I Am... The Viral Dot Cake, but homemade and no line ups
If you’re a sprinkles lover, you will absolutely love dot cake. Crunchy, colorful sprinkles, creamy frosting, and tender cake all in a portable cup, perfect for spooning. As soon as I saw dot cake, I was sold. I love little single-serving size desserts and I love sprinkles. I immediately thought: meal prep sprinkle cake? I’m in! For simplicity, I started with a boxed cake mix (with a couple of add-ins to make it even better) and topped off the dot cakes with homemade cream cheese frosting and loads of nonpareils, aka, round rainbow sprinkles.
Dot cake is so viral right now
Dot cake is experiencing a viral moment and there are people in NYC lining up for hours to buy cups from The Dot Cakes from Butterfield Markets. The naysayers say it’s just cake in a cup, the dot cake lovers are making dot cake TikToks, and whether you like it or not, people have feels about dot cake.Dot cake feels
I, too, have feels about dot cake. I am deeply in love with cake and frosting and sprinkles and will take any excuse to make and eat it, especially if it’s boxed cake mix. There’s something about boxed cake mix that has childhood nostalgia baked right in. Add sprinkles to the cake batter and on the frosting and I’m cheesin’, as the kids like to say. While I won’t say that you need to make this, I think it’s a super fun and easy dessert that’s portable and great for sharing. Imagine meeting up with a friend and pulling out a dot cake cup and spoon for them out of your bag, so cute.What is dot cake
Dot cake is, as The New York Times put it, is “cake in a cup.” That’s it: cake in a cup topped with frosting and dipped in round sprinkles. Some people say dot cake tastes suspiciously like box mix. I think that's part of the charm: a lot of other people are saying it tastes either like childhood or like a simpler time before the weird future we all live in now.How to make dot cake
I like to keep things easy by starting with box mix.- Mix. Make the cake according to the instructions on the back of the box, subbing the water for whole milk and adding an extra egg. Stir in 1 tsp of vanilla and if desired, 1/2 cup sprinkles (jimmies, the kind for inside sprinkle cakes).
- Bake. Pour the batter into a parchment-lined cake pan and bake until a toothpick comes out clean and the top springs back when you gently press it.
- Cool. When the cake is done, remove from the oven and let cool completely.
- Make. While the cake is cooling make the cream cheese frosting. Whip together (either by hand or with a stand mixer) softened butter and cream cheese. When smooth, gradually add in icing sugar. Finish by stirring in a bit of vanilla.
- Cut. Now that the cake is cool and the frosting is ready, it’s time to pop the cake into the cup. You can either use the cup to cut directly into the cake or use a cookie cutter that’s the same size as your cup. I like to use a cookie cutter because it’s a little less messy. Either way, you want the cake to fit snuggly into your cup of choice, about 1/3 inch from the top. If you need to do two layers, you can frost between the layers for extra decadence, or not, of course.
- Frost. Once that cake is in the cups, add frosting and use the back of a butter knife to smooth the frosting across the top of the cup to create an even layer of frosting.
- Sprinkle. Carefully pour your sprinkles into a shallow dish, one that’s wider than your frosted cup. Dip into the sprinkles or spoon on, making sure to get an even, crunchy layer of sprinkles. I recommend dipping, because these sprinkles can get everywhere.
- Enjoy. Enjoy immediately with a spoon or cover and pop into the fridge for when the cake cravings strike.
Dot cake ingredients
- box cake mix - I like standard white or vanilla cake mix. If you have a favorite brand, go with that.
- whole milk - instead of water, we’re going to use whole milk to add a bit of fat back into the cake, giving it a richer texture.
- eggs - typically most box mixes call for 3 eggs. By adding an extra egg, you introduce more fat and liquid, making your boxed cake extra moist and rich. It’s an easy hack to making your cake taste homemade.
- oil - I like oil in cakes more than butter even though substituting butter is a common hack. Butter tends to solidify at room temp and especially in the fridge, so if you want your dot cake to stay soft and tender, use oil.
- vanilla - a lil extra bit of vanilla in the cake mix will give off bakery vibes and add a nice layer of flavor in the cream cheese frosting.
- butter - no butter in the cake batter, but definitely butter in the frosting. Make sure your butter is at room temp so it’s easy to whip.
- cream cheese - cream cheese frosting is the best frosting because it has a nice balance of sweetness and tang. In my opinion, it pairs well with all cake and I especially like it here, when you’re spooning it out of a cup.
- icing sugar - icing needs icing sugar because the light and fine texture icing sugar mixes into frosting without it being grainy.
- sprinkles - the dots on dot cakes are nonpareil sprinkles, the round, hard, rainbow sprinkles that are crunchy and have the special ability to bounce around and get lost in corners of your kitchen. Typically, they’re a rainbow mix, but they come in all different colors so you can have fun with it.
Dot cake supplies
If you want the look of store bought dot cakes, you can get 8 ounce ice cream cups off amazon but they are absolutely not necessary. All you need is a straight sided cup or a ramekin. For the nonpareils, they’re readily available in the baking aisle at the grocery store, or of course, online as well. I made mini ones with some tiny glass ramekins I have.Dot cake controversy
There is a bit of dot cake controversy though: people are saying dot cakes are problematic because the sprinkles on top resemble cortadillo, a classic Mexican cake. Cortadillo is an iconic pink-frosted sheet cake with nonpareils on top. I have to admit I see the resemblance, but I think cake with sprinkles belongs to all of humanity. We should share the sprinkle wealth.Dot cake tips and tricks
- Cake scraps - use any cake scraps you have and just break them up and pop them into a cup. You won’t be able to tell the difference once you frost and sprinkle.
- Freestyle it - speaking of cake scraps, you can straight up use your hand to break up your cake and put it into the cups, the cake doesn’t need to be perfect or flush, especially if you’re using paper cups where you can’t see the sides.
- Perfect it - if you’re not the kind to freestyle and want perfectly shaped dot cakes, pop your cake into the freezer for 10-15 minutes so it hardens and becomes more stable. It will be less crumbly when you cut it out. To ensure a perfect fit, use your container and a knife to score the cake, then cut along the line.
- Freeze - if you want to freeze your dot cakes, I recommend making them up to the iced part, then freezing. When you want to enjoy, let the cake thaw to room temp, then add the sprinkles. This way, the sprinkles will stay fresh and crunchy.
- Offset spatula - I love offset spatulas so much and having one while you’re frosting will make you feel like a pro, so I say get one.
Dot Cake Recipe
If you’re a sprinkles lover, you will absolutely love dot cake.
- 1 box cake mix (of choice)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup neutral oil
- 4 large eggs
- 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles (optional)
- 1/2 cup butter (room temp)
- 8 oz cream cheese (~1 box, room temp)
- 2 cups icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup nonpareil sprinkles
Heat the oven to 350 F and line a 13 x 9 baking pan (or pan/pans that holds 14-15 cups) with parchment paper.
Add the cake mix, milk, oil, and eggs to a large bowl and either mix on medium speed or beat by hand vigorously for 2 minutes. Stir in the rainbow sprinkles, if using.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 24-30 minutes, checking at the 25 minute mark with a toothpick inserted into the center. When the toothpick comes out clean, remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
- While the cake is baking, make the frosting. Add the butter and cream cheese to a bowl and either whisk on medium speed or by hand, until the butter and cream cheese are light and creamy.
- Slowly add in the powdered sugar, mixing on low. Stir in the vanilla.
- When the cake is completely cool, either use a round cookie cutter or your dot cake cup of choice to cut out rounds of cake, making sure the cake comes to about 1/3 inch from the top of the container.
- Add frosting to the cups and use an offset spatula or back of a butter knife to smooth the frosting so it’s even and flush with the top of the cup. Wipe off any excess cake or frosting off the sides.
Grab a large dish to catch any stray sprinkles and use a spoon to spoon the sprinkles on top, making sure it has complete coverage. Alternatively, you can put the sprinkles in a bowl and dip the tops.
Repeat as needed and enjoy!
I Am... Banh Cuon/Bánh Cuốn
I've been obsessed with banh cuon for over 20, maybe 30, years. The soft and tender rice noodles wrapped around a fragrant, super umami pork and mushroom filling are what my dreams are made of. A very, very long time ago, someone told me that I would love Vietnamese crepes. For some reason, that stuck in my head and when Mike (who is Vietnamese) and I started dating, I always asked him about them. He had no idea what I was talking about, and to be honest, neither did I. He introduced me to banh xeo, which I absolutely love, but it wasn’t what I pictured as a Vietnamese crepe. After a long and delicious search, we figured out I was talking about bánh cuốn, aka rolled cake.
My obsession with banh cuon
If I thought I was obsessed with discovering what “Vietnamese crepes” were, it was nothing compared to how obsessed I became after finally tasting bánh cuốn. Soft and tender, slippery rice noodles wrapped around a fragrant, super savory ground pork and wood ear mushroom filling all doused in fish sauce? Sign me up, forever. I LOVE steamed rice rolls. Their chewy texture, their softness, their ability to transfer sauce to my mouth, I just can’t get over it. Every time we drive by store fronts with the words BÁNH CUỐN on the awning, I’m begging Mike to stop even if we’ve just eaten. To be honest, there aren’t many places in our city that make it from scratch. It’s more of a street food back in Vietnam and not something that’s insanely popular here, like pho. It should be, but I understand why it isn’t. The rice flour sheets need a delicate, talented hand and I guess a market for banh cuon doesn't really exist here. It’s a true travesty because no available freshly made rolls equals me needing to make them at home to satisfy my obsession.Perfecting homemade banh cuon
To be honest, even though I cook (a lot) I’m not good at that things that are finicky and therefore I am not particularly good at making rice rolls. I am a sucker for punishment though, so like any rice roll obsessed person, I have a trusty rice roll steamer. Vietnamese rice rolls have a different texture than Chinese rice rolls — they’re more chewy and foldable. With my bare minimum knowledge of Chinese rice rolls and the power of the internet, I went to work trying to figure out the right ratios for banh cuon. Ideally, Vietnamese rice rolls are soft and tender, with a bit of chew. You need them to be flexible but not mushy. When I figured out my ideal ratio for Chinese rice rolls, I found that rice flour is the main foundational structure with tapioca flour or cornstarch adding softness and stretch. Recipes often include tapioca powder (also known as tapioca starch) in recipes with rice flour because rice flour is naturally gluten-free, meaning if you make the batter with only rice flour, your rolls will fall apart because there are no stretchy gluten structures to hold it together. Adding tapioca flour to the batter gives it both flexibility and chew, like the texture of boba or mochi. It’s also what gives the rolls translucency. According to Mike, the translucency and chew are the key differences between Chinese rice rolls and Vietnamese rice rolls.How to make homemade banh cuon
1. Make the batter
In a large bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together rice flour, tapioca starch, and room temp water until it comes together in a slurry. Whisk in a bit of neutral oil, then water just off the boil. The just boiling water cooks the rice and tapioca flour, making it easier to make the rolls. Whisk in some salt to finish.2. Let it rest
Let the batter rest for as long as you can, overnight is best. Before using it, mix it up so everything is homogenous.3. Make fish sauce
Make the dipping sauce for the banh cuon. If you have a favorite nuoc cham recipe, go ahead and make that, and if not, this is Mike’s famous nuoc cham.4. Make the filling
Soak dehydrated sliced wood ear mushrooms in hot tap water until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain well and chop. Peel and dice a shallot. Heat up a bit of oil in a pan and when hot, sweat the shallots. Add ground pork and cook, breaking it up into pieces. Stir in the wood ear mushrooms, as well as oyster sauce, fish sauce, a touch of sugar, and white pepper. Remove the filling from the heat once it’s cooked. Taste and season if needed. Set aside while you make the rolls.5. Prep
Set up a station with a some neutral oil and a brush, a large cutting board, and a serving plate. Lightly brush the cutting board and serving plate with oil.6. Make the rolls
Whisk up the batter to make sure everything is evenly distributed. You’ll want to do this with every roll you make. Heat up your chosen pan over medium-low heat and brush with a bit of oil. Add just enough batter to the bottom of the pan, swirling to coat. Cover and steam for at least 2 minutes or until the edges start to lift and the rice noodle looks translucent and set. If you’re not sure if it’s cooked or not, just go for an extra minute.7. Roll the filling
When the rice noodle sheet is cooked, tip it out onto the prepared cutting board. Add some filling in the middle and roll up. Place the filled roll on the prepared serving plate and brush lightly with oil to prevent the rolls from sticking to each other. Repeat for the remaining filling and batter.8. Enjoy!
Enjoy the fruits of your labor with fish sauce and herbs. Congrats, you did it!Do I need specialty equipment to make banh cuon?
