One-Pot Meals

The combination of corn, soy, and butter is as delicious as it is classic. As Hiroko Shimbo writes in her book Hiroko’s American Kitchen, corn and butter are a common pair in Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, where both are produced. Here, the three come together along with pan-fried tofu, scallions, mirin, and sesame oil to make an ultra-flavorful, just-rich-enough vegetarian main. Serve it over rice, a chewy grain like farro or wheat berries, or arugula dressed with rice vinegar and more sesame oil. A crispy fried egg would also be welcome.

My grandma used to make a version of this dish using pork and showers of Parmesan. I have updated it to include ground chicken and miso for a lighter, late-summer dish with equally deep flavor,  but feel free to use whatever ground meat you prefer. Gently poaching the meatballs is not only faster than roasting, but means none of their flavor is lost to a baking sheet.

The key to stress-free stir-frying is all in the prep work. Be sure to chop, slice, and grate everything before even thinking about turning on the stove. Top this dish with fried eggs to put it over the top, but it’s also great without them.

This picadillo is inspired by a version found in San Luis Potosí in central Mexico with potatoes and poblanos.

Adding ginger and soy sauce to caramelized onions gives a bit of zingy punch and intrigue, creating a multidimensional meal that comes together in just one skillet. 

We took loose inspiration from Hainanese chicken rice to create this weeknight-friendly dish.

A fragrant, sweet-and-sour, perfectly acidic roast chicken. 

Here, chicken legs are gently oven-braised in puttanesca sauce until nearly falling off the bone. 

With a crispy, toasted top hiding saucy, tomato-y noodles, this one-skillet broken spaghetti dish is anything but one-note.

If you’ve ever tried maitake mushrooms, then you already know this, but they have an unbelievably rich flavor and aroma of piney forest floor and fresh fallen leaves. This recipe celebrates everything we love about them.

This Kung Pao recipe stays very close to the original but includes seasonal peppers.

We opted to use cherry tomatoes for this poached cod recipe because we like their sweetness and how quickly they collapse into a sauce.

This isn’t the crisp-skinned, high-heat-roast chicken you’re probably familiar with. Instead, it’s a melt-in-your-mouth tender, schmaltzy, slow-roast version.

August is peak eggplant season; look for Japanese and Chinese eggplants for this stir-fry recipe.

This fast miso-curry paste and handfuls of charred green beans and peas transform skinless, boneless chicken breasts into a highly craveable dinner.

Making one giant pancake instead of a bunch of smaller ones means that everyone can sit down to pancake breakfast at the same time.

These richly flavored ribs are a riff on kalbi jjim, a traditional Korean special-occasion dish.

Any vegetable or meat would be in good company with this stew’s spicy-funky base of kimchi, gochugaru, and gochujang.

For this soup recipe, we skipped browning the meatballs and poached them instead. This will keep them very tender and their flavor light, which is ideal for this seasonal dish.

Exactly the kind of hearty-but-not-too-hearty soup you want on a rainy spring day.