You probably think all of us here at New York Times Cooking love to cook. And for the most part, we do! We cook for work, we cook for fun. But we’d be lying if we didn’t admit to sometimes wilting at the thought of planning another week of meals, or groaning when the last of the ketchup runs out because it means a slog to the grocery store. Sometimes, it’s just (gestures wildly in every direction) too much. These recipes are for the days when your survival instinct tells you to order takeout — which we do all the time, too — but your tummy longs for something homemade.
This vegetarian one-pot recipe from Melissa Clark is similar to spanakorizo, a Greek spinach and rice dish, and it’s just the thing to celebrate spring. Packed with scallions, spinach and peas (frozen or fresh) and dotted with feta, it’s filling but won’t leave you listless. For a vegan version, one reader suggests using extra-virgin olive oil instead of butter, and adding white beans instead of feta.
This traditional Mexican soup from Jocelyn Ramirez is cozy and edifying. If you can’t get good fresh tomatoes or you don’t have a blender, mince the garlic and use crushed tomatoes or canned tomato sauce like one reader’s grandmother does. Top with any combination of avocado slices, sautéed mushrooms, lime juice, queso fresco, cooked potatoes or Mexican cream.
Recipe: Sopa de Fideo
This vegetarian sheet-pan dinner from Ali Slagle is mercifully simple. Toss shelf-stable gnocchi, mushrooms, scallions, shallot and olive oil on a sheet pan, season well with salt and pepper, then roast until the gnocchi is crisp at the edges. (For more, this guide from Melissa Clark can show you how to put together a sheet-pan dinner with practically anything.)
Recipe: Sheet-Pan Gnocchi With Mushrooms and Spinach
In this version of gyeran bap, a Korean pantry meal of fried eggs stirred into white rice, Eric Kim cooks the eggs in browned butter, drizzles them with soy sauce and sesame oil, then scatters salty roasted seaweed over the finished dish. Many readers like to sprinkle it all with a little furikake or sesame seeds.
This smart recipe from Ali Slagle is perfect for when you want the flavors of a long-simmered sauce, but don’t have all day. It calls for dumping a big can of tomatoes onto a sheet pan, then slow roasting for about two hours until they start to deepen in color and the edges begin to caramelize. All that’s left to do is boil pasta. No, it’s not the kind of dish you can throw together last minute, but it is the kind of dish that gives you a great excuse to go take a two-hour break.
Recipe: Roasted Tomato Sauce With Pasta
Thank the Cuban socialite Elena Ruz Valdés-Fauli for this beauty of a sandwich, which was adapted by Christina Morales. In the late 1920s or early ’30s, Ms. Valdés-Fauli, dining at El Carmelo restaurant in Havana, asked for turkey, strawberry preserves and cream cheese on a soft medianoche roll. It became a national sensation. Substitute any soft white bread roll, like brioche, for the medianoche.
Recipe: Elena Ruz Sandwich
The shrimp in Yewande Komolafe’s take on this beachside favorite are seasoned with ground cumin, cayenne, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper, then seared in a hot skillet for a lovely char. Tuck them into warm tortillas with a pile of quick-pickled red cabbage (which is really just shredded cabbage tossed with lime juice and salt). Accessorize as you wish with avocado, crema, pico de gallo and cilantro.
Recipe: Shrimp Tacos
A quick sauce of butter, gochujang, honey and sherry vinegar coats pasta in this practically magical pantry dish from Eric Kim. To speed things up even more, use fresh or packaged ramen and follow the tip below the recipe for adapting the recipe for one diner.
Recipe: Gochujang Buttered Noodles
Please a crowd — or a couple of hungry teenagers — with this sheet-pan grilled cheese recipe from Ali Slagle. Sprinkling the parchment-lined pan with a layer of hard cheese like Parmesan before sliding it into the oven creates a frico-like coating that takes this simple sandwich to the next level.
