What to Cook This Weekend

12 Easy, Cozy Recipes for the Weekend

Including slow-cooked chickens, hands-off pork, and one-bowl cakes you can cut into all weekend long.
Cheesy baked pasta in a cast iron skillet with two portions spooned from dish onto plates.
Photo by Chelsie Craig

When you’re in the eighth month of social distancing—and that month just happens to lead to a presidential election—taking things easy is a form of self-care. Luckily, keeping your kitchen efforts on the gentle side can be extremely delicious, whether it takes the form of slow-cooked meats and vegetables or casually thrown together salads and sweets. Here we selected a handful of hands-off recipes that also emanate warmth and comfort. Cozy food is what we’re calling it because it tastes best eaten in the spirit in which it was cooked: on the couch, under a blanket, book (or remote) in hand.

  • Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Claire Saffitz
    3/12

    Slow-Cooked Winter Squash With Sage and Thyme

    This garlicky, soft-as-butter squash takes all of five minutes to prep. Eat it on toast, over hummus, or next to a piece of roasted fish. Or join us in doing the ultimate lazy thing: Eat the squash right out of the baking dish.

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  • Photo by Chelsie Craig
    4/12

    Baked Pasta Shells With Sausage and Greens

    Crisp nuggets of Italian sausage and tender broccoli rabe swathed in a blanket of cozy cheese sauce—this is the definition of cold-weather comfort food.

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  • photo by Roland Bello
    5/12

    Warm Tofu With Spicy Garlic Sauce

    Soft tofu gets custardy when warmed, so this is almost like a spicy, savory pudding. Add some rice and you basically have the best food ever for watching Netflix. 

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    6/12

    Herbed Faux-tisserie Chicken and Potatoes

    How is a three-hour chicken better than a one-hour chicken? The fall-apart texture, for one thing. But the thing that really makes this chicken blissful is the fact that you can take a nap while it cooks.

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  • Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Erika Joyce
    9/12

    Grape Cake With Hazelnut Streusel

    As cakes go, this is one of the easier ones—it all comes together in the food processor. Set it on the counter and cut slices from it the entire day, at your leisure.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    10/12

    Lentil Soup With Wheat Berries and Kale

    This nourishing soup is packed with creamy, chewy, and hearty textures that make the simple preparation extremely satisfying. Use stock instead of water if you’d like—but truly, you don’t need it.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    11/12

    Arroz Caldo (Chicken Rice Porridge)

    Slow-cooked chicken and broken-down rice adds up to one of the coziest bowls on the planet. 

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    12/12

    BLT Casserole

    Plenty of bacon and a quick trip under the broiler adds salty, smoky crunch to this cheeky casserole version of the classic sandwich. Serve it for brunch, and you don't have to make individual eggs for everyone in your house.

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