The Recipes Our Editors Are Making While We're Staying Home

By Mary Shannon Wells
March 30, 2020
Credit: Greg DuPree
During the coronavirus quarantine, it’s no surprise the Southern Living editors are turning to cooking and baking for comfort. Whether you’re looking for recipes that freeze well, use pantry staples, or you just want some classic comfort food during this weird time, just like they have for more than 50 years, the editors of Southern Living have your back through this, too. Food connects, consoles, nurtures, and provides for us—let’s use our ingredients smartly and savor every bite. From breakfast to dinner and dessert, these are the quarantine recipes our staff is relying on.
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Banana Bread

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Recipe: Banana Bread

Don’t you dare throw out those slightly overripe bananas! It’s time for homemade banana bread. Add a few ingredients you already have in the pantry, and you’ve got a delicious treat to have with your morning coffee.

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Sausage-Potato Frittata

Credit: Victor Protasio

Recipe: Sausage-Potato Frittata

Frittatas are the perfect dish to switch up with whatever ingredients you have on hand. Extra veggies from last night’s dinner? Throw them in the frittata! Bacon instead of sausage? It can go in the frittata! Frittatas are almost impossible to mess up on as-is, but we made this recipe even easier by cooking it in the slow cooker.

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Baked Oatmeal

Credit: Jennifer Causey

Recipe: Baked Oatmeal

Bake a big batch of oatmeal on Sunday, and you’ve got breakfast ready for the rest of the week. Substitute whichever fruit you have at the house and savor this sweet one-dish breakfast casserole that’s a diversion from your usual egg-and-cheese one.

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Sweet Potato Muffins

Credit: Micah A. Leal

Recipe: Sweet Potato Muffins

Found yourself with an overabundance of sweet potatoes from the store? Dinner isn’t the only meal when you can enjoy them. These spiced, not-too-sweet muffins remind us of the cozy flavors of fall, and they’ll go perfectly with your morning cup of tea.

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Tater Tot Breakfast Bake

Credit: Jennifer Causey

Recipe: Tater Tot Breakfast Bake

Busy cooks know: A bag of frozen tater tots can save the day at breakfast or dinner. Picky eaters won’t protest when they see this bubbly, cheesy casserole emerge from the oven. This dish can be assembled the night before and popped in the oven in the morning, giving you a little more time to relax before the kids are up on Saturday.

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No-Knead Buttermilk Bread

Credit: Greg DuPree

Recipe: No-Knead Buttermilk Bread

Southern cooks know that nothing can compare to cast iron in the kitchen. In the case of this five-ingredient, no-knead bread, a cast-iron Dutch oven is the only way to go for a crisp and golden crust. If you’ve never baked homemade bread before, this recipe is a great place to start.

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Southern Skillet Cornbread

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Recipe: Southern Skillet Cornbread

When Southerners are in search of comfort, they can always find it in a cast-iron skillet full of homemade cornbread. This classic recipe only takes five ingredients, and it starts with leftover bacon grease in the skillet, which is a sure sign it’s going to be delicious.

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Potato Bread

Credit: Katrin Ray Shumakov

Recipe: Potato Bread

Potatoes keep for a long time and can be used in countless ways from breakfast to dinner. This homey bread recipe is one of the more creative ways you can use them, especially if the store is out of bread right now. This recipe makes two loaves, so you can use one now and freeze the other for later.

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Hashbrown Casserole

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Recipe: Hashbrown Casserole

We’re willing to guess that no one has ever turned down a scoop of cheesy hashbrown casserole. Throw a bag of frozen hashbrowns and a few other ingredients in a dish, bake, and watch the family eat it up until the last bite. If you don’t have cornflake cereal, top it with crushed buttery crackers or a fried onion topping.

