The Best American Recipes for Comfort Food
One-plate meals and skillet burgers, air-fried fried chicken, baked hamburgers and rice, and overnight oats are among the easy American recipes we've listed here to cook for weeknights and other busy meal times, as well as weekend and other slower meal times when you have time to cook. Other recipes in this article include recipes for beefy macaroni, chili-topped potatoes, garlic shrimp, pumpkin cookies, strawberry cheesecake overnight oats, and other recipes.
Why These American Recipes Work
- One-pan Convenience: Chili-cheese potatoes and smash burgers are skillet dishes that give you familiar comfort food with less preparation.
- Baked Dishes: Shrimp and rice bake and Philly cheesesteak sliders are main dishes you can bake. Pumpkin cookies are a dessert option.
- Air Fryer Option: Chicken strips coated with panko and finished in the air fryer served with honey butter garlic sauce offer another crunchy option.
- No-Cook Option: Overnight oats provide a cold breakfast that can be made with chia seeds and topped with graham crackers.
1. Air Fryer Honey Butter Garlic Chicken Tenders with Crispy Breadcrumb Coating
On a weeknight, these honey butter garlic chicken tenders take 22 minutes to prepare. Panko breadcrumbs are added to the chicken and air-fried. Tenders are glazed with a honey butter garlic sauce made with fresh garlic to give the chicken sweet and savory flavors. Fresh chicken tenders are patted dry with paper towels to ensure that the breadcrumb coating adheres. Ingredients used to season the breadcrumbs include salt, pepper, and paprika. Ingredients in the finishing sauce include butter, honey, and garlic. Panko breadcrumbs are recommended as an ingredient to add texture to the dish. The sauce is added to the dish near the end of the cooking process to caramelize without burning. The tenders should be golden brown when cooked the second time, with browning on both sides. Avoid overcrowding the basket, as this will prevent air circulation and browning of the crumbs. Apply honey butter garlic glaze to the chicken during the last few minutes of cooking the chicken, and return it briefly until the glaze looks sticky and glossy. Serve hot tenders with air-fried vegetables like sweet potatoes and a side salad. Suggested sauces for tenders include ranch mixed with hot sauce. You can use an air fryer to reheat leftover tenders for a crispy coating. Microwave reheating of leftovers won't give you a crispy coating.
2. Chilli Beef Hotpot with Tender Baby Potato Topping
Choose small or baby potatoes with thicker skins. Thin slices of smaller potatoes are easier to coat with the chile sauce than slices of larger potatoes. Smaller potatoes will take on more of the dish's sauce. Try this Chilli Beef Hotpot recipe, which layers spiced ground beef and kidney beans with tomatoes under potatoes that remain slightly crispy as they cook. Lean ground beef is mixed with red pepper, white onion, garlic, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, beef broth, kidney beans, Worcestershire sauce, and other seasonings, including paprika, cumin, chili powder, coriander, oregano, and sugar. Chili is simmered for about 15 minutes, leaving some liquid for pouring over potatoes before baking. Hot and mild chili powders are available to adjust the heat level. The overlapping potato slices should cover as much surface area as possible in the pan, beginning at the rim and working inward. Foil covers on the first baking session help the potatoes soften and take on sauce. Removing the foil during the second, hotter baking session adds texture. Simmering the chili too long can lead to the sauce becoming too thick and the dish drying out in the oven. Serve with sour cream as a cooling agent and to add sauce to each dish. Other ingredients you can serve with hotpot include avocado, cilantro, cheese, and lime. To add cheese to hotpot, top cooked hotpot with cheese and cook in a grill until the cheese melts. Cool leftover hotpot completely before covering and storing it in the refrigerator. Microwave reheated hotpot to keep it moist rather than using the oven.
