This crunchy edamame salad is all about texture and big, bold flavor. Crisp cabbage, sweet carrots, cool cucumber, and fresh herbs get tossed in a creamy peanut sauce with just the right balance of tang, spice, and nuttiness. It’s a quick, vegan-friendly meal you can whip up in 15 minutes—and it’s sturdy enough to hold up for meal prep all week.

This crunchy edamame salad with creamy peanut sauce is fresh, protein-packed, and ready in 15 minutes. Vegan, gluten-free, and perfect for meal prep.

Crunchy Edamame Salad With Peanut Sauce

Think of these ranch-y chickpea lettuce cups as a lighter, crunchier spin on your favorite creamy chickpea salad. Fresh dill and parsley bring herby brightness, while smoked paprika and lemon juice add just enough tang and spice. Scoop the mixture into crisp butter lettuce leaves for a gluten-free, vegetarian meal that’s just as great for a quick weeknight dinner as it is for make-ahead lunches.

These ranch-y chickpea lettuce cups are a fresh, protein-packed lunch or dinner. Ready in 15 minutes, gluten-free, vegetarian, and perfect for meal prep.

Ranch-y Chickpea Lettuce Cups

"I love the Whole Foods Market hot bar. They have this incredible adzuki miso bean salad that is delicious, but I noticed the ingredients weren’t up to my standards. I thought I could make this at home with better-for-you ingredients and for less money, so I developed this recipe and wow—it doesn’t disappoint. It’s savory, crunchy, hearty, and packed with protein and fiber. Can’t find adzuki beans? Use black beans instead."—

Adzuki Bean Salad With a Creamy Peanut Dressing by Danielle Brown

Carrot cake is one of those flavors I always forget is my favorite—until someone else mentions how much they love it. I’ve always thought of it as a spring dessert, but when I consider it, it’s truly seasonless, fitting for any time of year. 

While the process is mostly the same, making a full cake can sometimes feel like a big undertaking. Instead, I cut the cake into 24 rectangular slices and individually frost each one with a playful squiggle design. For a little extra flair, I top them with toasted coconut flakes and a few slivers of candied ginger. 

Make sure the heavy cream and cream cheese is very softened/at room temperature because if it’s colder than the temperature of the butter, you risk seizing the butter and splitting the frosting. 

If you’re a big fan of candied ginger, feel free to mix the chopped ginger into the cake batter instead of just decorating it with. 

Carrot cake is always as good (if not better) the next day, so the whole recipe can be made and stored in the fridge a day before serving.

Mini Coconut Carrot Cakes With Candied Ginger

Empanada dough is your blank canvas! Found in the freezer section of most Latin supermarkets, these handy disks can be filled with just about anything.  Transform last night's leftovers into a whole new meal—think roasted vegetables, shredded chicken, or even leftover chili. These chicken pot pie empanadas are a delicious example of how creative you can get. Fry or bake them until golden for a satisfying snack or meal.

Chicken Pot Pie Empanadas

Giardiniera is an Italian condiment of pickled vegetables, which can vary slightly by region, especially across the United States, most notable interpretations found in cities like Chicago and New Orleans. My version is inspired by a medley of styles, features a chunky texture and a blend of flavors – tangy, briny, and subtly spicy. The brining process creates a really satisfying crunch which is a great addition to rich and fatty sandwiches. 

Chunky Giardiniera 

Basil mayonnaise transforms an ordinary sandwich to a summertime staple; make extra and use it on everything from grilled corn to egg salad to lobster rolls.

Summer Veggie Sandwich

There’s a high probability that you already have a classic, go-to carrot cake recipe, a moist double-layered cake filled with nuts—maybe also coconut and raisins—decorated with a traditional cream cheese frosting. Although certainly delicious and one of my favorite cakes, I hope you give this spicy version a chance to win you over, too. 

It’s made with a blend of whole wheat and all-purpose flour, as well as brown butter in both the cake and frosting, for extra flavor and nuttiness. But the real star? Spicy candied pecans, flavored with cayenne, cinnamon, and ginger. Not only are they delicious as a garnish (and to snack on), but mixing the candied nuts directly into the batter adds a lovely kick and texture to the whole cake.

