From hearty kale soup to citrusy chicken, these recipes will start your year on a delicious and inspiring note that will keep you cooking all year long.
The year is anew and while I cook dinner for myself multiple times a week, I still set resolutions to eat at home more, as well as to eat healthier and cut back on certain items I tend to overindulge in. This year, I’m trying to curb my coffee cravings and start meal prepping breakfast and lunch to ensure I actually get in three full meals a day. Whether your resolutions are to spend more time in the kitchen, eat out less, or host top-tier dinner parties, we’ve got all of the recipes to help you make the most of each meal this month.
All throughout January, take advantage of seasonal produce like asparagus, celery, kale, mustard greens, and beets—as well as juicy and vibrant citrus fruits like grapefruits, navel oranges, tangerines, and blood oranges. Hand-squeeze fresh blood oranges to make a sorbet with bittersweet chocolate chunks mixed in, or go the savory route with our recipe for blood orange lemongrass chicken.
Expand your celery repertoire by using the root in a soup combined with chestnuts and cream, and the stalks in a sauce to serve atop grilled halibut filets. For dessert, citrus can take center stage in sweets like an orange ribbon cheesecake or delicately play its part with a slice of tangerine olive oil cake. Whichever you choose, the bright flavors will help you forget how early the sun is setting these days.
As you stick to your resolutions and enjoy the fresh start that comes with a new year, keep these recipes on hand for easy and delicious dishes to keep the good times going.
This salad goes all-in with the mushroom flavor, while salty pecorino and crunchy celery provide balance. Tearing the shiitakes into pieces makes for easier prep, and the jagged edges get nicely brown when sautéed.
This vibrant sauce makes for an eye-catching spread on crostinis under a nice piece of salami or served alongside crudites. Make a big batch and keep it in the fridge for serving with steaks, tossed into salads, or as a spread on sandwiches.
We love the earthy, sweet flavor of the vegetable combination in this cheesy gratin that shows off the beautiful root vegetables available in the winter. All you need with it is warm, crusty bread and a good bottle of wine.
Sweet asparagus and spring onions go so well with the woodsy flavor of morels. Finish the dish with a bit of butter and some crème fraîche. If you can find fresh morels, definitely splurge on them; the flavor is unparalleled, though rehydrated dried ones will be just as delicious here.
This salad is simple but gets its complexity from the handful of top-tier ingredients used to put it together. If you don’t want to bother with deshelling crab by hand, you can buy plump crab meat from the seafood counter at your local grocery store or fishmonger. The sweetness of the crab balances the bitter flavor of the frisee.
Attention, citrus lovers: This dish includes zest in the lemongrass-chile rub, juice in the refreshing dressing, and peeled segments in the crunchy cucumber and shallot topping.
This soup has a hint of earthiness from the celery root and nuttiness from the steamed chestnuts. Fresh thyme curbs the richness from the addition of butter and cream. This recipe makes for great leftovers as well.
When they’re sliced thin or slivered, raw beets are refreshing and easy to eat without having to spend a long time roasting in the oven. A tangy dressing counterbalances their earthiness and makes for a great match with a simply roasted tenderloin.
This dish comes together in just 30 minutes, which makes it an easy option to make for an elevated weeknight meal. You can find jicama year-round at most Mexican grocery stores; they add a much needed crunchy element to this dish.
Use any Asian chili paste or sauce you have in your refrigerator to give this rice bowl a touch of salty heat, including sambal oelek, garlic chili sauce, or even Sriracha.
Duck breasts have thick skin, so it’s best to cook them slowly over a low flame to render the fat. Here, we used that fat to make a decadent glaze studded with citrus segments.
Imagine the comfort of buttered noodles, but with the tang of citrus and the saltiness of fish sauce. Chad Valencia of Lasa restaurant in Los Angeles loosely modeled his totally addictive pancit after Italian aglio e olio.
Inspired by the flavors of both a Bloody Mary and Italian salsa verde, this easy and bright sauce works with almost any fish.
Braciole is a traditional Italian braised beef dish usually stuffed with meat and cheeses. Ours is stuffed with winter greens, but it’s just as satisfying as the original. You can use dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, or whatever you have on hand.
