The promise of a one-pot meal is simplicity. The recipe should be easy to make. It shouldn’t require a lot of hands-on time. Cleanup should be a breeze. And of course, the meal should taste incredible.
While the concept of a one-pot recipe sounds straightforward, developing the recipes for this feature was surprisingly complicated. We spenta lotof time discussing what it meant to be one-pot. Was it OK to toss ingredients in a mixing bowl before spreading them on a sheet pan? If you had to spend significant time slicing and dicing, did that take away from the promise of ease?
We created the following guidelines for our recipe developers to keep the recipes as simple as possible (more on the recipe development process below):
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Pursell
Get the Recipe:Quick & Easy Baked Feta & Tomato Chickpeas
We narrowed the one-pot recipes down to three categories that we know you love the most: casseroles, sheet pans and slow cookers. Ourcasserolecategory includes recipes made in skillets, baking dishes and large pots, some in the oven and some on the stovetop. Theslow-cooker recipesare truly dump and go—if you roll your eyes when slow-cooker recipes take as much time to prep as you could spend making dinner, these recipes are for you! And who doesn’t love asheet-pan dinner? Now we admit that we did let a couple of recipes slip into this category that use two sheet pans. If you put too much food on a single sheet pan, it just gets steamy and can turn your food to mush. We hope they’re so delicious that you’ll forgive us.
Related:The #1 Mistake You’re Making When You Roast Veggies Is Surprisingly Easy to Fix
We’re positive you’ll fall in love with these 20 brand-new one-pot recipes. Start your day off right with a cozy square ofCarrot Cake Baked Oatmealor a slice ofbreakfast galettepacked with spinach, feta and sausage. If you’re a morning person, take advantage of that extra energy and fill your crock pot with the ingredients forSlow-Cooker Chickpea & Cauliflower Tikka Masalaand press start. Or mix frozen meatballs, egg noodles, mushrooms and all of the sauce ingredients forMeatball Stroganoffinto a skillet and let it simmer while you fold a load of laundry or watch the next episode of your favorite show. Whatever you make, we hope you rate and review the recipes. Real people read every single comment (really!), and your opinions help us decide what recipes we’ll create next.
Convenient Casseroles
Each of these new casserole recipes is cozy, satisfying and delicious. All you have to do is layer or mix in the ingredients in the cooking vessel and bake, so prep and cleanup are a breeze.
Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Purcell
Get the Recipe:Pizza-Inspired Pasta Bake
Spinach, Feta & Sausage GaletteCarrot Cake Baked OatmealChicken Alfredo & Broccoli Rice CasseroleMeatball Stroganoff
Spinach, Feta & Sausage Galette
Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal
Chicken Alfredo & Broccoli Rice Casserole
Meatball Stroganoff
Creamy Chicken & Cauliflower Rice CasseroleCrustless Caprese QuicheSpinach, Feta & Artichoke Tater Tot Casserole15-Minute Eggs in Vodka Sauce
Creamy Chicken & Cauliflower Rice Casserole
Crustless Caprese Quiche
Spinach, Feta & Artichoke Tater Tot Casserole
15-Minute Eggs in Vodka Sauce
Dump & Go Slow-Cooker Dinners
When your evening is packed with activities and errands, taking a few minutes in the morning to get a meal in your slow cooker helps ensure there’s a healthy dinner ready at home when you are.
Slow-Cooker Cauliflower & Chickpea Tikka MasalaSlow-Cooker Three-Bean Chili MacSlow-Cooker Sun-Dried Tomato & Spinach Pasta BakeSlow-Cooker Marry Me Chicken with Barley
Slow-Cooker Cauliflower & Chickpea Tikka Masala
Slow-Cooker Three-Bean Chili Mac
Slow-Cooker Sun-Dried Tomato & Spinach Pasta Bake
Slow-Cooker Marry Me Chicken with Barley
Simple Sheet-Pan Suppers
What we love most about sheet-pan dinners, beyond ease of prep and cleanup, is that the ingredients that come into contact with the hot sheet pan caramelize in spots for an extra layer of flavor.
Get the Recipe:Sheet-Pan Teriyaki Salmon with Green Beans
Sheet-Pan Gnocchi with Broccoli & White BeansSheet-Pan Salmon with Crispy QuinoaSheet-Pan Beef & Cabbage NoodlesSheet-Pan Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes & Broccolini
Sheet-Pan Gnocchi with Broccoli & White Beans
Sheet-Pan Salmon with Crispy Quinoa
Sheet-Pan Beef & Cabbage Noodles
Sheet-Pan Chicken Thighs with Sweet Potatoes & Broccolini
Get the Recipe:Spinach-Artichoke Egg in a Bagel Hole (Simple Sheet-Pan Dinner)
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Our Recipe Development Process
The development process was not the easiest. “It was definitely a lot harder that I thought it would be, for as easy as it sounded,” shared Test Kitchen Assistant Amanda Holstein. “All of the ingredients had to cook simultaneously, but food doesn’t cook like that,” added Liz Mervosh, a recipe developer and EatingWell’s Portfolio Manager. And then some of the recipes just didn’t go as planned. Test Kitchen Coordinator and Recipe Developer Amanda Stanfield said that she pitched the idea for Meatball Stroganoff thinking, “Oh, that one’s going to be cake.” But the noodles turned to mush in the oven, so she had to pivot and turn it into a stovetop casserole that worked like a charm. Plus the team had to keep EatingWell’snutrition guidelinesin mind—and they were made all the more complicated since we used convenience products in a lot of these recipes, which tend to be higher in sodium (a nutrient we’re always aware of when developing recipes).
Left: Matthew Francis; Right: Photographer: Fred Hardy, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Lydia Pursell
Once the recipes were developed, our food editors reviewed them with a fine-tooth comb. How did we feel about stirringPizza-Inspired Pasta Bakeonce while it was baking to ensure the pasta cooked evenly? (We agreed it was fine so the pasta would cook evenly.) Was it OK to add farro to ourMarry-Me Chicken-inspired slow-cooker recipe40 minutes before it was done? (We said no, as we wanted this dinner to truly be dump-and-go, so we switched to barley, which can withstand longer cooking times.)
The final step was having a registered dietitian review each recipe’s nutrition analysis to make sure it’s accurate. They also added thenutrition and dietary tagsyou see on each recipe page—heart-healthy, gluten-free, healthy aging and diabetes-appropriate, to name a few. This lets you quickly see at a glance if a recipe will work for your needs. It’s a detailed process but important to us, to ensure we’re publishing the best recipes possible for you to enjoy!
Watch Video: EatingWell Test Kitchen Behind the Scenes
Credits
Recipes & Photography:Liz Mervosh; Amanda Stanfield; Amanda Holstein; Julia Levy; Melissa Gray; Renu Anshie Dhar; Fred Hardy; Victor Protasio; Jennifer Wendorf; Lydia Pursell; Josh Hoggle
Visuals & Design:Jesse Blanner; Maria Emmighausen; Sarah Maiden; Cassie Basford
Special Thanks:Penelope Wall; Victoria Seaver, M.S., RD; Hilary Meyer; Sophie Johnson; Alysia Bebel; Anne Treadwell; Dillon Evans; Matthew Francis; Allison Little; Riley Steffen; and the entire staff of EatingWell.
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