The short answer is no and the long answer is, depends. The easiest thing to do is to use a non-stick pan with a lid. Technically, you’ll be frying and not completely steaming, but frying pans are easy to come by. For me, I already have a rice roll steamer so that’s what I used. In Vietnam they use cloth tightly pulled over a pot of steaming water. If you’re handy, you can make this at home using a pot, unbleached cotton, and a stainless steel clamp or you can buy a set on amazon. I can’t speak to how well made that one is because we didn’t try it. But I will tell you that using a cloth steamer to make banh cuon is harder than it is when you use a frying pan or rice roll steamer. Oh, also, if you happen to have a tamagoyaki pan (a classic Japanese square nonstick frying pan) that would be the best pan to use.How to make crispy shallots and shallot oil
You don’t need to make crispy shallots and shallot oil, but I think they add an immense amount of flavor. Here’s how to do it: Thinly slice 2 shallots and place them in a bowl with cold water and a pinch of salt. Let rest for 5 minutes, then rinse and drain well. Use clean kitchen towels or paper towels to pat the shallots very dry. Heat up about 1/3 cup of neutral oil in a small pot over medium heat and add the shallots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots turn lightly golden brown and crispy. Remove the pot from the heat and place a sieve over a heat proof container. Pour the shallots and oil through the sieve. Dry the crispy shallots on clean paper towels and reserve the oil for making the banh cuon.Tips for the best homemade banh cuon
Rehydrate the rice flour
This is an extraneous step, but if you’re a stickler for being extra like me, it’s something I don’t skip. Just like how you wash rice, you want to “wash” your rice flour. The easiest way to do this is to use a large liquid measuring cup with a spout. Mix together the rice flour, tapioca starch, and water in the measuring cup then let it sit for 1-2. The rice flour and tapioca starch will settle to the bottom and the water will float to the top. Note on the measuring cup where the water level comes up to then carefully pour out the water that’s floating on top without pouring out any of the flour-starch mix. Add fresh water to the measuring cup, up to where you noted. Doing this step will make your rolls softer and more pliable.Let the batter rest
The longer the better — traditionally people make banh cuon with overnight fermented batter. This helps the flours rehydrate and the resulting roll will be softer and chewier. Make sure you whisk it up before cooking, the rice flour and tapioca starch will sink to the bottom, so you need to stir it so that everything is smooth and evenly distributed.Not too much batter or filling
You need just enough batter to coat the steamer or pan. It helps if your pan or steamer is hot before you add the batter because the batter will start to cling to it immediately. Less is better in the case of batter. As for filling, I have a tendency to overfill things but the key to really good banh cuon is a light hand — you want the rice noodles to shine. The pork and mushroom filling is there for flavor and a textural accent. It’s kind of like a sprinkle, not so much a roll with meat inside. That being said, fill your rolls however you like. If you want to go protein-heavy, go for it, there are no banh cuon police watching you make your rolls.Make sure you cook the banh cuon throughly
I find that a lot of the recipes on the internet say you only need to cook banh cuon for a short amount of time, like 30 seconds to 1 minute, but I found that steaming them for longer makes them better. I think that I’m sensitive to the taste of raw rice flour/tapioca starch so I like to err on the side of overcooked rather than have starchy, raw banh cuon. You’ll know the banh cuon is ready when it turns translucent, glossy, and shiny. The edges will start to pull away and the sheet will bubble up and away from the cooking surface. There’s really no drawback to cooking the sheets longer - they don’t fall apart, if anything, they become slightly more easy to work with.What to serve with banh cuon
- fish sauce - this is what gives banh cuon that sweet and tangy, savory, eat-it-all-up vibe. Pour it on, as much or as little as you like.
- crispy shallots - for me, crispy shallots are absolutely necessary to this dish, but for Mike, he can take them or leave them. I love the sweet onion-y aroma and crunch they add.
- herbs - would it be Vietnamese food if there weren’t herbs? I say no. Thai basil, cilantro, and mint are the three that I go for every time.
- cucumbers - I like a little pile of cucumbers with banh cuon, they add freshness and crunch. You can cut them into matchsticks, slices, or half-moon slices.
- ham - Vietnamese ham, or chả lụa is often served with banh cuon to add some extra protein. You can find it, in uncut rolls at Vietnamese delis and grocery stores.
Banh cuon rice paper hack
There’s a rice paper hack floating around the socials where you use rice paper to make banh cuon instead of steaming your own rice rolls. I tried it to see how it compared and while it’s pretty damn delicious, it’s not banh cuon. But, if you have a craving and need your fix immediately, it definitely hits. All you need to do is make the banh cuon pork filling and get rolling. Soak your rice paper for slightly longer than you would when making summer/salad rolls and simply fill and roll up loosely. Douse in fish sauce and enjoy. This was the longest, wordiest post ever and if you read the whole thing, you must love banh cuon as much as I do and you’re invited over for dinner! banh cuon and fish sauce forever, xoxo stephBanh Cuon
Soft and tender Vietnamese rice noodles wrapped around a fragrant, super umami pork and mushroom filling and covered with fish sauce.
Batter
- 3/4 cup rice flour
- 1 cup tapioca starch
- 1 2/3 cups water
- 2 1/2 tsp neutral oil (or shallot oil (see post))
- 1 1/4 cups boiling water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Filling
- 1 tsp neutral oil (or shallot oil (see post))
- 1 tbsp shallot (finely minced, about 1/2 a small shallot)
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 3 tbsp wood ear mushrooms (soaked for 15-20 minutes in hot tap water, then drained and chopped)
- 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 tsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
Garnishes
- fresh mint
- green leaf lettuce (shredded)
- cha lua ((Vietnamese ham))
- nuoc cham (see notes)
Prepare the batter: in a large bowl, hydrate the starches by whisking together the rice flour and tapioca starch with the room temp water (see ingredients list for amount). Once hydrated, whisk in the neutral oil (or shallot oil if using). Complete the batter by adding the boiling water and salt, mix well and rest for as long as you can, overnight is best.
Prepare the filling: in a frying pan, heat up a bit of oil over medium high heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring, until soft and translucent, about 1-2 minutes.
- Brown the ground pork, breaking into pieces as it cooks. When the pork is cooked, stir in the wood ear mushrooms.
- Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and white pepper. Stir and cook for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the heat and let cool.
Prep your station: have a large cutting board for the rolling surface, neutral oil or shallot oil in a cup with a brush, a serving plate to put your finished rolls on, and the prepared filling. Lightly brush a layer of oil onto the cutting board and serving plate.
Make your rolls: Heat up a bit of oil in a non-stick 8 inch frying pan or square tamagoyaki frying pan over medium-low heat. Stir the batter well with your ladle and then pour a thin layer of batter (about 2 tbsp) onto the pan. Cover and cook for 2-4 minutes. When you lift the cover off, the rice paper should be translucent and puffing up from the bottom of the pan.
Finish your rolls: Tip the rice sheet onto the prepared cutting board and spoon in some of the filling. Carefully roll up the rice noodle sheet up and over the filling. Place the completed banh cuon on the prepared serving plate, and lightly brush with oil.
- Repeat until all the banh cuon are made. Top the prepared fish sauce and toppings or side as desired.
You can eat banh cuon both hot and at room temperature. If you want to heat them up, simply steam them for 1-2 minutes until they are heated through.
For nuoc cham, combine 2 crushed/minced cloves of garlic with 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp fresh lime juice, 2 tbsp fish sauce, and 1-2 sliced Thai chilies. Mix well and dilute with 2/3 cups of water, then rest for 2-3 hours in the fridge before enjoying. For more information, see https://weightloss-update.fit/fish-sauce/%3C/p%3E
I Am... Korean BBQ at Home
Summer's almost here and a Korean BBQ at home is the best kind of summer dinner party. It's easy, it's quick, and it's fun. This is a little 101 on all things Korean BBQ at home. What it is, what you should buy, how you should set the table, and how you do it. Bonus, if you have a Korean grocer nearby like H-mart it's the easiest 'fancy' dinner you could ever have.
Why you should throw yourself a Korean BBQ party
Korean barbecue is all about balance and contrast between flavors and textures. It’s completely customizable so that everyone at the table can eat exactly what they want. Here’s what happens when you go out for KBBQ: You sit down and a bunch of tiny plates that you haven’t ordered come out. These are banchan: little side dishes that go with Korean BBQ. You order your meats and they come to the table, raw. You grill them, wrap them up in lettuce, dip/top them, then eat them up. Everything is smoky, meaty, savory, and delicious. Eat meat, drink copious amounts of alcohol, and repeat! Sounds fun right?! Mike and I LOVE going for Korean barbecue. It’s one of our things – late night grilling and chatting the night away. I like the interactive part of it and Mike likes the meat and alcohol. We both love the food. We’ve eaten at countless Korean barbecue restaurants and earlier this year, when everyone was in lockdown, we were really, really missing Korean barbecue. It was an itch we just had to scratch. So we did the thing: the ultimate way to KBBQ, right at home.Table of Contents
- What is Korean BBQ
- How to make Korean BBQ
- How to eat KBBQ
- What kind of grill for Korean BBQ?
- Where to buy the best korean bbq meats
- The best cuts of meat for KBBQ
- Banchan/Side dishes
- Korean BBQ Sauces
- Recommended Vegetables
- How much food should I make?
- Drinks for KBBQ
What is Korean BBQ
Korean BBQ is the popular method of grilling meat right at the dining table. Korean BBQ restaurants have gas, charcoal, or portable stove grills built into the tables. Marinated meats like bulgogi and kalbi are grilled and eaten along with various small Korean side dishes called banchan.This is a really long post, but the gist of it is: grill meat at the table, pop it into a leafy vegetable, top it off with sauce and enjoy.
At the very minimum you’ll need:- A grill/hot plate.
- Marinated meats.
- Vegetables + sauce.
- Banchan or side dishes. This is optional, I guess, but it’s not really Korean BBQ with out it.
- Drinks. A key part of KBBQ.
How to make Korean BBQ
- A few hours before you want to eat, or the day before, marinate the meats, prep the vegetables, buy the banchan, and make the sauces in this post. Buy the liquor you need and refrigerate because no one should drink warm soju if they can avoid it.
- When you are ready to eat, make the rice and the noodles and set the table up with banchan, dipping sauces, rice, and noodles.
- Heat up your grill or hot plate. Make sure the windows are open if you’re inside.
- Brush some oil on the grill.
- When it’s hot, add some slices of meat. Flip as needed.
- As the pieces are cooked, take them off the grill, wrap it up, top it, sauce it, and eat it. See below for details. You can also take the cooked pieces off the grill and place them on a plate. Cook, eat, and repeat.
How to eat KBBQ
Korean BBQ is traditionally eaten in ssam form. Ssam just means wrap, but the implication is a one-bite-sized wrap of fresh cold lettuce with a small piece of grilled meat and topped with sauce (ssamjang).- Grill some meat (above). If it is too large to eat as one bite (as in the case of short ribs) use a pair of kitchen shears to cut it down. This is traditional.
- Wrap it up in lettuce and perilla.
- Top or dip it in sauce.
- One bite it.
- Savor and repeat!
What should I buy for Korean BBQ at home
To be honest, you can probably buy everything you need at H-Mart or a local Korean grocery store. They’ll even have marinated meats for you. If you don’t live near a Korean grocery store, you can buy meat and marinate it yourself. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have any banchan. At its core, Korean barbecue is about wrapping delicious meat in lettuce and dipping it in ssamjang.What kind of grill do you need?
The most important thing you’ll need for Korean BBQ is a grill or hot plate. A korean BBQ grill is specifically designed to let the fat safely run off without flaring up so that you can cook indoors, and also not let any thinly sliced or tiny pieces of meat fall through. They sell a bunch of different ones online and they also sell them at Asian grocery stores. Besides the grill, you need a heat source. Your options are:- Charcoal - best tasting but you can't use charcoal indoors or on balconies and it's the biggest pain to get charcoal lit, let it cool down after, and dispose of properly. If you have a backyard and want to take things to the next level, you should give it a try though!
- Induction - induction is nice because it's safe and easy to clean, but it doesn't get as hot as Korean BBQ should get, and you have to use induction specific metal that can be hard to find in Korean BBQ grill pan shapes. We have an induction cooktop but we don't use it because the next option is the best.
- Portable Butane Stove - these can be used indoors (with proper ventilation) and get plenty hot. They have combo grills too where the grill is attached to the element. The best thing to do though is to buy a separate stove and grill from the same company so that its a tight fit but you can just throw the grill pan into the sink or dishwasher later. We have this Iwatani butune stove and this Iwatani Korean BBQ grill pan and we love them. If you mix and match, sometimes the grill and the stove won't be a good fit and the grill can slide right off. The difference between a $20 grill and a $50 grill is immense, by the way.
Pro tip
You’ll want to keep a window open during your KBBQ party no matter what grill you use because it will get smoky. If you have a backyard, you can do a backyard KBBQ party but if you don’t, you can do it at home too, just keep your hood fan on and know that you’ll need ventilation. Maybe keep a stick around to press the hush button on your smoke detector if you have crazy tall ceilings. Read more in the smoke section below. Aside from the grill/hot plate, you’ll need a bunch of tiny dishes for your banchan, small individual dipping dishes for sauces, tongs, scissors (for cutting the meat into smaller pieces) and plates and bowls for eating. And the food, of course!Where to buy the best korean bbq meats?
