Recipe Roundup

19 Feel-Better Recipes to Soothe You When You’re Sick

Keep a stash of these comforting soups and cozy dishes on hand so you’re ready for whatever illness comes knocking.
A bowl of chicken soup on a marble surface with a deeply bronzed broth large shreds of chicken and garnished with cilantro.
Photo by Chelsie Craig

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If someone in your household is sick—or perhaps a friend, neighbor, or relative—you might be wondering what you could cook for them that would help soothe their symptoms or at least offer a little comfort. Below you'll find a few of our staff's go-to sick day recipes, including chicken soup for the sniffly and a vitamin-C-packed salad. Lots of these recipes can be made ahead and stashed in your freezer for whenever you're not feeling well.

  • Bowl of soup with frikadelki meatballs.
    Photo by Joe Woodhouse
    1/19

    Sunshine Broth With Frikadelki

    Chef Olia Hercules shared this recipe in her latest cookbook, Home Food, and says that she'd request it anytime she was sick as a child. The carrots melt into the broth, giving it a sunshiney hue.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau
    2/19

    Garlic Broth

    No need to go and and get groceries to make this garlicky broth—it only requires a handful of herbs, two heads of garlic, and a little olive oil.

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  • Photo by Chelsie Craig
    3/19

    Chicken Soup with Caramelized Ginger

    This soothing chicken soup has a touch of ginger for warmth; it's one of those sick day foods that's especially nice to have stashed in your freezer for when you're feeling under the weather.

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  • Photo by John Lee
    4/19

    Phở Gà

    This chicken pho is easier to make than the beefy version, and it's packed with flavor from the ginger, coriander, and cloves.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    5/19

    Chicken Soup

    This is the classic recipe, served for decades at New York's 2nd Avenue Deli.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
    6/19

    Lemon-Ginger Electrolyte Drink

    Rehydrate after a rough night with this electrolyte-packed water, flavored with fresh ginger, citrus, honey, and sea salt.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova
    7/19

    Cinnamon Toast Bites

    Even toast can be a little fun when you transform it into these cinnamony bites.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    8/19

    Arroz Caldo

    In this Filipino chicken rice porridge, a combination of medium-grain and sticky rice cooks in chicken stock until it becomes thick and creamy.

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  • Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime
    15/19

    Yemeni Chicken Matzo Ball Soup

    In this recipe, chef Einat Admony marries Ashkenazi matzo ball soup with the Yemeni chicken soup she grew up eating during Shabbat in Israel.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kate Buckens
    16/19

    Strawberry Smoothie

    Keeping things super simple on a sick day? All you need is frozen fruit, yogurt, honey, and whatever milk or alt-milk you prefer, plus a splash of vanilla if you like.

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  • Photo by Colin Price
    19/19

    Brown Butter Steel-Cut Oatmeal

    This recipe makes quick work of steel-cut oats by calling in the Instant Pot. Top with bananas or other fruit, and crawl back into bed.

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