I want to make sure you go into this recipe knowing that it is indeed spicy, so if you or someone in your family would like a milder level of heat, reduce the cayenne to ¼ to ½ teaspoon or leave it out completely. Another option is to halve the recipe for the candied nuts and use them on top, as a decoration rather than baking them into the cake, too. 

If you don’t feel like browning butter (although I HIGHLY recommend it because it is delicious), swap the browned butter in the cake batter for an additional ½ cup of neutral oil. In the frosting, use ¼ cup softened unsalted butter rather than ½ cup. 

You can make this a day in advance. Cover it with plastic wrap and store the cake in the fridge. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Carrot Cake with a Kick

Knife-cut noodles (Dao Xiao Mian) are legendary in China, a specialty of the Shanxi province. They are known interchangeably as knife-shaved, knife-cut, pared noodles, or even peeled noodles. The method of making them is an art form that takes years of practice, but I've discovered an easier way to make them at home.

Homemade Knife-Cut Noodles with Simple Pork Chao Mian

This crunchy yet creamy whole-wheat wrap is inspired by the Golden State and is made with buttery, perfectly ripe California Avocados in the form of a dressing, as well as slices for added texture and more California goodness. The avocado dressing is smooth and velvety from the California Avocados and gets its tang from freshly squeezed lime juice before it’s mixed with canned wild-caught tuna. The whole thing is topped with fresh, local produce (think: crisp bell peppers, red onion, and California Avocados). Feel free to change it up and add your favorite veggies to the tuna-avocado salad, maybe even swapping in fresh jalapeños instead of pickled for an extra spicy kick.

When it’s time to wrap things up, it's important to make sure you’re doing so as tightly as possible to prevent things from falling apart as you eat. For the tightest wrap, I like to fold the bottom flap over the filling and tuck it tightly, pulling towards myself. Then, I continue to roll while tucking so the wrap stays tight. 


Griddled Tuna-Avocado Wrap

This nostalgic fever dream of a cake was inspired by the wondrous 

Raspberry Cake with Whipped Cream Filling from Shilpa Uskokovic

 in March 2021 (and now as a Genius Recipe on Food52). It’s inspired by the layered fruit and cream cakes in often found in Japanese bakeries, and it's abundantly make-ahead-friendly with layers of delicate, fluffy textures that are all perfectly fine being abandoned in the fridge for hours (and in fact, might prefer it). Here’s how it came to be: When I first made Shilpa’s cake for my daughter’s third birthday (after she had asked for a pink strawberry cake for months—and yes, Shilpa's cake tastes equally good in strawberry), everyone at the party fell in love with it, except for her. Overwhelmed by her first big gathering, she wanted none of it. She only had eyes for the gelatinas (brightly colored gelatins) brought by our friend Desiree, and tried one in every color. What happened next is how I hope all disagreements with my daughter will go—with understanding, respect, and, ultimately, the discovery of something new. After I shrugged off my disappointment that we wouldn’t be polishing off Shilpa’s cake together, I remembered a magical jelly experience from my own childhood. The goblets of Jell-O parfait—bouncy, bright cubes suspended in whipped cream like stained glass—in the refrigerated case at a local cafeteria. I couldn’t imagine a more mesmerizing or appetizing dessert then, or even now. So, to show how riffable Shilpa’s Genius cake template is, I not only wanted to play with the flavors, but add in another light pop of texture that also loves to be served cold. (For the record, at her fourth birthday this year, my daughter devoured Shilpa’s pink cake.) Her first reaction to my riff? No, thank you. But, the second time I made it, she tried it and liked it—just not as much as Shilpa’s original pink wonder. A few tips: Agar agar is used in many desserts in Asian cuisines, from Filipino halo-halo to Taiwanese bubble tea, as well as vegan baking—because it’s derived from red algae, it's a great vegetarian alternative to gelatin. I also find it easier and more forgiving to work with than gelatin. You can buy agar agar online, at Asian grocery stores, and at health food stores (sometimes in the bulk bins). It’s worth seeking out the powder form so it’s easiest to work with, but make sure agar is the only ingredient for full-gelling potency. (If you can only find other forms, there are helpful tutorials online.) Agar won’t have the same bounce as gelatin, but a delightful texture of its own. If you want the bounce, feel free to make old-fashioned Jell-O, or try a homemade version like the one in 

. Have fun playing with different juices and fruits and other mix-ins, but use caution when it comes to highly acidic juices like citrus because these may not set at all, or you might need to add more agar. If all else fails, you can test the set by putting a couple spoonfuls in the freezer briefly and, unlike gelatin, you can always re-melt, tweak the ratio of agar to liquid, and set again.

