Making a cooking resolution? These recipes will get you started
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Samin Nosrat's Whatever You Want Soup provides a foolproof template for using leftover bits and bobs of meat and vegetables accumulated during the week.
PHOTO: KARSTEN MORAN/NYTIMES
Tanya Sichynsky
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UNITED STATES – In 2025, there is room for improvement. That room is the kitchen. Second only to people’s places of work, it hosts a good chunk of their waking hours – making it a natural focal point of annual resolution-making.
Maybe in 2024, you aspired to more baking, more meatless cooking or simply more cooking. If you need ideas for the new year, below are two goals, shared among members of The New York Times Cooking and Food staff, along with recipes to keep you on track for success.
Waste less food
Before you make yet another trip to the grocery store, shop the fridge and pantry for end-of-week soups, fritters and sauces to ensure nothing goes to waste, and to keep you from buying more ingredients at risk of a garbage-can fate.
Use up easy-to-waste refrigerator door staples like tomato paste in minimal-ingredient recipes that rely heavily on dried goods and take well to substitutions, but do not fret so much about the shelf life of nearly expiration-proof items like miso. Store fresh produce properly to extend its life as long as possible, and make use of carrot tops, kale ribs, citrus peels and herb stems elsewhere in your cooking.
Samin Nosrat’s Whatever You Want Soup provides a foolproof template for using leftover bits and bobs of meat and vegetables accumulated during the week, particularly in cool weather, when all you want is a big bowl of something warm.
Eat breakfast
Amid the ceaseless demands of modern living, breakfast suffers. Two ways to make it easier? Rely on ultrafast dishes and prepare ahead at virtually no expense to your schedule.
Sarah DiGregorio’s slow-cooker steel cut oats will burble away as you sleep, ready before you have even switched on the coffee pot. In the morning, finish them off with any combination of brown sugar, nuts, honey, fruit, jam or marmalade for a sweet bowl, or tahini, fried shallots, chile crisp, cheese or pickled onions for a savoury one.
Recipe: Whatever You Want Soup by Samin Nosrat
This basic recipe can serve as a canvas for any kind of chunky soup. Mix and match ingredients to suit your cravings, using an aromatic base of onions and garlic, seasoning, flavourful stock or water, and whatever main ingredients you choose. Covered in the refrigerator, it will last for up to five days, but it also freezes exceptionally well for up to two months. Just return it to a boil before using.
Ingredients
4 Tbs butter, olive oil or neutral-tasting oil
2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
Kosher salt
6 to 8 cups meat, vegetables or other add-ins (see Tips)
About 680g raw, boneless chicken (optional)
About 8 cups water or chicken stock, preferably homemade (see Tips)
Method
1. Set a large stockpot over medium-high heat and add 4 Tbs butter or oil. When the butter melts or the oil shimmers, add onions and garlic, and a generous pinch of salt.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are tender, for about 15 minutes.
3. Place the meat, vegetables or other add-ins in the pot, along with the raw chicken (if using), and add enough liquid to cover. Season with salt. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
4. Cook until the flavours have come together and the vegetables are tender, for about 20 minutes more. If you added raw chicken, remove it from the soup when cooked, allow to cool, shred and return to the soup. Taste and adjust for salt.
5. Add more hot liquid if needed to thin the soup to the desired consistency. Taste and adjust for salt.
6. Serve hot, and garnish as desired.
Serves six to eight
Tips
For add-ins, you can use a combination of vegetables diced into 2cm pieces (use one or more of carrots, fennel, celery, leeks, winter squash, potatoes or parsnips); cooked beans, lentils or chickpeas; up to four cups of sliced kale or green cabbage; or up to three cups of cooked, shredded chicken or pork, if not using raw chicken.
If desired, replace some of the liquid with bean broth, heavy cream, chopped tomatoes in their juices or full-fat coconut milk.
Recipe: Slow-Cooker Steel-Cut Oats by Sarah DiGregorio
Set-them-and-forget-them slow-cooker oats can be ready before you have even had your coffee.
PHOTO: JULIA GARTLAND/NYTIMES
This is an effortless way to have a hot breakfast ready to go the moment you wake up. The trick to cooking perfect steel-cut oats in the slow cooker is to make use of the auto-warm setting, which switches on when the set cook time is over. Cooking the oatmeal on low for two hours, then on warm for up to six more ensures very creamy, risotto-like oats that have a pleasant chew. Think of this as a whole-grain meal that you can take in any sweet or savoury direction you like. Top with a pat of butter and a squeeze of honey, or a sprinkle of salt and a bit of hot sauce, or any of the topping suggestions below.
Ingredients
1 cup steel-cut oats
1 tsp kosher salt
Toppings, optional (see Tips)
4 cups water
Method
1. In a slow cooker, combine the oats, salt and four cups of water. Cover and set the cook time to two hours on low, at which point the slow cooker will automatically switch to warm. Cook on warm until the oatmeal is creamy and tender, about six more hours. (If you wish to cook them more quickly, you can cook for four to five hours total on low.) Ladle into bowls and serve with the toppings of your choice.
Serves four
Tips
Consider using toppings such as fried shallots and lime juice; shredded cheddar and pickled red onion; olive oil and grapefruit slices; crumbled cooked bacon and marmalade; coconut milk, brown sugar and turmeric; cashews, honey and banana chips; and honey, flaky salt and butter.
NYTIMES