3. Homemade Hamburger Helper with Sharp Cheddar and Beefy Macaroni
Use lean ground beef, at least 90% lean, so you don't end up with a lot of extra fat on top of the shredded meat. A homemade recipe for Hamburger Helper involves cooking macaroni in beef broth and adding shredded cheddar cheese and other ingredients to make a rich, cheesy sauce with a strong tomato flavor. Sweet onion, tomato paste, garlic powder, and chili powder add flavor to the dish. Beef broth adds liquid to the dish. Uncooked elbow macaroni is added to the saucepans with other ingredients to mimic the texture of macaroni and cheese. Freshly shredded sharp cheddar is added after cooking to create a creamy sauce without using milk. After the broth comes to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer to shorten the cooking time of the ingredients in the pot, not just to cook them. Stir the pasta for about 2 minutes to allow some of the liquid to evaporate. Fully cooked pasta and thin sauce are expected results before resting. The primary issue to watch for is insufficient liquid. Add beef broth, 1/2 cup at a time, to the pot if pasta seems to be sticking. Let the dish stand for a few minutes after adding cheddar cheese to let the sauce flavors combine with the macaroni. Serve the main dish with a side salad or roasted green beans and garlic bread. Leftover macaroni and cheese will become more dense as the macaroni absorbs more liquid. To reheat leftovers, add some beef broth.
4. Chili Cheese Potato Skillet with Crispy Russets and Cheddar
I prepare this chili cheese potato skillet for six people when they are in need of dinner from within a single pan. Russet potatoes develop crisp edges in the cast-iron skillet, then combine with beef chili and sharp cheddar beneath the lid. The centers remain soft. Meanwhile, the tomato base firmly clings to the cubes rather than pooling at the bottom. Cut the russets into ½-inch cubes while utilizing the biggest cast-iron skillet that you possess, because they require a single layer over medium-high heat; otherwise, moisture can become trapped, resulting in the potatoes steaming. I flip the ingredients occasionally in that pan, then pull them out once every single side is browned before starting the chili in that same pan over the heat. Those browned corners are the bit that I look for in the dish on the plate. The chili begins with browned 85/15 beef, onion, and garlic, while the spices toast for approximately 30 seconds before the tomatoes and beans are added in together for improved flavor. That brief toast notably highlights the chili powder alongside the smoked paprika by means of the use of another pan. Allow the mixture to simmer for the complete 10 to 15 minutes. It must seem thick enough to easily wrap around the potatoes. Once the cheese covers the top, the skillet needs only 2 to 3 minutes under a lid or foil, and the dish is brought directly to the table in that same pan after a few moments of resting. Scooping is indeed cleaner, while the potato cubes do not break apart when one serves them from the pan itself.
5. Garlic Butter Shrimp Rice Bake with Long-Grain Rice
Buy live or fresh large shrimp. Devein and peel the shrimp. Serve cooked shrimp on top of long-grain white rice baked in warm broth. Add garlic butter to shrimp. Top shrimp with parsley and red pepper flakes to give the shrimp a glazed look and browned appearance. I rinse rice until the rinse water runs clear. I cook it in broth at a warm temperature and cover a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with foil. I check before baking to ensure the rice is fully covered by liquid. Covering the dish with foil during baking keeps the rice in the center of the dish from drying out. I stir the cooked rice with a fork until it's shiny and soft after all the liquid has been absorbed. Cooked rice helps prevent the shrimp and sauce from sticking. While the rice bakes in the oven, I dry the shrimp on paper towels and heat olive oil in a large cast-iron or stainless steel skillet. If the shrimp are wet, they will steam in the skillet and turn lighter in color. Drying the shrimp before cooking them in the skillet darkens their color. The shrimp should be removed from the skillet once the browned bits have been added to the butter mixture and the shrimp are no longer translucent but pink. Serve garlic butter shrimp rice bake right away to eat the sauce. Suggested side dishes to serve with garlic butter shrimp rice bake include Sicilian-style green cauliflower salad and winter vegetable casserole. Other good side-dish choices include garlic parmesan roasted sweet potatoes for another garlicky side.
6. Strawberry Cheesecake Overnight Oats with Graham Cracker Topping
Adding softened cream cheese before the other base ingredients helps avoid lumps of cream cheese in this strawberry cheesecake overnight oats recipe. Chia seeds help thicken the oats as they chill. This oatmeal dish features layers of cheesecake-flavored oatmeal and strawberries and a graham cracker-based topping. I recommend using old-fashioned oats for this recipe because steel-cut and instant oats will yield different results and less filling in the jars if you use instant oats. Full-fat cream cheese and full-fat plain Greek yogurt add cheesecake flavor to the filling. Swirls of fresh or frozen mashed berries mixed into the filling add another layer of flavor without cooking. Layer mashed berries between the two layers of oat mixture so you can see the strawberry swirl pattern when the jar is opened. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight, if you plan to serve the oatmeal for breakfast the next morning, and add the remaining diced berries before serving. Crushed graham crackers can be added before serving for a crunchy topping. The batter should not contain lumps when oats are added. I start preparing batter by stirring room-temperature cream cheese in a medium bowl. Lumps in the batter before adding oats will look like small white lumps in the final dish and can be stirred out. I use a fork to crush strawberries. Strawberry juice should look like a thin sauce.
