Variations: more sandwich spread ideas

We love this burrata sandwich with our homemade smoky sun dried tomato aioli. But it also works with many other types of spreads. Here are a few ideas:

• Aioli: Any type of aioli works well here. Try garlic aioli, basil aioli, or our favorite pesto aioli or truffle aioli.
• Mayonnaise: To simplify, use any type of high quality mayonnaise.
• Tapenade: The classic French olive tapenade spread of chopped olives also adds great flavor.
• Olive salad: This olive salad recipe is traditionally used on a muffaletta sandwich, but it works well here.

Ingredient notes for linguine pasta

Linguine is quick and simple, and this recipe comes together in under 30 minutes. Like any Italian recipe, it’s all about quality of the ingredients! Here are some tips on ingredients and substitutions:

• Linguine: Linguine is a long pasta shape similar to fettuccine, but thinner and elliptical shaped instead of flat. It works well with vegetables and creamy sauces, just like fettuccine. (We like it even better than fettuccine because it’s lighter!)
• Fresh garlic: Don’t make this pasta sauce without the fresh garlic: it’s a must for that aromatic flavor.
• Fresh herbs: Fresh herbs are another must here. We used basil and chives, but it’s also great with oregano, tarragon, thyme, and fresh dill.
• Lemon zest: Lemon zest also infuses a big amount of citrus flavor.
• Milk, cream, Parmesan, Pecorino, and Italian seasoning: This simple mixture makes the base of the sauce. Pecorino cheese is an aged cheese similar to Parmesan, but the bold, salty flavor enhances the sauce even more. We think it’s essential if you can find it!

Ways to make it a main dish

This linguine pasta is simple as is, and works as a side dish to grilled chicken, grilled fish, grilled shrimp, and more. Or, you can do the following to make a main dish pasta:

• Sliced raw cherry tomatoes make more of a finished vegetarian main dish (just serve with protein-packed sides like white beans).
• Shrimp like sauteed shrimp, or try our Shrimp Linguine recipe!
• Chicken like chopped pan seared chicken or Parmesan crusted chicken.
• Salmon like pan seared salmon or baked salmon.
• Tofu like baked tofu.

More pasta recipes

Love pasta recipes? Here are some favorites:

• Everyone loves these stuffed shells, lasagna roll ups, or vegetarian lasagna
• Try this creamy spinach pasta or gemelli pasta
• Go for Italian favorites like Pasta alla Norma, arrabiata sauce, or pasta pomodoro

Ingredient notes for chicken thighs with peaches

This recipe comes together simply in about 30 minutes! Here are a few notes for the ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless chicken thighs: Chicken thighs are famously more flavorful than chicken breasts because of their higher fat content. We suggest boneless thighs here because they cook faster. You can substitute bone-in thighs, just cook them longer in the final step (see the notes below).
• Peaches: Use only ripe, sweet peaches for this recipe! The flavor won’t come out if the peaches are sub-par.
• Balsamic vinegar, butter, and brown sugar: These are the keys to bringing out that sweet and savory combination of flavors. If your peaches are very sweet, you can omit the brown sugar.
• Herbs: We like using a combination of basil and thyme. Any savory herb works well here, like tarragon, oregano, parsley, or rosemary. 

What to serve with chicken thighs with peaches

This one pan dinner makes a simple meal, served with rice or a salad! Here are a few ideas for what to serve with chicken thighs with peaches:

• White rice, basil rice, or lemon rice
• Seasoned quinoa
• Pasta like orzo, couscous, or butter noodles
• Green salad like strawberry salad, romaine salad, arugula salad, or butter lettuce salad
• Green beans like green beans almondine or sauteed green beans
• Broccoli like sauteed broccolini, roasted broccolini, or roasted broccoli

When it’s the season, it’s an excuse to make all the peach recipes! Try our peach crumble, peach crisp, peach galette, or my mom’s famous fresh peach pie. Or try a peach salad, peach ice cream, or peach cocktails.

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Peach Crumble

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Fresh Peach Pie

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Fresh Peach Salad

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20 Fresh Peach Recipes

Components in a fajita salad

This fajita salad is so customizable: it works as an easy weeknight meal, or a summer grilled meal on the patio! The grill method takes about 1 hour to complete, so it’s great for weekends or when you have time to fire it up. Here are the basic components in a good fajita salad recipe:

• Fajita veggies: We like a mix of multi-colored bell peppers, onions, and garlic. Then you’ll need a few spices: cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. We prefer using our own mixture to a pre-made fajita mix.
• Chicken or pinto beans: It’s absolutely delicious with grilled chicken, but for vegetarian or vegan diets, pinto beans are just as satisfying.
• Fresh veggies: You’ll use a base of romaine lettuce, plus fresh cherry tomatoes. We like grilling avocado slices along with the fajita veggies (optional).
• Salsa ranch dressing: A few ingredients like sour cream, mayo, and salsa combine into an absolutely delicious creamy drizzle! If you prefer, you can simply use sour cream mixed with salsa, or this easier salsa dressing.

