Western

Western Recipes

721 recipes. Page 11 of 31

Pasta, steak, and other Western recipes

Kale Apple Walnut Salad

Raw kale is fibrous and scratchy, but massaging it with half the dressing darkens the leaves, shrinks their volume and makes them easy to chew. Lemon juice softens the kale's bitterness, while olive oil and honey round out the acidity. Thin apple slices get a light coat of dressing as soon as they are cut, and they stay pale while the rest is prepared. Just 1 minute in a dry pan brings oil to the surface of the walnuts and makes them far more fragrant. Dried cranberries scattered through the bowl add small sweet-tart bursts.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🥗 Lighter Meals

Prep 12min 0 2 servings

Western Easy

Chex Party Mix

Worcestershire sauce and garlic, not a sugar shell, season this mix: the butter dries into a thin savory film over cereal, nuts, pretzels and bagel chips. The low oven is there to drive off moisture, so pieces straight from the pan feel softer than they will end up. Judge the crunch only once everything is cold, and hold off on the lid until then, because trapped steam undoes the drying. Unfrosted Chex-style cereal holds its shape through the mixing; thin flakes break apart and soak up the coating differently. The nuts and pretzels arrive already salted, so the seasoned salt is measured rather than shaken on.

Prep 25min Cook 60min 12 servings

Baking Medium

Brioche Loaf

With butter at half the weight of the flour plus three eggs, this loaf bakes up yellow inside, with a soft crumb that pulls apart in strands. The crust turns a deep golden brown, and the bread needs to cool completely before slicing or the tender crumb squashes under the knife.

Prep 30min Cook 35min 1 serving

Pasta Easy

Gochugaru Anchovy Broccolini Orecchiette

Anchovy fillets melt into garlicky olive oil until they disappear, leaving salt and savor with no fishy edge, and gochugaru, Korean chili flakes, adds a warm heat to that oil. Broccolini cooks in the pasta pot during the last minutes so it stays crisp and slightly bitter, and pan-toasted breadcrumbs give the soft, ear-shaped orecchiette something crunchy to play against. The crumbs are kept aside and scattered on just before serving so they stay crisp.

Prep 12min Cook 16min 2 servings

Salads Easy

Seaweed Chip Avocado Corn Salad

Gimbugak, Korean fried seaweed chips, are broken into rough pieces over avocado, sweet corn and cherry tomatoes, adding a salty, toasty crunch to an otherwise soft bowl. A pinch of fine chili powder in the lime dressing leaves a faint heat at the end.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🥗 Lighter Meals

Prep 14min Cook 6min 2 servings

Western Easy

Chicken a la King

Cubes of chicken breast, mushrooms and bell pepper finish together in a mild, creamy sauce made from milk and chicken stock. The chicken is seared only until opaque and pulled out early, then completes its cooking in the sauce, which keeps the breast meat moist.

Prep 15min Cook 25min 4 servings

Baking Easy

Brownie Cookie Bars (Layered Brownie and Cookie Bar)

Brownie batter goes down first, then lumps of brown sugar cookie dough are dotted over it and swirled just enough to marble the two. Cocoa and dark chocolate chips make the bottom layer bitter and intensely chocolatey, while the brown sugar gives the cookie patches a caramel note. Where the two meet they blur together, and one square ends up with both a chewy cookie bite and a fudgy brownie bite.

Prep 25min Cook 30min 4 servings

Pasta Easy

Gochugaru Sausage Rose Fusilli

Italian sausage, slipped out of its casing and torn into rough pieces, browns in the pan and leaves behind fat that becomes the base of a tomato and cream rosé sauce. Tearing rather than slicing gives the meat more ragged surface to brown. When the sausage throws off a lot of fat, blotting some away keeps the finished sauce from turning greasy once the cream is in. Gochugaru, Korean chili flakes, gets only about 20 seconds in the oil, enough for a mild warmth without a burnt edge, and the grooves of the fusilli catch both sauce and crumbled sausage.

Prep 10min Cook 20min 2 servings

Salads Easy

Kimchi Burrata Salad

Well-fermented napa kimchi brings sourness and depth, and burrata answers with mild, milky cream. The kimchi is shaken free of excess seasoning and spread wide across the plate, so no single bite ends up too salty. Perilla oil and olive oil share the dressing, pine nuts add a buttery note, and arugula keeps the whole plate from feeling heavy. Halved cherry tomatoes scatter fresh, fruity acidity in between. Burrata left out for 10 minutes before serving is soft enough that, torn open at the table, its creamy center runs into the kimchi juices.

⚡ 20-Minute Recipes 🥗 Lighter Meals

Prep 15min 0 2 servings

Western Medium

Chicken and Waffles

Crisp fried chicken thigh and a warm waffle share the plate, tied together with maple syrup so salty and sweet land in the same bite. Because the waffles are cooked first and held in a low oven, the chicken can go straight from the oil to the table.

Prep 25min Cook 25min 2 servings

Baking Easy

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Browning the butter until the milk solids turn golden gives these cookies a toasty smell of hazelnut and toffee that plain melted butter lacks. The one real risk is the pan of butter itself: the brown specks at the bottom go from golden to burnt quickly, so stay with it once it starts foaming.

Prep 20min Cook 14min 4 servings

Pasta Medium

Gochujang Beef Ragu Rigatoni

Gochujang, Korean red chili paste, is fried briefly first so its sweet, fermented heat sits underneath the tomato in this beef ragu. The flavor base comes from ground beef left untouched until it browns and sticks, then red wine scraped across the pan to dissolve those browned bits. Wide rigatoni tubes fill with the thick sauce and carry bits of meat inside each piece.