If you have access to H-Mart, a nation-wide Korean grocery store, it’s going to be the absolute best place to buy the best KBBQ meats. They will have all the right cuts and they even sell the meats marinated, if you want a super easy chill vibes BBQ night: After H-Mart, most Asian grocery stores will have a selection of pre-sliced meats in the frozen section that are probably meant for hot pot but will work great for KBBQ. And, finally, you can hit up the regular grocery store or a butcher. You can buy a rib-eye, pop it in the freezer and thinly slice it. Instead of Korean flanken-cut short ribs, get some boneless short ribs and slice those thin as well. Most grocery stores carry pork belly slices (sometimes called side pork) and chicken is always a good choice too, especially when you marinate it in the spicy bulgogi marinade.The best cuts of meat for KBBQ
Beef
- Kalbi/Short Ribs: These ribs are cut specifically for KBBQ, which are flanken cut short ribs, where the ribs are cut thin across the bone. You can also do boneless short ribs too, which are usually cut a bit thicker.
- Bulgogi: Bulgogi actually refers to the sweet and savory marinade/sauce, not the cut of meat, but most commonly used are thinly cut slices of sirloin, ribeye, or brisket.
Bulgogi vs Kalbi
Even though they’re both beef, they’re not the same. The biggest difference is the cut of meat used. Bulgogi is made with thinly sliced meat and kalbi are short ribs. The marinade is essentially the same.Pork
- Samgyeopsal/Pork Belly: Samgyeopsal is probably the most popular pork item because pork belly. It comes either marinated or plain and can be thick cut or thin.
- Hanjungsal/Pork Jowl: This might be my favorite cut of pork ever. Pork jowl is chewy, juicy, and perfectly marbled. It doesn’t flare up on the grill up as much as pork belly because the fat is more marbled throughout the meat. If you see it at the store, buy some, you won’t regret it! I recommend keeping hanjungsal unmarinated/plain.
Chicken
- Cheese Buldak: Chicken is not as popular at KBBQ, but they do have it, usually prepared cheese buldak style: chicken thighs marinated in a spicy gochujang fiery sauce. The thighs are grilled then, smothered in melty mozzarella cheese. I love this dish! It’s usually brought to the table in it’s own little skillet, already cooked.
- Chicken Bulgogi: If you do want to grill chicken at the table, it’s usually thighs marinated in bulgogi sauce.
Banchan for Korean Barbecue
If you've ever been to a Korean restaurant you know Banchan. They are absolutely a key part of Korean barbecue. Banchan, or side dishes, are placed around the grill for everyone to share. I always judge Korean barbecue restaurants for their banchan because you know if they’re taking care with their banchan, they’re taking care with everything else. You can make your own banchan (please check out Maangchi for some great recipes!), but if you’re lucky enough to have an H-Mart in your town or close by, it’s worth it to go there because they have a whole HUGE refrigerated section of prepared banchan. Plus you can get some Melona ice cream bars and roasted seaweed snacks that are 10 times cheaper than the seaweed snacks at Whole Foods.Some common banchan are:
- Kimchi: This comes in several varieties and most Korean bbq places will give you more than one kind. Buy a couple of different kimchi varieties at a local Korean grocery store. Otherwise, most large supermarkets have the standard baechu kimchi (napa cabbage). Kkakdugi, or cubed radish/daikon is super popular and oi sobagi, or cucumber is always a good choice.
- Kongnamul: These are soy bean sprouts that are seasoned with sesame oil, soy, scallions and garlic.
- Danmuji: These iconic picked yellow daikon are the kind that you find in kimbap! Crunchy, sweet and sour, and so addictive.
- Gim/Seaweed: There are a bunch of different seaweed banchan you can get: seasoned seaweed salads made with roasted seaweed (doljaban muchim), seaweed stems (miyeok julgi bokkeum), wakame (miyeok muchim).
- Gamja/Potatoes: This is my FAVORITE banchan umbrella - all the potato side dishes. There’s potato salad (gamja saelleodeu), sweet and savory braised potatoes (gamja jorim), and sticky soy glazed potatoes (gamja bokkeum). Give me ALL the gamja!
- Eggs: Gyeran jangjorim, or soy marinated eggs (either regular or quail) make for a cute and tasty side dish. Rolled omelette (gyeran mari) is what I consider a premium banchan because who doesn’t love a rolled omelette studded with vegetable confetti?! I also love gyeranjjim, which are steamed eggs that come in a little stoneware pot.
- Jeon/Pancakes: Again, this is a premium banchan! If you want to go ALL out, break out the jeon, which are savory pancakes/battered pan-fried deliciousness. The classic is pajeon (green onion pancake) or kimchijeon (kimchi pancake), but there are haemuljeon (seafood), and even gamjajeon (potato ?)
My favorite banchan to make at home: gyeran mari
Rolled omelette/gyeran mari is the best banchan because they’re pretty and taste amazing too! How could you not love rolled eggs with tiny vegetable confetti?! Here’s how you make it:- Finely chop some scallions and carrots, you want about 1 and a half tablespoons of each.
- Lightly whisk together 4 eggs and season with salt, making sure they’re evenly mixed.
- Stir in the finely chopped vegetables.
- Use a small nonstick frying pan and heat up a bit of oil over medium low heat.
- Add about 1/3 of the egg mix and swirl to coat the pan.
- Cook until the egg just starts to set then use a spatula to fold the egg over about 2 inches. Continue to fold and roll it, then push it to one side of the pan.
- In the empty spot in the pan, add some more of the egg mix, letting it cook until it is just about set but still runny on top. Roll the egg up and push it to one side of the pan.
- Repeat until you finish the egg mix.
- Remove from the pan, let cool slightly, and slice into thick slices.
- Enjoy along with your KBBQ!
Korean BBQ Sauces
It isn’t a KBBQ party without sauces! The table needs sauces and seasoning so everyone can customize to their hearts content.- Ssamjang: This translates to wrap sauce and that’s exactly what it is, sauce to put on your ssam/wrap. It’s made up of soybean paste/doenjang, hot pepper paste/gochujang, sugar, green onions, garlic, toasted sesame oil, and toasted sesame seeds. Every one has their own recipe so don’t be afraid to riff and adjust to what you like. Ssamjang is savory and sweet and touch spicy and really, really good.
- Toasted sesame oil: A little dipping bowl of toasted sesame oil is a pro-move. Use this, with a bit of salt sprinkled on top when you want to really taste the pure flavors of the meat. I love it with pork, especially pork that hasn’t been marinated.
- Salt: Just a little dish of salt for sprinkling onto the un-marinated meats to bring out their meaty flavors. Flakey sea salt is extra luxe.
- Toasted sesame seeds: A sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds can add an extra hit of savory nuttiness to your ssam.
Here are three KBBQ dipping sauce recipes to get you started
Sesame oil, salt, and pepper
A super savory sauce that lets the flavors of the ingredient that you’re grilling shine through. 2 tsp toasted sesame oil plus 1 small pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper.Ssamjang
This is a thick sauce that works best when you scoop it in your ssam! 1 teaspoon each doenjang, gochujang, toasted sesame oil, honey, toasted sesame seeds and 1 clove garlic, minced.Sweet and spicy gochujang
This is a basic sweet and spicy sauce that goes well with everything. 1 tablespoon each of gochujang, sugar or honey, and rice vinegar, plus a squeeze of fresh lemon and thinly sliced green onions or toasted sesame seeds.Vegetables
- Lettuce: You’ll need lots of lettuce and perilla to wrap up your grilled meats in little bites. I like providing a bunch of different lettuces. Lettuces for for Korean barbecue to try: red leaf, green leaf, butter, romaine, iceberg, really, any lettuce you enjoy can be used as a wrap.
- Perilla: Pick up some perilla when you’re at the Korean market. It's a flat wide leaf that is sometimes labeled as sesame leaves. Perilla are in the mint family but they don’t quite taste like mint, more like Japanese shiso (if you’ve had that) or a fresh herby flavor with a hint of anise.
- Chili: It wouldn’t be Korean food without a bit of spice. Most Korean restaurants will have sliced Korean green chilis, but you can sub sliced jalapeños or serranos.
- Green onions: A huge pile of slivered or shredded green onions adds freshness and flavor. Usually the green onions are tossed in a bit of soy, toasted sesame oil, sugar, and sesame seeds for a quick green onion slaw that tastes amazing with pork.
- Crunchy vegetables: You can also add some vegetable sticks or slices like cucumbers and carrots.
- Garlic: Raw garlic slices for those garlic lovers out there - just pop a slice on top of the meat in your ssam
Rice or noodles
You’ll probably be full after all the meat, but most KBBQ places offer rice and noodles at the end, just as an ending to the meal. Mike actually loves putting rice into his ssam, so if you like, serve up some bowls of rice with your KBBQ. As for noodles, well, who doesn’t love noodles? Super popular is naengmyeon, or cold noodles, because after all the heat, you’ll want to cool down with a bowl of slippery, savory icy cold noodles.How much food/meat do you need?
- Meat Plan on 1/2 to 3/4 pound of meat per person. If you have big meat eaters, plan on 1 pound of meat per person. If you’re having bone-in short ribs, double the amount of short ribs, because of bones.
- Vegetables Get at least 1 head of lettuce and 1 pack/bunch of perilla leaves between two people.
- Banchan Plan on 1-2 ounces of each kind of banchan and aim for 4 (or many more) varieties.
- Rice Make 1/2 cup of uncooked rice per person, which will give you about 1.5 cups cooked.
Do you really need to marinate?
You don’t have to! Lots of times Korean BBQ actually comes naked so you can appreciate the pure flavors of the meats. This is actually how Japanese people like to do Korean BBQ at yakiniku. We kept some of the meats plain so we could enjoy them with salt and sauce.What about smoke?
Not going to lie, if you’re grilling meat, there is going to be smoke, especially if your meat is marinated. KBBQ restaurants have very powerful hood fans that suck up the smoke so you don’t notice it when you’re eating there. To keep smoke at a healthy level at home, make sure your windows are open and your hood fan is on. Better yet, now that it is summer, have your KBBQ feast outside! Heck, even in the winter it’s fun to grill outside, underneath blankets. In Seoul, they have outdoor places where there are heaters and blankets for a cozy experience. To minimize smoke, always cook unmarinated meats first, then move on to marinated meats. If it starts to get extremely smoky, take a break and change or clean the grill plate. If your smoke detector goes off, there's often a button you can use to tell it that everything is fine. It's all part of the experience!How to set the table
Aside from the grill and the ingredients, there are a couple of things that will make your KBBQ night go smoothly.Table
- This is pretty obvious, but it goes without saying that KBBQ takes up a lot of room so a big table is optimal. If you have a smaller table, keep some of the meats and banchan near by on the countertop and replenish as needed. The table will get oily due to some splatter so you might way to lay down something to protect the surface.
Utensils
- Tongs - These are for both grabbing meats to put on the grill and using them to grill the meats on the grill. Usually you’ll only get one or two sets of tongs at the restaurant and someone will take care of the grilling while everyone else relaxes and eats. Two pairs ensures that you use one for raw meat and one for meat that is cooked.
- Chopsticks - Metal chopsticks are traditionally Korean but a lot of people have a hard time using them because they’re flat instead of round or squared off. I recommend wooden chopsticks!
- Scissors - These are for cutting pieces of meat into smaller pieces either for them to cook faster or to cut cooked pieces of meat into more manageable pieces. Use them copiously!
Dishes
- Small bowls - small round bowls are perfect for rice and banchan and don’t take up too much premium table space.
- Small plates - mini plates mean you can fit more banchan on the table.
- Dipping bowls - you’ll need dipping bowls for the sauces, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and salt.
What to drink with KBBQ
Most people like drinking beer and soju. Of course makgeolli, a sweet milky rice wine, is super popular too. You can also do mixed drinks like Yakut and soju, Melona and soju, or soda and soju. If you’re going non-alcoholic, iced teas are perfect. I hope this post has inspired you to do Korean barbecue at home. Really, it’s a ton of fun and SO delicious.Korean BBQ at Home
A complete guide to Korean BBQ at home featuring Kalbi short ribs, bulgogi brisket and spicy bulgogi pork belly, as well as all the fixings needed for a night of celebration, fun, and meat.
