French Onion Tart and More Recipes BA Staff Made This Week (2024)

It’s no secret that BA editors cook a lot for work. So it should come as no surprise that we cook a lot during our off hours too. Here are the recipes we’re whipping up this month to get dinner on the table, entertain our friends, satisfy a sweet tooth, use up leftovers, and everything in between. For even more staff favorites, click here.

January 26

Winter-friendly tomato pasta

I was suspicious that this Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta would be any good, considering it’s January and certainly not the right season for it. But whoa, this recipe was easy and far more flavorful than I anticipated. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t need to cut any of the cherry tomatoes, or that it produced such a thick, rich sauce with just garlic, olive oil, red pepper, and some parm. I even skipped the basil because I didn’t have any. Next time—and I am sure there will be a next time—I plan to throw in some spinach for extra greens. —Serena Dai, editorial director

Chocolate pumpkin swirl loaf

I had a very specific craving for chocolate chip banana bread, but alas, had no ripe bananas on-hand. What I did have: A straggling can of pumpkin purée in my pantry, leftover from the fall. I could not for the life of me find my muffin pan, so I baked this Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Muffin recipe in a loaf instead, and increased the bake time to an hour. It’s the perfect anytime treat to satiate my sweet tooth, whether I eat it for breakfast or dessert. Banana bread can wait until next week. —Antara Sinha, associate cooking editor

Barbie-pink noodles

This is a noodle sauce for the dregs of winter. From our staff writer Ali Francis, it is mostly beets, boosted with vegetable bouillon, olive oil, and lemon juice. Blitzed in a blender, the hue looks like it was plucked out of the Barbie movie (Greta was robbed) and the flavor is utterly borscht-esque, which is to say, utterly comforting. I went hard on the toppings—sour cream, sauerkraut, and dill—and highly recommend you do the same. —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor

Crispy brown butter gnocchi

Crispy gnocchi, charred brussels sprouts, and a lot of brown butter. I've had my eyes on this NYT recipe from Ali Slagle for a while. So when I discovered a package of gnocchi in my pantry, longing to be noticed, I knew just what to do. It was a wonderfully quick Monday dinner. I served it with a couple of lemon cheeks for some bonus brightness. —E.L.

Wow-worthy onion tart

I made Shilpa Uskokovic’s French Onion Tart for a party and it wowed everyone. Deep, caramelized onions and flaky, layered dough all seem like a labor of love, but the hands-off cooking and pre-packaged puff pastry means it’s almost made on auto-pilot. It’s a crowd favorite that gets cleared out before the cheese can even cool. And the best part? The box of puff pastry leaves me with a second sheet, which means I can make round two all for myself the next day. —Ryan Harrington, research director

January 19

Saucy sheet-pan chickpeas

Like many before me, I too succumbed to associate food editor Kendra Vaculin’s sheet-pan feta and chickpeas. It was everything it promised to be. Mid-winter tomatoes miraculously transform in this recipe, turning jammy, sweet, and saucy in the oven. I didn’t have arugula on hand, so I used some curly kale that I massaged with a spritz of lemon. I ate it with crusty bread, then reheated the leftovers on the stove with some eggs plopped in, shakshuka-style. —Antara Sinha, associate cooking editor

Big-batch herb dressing

After a series of desserts-only days in the test kitchen, I made it a goal to meal-prep lunch, at least a little bit. This doesn’t mean eating the same meal five times a week. Instead, I made this herby, bright Green Goddess dressing and used it to zhuzh up rotisserie chicken and canned tuna, and spoon over eggs and roasted veggies. I went with a bunch of cilantro and some very off-season basil as my herbs of choice, but I’m excited to try dill and parsley next time around. —A.S.

Cold-weather khichdi

The weather, it is bleak! This khichdi, adapted from Priya Krishna’s cookbook Indian-ish, provided some mushy, much-needed comfort. I threw it together in minutes, then forgot about it on the stove. (Do use the biggest pot you have—my mixture almost boiled over a couple times but was thwarted by my stockpot.) With some sliced cucumber and radish and salted yogurt, it was a perfect “I don’t want to make dinner!” dinner. And the generous yield meant I had leftovers for lunch, which I didn’t want to make either. You too? —Emma Laperruque, senior cooking editor

Peanut salsa

It is a good week—a great week—when I have a jar of this salsa guille from recipe developer Andrea Aliseda in my fridge. Most of it went toward her mushroom tacos, a vegan dinner any not-vegan would love. The rest I put toward raw veggies, then an avocado-and-sprouts sandwich. And sure, sure, I also ate a lot of it straight from the jar. —E.L.