Top chicken dinner ideas (both breast and thighs)

Sides to serve with chicken dinners

How to make your chicken dinner into a meal? We’ve compiled all our ideas into this list of 50 Side Dishes for Chicken. Here are some highlights:

• Sauteed vegetables like Green Beans Almondine, Sauteed Broccolini, or Sauteed Mushrooms
• Salads like Chopped Salad, Apple Salad, Kale Salad, or Arugula Salad
• Grains and pasta like Couscous, Orzo, Garlic Butter Noodles, Lemon Rice
• Roasted vegetables like Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Parmesan Potato Wedges or Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Mashed potatoes like our best Mashed Potatoes Recipe or Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Breads like Skillet Cornbread, No Knead Bread, or Focaccia Bread

There’s nothing we love more than an over-the-top sandwich: and even better, one that’s pretty simple to put together. So here’s a new favorite for me and Alex: this chicken pesto sandwich!

Why we love this recipe: This sammie masterpiece combines our favorite juicy grilled chicken with grilled ciabatta bread, baby arugula, soft fresh mozzarella cheese, and juicy tomato slices. The best part, of course, is our herbaceous basil pesto. You know when you sink your teeth into a great sandwich and can’t help but exclaim “yum“? That’s this sandwich.

Tip: Want to serve a vegetarian version of this sandwich at the same time? Replace the grilled chicken with grilled portobello mushrooms or grilled eggplant.

Ingredients for a chicken pesto sandwich

A chicken pesto sandwich can be made in many ways: simply combine basil pesto with chicken on bread in any number of combinations! But we like it best as a variation on a Caprese sandwich: with fresh mozzarella and tomato to optimize the color, texture and flavor contrasts. It’s best if you can make this sandwich with homemade basil pesto, but purchased works in a pinch. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Boneless skinless chicken breasts: Look for organic chicken if possible, in cutlets or breasts (and you can butterfly them before cooking).
• Spices & olive oil: A blend of garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper is ideal for grilling for the chicken.
• Ciabatta bread: Ciabatta is a type of Italian bread that is soft and perfect for sandwiches! Avoid a French baguette, which can be tough to bite through. Any other type of artisan bread works: focaccia is especially good.
• Baby arugula: Arugula adds a crunch and peppery flavor. Look for baby arugula (sold in a box or bag): standard arugula sold in bunches is much too spicy.
• Tomato slices: Use only the best, juicy in season tomatoes.
• Basil pesto: Homemade pesto is key to the flavor. In our opinion, the best purchased option is refrigerated fresh pesto, found in the produce section. 

More sandwich recipes

This chicken pesto sandwich is one of our favorite summer dinner recipes! It works for either lunch or dinner, making it super versatile for meals throughout the week. Here are a few more sandwich recipes you might enjoy:

• Try a Salmon Sandwich with Dill Sauce or a Smoked Salmon Sandwich.
• Opt for a Caprese Sandwich or Pesto Grilled Cheese.
• Go for Shrimp Rolls.
• Go for classic Fried Egg Sandwich, Tuna Salad Sandwich, Tuna Melt, or Egg Salad Sandwich.

More eggplant recipes

There are so many great ways to eat eggplant! Here are a few of our top eggplant recipes:

• Go for classic Eggplant Parmesan or Eggplant Lasagna.
• Try Easy Sauteed Eggplant or Roasted Eggplant.
• Opt for Eggplant Meatballs, Eggplant Caponata or Pasta alla Norma.
• Try this Japanese Eggplant recipe with garlic and ginger.

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Eggplant Parmesan (Eggplant Parmigiana)

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Pasta alla Norma

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Easy Sauteed Eggplant

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20 Tasty Eggplant Recipes

The keys to sheet pan pizza

This sheet pan pizza has two rest or proof times, and then two bake times. Here’s why:

• Two proofs (rests) makes the most fluffy dough texture. The longer you proof pizza dough, the fluffier and better texture it gets. We’ve optimized this recipe to be very fast, so you won’t want to shorten any of the proof times. It’s essential for making the best crust! (Focaccia pizza has even thicker crust and even longer rest times.)
• Bake the crust without toppings, then add toppings and bake more. This makes the pizza crust crispy on the outsides and fluffy in the middle. It’s not a standard way to cook pizza, but once you try it you’ll appreciate the method.

Topping ideas for sheet pan pizza

You can top this sheet pan pizza in so many ways! In the recipe below, we used our fan-favorite pizza sauce recipe, then topped it with smoked mozzarella cheese and fresh mozzarella. You can also top it with seasoned baby arugula, like this arugula pizza! Here are some of our other favorite pizza topping ideas:

• Make the perfect Margherita Pizza.
• Go spicy with Jalapeno Pizza.
• Ditch the pizza sauce for Shrimp Pizza, Ricotta Pizza, White Pizza or Spinach Pizza.
• Go classic with Homemade Cheese Pizza or Pesto Pizza.
• Try delicious Taco Pizza.

