Last year, Epicurious Food Director Rhoda Boone revealed that your Great Aunt Sally's Super Secret Cookie recipe was all just a hoax—ole' Sal was merely following the instructions on the back of that famous yellow package. And who's to blame her? Some back-of-the-box recipes not only spark nostalgia, but are also famously delicious.
Following that back-of-the-box-baking exposé, we decided a tasting of some savory classics was in order. We polled our teammates (and our grandparents) to find out what printed-on-the-label dinner recipes they remembered loving as a child (or perhaps only discovered last week). We then gathered bags and boxes and cans of grocery store staples and took them to the Epi Test Kitchen.
A few of the recipes we tried were pure classics. Others were modern weeknight workhorse dishes that, while fantastic as is, left us reeling with ideas for adaptations. A few others were total duds. (Don't worry, we've left those off the list.)
What follows are our favorites, ranked in order from "really good" to "man, I wish I'd known about this sooner." We guarantee that any of them will be a welcome, nostalgic presence at your holiday dinners.
