Health

Five Fast Favorites From 2023

We’ve just published our list of the 50 most popular recipes of 2023 on New York Times Cooking, and I’d like to compliment you on your excellent taste. The tinto de verano! Dumpling tomato salad with chile crisp vinaigrette! Mochiko chicken! Cacio e pepe and white lasagna! And the banana pudding from Magnolia Bakery in New York, which I think far outshines its famous cupcakes.

I’ve picked five recipes from the list to feature below, dishes I feel are particularly good for a fast dinner. But we published hundreds of excellent, interesting and very delicious recipes this year — many of them also quick to prepare — so I hope you’ll dive deep into Cooking and splash around. I’m at [email protected]; please reach out to me anytime, especially if it’s to tell me your favorite recipe of the year, so I can feature some reader picks next week.

Credit…James Ransom for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

1. Gochujang Buttered Noodles

One tub or jar of gochujang is more than enough to make both this brilliant recipe from Eric Kim and his five-star gochujang caramel cookies.

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Credit…David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

2. Ginger Chicken With Sesame Peanut Sauce

Who can resist peanut sauce? Certainly not me. You can make this Melissa Clark recipe with tofu if you don’t eat meat; try cashew butter if you can’t eat peanuts.

View this recipe.


Credit…Kelly Marshall for The New York Times

3. Shrimp Tacos

You could lean into wintry weather, if you’re somewhere cold right now, and simmer some stew. Or you could make this beachy recipe from Yewande Komolafe, which comes with a side of sunshine.

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Credit…David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.

4. Rosemary White Beans With Frizzled Onions and Tomato

“Frizzled” is such a great word, a vivid and visceral melding of “fried” and “sizzled.” Melissa Clark uses it here to describe the onions that top these simple white beans, which I’d have for dinner with an extra-large piece of toasted sourdough bread and a green salad.

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Credit…Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne. Prop Stylist: Paige Hicks.

5. Coconut Saag

This recipe from Priya Krishna is a particularly luxurious play on saag paneer, with a can of coconut milk added for richness. This might be my favorite way to eat a pound of greens.

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