Kalbi/Bulgogi Marinade
- 1 medium onion (chopped, roughly 2 cups)
- 1 pear (cored, Asian pear preferred, roughly 1 cup)
- 8 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tbsp ginger (crushed)
- 1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium preferred)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
Meats
- 2 lb bone-in short ribs (Korean cut (thinly sliced), use 1/2 the amount if boneless)
- 1 lb brisket (thinly sliced, sirloin or ribeye ok as well)
- 1 lb pork belly (thinly sliced)
Ssamjang (dipping sauce)
- 1 cup doenjang (Korean fermented soy bean paste)
- 1/2 cup gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
- 8 green onions (thinly sliced)
- 8 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
Pajeori (Green Onion Slaw)
- 6 green onions
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tsp gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes, optional)
Assembly
- 4-8 oz Banchan (at least 4 kinds, see post)
- 2 heads lettuce (mix/match of red leaf, green leaf, butter, romaine, iceberg)
- 2 packs perilla leaves
- 1 cup crunchy vegetables (julienned)
- 6-8 cloves garlic (raw, sliced)
- 2-3 jalapeños (sliced)
- 6 cups cooked rice
- 16 oz naengmyeon (Korean cold noodles, prepared, optional)
- 4 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 4 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 4 tsp flaky sea salt
Well before you want to eat, make the marinade: In a blender, blend the onion, pear, garlic, and ginger with 1/4 cup water, then combine the onion-pear mix with the soy sauce, brown sugar, toasted sesame oil, and black pepper. Marinate your meats for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight:
Kalbi short ribs: use 1/3 of the marinade with the Korean cut short ribs
Bulgogi brisket: use 1/3 of the marinade with your thinly sliced brisket (or sirloin or ribeye)
Spicy Bulgogi pork belly: finally, add 1 tbsp gochujang (or more, if you want it spicier) to the remaining marinade and combine with the pork belly.
Combine the ssamjang ingredients to make the ssamjang. Set aside, covered, in the refrigerator so the flavors can meld.
Make the green onion slaw: Trim the green onions then cut into 3 inch lengths. Slice each piece longways so you get shredded green onions. Soak in cold water for 5 minutes, drain well, then toss the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.
When you are ready to eat, lay out the banchan on small plates, cook your rice, and divide your ssamjang and other seasonings up among the table.
Cook the meat on the hot plate/grill pan, flipping as needed. Enjoy as ssam!
Makes about 3 cups marinade.
You aren’t restricted to these meats, feel free to buy whatever strikes your fancy or is easy/comfortable! For chicken, try chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch pieces. For pork, try pork jowl if you can find it!
This is probably actually enough food for 6 but it's better to have leftovers vs. running out of food at a Korean BBQ.
Estimated nutrition doesn’t include side dishes, sauces…or alcohol.
I Am... Lori Jayne Steak Frites
Mike and I were recently checking out youtube when his algorithm showed us the steak frites at Lori Jayne. Even before he clicked the preview, I was obsessed. A paper boat full of straight-cut, deeply fried fries, gorgeous slices of steak, a healthy ladle of sauce, and a sprinkle of chives is the stuff of dreams. After watching the video multiple times, we made it at home. We haven’t been to NYC in a minute, but why, when we have NYC at home? Jokes aside, this is a great steak frites recipe and it’s been on repeat as of late.
Steak frites
The very first time I ever had steak frites, it was a revelation. It was my first time in Paris, with my somewhat new-ish boyfriend (now husband) and I felt a combination of so grown up and so, so, young. We went to Relais de l’Entrecote, because that’s what you do when you’re in Paris, and I was blown away by the juicy, meaty steak slathered in their secret sauce served with crispy, golden fries. After that, I was hooked. Steak frites became a way of life. There’s really nothing better than a perfectly cooked steak, shatteringly crisp fries, and a rich savory so-good-you-want-to-drink-it sauce.Lori Jayne steak frites
Lori Jayne is the brainchild of Sam Braverman, an affable chef’s chef kind of guy from what I can tell on youtube. The restaurant (named after Braverman’s mother) started out serving fried chicken, but the steak frites special is what caught the heart and stomach of New Yorkers. Served in a paper boat, with chopsticks as the perfect utensil to grab a composed bite, the French-Asian-American influenced dish is a cult favorite. It’s so perfect looking, it’s almost obscene. Bright ruby red in the middle, with a hard seared crust on the outside, not-too-thinly sliced pieces gently laying on top of a bed of golden brown fries, with an inspired au poivre sauce that has toasted peppercorns, both regular and Sichuan.How to make the ultimate steak sauce
Even though it has so many ingredients, the sauce that comes with the Lori Jayne steak frites is one of the best steak sauces I’ve had. Creamy and peppery, balanced yet bold. I think it’s so good that I made a double batch so I could ladle it all over fries, no steak needed. Here’s how you make it.- Melt. Start off by making the base of the sauce, the steak butter. Melt butter, along with beef fat trimmings over very, very low heat. Add some rosemary and thyme into the pot and continue to cook, until the beef fat renders and your house smells like a steak house. When it’s ready (after an hour of driving you nuts), remove it from the heat and stir in some minced garlic.
- Chop. While the garlic is infusing, chop up some shallots. Strain the steak butter.
- Caramelize. Add the steak butter to a sauce pan, along with some olive oil. Caramelize the chopped shallots, stirring occasionally, over low heat, until the shallots are jammy and soft. Stir in some minced garlic.
- Deglaze. Add cognac to the pan, to deglaze, scraping and stirring up all the flavor. Add some white wine too and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Season. Stir in fish sauce, sweet soy sauce, and rice vinegar.
- Reduce. Add some chicken stock, bring to a boil and let the sauce reduce by a third, concentrating all the flavors.
- Cream. Stir in some heavy cream and let the sauce come to a simmer, then pull from the heat.
- Infuse. Off the heat, infuse the sauce with thyme and rosemary.
- Toast. While the sauce is getting herby, toast mixed and Sichuan peppercorns in a dry pan until toasty and fragrant. Let cool, then either grind, crush, or pulse in a food processor.
- Finish. Strain the sauce into a pot, discarding the solids. Stir in the crushed peppercorns and keep warm over a very low flame. Try not to “taste” all of the sauce before serving up the steak frites.
Why this recipe works
The true star of this recipe is twofold: the steak butter and the sauce. Steak butter, as its name implies, is butter with a healthy dose of flavor thanks to beef fat, herbs, and garlic. The steak butter is used both to baste the steak as it cooks, and as the base for the steak sauce. Truly, if there’s one thing to take away from this recipe, it’s the steak butter. The steak sauce is equally amazing. Yes, the recipe list is crazy long and multiple steps, but really, it’s worth it. The mix of regular and Sichuan peppercorns just takes it over the top. You get the fragrance of black peppercorns and the tongue-numbing mala features of Sichuan peppercorns. Combined with cream and umami-forward fish sauce and kecap manis (thick sweet soy sauce), you get a balanced yet bombastic sauce that is just begging to licked up.Lori Jayne steak frites at home
The first time I made this dish, I faithfully recreated the recipe as gleaned from the youtube video. From then, I took out what I felt were extraneous ingredients and steps. Here’s what I did.- Fries at home? That’s gonna be a hard no. I have tried to make amazing fries many, many times, and I bow down to the professionals. Either buy your favorite fast food fries (McDonalds looks just like the fries from the Lori Jayne steak frites) or get frozen from the grocery store and air-fry. Cutting out the fries makes this recipe way more approachable.
- Extraneous ingredients. I love esoteric ingredients as much as I love making fries at home. Kidding, I actually love esoteric ingredients, but for ease I cut out a bunch of the things that they use in the Lori Jayne steak frites: kecap manis, lemon juice, sherry vinegar, parsley, and thinly sliced chives. I subbed the kecap manis with a bit of sweet soy sauce because we always have it in the pantry. For the lemon juice and sherry vinegar, rice vinegar acted as the acid. As for parsley and thinly sliced chives, well, I get that when you’re spending $25, you want some garnish. At home, I’d rather spend the herb money on more fries. Fries over frills.
The best kind of steak to make at home
Is it just me, or does your fire alarm go off every time you make steak? It’s so bad that I've forbidden me to make steak at home. I’m easily embarrassed and I don’t want the fire department to know me more than they already do. For this post I decided to give it another go. Mike always makes the steaks in our house and it's effortless and problem free. He even managed to make a great steak in an air fryer. So of course I asked him what to do:- Mike: You just sear the steak 3 minutes per side in a cast iron pan.
- Me: But how do you stop the smoke alarm from going off?
- Mike: I don’t think you'll have a problem at 3 minutes per side.
An easier steak frites experience (sorry Lori Jayne)
If you’re looking for steak sauce that doesn’t take a million ingredients and hours of your life, might I recommend our amazing post about 8(!) different steak sauces that are all super quick and easy to make? steak and fries forever, xoxo stephLori Jayne Steak Frites
The sauce is so good that I make a double batch to ladle all over fries, no steak needed.
Steak Butter
- beef fat trimmings (as much as your steaks provide)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 2 tbsp garlic (minced)
Sauce
- 1 cup shallots (chopped)
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp garlic (minced)
- 1 tbsp cognac
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp sweet soy sauce
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 sprig fresh thyme
- 1 sprig fresh rosemary
- 1/2 tbsp mixed whole peppercorns
- 1/2 tbsp sichuan peppercorns (whole preferred)
Steak Frites
- 4 servings fries of choice
- 4 medium steaks of choice (short ribs preferred, about 6oz each)
Make the steak butter: add your steak trimmings to a small sauce pot, along with the unsalted butter, rosemary, and thyme. Heat on the smallest burner you have, on the lowest heat, for 1 hour minimum. When the hour is up, stir in the garlic and remove from the heat, letting the steak butter infuse.
Make the au poivre sauce: Add 4 tbsp steak butter, along with 2 tsp olive oil to a wide bottomed sauce pan. Gently cook the shallots over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until they start to turn jammy and translucent.
Add 1 tbsp of garlic to the shallots and continue to cook, stirring, until the garlic is fragrant. Deglaze with 1 tbsp cognac, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate the fond. Add the wine.
When the sauce is gently bubbling, stir in the fish sauce, sweet soy sauce, and rice vinegar, then add the chicken stock and reduce by a third.
Stir in the cream and bring to a gentle boil, then remove from the heat. Add the rosemary and thyme and let sit, off the heat.
Meanwhile: toast the whole peppercorns in a dry pan over low heat, tossing until they smell toasty and fragrant. Let cool, then crush with a blender or food processor.
Strain the sauce and add the crushed peppercorns. Keep the sauce warm over very low heat.
Make the steaks to your liking or: Generously season all sides of the steaks with salt and pepper. If you have some, heat up a little leftover steak fat in a cast iron pan over high heat. When hot and smokey, add the steaks to the pan and cook without moving for 3 minutes. Flip the steaks and continue cooking for 3 more minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
Baste generously with the steak butter on both sides and let rest for 5-10 minutes while you cook or obtain your favorite fries.
Enjoy: Slice the rested steak into about 1/4 inch slices. Make a bed of frites and fan the steak out on top. Generously ladle on the warm au poivre sauce. Enjoy immediately, with chopsticks.
Estimated nutrition is for sauce only.
I Am... Easy Authentic Chicken Pho
I'm Vietnamese and this is my comfort food: a super flavorful, very authentic chicken pho that takes about 3 hours to make. This is my personal chicken pho recipe that I've been refining for the past 10 years. It's different (and less accessible) than the easier one in our cookbook. I'm finally putting it up because Steph wanted to be able to make it rather than ask me to do so every time she craved chicken pho. It's aromatic, refreshing, light, and deeply satisfying. It takes a little bit of effort but I think it's worth it. You might even skip the restaurants after this one.
A personal recipe
This is going to be an old school blog post. Back in the early 2010s when blogging was a bigger thing, before tiktok, everyone seemed to be doing over-the-top giant multi-hour project recipes. Blogging went from headlines like 72-hour Slow Roasted Beef Rib Pho with Homemade Rice Noodles to Easy Best 15 Minute Pho. Steph and I are no less guilty of this, but I feel like we lost something along the way. This post is definitely not designed to rank high on search. Instead, it's the most delicious pho recipe that I know how to make.What is chicken pho (phở gà)
Chicken pho is a less well known though no less authentic version of pho. It has roughly the same flavor profile, but is lighter, healthier, and faster and cheaper to make. If you love pho, you owe it to yourself to try a great chicken pho. It's like steak vs fried chicken, both are equally delicious.Equipment
For this recipe the following equipment isn't strictly needed but guarantees an easy experience:- A large stockpot. You'll need a pot that's large enough to hold a whole broken down chicken plus an onion and ginger. Most of the stockpots that come in those 7 piece sets are just large enough, but the bigger the better.
- A kitchen torch. I use a full-on blowtorch. You can toast the spices some other way (like in a cast iron pan) but it won't be as smoky and delicious.
- Tongs. We'll be moving a lot of chicken around, and tongs are the best cooking utensils for this. If you have metal tipped ones, you can use them to debone the chicken after it's been cooked rather than a knife and fork.
- 2 large mixing bowls. I use these to transfer the chicken, debone the chicken, weigh the noodles, etc.
- Sieve and 4qt container. To strain the soup. We own and love these 4qt cambros (shown below) that you can get from any restaurant supply store or online. They're useful for soup making, of course, but also storing large amounts of leftovers and general storage. Steph uses a larger 10qt one just for her instant noodle library.
- Noodle Bowls and Chopsticks. To serve and eat, more on that below.