7. Philly Cheesesteak Sliders with Provolone and Garlic Butter
I make Philly cheesesteak mini sandwiches for quick meals or snacks during sporting events. I slice beef and peppers and add them to Hawaiian rolls. I add shredded provolone cheese and garlic butter to the rolls and bake them until the cheese melts and browns. I fry onions and peppers until they're soft and browned, 5-7 minutes, then add sliced steak. I take the steak out of the skillet after it's cooked through. The steak finishes cooking in the oven and isn't overcooked in the skillet. Freshly sliced provolone melts better over the dish than sliced provolone from the deli. I use freshly sliced provolone if I can get it. Cut the entire package of rolls in half but do not unwrap them. Shape the sliders in a 9x13-inch baking dish. The rolls will be easier to cut and preportioned more evenly after baking. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 15 minutes. Bake uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and tops are browned. Add sautéed mushrooms to the peppers and onions to increase the volume of fillings in the sliders. Add diced jalapeños or red pepper flakes to the meat mixture for added heat. Let baked sliders rest for a few minutes before cutting them open.
8. Almond Flour Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cinnamon Sugar Coating
Bake for 28 minutes. These almond flour cookies with pumpkin spice flavors are simple snacks to make and enjoy all year round. Prepare the dough using just one bowl without refrigeration. Pumpkin puree in the cookies helps keep them moist. Topping the cookies with a mixture of cinnamon and coconut sugar gives them light sweetness and warmth. Finely ground blanched almond flour is used in this recipe because it yields a softer coating than almond meal. Coconut sugar sweetens the coating and pie dough. Pumpkin pie spice adds cinnamon flavor. Partially cooling the melted coconut oil before adding it to pumpkin puree makes the dough thick enough to roll into balls when making and chilling the pie. The dough should be soft and moist, not crumbly. Pumpkin puree adds moisture to the dough. Letting the dough rest for 1 minute may help the almond flour absorb some of the liquid from other dough ingredients. The biggest error people make is assuming the cookies will spread during baking. Press each cinnamon-sugar-dusted dough ball down slightly to create more evenly shaped, flat cookies. Bake until the tops of the cookies are lightly golden. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, as they are very soft immediately after baking. Serve warm cookies with coffee or tea or as a dessert table item with apple or pear slices. Wait until cookies are fully cooled before storing to avoid moisture issues.
9. Smash Burgers with Caramelized Beef and Tangy Burger Sauce
These smash burgers are a meal for two that can be enjoyed during the summer. Patties wrapped in paper and made from 80/20 ground beef are seared in a cast-iron skillet or griddle and topped with cheddar cheese. Eaters will taste and feel the ground beef, browned exterior, sauce, and buttered, toasted brioche bun. The beef is divided into 3-ounce portions. The hamburgers are shaped into balls and pressed into patties between sheets of parchment paper with a meat pounder. Parchment paper is used to keep the patties from sticking when shaping and handling them. The burger sauce contains mayonnaise, sour cream, ketchup, mustard, and black pepper. Other toppings include cheddar cheese, pickle slices, lettuce, onion slices, and tomato slices. Preheat a frying pan or griddle. Season patties as they go into the pan. Beef patties will cook quickly and sear the outside before they are flipped. Watch out for losing thin patties during transfer. Beef patties can be formed between sheets of parchment paper and kept on a tray for transport to the cooking pan. Serve double hamburgers right away on toasted brioche buns with extra sauce. Possible side dishes include sweet potato fries, traditional fries, potato salad, fruit salad, and vegetable salad. Leftover burger sauce can be refrigerated for several days and made ahead of time when preparing hamburgers.