Rainbow Jelly Cream Cake

, a column by Food Editor Emily Ziemski where those small-but-mighty additions that instantly upgrade whatever’s on the table—ingredients, sauces, toppings—are the star of the show. Today, a zesty soup for changing seasons.

 My Polish family loves pickles. Dill pickles, kosher spears, bread and butter chips, pickled beets; you pickle it, we eat it. Generally speaking, Polish pickles tend to be more spiced and dill-heavy than non-Polish pickles. Briny upon first bite, the crunchy snap fades into a pleasant sourness that works as a palate cleanser for pierogi or between courses of golumpki (stuffed cabbage). The pickle represents endless possibilities. A classic side pickle, wrapped in a segment of parchment, is the perfect finish to a deli sandwich. A slice of pickle, sandwiched between bun and meat, is the ultimate tangy, refreshing foil to a burger. A pickle wrapped in cheese, filmed for a TikTok, is pure internet chaos. Today’s recipe certainly isn’t a viral internet sensation, but it’s sensational in its own way. Warm, slightly creamy, and super herbaceous, Polish Dill Pickle Soup is the ideal between-season food. As a New England kid living in New York City, I miss the prolonged spring slowly melting into summer, and for me, this soup captures that. Creamy, but not overwhelmingly rich; filling, but not too heavy. The leeks and pickles capture the bright promise that spring has in store, and the potatoes and carrots give us the heft we need to push through the last few cold days. Blending half of the soup until smooth provides a silky base for the remaining whole bits. Serve this warm with hunks of crispy bread, or cold as a funky little soup starter. 

Note: I use dairy-free sour cream for my version of this; feel free to do the same!

Polish Dill Pickle Soup (Zupa Ogórkowa)

This hearty grain bowl delivers both deep and bright flavors, thanks to browned carrots, sautéed alliums, and preserved lemon. Cooking the onions and carrots before adding the liquid deepens the overall flavor—thanks to charred bits on the bottom of the pot—making for an extra-savory dish once all the elements meld together. When serving, the final (and fantastic) addition of crispy chickpeas takes this dish to repeat status. This dish is vegan, and works great as a side or a main. Roasted chickpeas are best day-of, as humidity in the air undoes their crispness the longer they sit. For best texture, store crispy chickpeas uncovered in a shallow bowl at room temperature and use them up within a couple of days. 

Farro With Carrots, Preserved Lemon & Crispy Chickpeas

You can use any type of carrot for this dish: perfect bunching carrots in midsummer, Touchons in fall, or large carrots to feed livestock in the winter. Use anything but the dreary, bagged mini carrots carved from larger, less valuable specimens (they have more in common with sea monkeys than food). Simply, if the carrots look terrible that day, buy spinach. If not, cook them up like this.

Honey-Glazed Carrots With Thyme & Pecorino

, a column by Food Editor Emily Ziemski where small-but-mighty additions—ingredients, sauces, toppings—that instantly upgrade whatever’s on the table are the star of the show. Today, a savory, earthy addition to a classic vegetable side dish.

 I love glazed carrots. They’re a staple side dish, the workhorse of the holiday dinner spread, the ideal last-minute dinner party addition. However, after this past holiday season, if I have another 

-glazed carrot, I think I might scream. A quick search for "glazed carrots" yields mainly sweet-leaning recipes, which is totally serviceable and fine, but when it’s frosty out, I crave hearty, savory dishes. Tahini paste is always a welcome pairing to a root vegetable; the nuttiness plays off of the slight sweetness of the vegetable, while working in tandem with its savory notes. That’s the base of my sauce here, and the twist is a bit of matcha powder. Matcha has a super earthy tone that feels really similar to root vegetables, so it makes for a fun pairing and a wild color for the sauce, to boot. Lots of fresh lemon juice elevates the grassy notes of the matcha, while adding acidic contrast to the savory tahini and sweet honey (just a touch, I promise!). Finally, garlic breadcrumbs are slowly toasted so things won’t burn and then I toss on fresh scallions to finish for even more allium goodness. 