How to make chicken pho
Although I'm talking up how difficult this recipe is, it's not really that complicated. Here's how you make chicken pho:- Char your aromatics. Char your onion and ginger for about 10 seconds. I use a blowtorch, but a small kitchen torch will work too. Transfer to your large stockpot. Pro tip: leave the hood fan off because this process creates some ash and the hood fan sucks it right into the filter if you have it on.
- Briefly char your spices. Just about a second is enough. Then transfer to a tea bag if you have one and add to the stockpot
- Add chicken and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Note the time that the soup has come to a boil.
- Remove the chicken and cool. About 25 minutes after the soup boils, remove the chicken and allow to cool. Keep the soup at a low simmer and add water if needed.
- Debone the chicken. About 15 minutes later the chicken will have cooled enough to handle. Roughly remove the meat from the bones. You don't need to work too hard on this, any meat left over just helps flavor the soup. Transfer the meat to a container, cover, and refrigerate.
- Simmer the soup. Add the bones back to the soup and simmer for 30 mins to 2 hours. The longer the better, obviously.
- Strain the soup. I've found that removing the bones and larger pieces makes straining easier.
- Season the soup. This is a pretty personal thing but I've included my suggestions in the recipe.
- Build your bowls and enjoy. Instructions below.
How to serve chicken pho
Serving any noodle soup so that everything is hot and ready at the same time (and not soggy) is an art form. Pho is one of the easiest noodles in this respect because the noodles are better the longer they sit out, and the soup goes in last. This is my method:- Optional: warm the bowls
- Bring the soup to a low simmer in one pot and bring up a large amount of boiling water in another large pot.
- Blanch the noodles according to the instructions on the package. For fresh noodles you dip it in boiling water for 1-2 seconds and drain immediately. For dry noodles it can be as long as 5 minutes depending on the thickness of the noodles, but usually 1-2 minutes.
- Drain and rinse the noodles in a mesh sieve. Unlike pasta, rinsing the noodles removes the residual starch and gives you a cleaner end product.
- Divide the noodles. If you are making more than 2 bowls at a time, it's worth it to weigh and divide the noodles in a (tared) large mixing bowl. Let the noodles rest in the bowls. They'll dry out a bit and when you add the soup they absorb a little bit of the soup and become tastier.
- Warm the chicken in the soup and divide between the bowls.
- Set up your garnishes, dips, chopsticks, spoons, drinks etc at the table.
- When everyone is ready to eat, add enough soup to the bowls to cover and carefully bring them to the table. You can optionally bring the whole pot to the table and ladle it there, which is useful in case extra soup is needed.
Chicken pho ingredients
- Chicken. This recipe was originally made to use up exactly one whole chicken. Back in the day, I would break down a whole chicken. These days, I'd rather spend a few extra dollars and buy chicken parts. My current perfect mix is 4 drumsticks, 4 thighs, and a bone-in skin-on chicken breast.
- Spices. You need about 6 spices to make this recipe, more on that below.
- Aromatics. I whittled the list down to just 1 onion and some ginger. A lot of other people will add shallots, the whites of green onions, even carrots and celery. I don't personally feel like this is necessary but you could, if you like.
- Seasoning. For Vietnamese recipes, this is sugar, fish sauce, salt, and MSG. The MSG is optional but I personally love it for authenticity reasons. Much has been said lately about MSG and racism (all true) but I make the MSG is optional for another reason: if you don't already use it, it's hard to find it in a small amount. If you run into the cute MSG panda though, I'd recommend getting that.
- Noodles. More on pho noodles below.
- Garnishes. Skippable but recommended. You can omit the traditional sriracha and hoisin for this one as well.
Discarding the chicken
This recipe specifies removing the chicken 30 minutes in, harvesting the meat, and then transferring the bones back in. This is admittedly a labor-intensive step. If you are super lazy and rich, you could in theory just leave all the chicken in, and then in the last 30 minutes drop in a few boneless skinless chicken breasts for serving, and discard the rest. For me, that's a bit too much of a waste to consider doing. A good middle ground would be buying chicken carcasses, which you can sometimes get from an Asian grocery store and definitely from any decent butcher. Then afterwards, drop in the chicken breasts as above. Some chefs like Thomas Keller and Ivan Ramen straight up tell you in their cookbooks to boil a whole chicken for a couple of hours and discard. My Vietnamese sensibilities could never, though.The spice pack
Getting the spices are generally the hardest part of making pho at home. Pho spices are intensely personal. In some cities there are (or were) pho masters who went around to all the different pho restaurants selling custom spice mixes so that the restauranteurs could guarantee quality and uniqueness. The spices are what makes pho special for me. A lot of pho recipes online seem to skip the spices entirely, I wouldn't trust those recipes. On the other hand, many pho recipes can contain up to a dozen spices. Over the years I've whittled down my spice pack to just 6 spices: star anise, cinnamon, coriander, white pepper, cloves, and cardamom. All of these spices are ideally whole, not ground. Whole star anise in particular can be hard to find outside of Asian grocery stores and online.Charring
The word pho is often said to come from the French phrase pot au feu and the reason was the charring of the aromatics and spices. If you don't have a flame source, you can skip this step but it worth chasing down at least a cheap kitchen torch. These butane toppers are also usually about $10 and the butane gas itself is about $1.50 a can. For me, I pair the classic bernzomatic TS-8000 that's found in restaurant kitchens across the world with a green coleman propane can for a less industrial/plumbing look. They don't take up much room when stored separately. We use it more often than you'd think, including when camping to easily start a campfire. The bernzomatic brand is an industry standard and priced as such, but there are identical looking clones online for cheap, though I can't vouch for how good they are.Garnishes
Of anything in this recipe that you can skip, I'd say the garnishes are the most optional. Pho is traditionally served with lime, cilantro, thai basil, and chilies. It's up to you if you want to go with these or not, when we're lazy we often skip them all. The soup is great as is.Fish sauce
If you don't intend to make the dipping sauce and you don't want to buy fish sauce, this recipe works without it. Fish sauce adds a depth of flavor that you can't get with just salt. However, many a Vietnamese household makes pho with just salt for a cleaner, more chicken forward taste. If you want to skip the fish sauce, just add the equivalent amount of salt to replace it (or as much/as little as your taste prefers). For this recipe (and all seasoning purposes) I prefer a cheaper brand like Golden Boy over something like Red Boat. Unless you have it already, a high end fish sauce here would be a waste of money, like using high end olive oil to fry.Dipping sauce
This recipe comes with a ginger fish sauce-based dipping sauce. I think it really makes the dish. Even though we traditionally only use ginger fish sauce with poultry, I love it so much we use it anywhere a fish sauce dipping sauce is called for. The ginger isn't an exact measurement because who weighs ginger? Generally speaking, err on the side of more ginger than you'd expect. How much I use is illustrated in these two before/after photos. If grating ginger and chopping garlic is not your thing (it's not mine), you can blend the ginger and garlic together, then add to sugar, fish sauce, and chilies. I find doing it this way creates more dishwashing but makes it much faster and easier.Pho noodles
The best kind of pho noodles you can buy are fresh rice noodles. They're usually stored in the fridge at your local Asian grocery store near the tofu. These noodles are what your local pho restaurant uses and their texture is great. You can also get dried rice stick noodles in the Asian aisle at any major grocery store. Sometimes it's called pad thai noodles. Their texture isn't as good but it works. We've used fettuccine in a pinch before.Noodle bowls
The hardest thing about making pho in a non Asian household/kitchen is that most people don't have noodle bowls. The ideal noodle bowl is at least 6" wide and 5" high. Our collection has bowls from East Fork, Kinto, and Farmhouse Pottery, as well as tons of other random ones we picked up over the years. You can also get some great basic bowls from your local Asian grocery store or online. Bonus, they make great cereal bowls (and are often what they're marketed as). When I was younger and couldn't afford noodle bowls, I ate out of mixing bowls. That's what we still do when we eat pho in airbnbs, and it works.Asian supermarkets
Throughout this post I mentioned the Asian supermarket a lot, and that's because the best place to stock up on supplies for pho is here. You'll get cheaper meat, reasonably priced whole spices, a wider selection of fish sauce, and fresh noodles quickly and easily. You can still cobble this recipe together if the only place in your town is a Ralphs or Kroger. However, if you have a 99 ranch or T&T or similar near you, the experience is just so much better.Other Vietnamese recipes to try
- Easy Instant Pot Pho
- Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef
- How to Make Vietnamese Salad Rolls
- Air Fryer Vietnamese Fried Chicken
- Bun Bo Hue
- Vietnamese Coffee
Authentic Chicken Pho
It takes 3 hours and a whole chicken and it's 100% worth it.
- 1 onion (halved)
- 3" ginger (sliced)
- 5 lbs chicken (4 drumsticks, 4 thighs, 1 whole breast, bone-in, skin on)
- 2 lbs fresh pho noodles (or dried)
Spice Pack
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 2-3 whole star anise
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1/2 tsp cardamom (about 8 pods)
Seasoning
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tbsp fish sauce (optional but replace with equivalent salt if omitting)
- 1 tbsp msg (optional)
Garnishes (all optional)
- 1 lime
- 1 bunch Thai basil
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 2-3 Thai chilies (sliced)
Carefully char your aromatics with a blowtorch or over a gas hob. Set aside. In a small pan, char your spices and add to a tea bag if you have on. If you don’t have a blowtorch or flame source, you can toast your aromatics in a cast iron pan as well.
Add the chicken, onion, ginger, and spices, and cover with water. Bring up to a boil on high heat. Once boiling, reduce to a low boil and set a timer for 25 minutes.
At the end of the 25 minutes, transfer your chicken to a large bowl and let cool. Continue cooking the soup, adding water if needed. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, roughly remove the meat from the bones, transfer to a container and refrigerate.
Add the bones back to soup and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes to 2 hours. More time will make a better soup.
Let the soup cool to a safe temperature (add 1qt water to help it cool), then strain (remember to put a container under your sieve). Ensure the soup has about 3 quarts of liquid, adding water if necessary.
Give the pot a quick rinse, then return the soup to the pot. Heat up the soup again, then season to your liking with sugar, fish sauce, salt, and msg as desired (my recommendations are up top).
To serve: quickly blanch your pho noodles according to the directions on the package, then transfer to large noodle soup bowls. Warm the chicken in the soup, then evenly divide the chicken between the bowls. Just before you're ready to eat, top with soup, thai basil, chilies, and cilantro, if using. Serve with ginger fish sauce to dip. (see below)
Serves 6 as smaller bowls, or 4 as larger bowls. Estimated nutrition assumes about 5oz of noodles per person, 1/4lb of chicken, and consuming all/most of the soup.
Ginger Fish Sauce Recipe
2" grated ginger
3 tbsp sugar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp fish sauce
1-2 thai chilis (optional)
1/2 cup water
Combine all ingredients in jar, cover, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.
I Am... Make this Easy Chicken Katsu any way you like: Air Fryer, Deep Fried, and Oven Versions
Chicken katsu is one of my all time favorite things to make and eat. It’s like shake and bake chicken but with a Japanese twist. Juicy, tender chicken, with crispy panko breadcrumbs on the outside, fluffy rice and crunchy cabbage?! Dream meal! Almost every culture has a breaded chicken cutlet and I love them all but chicken katsu has a special little katsu shape in my heart.
What is katsu?
Katsu is a Japanese transliterated word, meaning cutlet. It comes from tonkatsu (pictured below), which is a pork cutlet, but there are also all other kinds of katsu, which has turned into a term for panko breaded items. You can find tofu katsu, beef katsu, and of course, chicken katsu.How to make chicken katsu
- Prep the chicken cutlets. Lightly pound the chicken so that it’s about 1/2 inch thick. This helps it cook more evenly. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Flour. Dip the chicken in flour, shaking off any excess.
- Egg. Dip the chicken in the egg, coating both sides, shaking off the excess.
- Panko. Press the chicken into the panko, making sure the panko coats all of the chicken.
- Cook. Air fry, bake, or deep fry the chicken katsu.
- Enjoy! Slice, serve with rice, cabbage, sauce, and enjoy.
Best chicken to use
You can make chicken katsu with either boneless skinless chicken breast or boneless skinless chicken thighs. Either way, you’ll want to lightly pound the chicken so that it isn’t too thick.Chicken vs Pork
Which is better? Well, pork is the more traditional of the two, but pork can get overcooked pretty easily and you need to source just the right fattiness and thickness in order to get an authentic tasting katsu,whereas chicken pretty much almost always ends up great. In my books, pork from restaurants, chicken at home is the clear choice!What is panko?
Panko are Japanese breadcrumbs. They’re vastly different from regular breadcrumbs - fluffier, larger, and made from crustless white bread. The irregular flakes of panko are what make katsu so crunchy. They’re dryer, flakier, and absorb less oil. Panko is actually super interesting and a big deal in Japan. Dedicated panko factories bake bread to different panko specifications. You can get fresh panko, dried panko, and different sized flakes. They even have different ways of baking the bread, either oven baked or electrically baked using currents. A lot of restaurants get fresh panko delivered to them daily.Where to buy panko
Panko is sold in most grocery stores in the Asian aisle but it’s cheaper to buy it at an Asian grocery store. You can also get it online. I prefer Japanese brands of panko, sometimes you’ll see something labeled panko but it looks like regular breadcrumbs. Take a look at the package and buy panko with large, irregular, shards that are flat.How to set up a katsu breading station
Just like how you bread regular chicken you need flour, egg, and panko.- Set up three shallow dishes that are able to fit your chicken.
