Pork and fruit, a classic combination, but with a sophisticated touch: a tangy salad of dates, kale, garlic and vinegar.
Braised Pork Chops With Tomatoes, Anchovies and Rosemary This bronzed and brawny recipe will remind you of a dish that’s been braised for hours, when really it’s been only minutes.
Harissa-Honey Pork Tenderloin This lean cut of pork tends to be a bit blank, flavorwise. Coating it with a sweet, smoky harissa-honey glaze fixes that.
Sheet-Pan Sausages and Mushrooms With Arugula and Croutons This is an amazing ensemble of ingredients, and together they are better than you can even imagine.
Sausage Smash Burgers A very good idea: Take the smash burger template but imbue it with the flavors of Italian sausage and peppers.
Baked White Beans and Sausage With Sage It’s amazing the magic that sausage can work when it’s slowly braised with beans and apple juice (unsweetened, please!).
Sheet-Pan Crispy Pork Schnitzel A streamlined, minimal-mess way to make one of my favorite dinners: crisp cutlets with salad.
Stir-Fried Green Beans With Pork and Chiles You could double the green beans, you could double the sauce, you could even make this vegan with plant-based meat.
BLT Tacos Exactly what it sounds like, and an extremely fun, customizable dinner.
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Vegetables, Beans and Tofu
Eggplant Adobo Chicken adobo, beloved for its sippable garlic-vinegar-soy sauce, goes vegan.
Cauliflower Piccata The brine, lemon and butter of the original is transformed into a vegetable main course.
Green Shakshuka With Avocado and Lime Serve with tortillas and beer.
Loaded Baked Frittata An eggy, one-pan event packed with peppers, spinach and goat cheese.
Mushrooms on Toast Just mushrooms, butter, garlic and toast. Some days, dinner doesn’t really need to be much more than this.
Sheet-Pan Paneer Tikka A winning after-work dinner: Coat firm, slightly salty paneer with spiced yogurt, then roast with onions and peppers. Swap out the paneer for tofu if you can’t eat cheese.
Sheet-Pan Baked Feta With Broccolini, Tomatoes and Lemon The most photogenic sheet-pan recipe, because it’s packed with a rainbow of vegetables.
Kimchi Grilled Cheese This is how you take a grilled cheese sandwich up to 11.
Miso Broiled Tofu For custardy tofu with flavorful, crisp edges, try this smart technique.
Crispy Tofu and Cabbage Stir-Fry My new favorite way to cook cabbage: seared so that it chars, sweetens and softens without collapsing into mush.
Sweet Potato Hash With Tofu A zesty, smoky and entirely vegan take on hash, though runny fried eggs would be a sunny addition.
Sheet-Pan Tofu and Brussels Sprouts With Hoisin-Tahini Sauce Stir together hoisin and tahini for a topping that can animate even the simplest cooking.
Chile-Crisp Tofu, Tomatoes and Cucumbers Chile crisp-soaked tofu zaps this main-course riff on smashed cucumber salad with flavor.
Chana Masala This classic dish, with its chile-spiked tomato and onion sauce, is one of the best ways to eat chickpeas.
Roasted Honey Nut Squash and Chickpeas With Hot Honey This takes a little longer than other recipes on this list (winter squash needs time in the oven) but it’s a superb, hands-off dinner.
Cheesy Green Chile Bean Bake A fast, flexible take on molten enchiladas verdes, no tortilla-rolling required.
Pesto Beans More food should be inspired by pesto’s flavors, like this charming pot of white beans.
Black Bean Tacos With Avocado and Spicy Onions Warm up and season a few cans of black beans to make easy vegetarian tacos, with lime-soaked onions for a zip and crunch.
Lentils Cacciatore Some of the speediest stews use red lentils, like this vegetarian homage to the saucy Italian classic.
Chilled Tofu With Gochujang Sauce A silky, pitch-perfect, no-cook recipe.
Broccoli Korma For a luxuriously creamy vegetable bowl, simmer broccoli in a mix of seasoned coconut milk and almond butter.
Beans and Greens Alla Vodka Maybe the best case yet for swapping out pasta for beans (and greens, too).
Refried White Beans With Chile-Fried Eggs Cook cannellini (or navy!) beans in the style of refried beans — skip the lard! — to make a chunky base for fried eggs.
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