When you’re at the farmers’ market, look for red Russian kale, an heirloom variety that, despite the name, is purple and gray-green. Its tender texture and mild flavor go well in this lightly spicy soup.
A glass of fruity white wine gives this citrusy cake a light floral note. Use fruit with tightly fitting skins (loose-skinned ones are more difficult to zest) and a good olive oil that’s been crushed with tangerines, rather than infused after crushing.
The marvelous merger of orange and chocolate gets even better when you pair blood oranges’ raspberry nuances with dark chocolate and a little Campari for complexity. The herbal, slightly bitter liqueur also helps keep the sorbet from getting icy.
This easy fruit salad looks especially striking made with multiple varieties and colors of blood oranges and grapefruit, but it’s just as delicious with a single kind of each. You’ll have enough syrup left over for flavoring sparkling water or lattes.
Moist, dense, and foolproof, this cake offers a slice you’ll want to sneak before bed and includes a mix of cocoa and chocolate chips for fudgy flavor. You can vary the intensity by adjusting the number of chocolate chips, but don’t pass up the silky caramel sauce.
This creamy cheesecake has a glistening topping of caramelized, candy-like orange slices. For the topping, slice the whole orange as thinly and evenly as possible. If this seems difficult, cut it in half lengthwise, then crosswise in thin slices.
These are essentially a cookie version of the bundt cake above and make for easier sharing. Despite the name for this style of cookie, the end of a wooden spoon makes a neater, deeper depression in the cookie than your thumb.
Toasted coconut in the crust and two kinds of citrus make this tart-sweet take on lemon bars rich and highly addictive. For bright yellow bars with flecks of zest but no foamy top, whisk the egg mixture just enough to blend.
Attention, citrus lovers: This dish includes zest in the lemongrass-chile rub, juice in the refreshing dressing, and peeled segments in the crunchy cucumber and shallot topping.
This soup has a hint of earthiness from the celery root and nuttiness from the steamed chestnuts. Fresh thyme curbs the richness from the addition of butter and cream. This recipe makes for great leftovers as well.
When they’re sliced thin or slivered, raw beets are refreshing and easy to eat without having to spend a long time roasting in the oven. A tangy dressing counterbalances their earthiness and makes for a great match with a simply roasted tenderloin.
This dish comes together in just 30 minutes, which makes it an easy option to make for an elevated weeknight meal. You can find jicama year-round at most Mexican grocery stores; they add a much needed crunchy element to this dish.
Use any Asian chili paste or sauce you have in your refrigerator to give this rice bowl a touch of salty heat, including sambal oelek, garlic chili sauce, or even Sriracha.
Duck breasts have thick skin, so it’s best to cook them slowly over a low flame to render the fat. Here, we used that fat to make a decadent glaze studded with citrus segments.
Imagine the comfort of buttered noodles, but with the tang of citrus and the saltiness of fish sauce. Chad Valencia of Lasa restaurant in Los Angeles loosely modeled his totally addictive pancit after Italian aglio e olio.
Inspired by the flavors of both a Bloody Mary and Italian salsa verde, this easy and bright sauce works with almost any fish.
A glass of fruity white wine gives this citrusy cake a light floral note. Use fruit with tightly fitting skins (loose-skinned ones are more difficult to zest) and a good olive oil that’s been crushed with tangerines, rather than infused after crushing.
The marvelous merger of orange and chocolate gets even better when you pair blood oranges’ raspberry nuances with dark chocolate and a little Campari for complexity. The herbal, slightly bitter liqueur also helps keep the sorbet from getting icy.
This easy fruit salad looks especially striking made with multiple varieties and colors of blood oranges and grapefruit, but it’s just as delicious with a single kind of each. You’ll have enough syrup left over for flavoring sparkling water or lattes.
Moist, dense, and foolproof, this cake offers a slice you’ll want to sneak before bed and includes a mix of cocoa and chocolate chips for fudgy flavor. You can vary the intensity by adjusting the number of chocolate chips, but don’t pass up the silky caramel sauce.
This creamy cheesecake has a glistening topping of caramelized, candy-like orange slices. For the topping, slice the whole orange as thinly and evenly as possible. If this seems difficult, cut it in half lengthwise, then crosswise in thin slices.