- Put flour in one dish, lightly beaten egg in the next dish, and panko in the last dish.
- Season your chicken with salt and pepper, then using one hand, dip it in the flour, coating both sides. Shake off the excess flour and place it in the egg.
- Use your other hand to turn the chicken in the egg, making sure it’s coated all over. Shake off any excess egg and place the chicken in the panko.
- Using the hand you used to flour the chicken, flip and press down on the chicken to coat in panko, being sure to gently adhere the panko all over. Shake off the excess panko and you’re ready to cook!
How to cook chicken katsu
Air fried/baked chicken katsu
If you’re air frying or baking chicken katsu you’ll need to toast your panko before coating your chicken. The deeply golden signature color of chicken katsu is part of why it’s so appetizing and if you bake or air fry, there won’t be a lot of color on the panko because it won’t be deep fried. Dry toasting it before hand fixes that! All you need to do is add the panko to a dry pan and toast over medium heat, stirring. Drizzle on a bit of oil and stir until golden and toasty. Just before it’s brown, remove the panko from the pan and place in a shallow bowl to cool completely. From there you just coat your chicken the same as ever. To air fry: Place the prepared chicken katsu on a rack inside the air fryer and air fry at 400°F for 12-15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F. To bake: Heat the oven to 400°F. Place the prepared chicken katsu on a rack and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F.Deep fried chicken katsu
Deep fried chicken katsu will give you the juiciest, most evenly browned katsu, but it’s also the messiest. To deep fry: Heat up 2-3 inches of neutral oil in a deep pan over medium high heat until it reaches 350°F. Gently place the coated chicken katsu into the oil and fry, flipping once, until golden brown and cooked through, about 2-4 minutes per side. For perfectly cooked katsu, invest in a instant read thermometer. You can use it whenever you cook meat and it ensures that you’re never eating dry, overcooked chicken breast. The best kind of thermometer is a thermocouple style, but you don’t have to spring for the fancy expensive ones: this one is nice and inexpensive and still super fast.Chicken katsu sauce
Chicken katsu is usually served with sosu, which is the Japanese transliteration of sauce. It’s a thick, sweet and tangy brown sauce that’s loosely based on Worcester sauce. Made from vegetables, fruits, and spices, there are several kinds and thickness used for a variety of Japanese dishes. The sosu most commonly served with chicken katsu is tonkatsu sauce. It’s thick and mild, and full of umami. You can buy it online, popular brands are Bulldog or Otafuku. If you can’t find it, you can make an approximation of it easily at home.Chicken katsu sauce recipe
2 tbsp ketchup 1 tablespoon oyster sauce 1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 2 tsp sugar Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.Katsu in Japan
Japan has dedicated tonkatsu restaurants that focus on pork cutlets, along with seafood like ebi fry (panko deep fried shrimp) or kaki-fry (panko deep fried oyster). There are also katsu-sando which are pork cutlet sandwiches. Chicken katsu is not as popular as its pork counterpart in Japan but it’s insanely popular all over the world, probably because it’s very similar to chicken tenders or chicken schnitzel.How is katsu served?
Katsu can come as part of a set meal (teishoku), as a rice bowl (donburi), with curry (curry katsu), or as a sandwich (katsu-sando). The most common is a teishoku set, where it’s served with rice, cabbage, pickles, and sauce.What to serve with chicken katsu
If you want to create a teishoku or set meal, serve up your katsu with fluffy rice, shredded cabbage with Japanese dressing, miso soup, and Japanese pickles!- Japanese steamed rice
- Soy-vinegar dressing for your cabbage
- Miso soup
- Sunomono cucumber pickles
Chicken Katsu Recipe
Juicy, tender chicken, with crispy panko breadcrumbs on the outside, fluffy rice and crunchy cabbage.
- air fryer
- 2 chicken breast (lightly pounded)
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 egg (lightly beaten)
- 1 cup panko
Season both sides of the chicken with salt and freshly ground pepper.
If air frying or baking, toast the panko: Add the panko to a dry pan and toast over medium heat, stirring. Drizzle on 1 tablespoon neutral oil and stir until golden and toasty. Remove from the heat and place the panko in a shallow bowl to cool.
Set up 3 shallow dishes, one with the flour, one with the lightly beaten egg, and one with the panko.
Using one hand, dip the chicken into the flour, coating both sides. Shake off the excess flour and place it in the egg.
Use your other hand to turn the chicken in the egg, making sure it’s coated all over. Shake off any excess egg and place the chicken in the panko.
Using the hand you used to flour the chicken, flip and press down on the chicken to coat in panko, being sure to gently adhere the panko all over. Shake off the excess panko and you’re ready to cook.
To air fry: Place the prepared chicken katsu on a lightly oiled rack inside the air fryer and air fry at 400°F for 12-15 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F.
To bake: Heat the oven to 400°F. Place the prepared chicken katsu on a lightly oiled rack and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F.
To deep fry: Heat up 2-3 inches of neutral oil in a deep pan over medium high heat until it reaches 350°F. Gently place the coated chicken katsu into the oil and fry, flipping once, until golden brown and cooked through, about 2-4 minutes per side
After the katsu is cooked, let it cool slightly before cutting it into strips and serving it with rice, shredded cabbage, and katsu sauce. Enjoy!
I Am... Sweet and Sour Chicken
This is an easy, healthy, 8 ingredient, no deep fry version of the classic takeout favorite sweet and sour chicken. If you grew up with traditional sweet and sour pork, it might surprise you that sweet and sour chicken is way more popular. Pork or chicken, this sweet and tart sauce is so good and so quick and easy to make. Forget takeout or delivery, this is better, faster, stronger.
Baked sweet and sour chicken
This is a variation on our authentic oven-baked sweet and sour pork, featuring chicken. The chicken ends up juicy with the slightest bit of crispiness thanks to a cornstarch coating. Besides no cleanup, no expensive oil to throw away, and no splatter, this is also way better for you, so you can feel good about eating it every night, and you're going to want to. It tastes just as good as the deep fried version with none of the guilt.How to make sweet and sour chicken
- Preheat your oven to 450ºF and season your chicken with salt and pepper.
- Coat the chicken. We use cornstarch, it makes for an authentically light and crispy coating. Any other starch such as potato starch is good too.
- Bake the chicken. 20 minutes, then flip and bake another 10.
- Make the sauce while you wait. Roughly chop up your onions and pineapple too.
- Sauce the chicken and lightly cook the onions and pineapples at the same time.
- Enjoy!
Sweet and sour sauce ingredients
- Ketchup?! I know you’re thinking, why? But the real reason is ketchup used and beloved in a lot of Chinese kitchens. We used ketchup as a extra flavor booster a lot when we were growing up and the truth is, a lot of restaurants use it too. It’s the secret to getting that unique tangy sweet and sour flavor in sweet and sour dishes.
- Pineapple or no pineapple? Usually there’s pineapple in sweet and sour dishes but we didn’t have any on hand and I didn’t want to go out and buy a can (or chunk). Feel free to add any vegetables in – any crunchy, juicy vegetable is always a good bet - such as the red onion and yellow peppers in the photos. Pineapple is classic though, and fresh is best!
Tips and tricks
- Don’t forget to lightly oil the wire rack you cook your chicken it, it helps it not stick and also somehow makes the chicken more crunchy on the bottom.
- If you want even more crunch, blast the heat up at the end of the baking session and get everything deeply browned – just make sure you keep an eye on it.
If you love Chinese food
Serve this up with some:- Fluffy White Rice
- Salted Egg Yolk Fried Chicken
- Classic Chinese Tomato Egg Stir Fry
- Chinese BBQ Pork aka Char Siu
- 15 Minute Spicy Shrimp and Snap Pea Stir Fry
- Easy Keto Friendly Low Carb Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
- Rice Noodle Rolls Wrapped Around Chinese Doughnuts
- Spicy Chili Oil Wontons
Sweet and Sour Chicken Recipe
An easy, healthy, 8 ingredient, no deep fry version of that classic take out favorite: Chinese sweet and sour chicken
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs (cubed)
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 bell pepper (cubed)
- 1/2 red onion (cubed)
Heat your oven to 450°F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken in a ziploc bag along with 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Shake well to coat and then place on an oiled rack on a foil lined baking sheet.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown and crispy, flipping halfway.
When the chicken is almost done baking, make the sauce by whisk the remaining 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 1/4 cup water. Whisk in the sugar, ketchup, vinegar, and soy sauce.
Add the sauce to a nonstick pan and bring to a boil. Once bubbling, turn the heat to low and add the vegetables. Cook until your desired doneness then remove from the heat (we keep the vegetables almost raw).
Add the cooked chicken to the sauce and toss until well coated. Enjoy served with rice!
Serves 2 as a main or 4 with other dishes.
I Am... Easy 7 Ingredient Homemade Al Pastor
By far the best taco filling you can make at home, in only 7 ingredients. Your local Mexican place is always going to have the best tacos, but for those times you can’t (or don't want to) go out, this al pastor recipe is so good you’ll feel like you’re back wherever your taco heart belongs. It's so easy to make this smoky spicy and juicy pork you'll even use it for more than just tacos. Best of all, this recipe only requires 7 ingredients that you can get at any supermarket.
What is al pastor
Al pastor is a Mexican dish with pork that's been slow roasted on a vertical spit. Vertical spits are often associated with middle eastern food and this is no exception: legend says that Lebanese immigrants brought the cooking method to Mexico, where they paired it with traditional adobada to make the genius known as al pastor. It’s served in all kinds of dishes, in tortas/sandwiches, pizzas, and even on rice, but the most celebrated way to serve it is in tacos al pastor. The crisp smoky pork is sliced-to-order with a razor sharp knife as it's flame crisped by the vertical spit. The meat falls right into each taco and topped with a flourish of slow-roasted pineapple. It’s heaven in a tiny tortilla. Because you probably don't have a flame powered vertical spit at home, you can't replicate it 100% perfectly. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have an amazing, just-as-good version at home too, especially if you are far away from Mexico right now.The best homemade al pastor
Why this is the best homemade al pastor recipe: it’s smoky, sweet, and super easy. I’ve tried a lot of recipes on the internet and none of them really come close to what I love about al pastor - the smoky finish and the crisp edges. More importantly, a recipe that starts with "get your vertical spit" or "slice your pork with a commercial meat slicer" is a no go for me. This recipe has been in my back pocket for a long time now. It’s our go-to for taco nights, but I’ve never put it up until now because I always thought the ingredients were a little hard to come by. It’s worth it though, this recipe is simple, tasty, and comes really close to the real street-side deal.How to make al pastor
- Soak your chiles. Guajillos come dried and soaking them makes them pliable and easy to deseed.
- Slice and season your pork. I try to go for as thin of a slice as possible, so that there’s more surface area to absorb the marinade.
- Make the marinade. Blend the guajillos together with garlic, sugar, achiote, adobo, and pineapple juice until smooth.
- Marinate. Marinate your pork for at least 30 minutes, but better yet, overnight.
- Roast. You probably don’t have a vertical spit at home, so the best way to achieve that combination of soft supple insides and crispy, smoky edges is to lay out the pork in a single layer and broil at 500ºF until cooked. Don’t forget to roast your pineapples as well (on a separate baking sheet).
How to make tacos al pastor
- Prep your toppings. Dice your onions, chop your cilantro, slice your jalapenos, and portion out your salsas.
- Chop it up. Roughly chop your pork so that the majority of the pieces are about 1/2" x 1/2".
- Crisp up your al pastor. Frying it is optional but really intensifies the flavors, not to mention gets it nice and piping hot.
- Prep your tortillas. If you’re using flour tortillas, you should cook them now. If corn, cover 10-12 at a time with a damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds (or use a tortilla warmer like we do), then let sit another 30 seconds to steam before you build.
- Build and enjoy! Top with roast pineapples and all the other toppings you love.