This no-cook dish from Hetty McKinnon is a favorite among New York Times Cooking editors when kitchen ambition is low. Silken tofu is covered with a lively dressing of soy sauce, chile oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar and scallions. Add fresh herbs, or top with fried shallots or roasted peanuts. For a happy contrast, serve it alongside a bowl of hot rice or noodles.
Recipe: Silken Tofu With Spicy Soy Dressing
It might appear a little Sunday sit-down dinner fancy, but this roast chicken from Mark Bittman is one of the easiest things you can make. Salt and pepper the dickens out of the chicken, get your skillet blazing hot, then plop the bird into the pan (careful about splatters) and roast until done. If you think of it, slide a potato or two onto the oven rack to bake alongside. (It might need a few more minutes, but let it continue to bake while the chicken rests.)
Recipe: Roast Chicken
Inspired by wafu or Japanese-style pasta, this 15-minute dish from Ali Slagle features brown butter, soy sauce and spinach, but invites unbridled improvisation. Use Parm, miso, seaweed or mushrooms in place of the soy; instead of black pepper for heat, try ginger or chile; and use whatever green and leafy veg you like. (If it’s a heartier green, like kale or collards, add it to the pot with the noodles as they cook.)
Recipe: Sesame Brown Butter Udon Noodles
Broiling is the secret to making this super speedy sheet-pan meal from Kay Chun. Not only does it cut cook time to about 10 minutes, it also chars the miso-honey marinade onto the chicken for caramelized edges and tender meat. Substitute broccolini or green beans for the asparagus.
Recipe: Sheet-Pan Miso-Honey Chicken and Asparagus
Connie Chung was inspired by the steamed whole fish dishes that were often served at the Cantonese banquets of her childhood when she created this recipe for her fast-casual restaurant in New York. This one retains the tender fish and soy sauce, ginger and scallions, but loses the skin and bones, making this a fast and flavorful weeknight meal.
That can of chickpeas in your cabinet is calling to you. In this recipe, Kay Chun combines them with a lemon-tahini dressing, celery and scallions and sandwiches the hearty mix between two pieces of multigrain bread. It’s also great eaten right from the bowl you mixed it in with tortilla or pita chips.
Recipe: Chickpea Salad Sandwich
This delightfully easy dish from “Indian-ish: Recipes and Antics From a Modern American Family” by Priya Krishna and Ritu Krishna is melt-in-your-mouth good. Combine cooked rice with sautéed onion, chile and tomato, top with Cheddar, then broil until golden brown.
Recipe: Tomato Rice With Crispy Cheddar
When you’re truly wiped out, assembly, not cooking, is the name of the game. This vegetarian salad from Corinne Trang calls for cannellini beans, avocado, cilantro and lemon juice, which are tossed with an easy garlic oil made by crisping sliced garlic in olive oil. Top the finished salad with lemon zest and the crunchy fried garlic bits — a lovely textural contrast to the creaminess of the beans and avocado.
Recipe: White Bean and Avocado Salad With Garlic Oil
Melissa Clark calls for snow peas and mushrooms in this 30-minute red coconut curry, but you can whatever vegetables you have in your fridge. Frankly, it’s hard to mess up this dish. Just keep in mind that you may need to increase the cook time a bit for heartier vegetables. (For a nonvegetarian red curry, try Ali Slagle’s adaptation of kua kling, a Southern Thai dry red curry, made with ground chicken.)
Recipes: Coconut Red Curry With Tofu | Kua Kling (Southern Thai-Style Red Curry)
When in doubt, there is always breakfast for dinner. Genevieve Ko smartly cooks bacon and eggs together on a sheet pan, so everything cooks evenly, no flipping required. Be sure to start with room-temperature eggs. If you forgot to take them out of the fridge in time, pop them into a bowl of hot tap water, and let them sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
This salad from Naz Deravian is inspired by Iranian dooymaaj, a snack made by combining leftover bread, herbs, feta and nuts with a little butter or milk, then rolling into balls for a tasty snack. Here, those ingredients are combined, then dressed with a tangy buttermilk dressing for a substantial no-cook meal. Crispy lavash works best here, but any flatbread will do.
Recipe: Dooymaaj Salad