Whether you are celebrating Valentine’s Day with your partner, with your pod or alone, these recipes help to make the day special without a full day in the kitchen. These dishes do not require many ingredients, and most of them come together within an hour.
Check out our complete collection of Valentine’s Day recipes.
Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a grilled cheese sandwich filled with melting Gruyère and caramelized onions. This recipe from Ali Slagle has over 2000 five star reviews, so it’s a guaranteed homepage. (Hint: Keep breath on hand.)
This easy no-mix cake from Jerrelle Guy can be made with fresh or frozen strawberries (or any berry, really). First, make sure you thaw frozen berries in the microwave. Serve with whipped cream or the best vanilla ice cream you can get your hands on – or both.
Recipe: Strawberry spoon cake
This vibrant vegetarian sheet pan dish from Yasmin Fahr is just as beautiful as a flower, but infinitely more satisfying. If you like, use broccoli instead of broccolini, and serve the whole mess on a heap of sticky farro.
Recipe: Leaf pan-baked feta with broccolini, tomatoes and lemon
Make kiddos of all ages happy by serving hot chocolate with breakfast. If you feel ambitious, fill it with homemade marshmallows, whipped cream and red and pink sprinkles.
This velvety fondue from Melissa Clark, perfect for celebrating with your Galentine pod or with your family, is a welcome excuse to take out the 1970s fondue you inherited from your Aunt Charlene. It is also endlessly adaptable: Sub in Cheddar, raclette or Monterey Jack for the Gruyère and Emmenthaler.
Recipe: Classic cheese fondue
Thanks to Genevieve Ko for the arrival of this salty-sweet salmon with five ingredients. Serve with roasted potatoes, green beans or a salad for a complete feast.
Recipe: Maple-baked salmon
Readers love Sue Li’s 30-minute lemon-white bean and shrimp stew for its simplicity and adaptability. If you like, add another can of beans, serve it over pasta or use shallots instead of leeks to speed up the preparation.
Recipe: Lemony shrimp and bean stew
A delicious meal cooked in one pot feels like magic. This brightly flavored chicken dish from Yewande Komolafe is exactly that. Readers have managed to replace feta with the halloumi and plain couscous or rice with the pearl couscous.
Recipe: Cake Pan Chicken With Stocking, Lemon and Halloumi
Mark Bittman’s steak Diane – essentially scorched fillets with Dijon cream sauce – is deliciously retro and undeniably delicious. Baked potatoes, crispy green salad and jagrock provide excellent accompaniment.
Recipe: Steak Diane for two
Skip the socially distributed shopping experience in the fancy chocolate shop, and instead make your own treats. David Tanis’ recipe is easy to follow and fun to customize.
A fully scorched scallop is indeed a good thing, and the pasta of Colu Henry with cracked tomatoes and herbs is there. It takes time and patience to get the golden crust, so let the pan get very hot before adding the scallops, and then let it stand alone for a few minutes before making sure it is good.
Recipe: Burnt scallop paste with bursts of tomatoes and herbs
Molly O’Neill brought this recipe to the Times in 1997, and it still holds true. It’s as simple as it can be: Smear both sides of salted chops with Dijon mustard, crushed cumin seeds (or ground cumin if that’s what you have) and black pepper; sear in a hot pan; then ends up in the oven. If you think about it, you should pickle the chops a day ahead of time. (Sam Sifton’s star anise brine is perfect for this.)
Recipes: Cumin-baked pork chops | Star anise brine
These genius rods from Genevieve Ko find the balance between salty and sweet, and they are ripe for improvisation. Use a mixture of bitter, sweet, milk or white chocolate. Garnish with sprinkles or colorful sweets. One editor of NYT Cooking pressed broken Oreos into the melted chocolate and was quite happy about it.
Recipe: Rice Krispies treats with chocolate and crackles
Champagne, bitters, lemon juice and maple syrup – all you need to make this sparkling drink from Mark Bittman. (Put a ripe raspberry on top if you like.)
Recipe: Champagne cocktail
“BIG WIN” was written by one reader about Alexa Weibel’s vegan version of the classic Italian dish. Pasta boiling water, cashew butter bought in the store, nutritional yeast, white mispasta and roasted crushed peppercorns form a creamy, dairy-free sauce that does not feel like a compromise.
Recipe: Vegan Cacio e Pepe
A Dutch baby, also known as a German oven pancake, is like a giant popover. This one, from Florence Fabricant, is deliciously served with maple syrup or icing sugar, or topped with fresh fruit.
Recipe: Dutch baby
Mousse has a reputation for being picky, but it’s not. It has its origins in a Junior League cookbook from the eighties and came to The Times through The Cook, Monica Stolbach, via dough chef Natasha Pickowicz. You do not have to separate the egg yolks and the whites; instead, you pour hot sugar syrup into a blender with chocolate and whole eggs. Mix a little and then fold the mixture into soft whipped cream.
Fried eggs are good. Melissa Clark’s fried eggs with frico edges are the next level. Do not use parmesan in the foreground here. Grate the cheese on the largest holes in your grater, and use a valve-free pan or well-seasoned cast iron pan to obtain crispy perfection. Serve the eggs on a heap of fresh arugula with buttered toast.
Recipe: Crispy Parmesan Eggs