Al pastor ingredients
Guajillo chilies
Guajillo are dried mirasol chiles that are sweet, smoky, and not very spicy. One of the most common chiles for Mexican food and one of our favorites. I’ve found the easiest way to buy the best quality chiles is online, where it’s far superior to anything outside of a good Mexican grocery store.Achiote paste
A blend of spices featuring annatto that goes great in everything. Not at all spicy, just deeply flavorful. My favorite brand is El Yucateco. From a staining perspective, annatto is just as bad as turmeric, so be careful not to get any on your clothes or white porous surfaces.Chipotle chilies in adobo
These are smoky spicy dried chipotle chiles (chipotle is smoked jalapeno) in adobo sauce - a sweet blend of tomatoes, vinegar, and spices. This recipe uses a whole can. Most people won’t find chipotle in adobo very spicy, but if you don’t prefer the spice level of jalapeno, it might be best to skip one or two of the pepper pods inside the can - the adobo part is a must however.Canned pineapple
Al pastor is traditionally served with roasted pineapple cut from the top of the vertical spit. This recipe needs pineapple juice anyway, so I prefer to use canned chunk pineapple and roast them, rather than deal with a whole pineapple. Most 398ml/13.5oz cans will yield exactly 1/2 cup of juice, which is what is called for in this recipe.Corn or flour tortillas
A lot of people prefer corn but if you live in the Southwest, you know (fresh) flour is awesome. When I’m not near really good flour tortillas, I try to buy locally made corn tortillas, but sometimes you're just in a food desert and don't have a lot of options other than national brands. In those cases, Mission is my go-to, both for corn and flour. Look for a street taco size.Spice level
This is not a spicy dish, but if you’re the kind of person where black pepper is just on the edge of spicy to you, then you might want to leave out a chipotle chile or two from the can. If you really, really hate spice, you’ll also want to deseed the guajillos. We use them for smoky flavor in this recipe, so you can remove all the seeds if you want to. The larger peppers are easier to deseed. Once softened, just turn them upside down and remove the stem, and 80-90% of them should fall right out.Grilling at the table
For taco nights, we like to do the last warming part at the table with a small tabletop griddle. You can warm your tortillas and the al pastor all at once, and it makes for a really fun night. Just prep all your toppings in little communal bowls, grab some drinks, and taco the night away.What to serve with tacos al pastor
- Other taco meats for an awesome taco night such as barbacoa, carnitas, adovada, and birria
- Tomatoey Mexican rice
- Homemade Salsa Verde
- Cilantro Lime Rice
Al Pastor Recipe
Smoky, sweet, and super easy crispy edged roast pork tacos topped with broiled pineapples.
- 8 dried guajillo peppers
- 2 lb pork shoulder/butt (cut into~ 1/4" slices, boneless)
- 8 cloves garlic (peeled)
- 7 oz chipotle peppers in adobo (1 can)
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp achiote paste (1.75oz/half package)
- 13.5 oz pineapple chunks (fruit and juice separated, 1 can)
- corn or flour tortillas (warmed, as needed)
Soak the guajillos in a small bowl filled with hot tap water for 15 mins. You can either remove the stems and seeds beforehand, or wait til the peppers are soft and pliable, hold them by the tip, upside down, over the sink, and cut the stems off. The seeds should fall right out.
Meanwhile, season the pork generously with salt.
Add guajillos, garlic, chipotle in adobo, sugar, achiote paste, and 1/2 cup pineapple juice to a blender and blend into a smooth marinade.
Marinate the pork for at least 30 mins and up to 24 hours in the fridge.
Preheat your oven to 500°F. Arrange the pork in a single layer on another baking sheet. Broil the pork until the edges and corners start to char, about 20 minutes.
While you wait for your pork to finish, arrange drained pineapple chunks in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet. Remove the pork and broil pineapples until charred, another 15 minutes.
Slice meats, fry up, and make tacos.
Makes roughly 16 tacos (2oz per taco). Serves 8 when paired with other food, or 4 for taco nights. Estimated nutrition doesn't include tortillas, toppings, or sauces (if any).
I Am... Easy Homemade Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
My ultimate comfort food is a bowl of fluffy rice, doused in sweet soy sauce with glistening glossy slices of Chinese bbq pork aka char siu. It's one of our go-to dinners for Mike and I because it’s just so darn easy. We usually just head to our favorite Chinese BBQ place and buy a pound of char siu along with some roast duck. Sometimes though, ok, actually quite often, we're living in a place without a great Chinese BBQ master, and then you need to take matters into your own hands. Luckily, unless you're trying to make a whole crispy roast pork or a brace of ducks, a home oven is all you need to make some great Chinese BBQ. This is a quick and easy char siu aka Chinese BBQ pork recipe. It’s essentially the same as this one here, minus the red fermented tofu because we don’t actually have any in the fridge. It lacks that hint of distinctive depth of flavor but it’s still really darn tasty!
What is Chinese BBQ pork?
Char siu literally translates to fork roasted and that’s exactly what char siu is, normally: fork roasted pork. Pork – usually pork butt/shoulder - is marinated in a sweet and savory BBQ sauce and then roasted. It’s sweet and salty and has just some nice complexity thanks to five spice. It’s juicy and sticky and just about perfect on a bowl of white rice.How to make char siu at home
- Cut your pork. You want to cut the pork into long strips at least 3 inches wide.
- Marinate. Mix up honey, hoisin, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, five spice, and white pepper and rub it all over the pork and let it marinate overnight (or at least for an hour) in the fridge.
- Roast. Let the pork get all juicy and cooked through on a wire rack in a low oven.
- Make a glaze. Make a quick glaze by bringing the excess marinade and a bit of honey to a boil.
- Brush. Generously coat the pork with the glaze and give it a blast of heat to char it. Slice and enjoy!
What kind of pork for char siu?
You can use pretty much any piece of pork for char siu, from pork loin to pork butt. In fact, when you go to a real Chinese BBQ place, they often ask you, “fei ding sau” (胖或瘦) which translates to fat or skinny. Truthfully they usually only use pork butt at Chinese BBQ places, but even then, there will be leaner and fattier parts on a pork butt. If you want:- a more luscious, rich char siu - use pork butt
- tender, lower calorie, leaner char siu - use pork tenderloin
- a leaner, cheaper char siu - use pork loin
- the best char siu you’ve ever eaten - use pork collar aka pork neck. It’s not a common cut, but essentially it’s the shoulder that runs from the neck to the tip of the loin.
What ingredients do I need?
You do need a couple of Chinese sauces, namely hoisin and soy sauce. They sell hoisin online and at most grocery stores in the Asian aisle, so you’re pretty much good to go. Other than that you need honey, garlic, ginger, five spice, and a pork butt/shoulder.Char siu ingredients
- Hoisin sauce - They pretty much sell hoisin everywhere now, from Target to your basic grocery store. It’s a thick, sweet brown sauce that’s used in marinades and as a dipping sauce. Hoisin is super flavorful: sweet and savory, tangy, and full of umami. It’s essential for Chinese bbq dishes.
- Shaoxing wine - This is the secret ingredient that all your Chinese food needs to taste like restaurant style Chinese food. Shaoxing wine is rice wine and while it’s optional for this recipe, it’ll be 10 thousand times better if you get it. They sell it online and in Asian grocery stores.
- Five spice - So many char siu recipes out there are just glazed pork. But if you want a savory char siu, don’t forget the five spice. It’s added flavor.
- White pepper - If you don’t have white pepper, don’t sweat it, but if you do, use it here. It’s more fragrant, delicate, and floral. It adds pepperiness without overwhelming.
How do you pronounce char siu?
It’s cha as rhymes with "rah rah rah" and siu as in rhymes with “few.”Why should I make this?
Char siu is a low effort high reward SUPER delicious juicy roasted pork that you will love. It has a sticky sweet glaze that is so good that you’ll want to eat it on everything. Plus, if you’re missing Chinese take out, this is the dish for you.What can I serve it with?
You can have it with fluffy white rice, in buns, with noodles, in fried rice, basically anything. xoxo StephEasy Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
A delicious sweet and sticky juicy Chinese bbq pork aka char siu recipe
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp hoisin
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp Shaoxing wine (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic (lightly smashed)
- 1 inch ginger (sliced)
- 1/2 tsp five spice (optional)
- 1/4 tsp white pepper (optional)
- 2 tbsp honey (for glaze)
- 1 lb pork butt/shoulder (cut into strips)
Mix the marinade ingredients throughly. Coat the pork with the sauce and marinate for minimum 1 hour and up to 24.
When ready to cook, heat the oven to 300°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with tinfoil. Remove the pork from the marinade, shaking off excess. Lay the pork on a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, flipping halfway through.
While the pork is cooking, heat up the remaining marinade (remove the ginger and garlic) with the last 2 tablespoons of honey. Bring to a simmer over medium heat until it reduces and thickens slightly. It should coat the back of a spoon.
Brush the pork with the glaze and turn the heat up to 400°F, brushing with glaze and flipping, until slightly charred. Let rest slightly, slice and enjoy!
I Am... Green Goddess Salad
If you love chopped salads, you’re going to love this green goddess salad. This salad has been all over my Tiktok. Green goddess salad isn’t anything new, but this version does it with a twist and it’s pretty amazing. If you have any resolutions this year to eat healthier or go vegan-lite or full on vegan, this salad should be in your back pocket. I have this thing where I love eating salad with a spoon. Weird, I know, but chopped salads will forever and always be number one in my heart. So when I saw @bakedbymelissa dicing up cabbage and cucumbers and mixing them with sliced green onions, I was sold. She serves it up with a creamy vegan green dressing and scoops it up with tortilla chips, pure magic!
What is green goddess salad?
A green goddess salad is traditionally green cabbage, cucumbers, green onions, and chives cut into a very fine dice and dressed with green goddess dressing. That said, any salad that’s tossed with green goddess dressing is a green goddess salad. There are hundreds of takes and variations which is nice because it’s perfectly customizable.Green goddess salad dressing
Its pretty green tint is what inspired the name “green goddess.” Invented in San Francisco, the original recipe calls for anchovies, green onions, parsley, tarragon, mayo, sour cream, and chives all blended into a creamy tangy dressing. The green goddess salad dressing we’re making today doesn’t have much in common with the classic aside from the chives and green onions. There’s no anchovies, mayo, or sour cream, making it completely vegan. The dressing is a riff off vegan pesto and is herby, fresh, bright, and slightly tangy. It also has an addictive cheesiness to it because of the nutritional yeast.Green goddess salad ingredients
The salad itself is simply cabbage, cucumbers, green onions, and chives, all cut into a very fine dice, similar to a finely chopped coleslaw. The dressing is Melissa’s green goddess dressing, which is a take on a vegan pesto with walnuts and nutritional yeast instead of pine nuts and parmesan.How to make green goddess dressing
For the dressing you’ll need:- lemons - the juice of two lemons adds freshness and acidity
- olive oil - extra virgin olive oil for the good fats
- rice vinegar - a bit of extra tang and hint of sweetness
- shallot - a sweeter onion flavor
- garlic - because garlic
- basil - for that herby freshness found in pesto
- spinach - for a bit of extra green
- nutritional yeast - adds cheesy savoriness and B12 vitamins
- walnuts - a hint of a nutty base
- salt - to meld all the flavors and highlight the highs
Storage and make ahead
The salad keeps for 2-3 days in the fridge, either dressed or undressed. If you want to make it ahead of time just to have around, it's better to dress it beforehand. The acid in the dressing keeps it fresh and cabbage is very hearty, it'll taste great!What is nutritional yeast?
Nutritional yeast is cheesy, nutty, and full of flavor. Think of it like powdered cheese, but vegan and shelf stable. It’s a flaky, golden powder that’s made from a species of yeast grown specifically for food, then harvested. When harvested, heat deactivates the yeast, then it’s washed, dried, and crumbled. The result is a cheesy, nutty, savory ingredient that is used to make vegan cheese sauces, vegan dips, in soups, scrambles, stews, and more. Like its name implies, it’s super nutritious, full of protein, B vitamins, and antioxidants. This recipe works best with large flake nutritional yeast, which you should be able to find anywhere that carries bob's red mill, or online.Green Goddess FAQ
- Can I make this in advance? Yes! Cabbage is super hearty and you can make this in advance, it will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days, just make sure to give it a good stir before serving.
- I don’t like cabbage what can I use instead? If you don’t want your salad base to be cabbage, use shredded kale or chopped lettuce. Any somewhat hearty leafy green will work.
- How long will the dressing keep in the fridge? The dressing should last up to 3 days in the fridge, covered. Make sure to stir it before using.
- Does this salad taste good the day after? This is the kind of salad that tastes amazing the day after because the cabbage will soak up the dressing. It’s similar to how coleslaw tastes perfectly fine a couple of days after you make it.
- What other nuts can I use instead of walnuts? If you’re allergic to walnuts or just plain don’t like them, you can substitute in any other nut or just leave it out entirely. Some nuts to try: pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, cashews, pine nuts, pistachios, or even sunflower seeds.
- Can I use another kind of vinegar? Rice vinegar is super delicious, but if you only have another kind of vinegar at home you can feel free to substitute. Some good substitutes would be: white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar.
- How many servings does this make? Really it can be as many or as little servings as you like but for our nutritional info, this salad serves 4.
Variations
This particular salad is vegan but if you don’t have nutritional yeast at home and aren’t vegan you can substitute in parmesan for the nutritional yeast.- Add crispy bacon for protein and crunch
- Add diced chicken breast or crumbled firm tofu for lean protein
- Top it off with toasted sesame seeds for a nutty finish
- Spicy green goddess salad: add 2-3 diced jalapeños and 1 diced green pepper
- Guacamole green goddess salad: add 3 diced avocados and the juice of one lime
- Super green green goddess salad: swap the cabbage for 1 pound shredded brussels sprouts, add 1 pound chopped spinach, and 1 head shredded kale
- Taco goddess salad: swap the cabbage for lettuce and add 1 cup crumbled cojita cheese and 1/2 diced small onion
Tiktok Green Goddess Salad
A super satisfying green goddess salad inspired by tiktok.