Mix-and-match curried lentil soup

’Tis the season for curried lentil soups. This one gets lush flavor from coconut milk and richness from a can of tomatoes. You can use any curry powder you’ve got in the cabinet for this soup, or clean out your spice drawer by making your own mild blend, a Sri Lankan spice mix, or even a Trinidadian curry powder. That’s why this soup is so great to make week after week: same recipe, different taste. Sometimes I switch it up and do half lentils and half brown rice, which is just as delicious and a little bit heartier. —Joe Sevier, senior SEO editor

January 12

Comforting green posole

This week I found myself desperate for a good chicken soup. A brief poke around the site led me to food director Chris Morocco’s green posole with chicken, which despite being published in 2017, I somehow hadn’t seen before. I whipped up a version with roasted chickpeas in for the hominy; it was the perfect thing to spoon into my mouth while considering how long I can keep my Christmas tree up. —Kendra Vaculin, associate food editor

Cheesy Buffalo chicken dip

Whether for better or for worse, I am a huge New Year’s resolutions person. So, to keep the New Year energy going, I hosted some friends for an evening of making 2024 vision boards. The snack of choice: this gooey, cheesy, zingy Buffalo Chicken Dip by food editor Shilpa Uskokovic. I thought we would nibble and dip as the evening went on, but instead my friends devoured the entire pan in about two minutes flat—before we even got the poster boards out. —A.S.

Cozy dal and rice

I am not sure how I ended up with so many red lentils, but there they are in my pantry, needing to be used up. This Dal Palak from cookbook author and Brooklyn Delhi founder Chitra Agrawal was a comforting start. While the lentils simmer into mush, you sizzle onion, ginger, and garlic in buttery spices, making the most of your stove (and time). Along with the rice, cilantro, and lime, I served this with thick yogurt to make it even more filling. —E.L.

Any-noodle sauce

I had the honor of taking a friend on her inaugural trip to H-Mart, and, of course, we came back with a full haul. After lugging our bags to my apartment I used the groceries to assemble dinner for us. I boiled a couple frozen udon cakes and turned to this noodle sauce formula. I went with peanut butter instead of tahini, and a very generous scoop of that new bottle of chili crisp instead of sambal. We ate it with a pan of steamed veggie gyoza, and I had plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day. —A.S.

Famous caramelized cabbage

You can’t work at Bon Appétit and not know about cookbook author Andy Baraghani’s Fall-Apart Caramelized Cabbage. It’s famous! And I finally made it. Sort of. If I’m being honest—I can be honest, can’t I?—I only had half a cabbage. So I replaced the missing pound of roughage with small onions, which I halved. It worked beautifully. The onion stayed sturdier than the cabbage, adding crisp contrast. With some bread, yogurt, and feta, it was a dream dinner. —E.L.

January 5

Midnight banana cake

My family and I have a couple New Year’s traditions. One is a full chaat spread for dinner on New Year’s Eve. The other is setting off fireworks in our driveway after the clock strikes midnight. A new tradition we just instituted was New Year’s Eve Cake, and the recipe we sliced into at midnight was this Buttermilk Banana Cake by associate food editor Kendra Vaculin. It’s plush, fragrant from cardamom, and just sweet enough to go great with Champagne. What made it an especially stellar New Year’s Eve winner: We started 2024 with banana cake for breakfast the next morning. —A.S.

Quick white bean kale soup

This soup recipe has been a back pocket go-to for years, and after an especially long day with an early-morning flight and a post-work grocery run, I found myself turning to it once again. There are no frills or flairs here—just a cozy, speedy meal that feels nourishing thanks to plenty of kale and veggies and a can of beans. Skip out on the parm rind to make it plant-based. I sopped it up with some sourdough toast that I rubbed with garlic. —A.S.

Japanese curry with squash

I was craving katsu cutlets on New Year’s Day, and I wanted a comforting Japanese curry to go with them. I always have instant curry blocks in my pantry for speedy dinners, but when the craving really hits and I have the time, I make this Japanese curry recipe from Bon Appétit contributor Christina Chaey. Chaey’s recipe creates a DIY curry base using butter, flour, and a mix of curry powder and garam masala. The finished product is deeply flavorful and spicy, made even better by the sweet squash. I’ve been enjoying the leftovers for lunch all week long. —Alma Avalle, digital operations associate

Perfect pie crust

I made food editor Shilpa Uskokovic’s Actually Perfect Pie Crust for Thanksgiving (filling it with cookbook author Rick Martínez’s also-actually-perfect pumpkin custard). Only a few months later, I needed it again. This time I skipped the pan and turned my dough into a galette, filling it with a truckload of mushrooms. With a mustardy salad on the side, it was a much-needed reminder to make savory galettes for dinner more often. Whatever vegetables are in the fridge will happily settle down in this supremely flaky crust. —E.L.

Crispy tofu with peanut sauce

It’s true—I’m jealous of the tofu that gets to bathe in this ethereal peanut sauce from associate food editor Rachel Gurjar. Boosted with shallot, ginger, and garlic, then treated to coconut cream, it is just the thing to make tofu feel like the only girl in the world. Though the recipe claims to serve four, my husband and I ate every cube on our own. Then we waddled around the block for our post-dinner stroll, a resolution we started in November and have kept up since. Well, mostly. —E.L.