Recipe Roundup

58 Cooking Project Recipes for Rainy or Snowy Days

Rain, rain, come and stay. These dishes want to play all afternoon as they rise, marinate, bake, and braise.
Soft pretzels and two ramekins of yellow mustard against a blackandwhite striped background.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
  • Soft pretzels and two ramekins of yellow mustard against a blackandwhite striped background.
    Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    1/58

    Traditional Soft Pretzels

    This version of the classic beer hall/ballpark snack includes a quick-rising dough, and a swap for a baking soda bath instead of the traditional (but also more complicated) lye. Now all you need to do is master the pretzel twist and you'll be making soft pretzels in no time.

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  • Photo by Peden + Munk
    2/58

    Coq au Vin With Cocoa Powder

    You’ve heard it before: You can’t rush a good braise. Take your time browning the chicken and mushrooms and building the velvety sauce for this coq au vin recipe.

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  • Gentl & Hyers
    5/58

    Beef Bourguignonne Pot Pie

    This combination of red wine–stewed beef encased in a puff pastry crust is over-the-top delicious—exactly the thing if you want a weekend project that delivers at the end of the day.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, Prop Styling by Emily Elsen, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
    6/58

    Chicken and Tomato Stew With Caramelized Lemon

    Cooking lemon slices just to this side of burnt adds a layer of complex flavor to this comforting dish.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Astrid Chastka, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    15/58

    Classic Carrot-Coconut Cake

    Classic carrot-coconut cake is a Southern tradition. Ours has a healthy dose of ginger and cinnamon for a nice spice and cream cheese frosting sprinkled with pretty coconut flakes for a beautiful finishing touch.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Jerri Joy, Food Styling by Anna Hampton
    16/58

    Pull-Apart Bread With Pumpkin and Spinach

    This stunning bread gets its branch-like form by taking a shaping cue from the classic French baguette bread, Pain d'Epi (a.k.a. wheat stalk bread). Use sharp scissors to cut the dough and gently move each piece to the side to keep the rolled filling as tight as possible.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    17/58

    Traditional Sauerkraut with Caraway

    Ferment to your heart's content with these 12 easy steps for making sauerkraut at home.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
    18/58

    Rustic Bread

    This simple yet delicious loaf from baker Adam Leonti of Brooklyn Bread Lab relies on an overnight rest and fresh cake yeast to develop some of the sour, tangy flavor and chewy texture of sourdough bread with a much more streamlined process.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone
    19/58

    Mixed Berry Pie Bars

    If you've ever wanted to eat pie like a cookie, these pie bar cookies are for you. The bright berry filling and buttery, flaky crust make them totally irresistible.

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  • Photo by Ed Anderson
    20/58

    Raspberry-Lemon Icebox Cake

    Whip cream cheese with lemon and cream, fold in raspberries, and then layer with gingersnaps for an easy dessert that needs to chill at least six hours before you can dig in. Maybe make another recipe on this list while you wait?

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  • Photo by Linda Xiao
    21/58

    Double-Pork Carnitas

    A combination of pork belly and pork shoulder, slow-cooked to tenderness and then crisped in a pan, yields carnitas with unparalleled texture and richness.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
    22/58

    Pecan-Orange Baklava Pie

    Assembling this pretty baklava with a diamond-cut top can easily take up a rainy afternoon. The bourbon-honey syrup and orange zest in the filling add rich, savory flavor, and keep things less sweet than the traditional Middle Eastern treat.

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  • Photo by Marcus Nilsson
    23/58

    Lamb Shanks With Pomegranate and Walnuts

    Braise Persian spice–coated lamb shanks in pomegranate juice, add walnuts to the reduced sauce and then spoon the whole thing over creamy polenta to warm up a cold winter day.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Anna Hampton
    24/58

    Four-Cheese Manicotti

    Layer ricotta-stuffed noodles with cheesy bechamel and marinara for a baked pasta dinner you’ll be dreaming about all week.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau
    25/58

    Filipino-Style Roast Pork Belly with Chile Vinegar

    This method for roasting pork belly simplifies and mimics the effects of traditionally boiled and deep-fried lechon kawali, the celebratory Philippine pork dish with crackling skin and succulent meat.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Diana Yen
    26/58

    Orange Sweet Rolls

    Inspired by the All Steak restaurant in Cullman, Alabama, these thinly-rolled, brightly-flavored orange rolls have both zest and juice, giving them an intoxicating aroma and a full burst of sweet citrus flavor.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau
    27/58

    Pork, Vegetable, and Tamarind Stew

    The finished stew should be decidedly sour, tamarind’s calling card, but you’re in control of how ­puckery things get. You can sub other vegetables or simplify the array, but be very careful not to overcook them.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
    28/58

    Jelly Doughnuts

    These light doughnuts will be the hit no matter the weather. The recipe doubles easily for a crowd...or if you plan on being stuck indoors for longer than expected.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova
    29/58