- blender
Salad
- 1 small cabbage (finely diced, or iceberg lettuce)
- 3-4 small Persian cucumbers (finely diced)
- 1 bunch green onions (sliced)
- 1/4 cup chives (finely sliced)
Green Goddess Dressing
- juice of 2 lemons
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small shallot
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1 cup spinach
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1 tsp salt
Finely dice or chop up all of the vegetables and toss in a large bowl.
In a blender or food processor, add the dressing ingredients, liquids first: lemon juice, olive oil, rice vinegar, shallot, basil leaves, spinach, nutritional yeast, walnuts, and salt. Blend until smooth.
Add the dressing to the bowl with the diced vegetables and mix well. Enjoy on its own, on tacos, as a side with protein, or scooped up with tortilla chips!
I Am... Tiktok Hot Honey Cottage Cheese Sweet Potato Beef Bowl
This viral hot honey cottage cheese sweet potato beef bowl from Tiktok is so good. If you’re looking for a balanced protein forward lunch or dinner, these sweet potato beef bowls are the answer. Seasoned ground beef, sweet potatoes, cottage cheese come together under a generous drizzle of hot honey. Viral bowls aren’t new but it usually takes something that really taps into the generous psyche for it to go viral. These bowls are all over TikTok because they’re photogenic, hearty, budget-friendly, quick, easy, and customizable.
What is the viral cottage cheese sweet potato beef bowl?
I first saw the viral hot honey beef bowl on TikTok. There are so many. I couldn’t figure out who made it first, but pretty much everyone who’s been making it is saying it’s the best high-protein meal they’ve tried in a long time. Essentially, it’s a bowl filled with roasted sweet potatoes, taco-seasoned ground beef, avocado, and cottage cheese, all drizzled with sweet and spicy hot honey. I’ve seen people adding herbs and leafy greens, but basically, the core bowl is sweet potatoes, beef, cottage cheese, avocado, and hot honey. People love them because of the balance of fats, fiber, and protein.How to make a hot honey sweet potato beef bowl
- Roast the sweet potatoes - peel and cube the sweet potatoes, toss them in a bit of neutral oil and season generously with salt and pepper. If you’re a cinnamon fan, give them a light dusting then roast the sweet potatoes until crisp and brown on the outside and creamy and sweet on the inside. I love using the air fryer for this, but an oven, toaster oven, or simply frying in a pan will work too.
- Cook the ground beef - cook the ground beef in a skillet, breaking it up in to a crumble. Season with taco seasoning and a touch of tomato paste. You can make your own homemade taco seasoning (see this easy recipe here) or just buy a packet from the store. Personally, I like making it at home because you can customize it and control the salt content.
- Prep the avocado - Cut a ripe avocado into cubes or slices.
- Build the bowl - Grab a bowl and lay down a bed of crispy sweet potatoes. Add some of the seasoned ground beef, a generous scoop of cottage cheese (give the cottage cheese a sprinkle of salt and a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper), and the avocado. Drizzle generously with hot honey and dig in.
Cottage cheese sweet potato beef bowl ingredients
- sweet potatoes - crispy roasted sweet potatoes dusted with salt, pepper, and a touch of cinnamon. Adds fiber and fullness to your bowl.
- lean ground beef - lean ground beef is what’s going to make up the bulk of the protein. It’s seasoned with taco seasoning with a touch of tomato paste for richness and flavor. If you’re not into beef, you can definitely substitute in ground chicken, turkey, pork, or crumbled firm tofu.
- cottage cheese - I feel like the cottage cheese is the star of the show! It gives everything a creamy cheesy bite and ties everything together.
- avocado - the avocado adds a beautiful creamy bite, healthy fat, and yes, even more fiber.
- hot honey - a generous drizzle of hot honey makes this bowl just the right amount of sweet and spicy.
How to make hot honey
You can buy hot honey from the grocery store, online, or make your own at home. All you need is honey, crushed red pepper flakes, and apple cider vinegar.Hot honey recipe
- Add 1 cup of honey to a small sauce pan, along with 1 tbsp crushed red pepper flakes and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar.
- Gently heat the hot honey mix for 2-3 minutes while stirring until it bubbles gently and you start smelling the pepper flakes heating up.
- Once the honey bubbles and reduces a bit, remove from the heat and let infuse for 5-10 minutes.
- Strain out the pepper flakes once the honey is infused to your liking. Let the hot honey cool and use as desired. Store leftovers in an air tight container at room temperature.
Cottage cheese
For the uninitiated, cottage cheese is a soft, and mild fresh cheese that comes in different curd sizes. Personally, I love Good Culture cottage cheese, which has small, soft curds that are incredibly creamy and flavorful. I love it so much that I eat it plain as a snack. It’s perfect in this bowl. I feel like people are sleeping on cottage cheese. It’s one of my favorites - creamy, and full of protein and nutrients. It’s a great choice for people looking to get a lot of protein in their diets. I feel like if you’ve tried cottage cheese and don’t like it, it just means that you haven’t tried the right cottage cheese. That’s it! I loved these bowls and Mike did too. They’re just a simple, throw it together kind of meal that will keep you full and fuel you for any sort of adventure you might be going on (for us, that’s spring skiing). Happy protein bowling! xoxo StephSweet Potato Beef Bowl with Hot Honey and Cottage Cheese
If you’re looking for a balanced protein-forward lunch or dinner, this sweet potato beef bowl is the answer.
- 2 medium sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
- 1 lb ground beef (lean preferred)
- 2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups cottage cheese
- 2 avocados (cubed or sliced)
- 4 tbsp hot honey (or to taste)
Toss the sweet potato cubes in the oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the cinnamon, if using. Air fry, in a single layer, at 400°F for 10-15 minutes, or until golden and cooked through, shaking halfway.
While the sweet potatoes are cooking, cook the ground beef in a large skillet over medium high heat. Break up the ground beef and stir in the tomato paste. Sprinkle on the taco seasoning. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and cooked through. Set aside.
When the sweet potatoes are crisp and cooked through, assemble the bowls: divide the sweet potatoes and ground beef evenly between four bowls. Top each bowl with cottage cheese and avocados. Drizzle generously with hot honey and enjoy!
I Am... Classic Chicken Tortilla Soup
I am obsessed with chicken tortilla soup. I love that warm and savory broth-y soup topped off with crunchy bits of deep-fried tortilla strips, cheese, sour cream, and avocado. Tortilla soup is serious comfort food. I went through a phase a couple years back when all I would eat everyday for lunch was chicken tortilla soup. A tiny little Mexican place had just opened up in the neighborhood and Mike and I tried it and loved it. Soon, I started begging to go for lunch everyday. I said it was because I wanted to support local and see our neighborhood Mexican restaurant succeed but really it was because I was obsessed with their lunch special: chicken tortilla soup with a mini burrito. I loved the burrito but the real star was the soup. Deep red with hints of toasty toasty chiles with ALL the toppings. We moved a couple years after my obsession and before leaving, I asked if I could get their recipe. They very kindly gave me a general outline since we were regulars - ever since then I’ve been making this soup at home.
What is tortilla soup?
Tortilla soup or sopa de tortilla is a Mexican soup made from tomatoes, garlic, onions, and chiles. It’s topped off with fried corn tortilla strips. It’s broth-y, warming, and delicious. It can be made with beef or pork but the best and most traditional version is chicken tortilla soup.How to make chicken tortilla soup
Making tortilla soup is amazingly simple for how delicious it is. They key is to add in a dried chile for some smoky warm heat.- Sauté: Gently sauté some aromatics like onions and garlic.
- Add: To the aromatics, add in chicken broth, fire roasted tomatoes, a dried ancho chile, a chopped jalapeño, and some chicken.
- Simmer: Let everything simmer so the flavors meld.
- Shred: Take the chicken out and chop or shred it.
- Serve: Scoop some soup into a bowl then top it off with crispy tortilla strips (or chips), shredded cheese, avocado, jalapeño, and sour cream. Enjoy living your best soup life!
Chicken tortilla soup ingredients
You can easily find all the ingredients for this chicken tortilla soup at the grocery store. Heck, it’s almost a pantry soup, if you have some staples on had. You’ll need: onion, garlic, chicken broth, fire roasted tomatoes, chicken, tortillas strips (or chips), and some toppings.- Dried ancho chile - ancho chile peppers are the dried version of poblanos, a slightly spicy Mexican pepper. When dried, ancho peppers are dark red with glossy wrinkly skin. They have a sweet smoky fruity flavor with a warm mild heat. You can find them in the Mexican aisle. They’re used whole to flavor soups and stews and when they’re ground up you get ancho chile powder.
- Fire roasted tomatoes - You can find these canned in the tomtato aisle. Fire roasted tomatoes are roasted over an open fire – they even come with blackened bits – then diced and canned. They add smoky sweet juicy tomato packed flavor to tortilla soup.
- Tortilla strips - The best thing to do is grab some corn tortillas, cut them into strips, and gently fry them in oil until they are incredibly fragrant, crispy, crunchy, and absolutely accidtive. Here’s how to fry tortilla chips [https://weightloss-update.fit/you-need-homemade-tortilla-chips-in-your-life/](https://iamafoodblog.com/you-need-homemade-tortilla-chips-in-your-life/) , instead of triangles, cut them into strips for this recipe. Frying your own tortilla strips is the best option, but if you have a bag of tortilla chips hanging out, you can use those too, which is what I did in these photos.
How to make this the BEST soup
Because tortilla soup doesn’t have a huge long list of ingredients (thank goodness!) it’s important that each ingredient is its absolute best. For me, tortilla soup is all about the add ins and toppings. Here are some tips on how to make the best tortilla soup:- Fry your own crunchy tortilla strips. I know, I know, the photos in this post have store bough tortilla chips (a travesty!) but be better than me and fry your own tortilla strips. It’s easy: slice a couple of corn tortillas into strips. Heat up a bit of oil over medium high heat. Add the tortilla strips and cook until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oil, drain and sprinkle with salt. They’ll be incredible, trust me.
- Have a little topping bar. Scoop out the soup into bowls, then create a little topping bar with chopped cilantro, green onions, shredded cheese, avocados, lime, jalapeños, sour cream, and tortilla strips. This way everyone can add in as much or as little garnish as they like. If you’re like me, it’s all about the toppings!
- Finish with a bit of chili powder. Sprinkle on a tiny bit of chili powder – even better if it’s homemade – for an extra hit of flavor.
Stovetop Chicken Tortilla Soup
Lightly sauté the onion, garlic, and jalapeño in a bit of oil then add the chicken broth, tomatoes, and chicken to a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken, shred, add back into the soup, season and serve with the toppings.Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Add all of the ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours. When done, remove the chicken, shred, add back into the soup, season, and serve with the toppings.Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Add all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Quick release, remove the chicken, shred, add back into the soup, season, and serve with the toppings.Creamy chicken tortilla soup
This chicken tortilla soup isn’t creamy, but it’s super easy to add some heft, creaminess, and tang. All you need to do is stir in 1/2 cup softened cream cheese at the end, right before you serve it up. Make sure the cream cheese is at room temp so it blends and melts into the soup evenly.Sides
I love tortilla soup as a meal, but if you want to round it out a bit, maybe add some:- mexican rice
- chicken tinga tacos
- birria tacos
- or even barbacoa tacos
- and of course homemade tortilla chips
- and guacamole too
Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe
Warm and savory broth-y soup topped off with crunchy bits of deep-fried tortilla strips, cheese, sour cream, and avocado.
- instant pot
- 1 medium onion (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 dried ancho chile
- 1 jalapeño (chopped)
- 4 cups chicken stock (no sodium preferred)
- 14.5 oz fire roasted tomatoes (1 can)
- 1 chicken breast (or 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs)
- salt and freshly ground pepper
Toppings
- 1 jalapeño (sliced)
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro (roughly chopped)
- 1 avocado (cubed)
- 1/2 cup cheddar (shredded)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 cup tortilla chips (crushed)
- 2 lime wedges
Stovetop: Lightly sauté the onion, garlic, and jalapeño in a bit of oil then add the chicken broth, tomatoes, and chicken to a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Continue to simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about about 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.
Crock pot: Add all of the ingredients to crock pot and cook on low for 5-6 hours.
Instant Pot: Add all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. Quick release, remove the chicken, shred, add back into the soup, season, and serve with the toppings.
Just before the soup finishes cooking, prepare the toppings: slice the jalapeños, chop up the cilantro, slice the avocado, and cut the limes.
When the soup is done, remove the ancho chile and discard. Carefully remove the chicken, shred, then divide into bowls. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, then ladle on top of the chicken. Finish with jalapeños, cilantro, avocado, cheddar, sour cream, tortilla strips, and lime. Enjoy hot!