Note: If your tahini sauce starts to seize, slowly stream in up to 1 additional tablespoon of (ice) cold water. Trust me, it works!

Matcha & Tahini Carrots With Garlicky Breadcrumbs

I always spend too much time each Thanksgiving season trying to figure out the best way to brine my turkey. I’ve tried everything, from simple salt water to an apple juice concoction with cinnamon sticks and orange peel. I knew that the salt in the brine was breaking something or other down in the turkey, making it less prone to shriveling up and drying out, but what I didn’t know was that I was water logging my turkey. The turkey was juicy, sure, but it was all a farce. The thing was just full of water! So this time around, I did a plain old salt rub overnight, like a light cure. This made sure that my turkey had its fibers broken down enough to not dry out, but also didn’t weigh my turkey down with flavorless water or overpowering apple juice. The skin was wonderfully crispy, the bird was perfectly juicy, and I was one happy lady. Another reason for my happiness was 

the spatchcock, or butterfly, method that I used this year

. Simply put, you just need to cut the backbone out of your turkey. It is not a technique for the squeamish, but it works like a charm. Once you flatten the bird and put it on your roasting tray, the turkey will cook evenly on its new flat surface, as well as allowing for a much faster cooking time – well under an hour and a half! This is the only way to cook a turkey, folks. After years of sub-par turkey dinners, this one took the cake. As a side note, people like to brine turkey in some kind of salt water or apple juice mixture, which is fine, but this just water logs the turkey and makes it tastes like water or apple juice. "Curing" the turkey with salt, however, gives the same benefit of breaking down the muscle fibers in the turkey to make it moist and juicy without taking on the flavor of anything of than delicious turkey.

The Easiest Thanksgiving Turkey

This soup breaks all the rules. And you still get a rich, summery vegetable soup all the same. This recipe is a great fridge clearer (and freezer stocker) for those last two carrots in the bag, that too-big zucchini, any random vegetables you've got. In 

, Jody writes: “I allow the vegetables to change with the season and use leeks and favas in the spring insead of the green beans and zucchini of summer. Whatever vegetables you use, this soup is always made with water, and topped with an ample drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a generous spoonful of bright green basil pistou.” A few tips: You will need a large stockpot, ideally holding 8 quarts or larger, for the full batch of soup. If all your pots are smaller, scale down the recipe to fit (it doesn’t need to be exact) or divide between two pots. This soup is a wonderful destination for any random vegetables you’ve got, so don’t feel wedded to the exact list here. Depending on the age of your dried beans, your soup may take longer than one hour (older beans take longer to rehydrate). Beyond that, you can cook this as long as you like to get the texture you’re looking for: Jody loves hers slow-cooked until it’s porridge-like; at the minimum 1 hour, mine has always been brothier. Both are good, as long as you taste and adjust the salt carefully at the end, and especially once the pistou, olive oil, and Parmesan are swirled in. If you’d like plenty of pistou, consider doubling that part of the recipe (leftovers can be used on pasta or anywhere you’d use a mellow pesto). Recipe from 

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. As an Amazon Associate, Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

Soupe au Pistou From Jody Williams

Here, wedges of cabbage are marinated in a punchy mayonnaise-apple cider vinegar marinade, blistered on the grill, and then chopped into coleslaw. The result is a smoky, feisty, unique version of what reads on its face as standard coleslaw. It’s amazingly good both warm and cold (not many cole slaws can make that claim!), and can be made several days in advance. It’s right at home served alongside grilled meat or fish, or can easily slip into a starring role with some shredded chicken, flaky fish, or crumbled bacon mixed in. 