Prep 15min Cook 35min 2 servings

Salads Medium

Kimchi Tofu Caesar Salad

A dressing of mayonnaise and plain yogurt with parmesan stirred in gives the familiar Caesar creaminess with less weight, and stir-fried kimchi and seared tofu pull the salad toward Korea. Bread croutons, golden tofu cubes and crisp romaine each bring a different texture, which lasts only if the toppings are added right before eating.

🥗 Lighter Meals

Prep 18min Cook 8min 2 servings

Western Medium

Chicken Cacciatore

Briny black olives and capers, a splash of red wine and canned tomatoes make a rustic sauce that soaks into bone-in chicken as it braises. The skin is seared deep brown first, and the wine lifts those browned bits off the bottom of the pot, giving the sauce its roasted depth. Leftover sauce goes well with pasta or polenta.

Prep 15min Cook 55min 4 servings

Baking Easy

Butter Cookies

Only yolks and only powdered sugar go into the dough, so it is fine-textured and the butter comes through first. They are baked pale, just until the tips of the piped star ridges turn light gold.

Prep 20min Cook 12min 24 servings

Pasta Easy

Gochujang Corn Cream Cavatappi

Sweet corn sautéed in butter takes the edge off the gochujang, so the cream sauce leans sweet and mellow rather than fiery. Gochujang and cheese already carry salt, so any extra salt waits until the sauce has been tasted. Cavatappi, the corkscrew pasta, traps corn kernels in its coils, and the noodles and corn end up in the same bite.

Prep 12min Cook 18min 4 servings

Salads Easy

Lentil Kale Salad

Lentils and kale make this a salad that eats like a meal. Raw kale is tough and bitter on its own, but working part of the dressing into the leaves first darkens and softens them so they sit easily with the lentils. The lentils come off the heat after 20 to 25 minutes, while they still resist the teeth a little, before they turn to mush. The lemon vinaigrette is thickened with Dijon mustard, which keeps the oil from separating and helps it cling to each lentil. Coarsely chopped walnuts add crunch, and shredded carrot brings sweetness and color.

🥗 Lighter Meals

Prep 15min Cook 20min 2 servings

Western Easy

Chicken Caesar Wrap

A Caesar salad needs no fork once the dressed romaine, Parmesan and pan-cooked chicken breast are rolled inside a warm flour tortilla. The chicken cools for a few minutes before rolling, because hot meat would wilt the romaine and its crunch matters most.

Prep 15min Cook 8min 2 servings

Baking Easy

Butter Mochi Cake (Hawaiian Glutinous Rice Coconut Cake)

Sweet rice flour mixed with milk, coconut milk, eggs and melted butter makes a batter thin enough to pour like liquid. A long bake turns the bottom dense and chewy like mochi, with only a thin golden-brown crust on top. The cake comes from Hawaii, and a short reheat crisps that top again.

Prep 15min Cook 50min 4 servings

Pasta Medium

Gochujang Cream Pasta (Spicy Fermented Chili Cream Sauce)

Gochujang cream pasta combines Korean fermented chili paste with an Italian-style cream sauce. Gochujang adds sweetness and heat, Parmesan contributes salt and aged cheese flavor, and bacon provides a crisp contrast. Onion and minced garlic cook in the fat left by the bacon. In this formula the chili paste is mixed directly with cream, rather than fried alone for a long time. Bacon, gochujang and cheese supply the seasoning, so the pasta water is left unsalted. The reserved water gives control over the sauce thickness; it is a supply for adjustment, not a quantity that must all go into the pan.

Prep 12min Cook 18min 2 servings

Salads Easy

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

With no stove involved, the chickpeas keep their mealy, slightly firm bite at the center of the bowl. The dressing is just red wine vinegar and olive oil, which lets the salty black olives and juicy cucumber each come through. Feta crumbled by hand and folded in only once or twice stays in small chunks, giving salty, creamy pockets. Scoop it up with pita or top it with grilled chicken to turn it into a meal.

🥗 Lighter Meals

Prep 12min 0 2 servings

Western Medium

Chicken Chasseur

Golden chicken thighs simmer in a sauce of browned mushrooms, shallots, white wine and tomato in this French hunter-style braise. The skin is left undisturbed until it releases on its own; lifted too early, it tears. When the sauce runs slowly off a spoon, it is done, and mashed potatoes or crusty bread take care of whatever sauce remains.

Prep 20min Cook 40min 4 servings

Baking Medium

Butter Tart (Canadian Gooey Brown Sugar Tart)

Brown sugar and butter cook into a filling that sets at the edges but stays gooey, almost runny, in the middle of each small Canadian tart. This version adds cream and a few raisins, which give the toffee-like sweetness something to chew on. Eaten warm, the filling flows and the caramel smell is strongest, but once cooled it firms into a sticky, chewy layer.

Prep 30min Cook 22min 6 servings

Pasta Hard

Gochujang Eggplant Ricotta Lasagna Rolls

Each lasagna sheet is spread with filling and rolled up rather than stacked, and the rolls come out of the oven as neat single portions. The eggplant is roasted first to drive off moisture that would otherwise thin the ricotta, then split between the filling and the top, while a tomato sauce seasoned with gochujang gives the mild cheese some heat.

Prep 25min Cook 35min 4 servings