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Homemade Margherita Pizza

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Pesto Pizza Recipe

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Best Ever Taco Pizza

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White Pizza (Pizza Bianca)

Ingredients in chicken pasta salad

We love this chicken pasta salad recipe as a lunch idea (it saves well for days) or a simple dinner on the patio. It’s also great as a summer side dish for a potluck or barbecue. While the ingredient list in the recipe below may seem long, never fear! Many are pantry staples.

• Chicken: You’ll need chicken cutlets here, or you can butterfly the chicken yourself (simply slice it in half horizontally).
• Penne pasta: We like penne pasta in a pasta salad, but you can use other short pasta like fusilli (spirals) or shells.
• Cherry tomatoes and sundried tomatoes: Two types of tomatoes add big flavor.
• Canned artichoke hearts: Artichokes bring a signature tang: these are required!
• Red onion, arugula, garlic, and parsley (optional): These fresh ingredients round out the fresh flavors.
• Fresh lemon: Both the zest and juice add big flavor to this recipe.
• Shaved Parmesan cheese: This savory, chewy element makes the salad extremely satisfying. Omit it for dairy-free.
• Seasonings and pantry ingredients: Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, smoked paprika, and salt round out the seasonings list. Olive oil is used for cooking the chicken and the dressing, and red wine vinegar makes a pop in the dressing.

How to make chicken pasta salad (basic steps)

This chicken pasta salad recipe requires about 30 minutes of prep time to cook the chicken, boil the pasta, and make the dressing. There are a few things you can do in advance (see below). Here are the basic steps:

Step 1: Mix chicken cutlets with the salt and spices. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side, until browned. Rest 5 minutes before slicing into cubes. Measure out 2 ½ cups.

Step 2: Boil the pasta in salted water until it is just al dente. Start tasting a few minutes before the package recommends: you want it to be tender but still a little firm on the inside.

Step 3: Whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, Italian seasoning, and kosher salt. Chop the tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, onion, and herbs.

More pasta salad recipes

We’ve made so many pasta salad recipes, and each one has a place in our hearts! Here are some of our favorites:

• Try our Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
• Make Classic Pasta Salad
• Try Caprese Pasta Salad, Bow Tie Pasta Salad or Pesto Pasta Salad
• Opt for Greek Pasta Salad or Mediterranean Pasta Salad

It’s no secret that bowl meals are a super satisfying, fun way to eat all the veggies. Here’s Alex and my latest in a stream of easy dinner ideas: the hearty farro bowl! It’s our ideal Mediterranean diet dinner or lunch, pairing plump grains of farro with tangy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, salty olives, and seasoned chickpeas.

The icing on the cake (er, bowl) is our new innovation: hummus dressing! It’s so simple to make a sauce using hummus, which you may or may not have on hand. It comes out creamy and bursting with flavor with only 3 ingredients—kind of a like a tahini sauce, but even easier. This one is on repeat in our kitchen: and we hope it will be in yours!

Ingredients in this farro bowl recipe

This farro bowl is a spin on a classic grain bowl: a meal built around a whole grain, veggies. a sauce, and protein. We have recipes for a rice bowl and lots quinoa bowl recipes, but this is the first official farro grain bowl in our recipe library. Here are the essential ingredients for this farro bowl:

• Farro is a whole grain that can be used as an alternative to rice, barley or other grains. It’s actually an ancient grain that has been eaten since the Roman times! We love it for its chewy texture and nutty flavor.
• Fresh herbs, olive oil, and garlic: These essential ingredients are for flavoring both the farro and the chickpeas. We like to use parsley, dill or cilantro.
• Chickpeas: Chickpeas are the plant-based protein here. You can also use other proteins like tofu, shrimp, or chicken.
• Cucumber, tomato, and Kalamata olives: These Mediterranean-style vegetables have big, bold flavor. Substitute other raw veggies if desired!
• Feta cheese: It’s not required (omit for vegan), but feta adds a nice salty counterpoint to the flavors.
• Greens (optional): We used a handful of baby arugula, but other greens like spinach, butter lettuce, or romaine work well.
• Hummus dressing: The best part of this bowl in our opinion! It’s creamy and irresistible hummus, olive oil, and lemon juice.

Protein adders

Another way to customize this farro bowl recipe is with adding different proteins! It currently uses chickpeas as a plant-based protein, but we’ve found this sometimes is not enough for hungry eaters (especially if you’re serving it for dinner). Here are a few protein adders we love:

• Chicken like grilled chicken, pan seared chicken breast, Parmesan crusted chicken, or chicken nuggets
• Shrimp like sauteed shrimp, grilled shrimp, or shrimp kabobs
• Salmon like baked salmon, pan seared salmon, or grilled salmon
• Tofu like baked tofu, crispy tofu, or breaded tofu

Grilled ChickenSauteed ShrimpBaked TofuBaked SalmonShrimp Kabobs