I’ve cooked over 1,000 Ina Garten recipes. Here are 10 of my favorites for an easy dinner.

I’ve spent years making many of Ina Garten’s easy dinner recipes — and I have a few favorites.

Trent Pheifer

I’ve spent years cooking all 1,300+ of the celebrity chef Ina Garten’s recipes.
My favorite dinner recipes of hers include eggs in purgatory and weeknight Bolognese.
I love her easy recipes for chicken with creamy mustard sauce and rigatoni with sausage and fennel.

As life gets busy with school, work, holidays, and social obligations, we’re left with little time to spend cooking.

Luckily, the celebrity chef Ina Garten has plenty of easy weeknight meals that are low effort but high reward. I should know, as I spent seven years cooking my way through the Barefoot Contessa’s entire 1,350+ recipe repertoire.

Ina is a master of distilling recipes to their essence, helping home cooks create tasty meals with the best quality ingredients they can afford while pulling out the most delicious flavors. Below, I’m sharing 10 of my favorite easy recipes from her cookbooks.

Most of these recipes should get dinner on the table in under an hour — many will get it there in just 30 minutes.

Baked shrimp scampi can be on the table in less than 30 minutes.

You can pair the sausages and grapes with polenta.

Trent Pheifer

“Foolproof,” page 137

This sausage-and-grapes recipe was the biggest surprise of the entire project.

The idea of roasted grapes wasn’t all that appealing, but with only five ingredients, I figured I’d give it a shot. It was heaven.

The dish has the ideal balance of sweet and salty, and the grapes’ flavor concentrates, creating a wine-like pop of sweetness. I’m with Ina that a pool of creamy polenta is the easy, delicious base to complete this meal.

Seared salmon with spicy red-pepper aioli is easy and tasty.

Rigatoni with sausage and fennel is my favorite Ina Garten recipe.

Trent Pheifer

“Cooking for Jeffrey,” page 114

Growing up in the 1990s, Hamburger Helper made regular appearances at our table. I cackled when I saw someone say they thought of this dish as the adult version of the beefy packaged pasta dish.

But, as Ina would say, this could be like Hamburger Helper with the volume turned up.

If I were forced to pick my all-time favorite Ina recipe, it would be this one. Pasta, sausage, and tender fennel in a tomato cream sauce? Yes, please.

Her easy Parmesan “risotto” is great for a vegetarian dinner.

Thighs are one of my favorite cuts of chicken to eat.

Trent Pheifer

“Cook Like a Pro,” page 91

If I never had to eat another chicken breast in my life, I’d be happy. Chicken thighs are another story, and one of my all-time favorite ways to enjoy them is in this mustard cream sauce.

It’s a simple dish with a high reward — crispy, juicy chicken thighs swimming in a white-wine, creme-fraîche, and Dijon sauce. I love serving with rice and charred broccoli to sop up all that phenomenal sauce.

The chef’s weeknight Bolognese can be ready fast.

Ground coffee elevates this steak rub.

Trent Pheifer

“Make It Ahead,” page 118

One of our favorite easy weeknight meals is a steak salad, and the rub for this steak is our go-to — it’s sweet, spicy, and earthy with the surprising addition of ground coffee.

We just dress greens in a balsamic-Dijon vinaigrette, add avocado, tomato, and onions, and serve with the sliced steak on top.

Tomato soup with grilled-cheese croutons is the ultimate comfort food.

Ina Garten’s eggs in purgatory recipe serves two but it’s easy to scale.

Trent Pheifer

“Go-To Dinners,” page 68

Like Ina, I love breakfast for dinner. Serve this eggs-in-purgatory dish with crusty bread and a simple side salad and dinner is ready.

The eggs are cooked in a flavorful sauce, and store-bought is fine. In this recipe, Ina infuses jarred arrabbiata sauce with onion, garlic, red-pepper flakes, and rosemary.

The recipe only serves two, but it’s easily scalable.

This story was originally published on September 22,2023 and most recently updated on September 11, 2024.

Read the original article on Business Insider

source:https://www.businessinsider.com/best-dinner-recipes-ina-garten-from-man-who-cooked-them-all-2023