    Chicken Stew With Potatoes and Radishes

    This one-pot comfort-food stew takes its flavor cues from chicken paprikash. Cooking low and slow is the key to getting deep flavor and the perfect texture; make sure to simmer the stew until the potatoes are creamy and the chicken is pull-apart tender.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Diana Yen
    30/58

    Giant Chocolate Candy Bar with Peanuts and Nougat

    The iconic chocolate bar of peanut-studded caramel and nougat is all about chewiness. Transforming that small bite into a giant layered treat means keeping the same flavors, but whipping up nougat fluffy enough to eat by the forkful with soft peanut-studded caramel.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Rhoda Boone
    33/58

    Our Favorite Spaghetti and Meatballs

    Use that rainy day to make Sunday sauce. Our favorite (and we'd know—we tested and tasted a lot!) spaghetti and meatballs settles on a 2-1/2 hour simmer.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Diana Yen
    34/58

    Giant Chocolate Caramel Cookie Bars

    When a good ol' American candy bar veers French, it becomes a decadent dessert. Buttery pat-in-pan shortbread takes the place of mass-produced cookies and gets smothered with silken chocolate and from-scratch caramel, rich with fresh cream.

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  • Photo by Peter Frank Edwards
    37/58

    Apple Jack Stack Cake

    Instead of the spongy cakes we're used to today, these layers are more like cookies—firmer, so they slowly soften beneath liberal applications of apple butter and cooked apples.

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  • Photo by Ditte Isager
    38/58

    Chicken and Dumplings With Mushrooms

    Woodsy mushrooms are a welcome addition to this favorite comfort food classic.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Diana Yen
    39/58

    Giant Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

    What makes classic peanut butter filling in chocolate cups irresistible is the edge of salt against sweet. That and a texture that hovers between creamy and crumbly. To get more peanutty goodness—and a tastier homemade version of it—blitz up peanuts, sugar, and salt and stuff it into a huge tart pan lined with chocolate. It's as addictive as the original with a freshness from just-ground peanuts.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Anna Stockwell
    40/58

    Flourless Pistachio Cake With Strawberry Meringue

    This gluten-free cake presents with surprisingly bright layers of green pistachio cake and pink strawberry meringue.

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  • Photo by David Japy
    41/58

    Honey Brioche

    Make it as a whole loaf or turn it into rolls; any way you bake it, it’s a winner, and you can use this method to create all sorts of variations.

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  • Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott
    42/58

    Slow-Cooked Short Ribs with Gremolata

    While these English-cut ribs roast away in a low oven, mix together a relish of breadcrumbs, parsley, lemon zest, horseradish, and garlic to give them a bright, bold finishing touch.

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  • Photo by Christina Holmes
    43/58

    Pork Loin Braised in Milk

    While the technique may seem strange, this classic Italian way to cook pork yields exceptionally tender meat and smells incredible while it's cooking.

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  • Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks
    44/58

    S'mores Sandwich Cookies

    This sandwich cookie makes your s'mores dreams come true. The honey and cinnamon-spiked soft cookie is big enough to hold not one, but two toasted marshmallows (toast them over a gas flame in the absence of a campfire), and the thin chocolate coating melts perfectly inside.

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  • Photo by Romulo Yanes
    45/58

    Strawberry Leather

    Fruit roll-ups made with fresh fruit? Yes you can do it, and yes, it's delicious.

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  • Lara Ferroni
    46/58

    Classic Glazed Doughnuts

    It's a rainy day, meaning you're still in your pajamas at 2 p.m. finishing the final season of [enter Netflix hit of the moment here]. With all of that in mind, there's no reason why you shouldn't be having doughnuts outside of breakfast hours.

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  • Photo by Marcus Nilsson
    51/58

    Curried Meatballs

    It's raining out, so keep those bones warm with this cozy and creamy tomato-based meatball curry. That screaming orange sauce will brighten any overcast day.

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  • Peden and Munk
    52/58

    Chocolate-Cinnamon "Babkallah"

    Start this chocolate-swirled bread early in the morning. By brunch, you'll be eating chocolate French toast.

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  • Tom Schierlitz
    55/58

    Pork Shoulder with Salsa Verde

    Seven hours of pure, unadulterated pork roasting turns this cut into a juicy, fork-tender masterpiece. (Making the sauce, however, takes only a quick few buzzes in a food processor.)

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  • Photo by Peden & Munk
    56/58

    Spicy Feel-Good Chicken Soup

    Use a whole chicken to make a stock that's jam-packed with flavor, then shred that chicken for this feel-good soup. Throw in greens, squash, and plenty of pepper to make it a wholesome way to spend an afternoon.

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  • Photo by Romulo Yanes
    57/58

    Salted Caramel Ice Cream

    Let's face it: ice cream is a bit of an undertaking, the kind that's great for a rainy day. This sweet-and-salty caramel version takes beautifully to chocolate sauce, pecans, and whatever other toppings you have on hand.

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  • Photo by Marcus Nilsson
    58/58

    Whole Wheat Chapatis

    Cooking these flatbreads takes less than a minute, but to get the dough stretchy you need to let it proof. While the dough is sitting, make a sweet-and-sour tomato chutney for spooning on top.

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