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Fresh Salmon Cakes with Buttermilk Dressing

Credit: Photo: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Missie Neville Crawford; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Recipe: Fresh Salmon Cakes with Buttermilk Dressing

“I’m a huge fan of these salmon burgers. I make up a big batch then stock them in the freezer,” said our Beauty Editor Patricia Shannon. “They’re my go-to for busy weeknights during our normal routine, but have also become a staple during this not-so-normal time.”

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Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

Credit: Caitlin Bensel

Recipe: Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

This four-ingredient recipe is the most versatile thing you can make in your slow cooker. Serve this chicken over rice, in tacos, or even in a Tex-Mex casserole. Not only is it budget-friendly and dump-it-and-forget-it easy, it’s also healthy option at dinnertime.

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All-In-One Spaghetti

Credit: Photo: William Dickey

Recipe: All-In-One Spaghetti

If you have pasta in your pantry and ground beef in your freezer, this classic supper is the easiest way to put them to good use. Bonus: You only have one pot to clean up after dinner.

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Beef Stew

Credit: Photo: Greg DuPree; Prop Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Recipe: Beef Stew

Right now, we’re all craving comfort food, and there aren’t many dinners cozier than a warm bowl of beef stew. This stew is great for working from home since it needs to simmer for several hours for the best flavor, plus you can swap fresh veggies for whichever frozen or canned you have.  

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Our Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits

Credit: Jennifer Davick

Recipe: Our Favorite Buttermilk Biscuits

One editor has never made biscuits homemade (no shame, neither have I), so with two boxes of butter in her freezer, she’s determined to whip up our Test Kitchen’s all-time best recipe for them. Aside from the butter, all you need is two other simple ingredients to have warm, fluffy biscuits for yourself.

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Potato-Bacon Hash

Credit: Photo: Stephen DeVries, Prop Styling: Missie Neville Crawford; Food Styling: Torie Cox

Recipe: Potato-Bacon Hash

Every Southern cook could use a good hash recipe in his or her repertoire, and this is a no-fuss one we rely on when cooking with what’s on hand. You can put any veggies or meat you already have in it, and potatoes, the base, keep well for a long time. Plus, you can enjoy it at breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

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Chicken Bog

Credit: Greg DuPree

Recipe: Chicken Bog

If you have chicken and rice, congrats: You can make chicken bog. Use any veggies you have on hand to complete this simple Southern dinner that’s on the table in just 30 minutes. If you’re on dish duty tonight, suggest chicken bog—all you need is a Dutch oven.

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Barbecue Mac and Cheese

Credit: Photo: Hector Sanchez

Recipe: Barbecue Mac and Cheese

One editor said that she’s been relying on comfort food in her kitchen, and this flavorful recipe is the mac and cheese upgrade she turned to at dinnertime. If you’re able to support your local BBQ joints by ordering takeout, this cheesy creation is a kid-friendly way to use up leftover pulled pork.

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Vidalia Onion Soup

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Recipe: Vidalia Onion Soup

Onions are a veggie that stays fresh for a long time, so we’ve got plenty at home right now. One editor said she stocked up a little too much on them, so she made this Southern version of French onion soup with Georgia Vidalia onions. If you don’t have all the ingredients, don’t worry. She omitted the thyme, ale, and sherry from this one and said her simpler version was still flavorful and comforting.

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Easy Chicken and Dumplings

Credit: Beth Dreiling Hontzas

Recipe: Easy Chicken and Dumplings

When we say easy, we mean seven ingredients, 30-minutes easy. Refrigerated biscuits and canned soup are shortcut ingredients that save time. If you don’t have fresh veggies or aren’t in the mood to chop them up, toss in some frozen ones.

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Winter Vegetables and Gnocchi

Credit: Greg DuPree

Recipe: Winter Vegetables and Gnocchi

A package of refrigerated or frozen gnocchi is a great ingredient to have in your kitchen for when you’re getting sick of pasta dinners. This editor-favorite cozy meal can be customized with whatever veggies are in your kitchen, and you can even top it with a protein like chicken or meatballs if you need a more filling option.