Mayo-Grilled Coleslaw

Should coleslaw include mayonnaise? Some folks swear by a vinegar-based slaw, while others prefer something creamier. In this recipe, we found the middle ground, with a restrained amount of mayo, plus tangy Greek yogurt and tangier cider vinegar. (Note: Any fat content works for the yogurt, but whole-milk or two-percent are preferable. And other vinegars, like rice or white wine, can be swapped in.) Beyond the dressing, the biggest challenge with coleslaw is that the longer it sits, the soggier it gets. To fix this, we season the sliced vegetables with salt and sugar in advance. After hanging out for about an hour, the excess moisture gets squeezed out, yielding a coleslaw that can be made ahead of time—a few hours, even days—without becoming soggy. The cabbage variety is flexible. A mixture of red and green brings nice color contrast, but you can certainly use savoy or napa, or a mix. We also added some grated carrots—a classic addition that brings along subtle sweetness and bright color. (Just avoid pre-shredded vegetables, which are duller in texture and flavor.) While coleslaw is often meant as a cooling side—say, next to 

—a little hot sauce and mustard add a welcome tingle of heat. Likewise, celery seeds and the Middle Eastern spice blend za’atar add woodsy, herbal, nutty notes, which you might not be able to pinpoint, but you’d miss them if they weren’t there. If you’re looking for cornbread to go with, check out the recipe for 

Coleslaw

Carrot cake is the perfect dessert to transform into a gluten-free treat without anyone knowing the difference. With the moisture of the shredded carrot and the texture and crunch of chopped nuts, carrot cakes are already fantastically rich and dense, so we don’t have to worry about achieving the light, delicate crumb of an angel food cake or chiffon cake. For this gluten-free carrot cake recipe, simply select your favorite cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blend, or make your own. 

Adding mayonnaise to carrot cake is a trick that goes all the way back to the Great Depression and World War II, when ingredients were scarce and home cooks had to get creative. In a denser cake such as this one, the oil from the mayonnaise contributes to a tender crumb, and the acidity of the vinegar enhances the flavors and balances the sweetness. 

The traditional cream cheese frosting has a twist here as well: I whip in a bit of molasses for a more robust flavor. The molasses frosting is nestled between the two layers of cake, and blankets the top and sides. I like to garnish the top of the cake with a sprinkle of whole or halved hazelnuts and a few ribbons of fresh carrot. You can even snip a few greens from the carrot tops to add a pop of color to the decorated cake. The decorations will give you a little hint of what's inside, even before you cut the first slice. 

A note: Some cup-for-cup gluten-free flour blends are prepared with the correct amount of xanthan gum already incorporated into the mix. Others need it to be added separately. Read the ingredients in your flour blend, and add only if necessary. 

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

This recipe takes a spin on the classic beef and blue cheese combo and the pulled pork and coleslaw sandwich. The crunch of the slaw, soft but toasty bread, and savory steak satisfy all my picnic needs. The blue cheese provides that much-needed sharpness to go with a slightly sweet slaw. The beef and coleslaw can be made ahead and the sandwich assembled on-site, otherwise the coleslaw will make the bread soggy.  

Grilled Steak Sandwich with Blue Cheese Coleslaw

Spiralized Firecracker Hot Dogs

This is one of those discoveries that is just so flavorful and delicious—packed with the bright crunch of the pickled carrot and daikon, the creamy mildness of the avocado, and richness of the meat. I've eaten it three days in a row!

Bánh Mì Breakfast Sandwich

 A few thoughts: If you have a boatload of watermelon radishes on hand from a CSA, you can shred those in place of or in addition to the carrots. Or you can 

, and use them here in addition to the quick-pickled carrots and cucumber. Warning: If you are unfamiliar, watermelon radishes, upon being pickled, become very stinky. But, after you open their storage vessel and let them breath a little bit, the stench subsides, and they are so good here (or on any sandwich). I don’t use cucumbers because they are not in season for me right now, but they would be delicious, and I look forward to using them next spring/summer. If you don’t want to fry the tofu, you could oven-bake it. Use 

 as a guide, keeping the tofu in slices as opposed to cubes. Frying is kind of fun, however, and it's faster than baking. If you want to make it vegan, omit the fish sauce and use another tablespoon of lime juice or vinegar plus a pinch of salt. Use a vegannaise in place of the mayo. Shredding: Using a mandoline for the carrots makes them a little prettier, but it’s not necessary. I’ve shredded the carrots (and watermelon radish) using the attachment to my Cuisinart, and while the shape isn’t quite as pretty, I think the shredded shape actually absorbs the dressing faster.

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