a 2026 cooking bucket list
actually, the new year begins today
Monday, January 5, 2026
Good afternoon!
What Do Artists Bring to a Potluck? [NYT, gift link]
My year began with a splash — I ticked an item off my bucket list with an icy Coney Island Polar Bear New Year’s Day Plunge — and then I began prepping brunch for 20 (okay, only 11 were coming over but who doesn’t love leftover crêpes?) only for us to wake up under the weather and have to cancel. Help, we have 37 crêpes to eat! The rest of the weekend was spent taking a number of steps so small it elicited concerned messages from my watch. It is clear that the universe agreed that all days of 2026 before today were intended to be soft launches and it was on us to take heed. But today, the official start of the new year, began with a giant cup of coffee, a long walk, and just one child home sick (so close!) and when I think of the year ahead, it’s less for me about becoming an entirely different version of myself — a morning person, perhaps, or a person who watches videos on Bulgarian split squats technique, as my algorithm has confused me for — and more about the things I’d love this year to entail. And for that there are bucket lists.
Below, a few beloved, forever recipes I think you might (also) love to tackle this year. Imagine being the friend who’d mastered the art of the perfect chicken noodle soup when everyone has the flu, or learning to make the best (yet also easiest) spanakopita on earth. There’s so much more: challah! lasagna bolognese! and yes, the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookie on earth. I hope you’re inspired. I hope you get obsessed with at least three.
Cheers,
Deb
I’ve written three cookbooks and one audiobook and I’m a tiny bit biased, but I think you’d love them all. Not sure which one to check out first? Take a look at the recipe index and see which collection jumps out at you most.
roberta's roasted garlic caesar salad
Nothing starts off the New Year right like a crisp, green, and complex salad, and this one is particularly epic. A few tweaks -- roasted garlic, pecorino, and spicy candied walnuts -- make this our Special Occasion Caesar. We’re worth it.
lazy pizza dough + favorite margherita pizza
No kneading, no proofing, no babysitting, no machinery, no refrigeration, and one-bowl -- this pizza fits itself into your life (with three different schedule options, not that I remember what “schedules” are these days), not vice-versa. Finally!
my ultimate chicken noodle soup
This is my ultimate chicken noodle soup -- an afternoon project that rewards you with a depth of flavor that makes everything right. Our kitchens are going to smell so good.
green angel hair with garlic butter
The greenest thing I know how to make is also the most delicious. It’s the cover star of Smitten Kitchen Keepers, my latest cookbook, a celebration of roasted garlic butter and fresh greens, tangled with spaghetti and it’s the kind of recipe we made once then again and again -- an instant classic. Have you gotten hooked on it yet?
roasted cabbage with walnuts and parmesan
This roasted cabbage is a site favorite because it’s so much more than it seems: A warm salad for cold weather. Starter Cabbage for people who are cabbage hesitant. Better from the tray than a serving dish, thus rewarding laziness, you’re welcome. It takes 20 minutes total, including prep. Don’t sleep on those lacy, crunchy edge pieces -- they tend to “disappear” before you even get it to the table.
ethereally smooth hummus
Is nine extra minutes of work worth it to make the ethereally smooth, fluffy, dolloping pillow of hummus of your dreams? There’s only one way to find out. Make it today, snack all weekend, and have the rest for sandwiches and carrot stick swoops all this week.
spanakopita
The best — golden, crispy, perfectly flavored — spanakopita I’ve ever made or eaten, thanks to Eat Like Greek with Julie, who does a few things a little differently and it makes it so much more doable. I hope you feel equally triumphant when you pull this off at home.
lasagna bolognese
Looking for a weekend cooking project? This Lasagne Bolognese is a twenty-layer striation of noodles, ragu, béchamel and cheese, and it’s worth every step because it’s the highest calling of lasagna. Somehow utterly decadent, mindbogglingly delicious and cozy, but not nap-inducing. It’s a dream. [Video below!]
best challah (egg bread)
You, yes you, can make a braided, bronzed, and burnished loaf exactly this easily at home. This is my forever recipe, and because it makes two loaves, you’re in for the weekend french toast of your dreams.
any-kind-of-fruit galette
Galettes are the very best way to bring pie into your everyday life — and yes, I believe your everyday life deserves baked fruit in a buttery, flaky shell — because everything about them is easier. This is my core recipe for any and every kind of fruit galette. You could be eating it in less than two hours.
new york crumb cake
Hasn’t it always been too long since your last slice of profoundly perfect crumb cake? You know, the kind that’s a hefty square with at least as much height from big brown sugar and cinnamon crumbs as from a golden, buttery, sour cream-enriched and vanilla-scented cake? Yes, me too and I’ve got just the fix for us.
better chocolate babka
Cold out? I think we need a baking project. If you haven’t fallen in love with chocolate babka yet, the only reason could be that you haven’t tried it. Start here, but don’t be intimidated; they’re not half as complicated as they look. Even the messiest assembly will still bake into deeply glossy, bronzed bittersweet loaves.
whole wheat chocolate oat cookies
Oat and chocolate chip cookies with both whole wheat flour and (optional) wheat germ -- no wait, come back! They’re craggier, more nuanced, and flavorful than any oat cookie I’ve made before and I don’t think you’ll go back to making them the old way, either.
lasagna bolognese
shop my favorites
Ever wonder where I get my cutting boards, paring knives, offset spatulas and more that you see when I cook? I've created a page on Smitten Kitchen with links to some of my favorite kitchen items, the ones I'm asked about the most — yes, including the the Smitten Kitchen x Staub Braiser. For each item, I've attempted to provide a range of shopping links so we're not just focusing on one giant retailer.
What’s the Smitten Kitchen x Staub Braiser? It’s essentially a lower profile enameled cast-iron Dutch oven that works as as well as a deep sauté pan as it does a soup pot, roasting pan, or even casserole dish that perfectly fits a pasta bake. Not a week has gone by in the decade-plus I’ve had mine when I don’t use it at least three times. Fun news: The braiser is now exclusively sold at Williams-Sonoma and available in six gorgeous new colors!
Looking for recipe inspiration for your new braiser? I created a category on the site to highlight some of my favorite dishes I make in mine.
See you next week!