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Creamy Chicken Alfredo Casserole

Credit: Greg DuPree

Recipe: Creamy Chicken Alfredo Casserole

This kid-friendly pasta bake is a delicious way to doctor-up a jar of pasta sauce. Because this recipe makes use of store-bought ingredients, it only takes 15 minutes of hands-on time. If you don’t have leftover rotisserie chicken or spinach, omit or swap out whatever you do have. Cheesy, creamy pasta is impossible to mess up.

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Turkey Meatballs

Credit: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

Recipe: Turkey Meatballs

Meatballs have everything we need in a recipe right now: They’re comforting, easy to make, and best of all, freeze beautifully. If you can’t find ground turkey at the store right now, any ground meat will work for this cheesy skillet dinner. Eat them alone, over whatever pasta is in your pantry, or on a hoagie.

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Garlic-Herb Roasted Chicken

Credit: Photo: Jennifer Davick; Styling: Mindi Shapiro Levine

Recipe: Garlic-Herb Roasted Chicken

When in doubt, roasting a chicken is always a good idea. A single roasted chicken can be the base for countless meals during the week, and you can use a blend of your favorite herbs if you don’t have the ones in this recipe.

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White Chicken Chili

Credit: Hector Manuel Sanchez

Recipe: White Chicken Chili

Our office manager said white chicken chili has been her go-to during this time. It’s not quite as heavy on the calories as beefy chili recipes, and it’s oh-so-comforting. Plus, there’s only one step to this recipe: Add the ingredients to the slow cooker and press “On.”

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Ground Beef Vegetable Soup with Gnocchi

Credit: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Kathleen Varner; Food Styling: Maggie Ruggiero

Recipe: Ground Beef Vegetable Soup with Gnocchi

If you have ground beef sitting in your freezer, believe us when we say this is what you should make with it. Many soup recipes take hours to simmer on the stove, but with convenient ingredients like refrigerated gnocchi and canned tomatoes, this recipe comes together in 30 minutes from start to finish.

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Wacky Cake

Credit: Antonis Achilleos; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis; Food Styling: Emily Nabors Hall

Recipe: Wacky Cake

You don’t even need to get out a mixing bowl for this depression-era cake that mixes right in the baking pan. You might wonder how a cake could possibly come out well without eggs or milk, but this Wacky Cake makes it possible.

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Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies

Credit: Photo: Lee Harrelson; Styling: Jan Gautro

Recipe: Easiest Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut butter, sugar, one egg, and vanilla extract—that’s it. No flour, no milk, and only a few minutes of your time. We weren’t kidding when we named these the easiest peanut butter cookies.

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Egg Custard Pie

Credit: Antonis Achilleos

Recipe: Egg Custard Pie

This simple pie couldn’t be easier to make, especially when you use shortcut refrigerated pie crust. Other than that, all you need is cooking spray, eggs, half-and-half, sugar, a bit of salt, and nutmeg to finish it off, if you have it.

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Fudgy Flourless Chocolate-Pecan Cookies

Credit: Victor Protasio

Recipe: Fudgy Flourless Chocolate-Pecan Cookies

You’ll never believe these soft cookies were made without flour. The few ingredients you do need come together quickly and easily, so this is a great recipe to try out with the kids. According to our food editor, “They're like a chewy, gooey brownie in cookie form—crackled on top and soft on the inside.”

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Peach Dump Cake

Credit: Micah A. Leal

Recipe: Peach Dump Cake

You don’t have to wait for peach season to make this dessert. Simply “dump” two cans of sliced peaches, a box of yellow cake mix, a pinch of salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and melted butter into a baking dish and voila: You’ve made your family’s new favorite treat.

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Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies

Credit: Micah A. Leal

Recipe: Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies

If you have a box of cake mix sitting in the pantry, these chewy cookies are a fun, inventive way to use it. If it’s not red velvet, no worries: This recipe can be adapted with any cake flavor, and you can use any add-ins you have, whether chocolate chip cookies or chopped up candy bars.  

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