852 tender recipes

Baked chicken breasts in a sweet-tangy orange juice sauce with brown sugar, basil, and nutmeg, finished with tender peach or apricot halves. Served over white rice for a fruity one-dish dinner.

Chicken Alla Spina braised with red wine, onions, and oregano in a roasting pan. An Italian-American one-pan chicken dinner with tender meat and a savory wine sauce for sopping with bread.

Three-ingredient foil-wrapped pot roast with onion soup mix and mushrooms, baked low and slow until fork-tender. A hands-off beef chuck roast that makes its own gravy in the packet.

Fresh microwave spinach in 5 minutes flat with no oil, no fuss, just clean leaves and steam. The fastest way to a tender, nutrient-packed side that actually keeps its bright green color.

Red snapper baked en papillote with a creamy green peppercorn pan sauce. A bistro-style fish dinner with tender flaky fillets and a peppery wine cream that takes 30 minutes start to finish.

Homemade potstickers from scratch: hand-rolled dough wrappers filled with pork, napa cabbage, ginger and water chestnut, pan-fried crisp then steamed tender. Served with a soy, chili oil and vinegar dipping sauce.

Almond crescent cookies with toasted ground almonds and a tender shortbread base, finished with a chocolate drizzle or powdered sugar dusting. A Christmas cookie tin classic that holds for a week or more.

Wholesome chocolate zucchini bread made with whole wheat flour, oats, and yogurt for a moist, lighter loaf. Shredded zucchini keeps it tender while bittersweet chocolate and walnuts make it taste like a treat.

Spicy brisket needs just two things: a beef brisket and your favorite barbecue sauce. Baked low and slow until fork-tender, then piled into warm flour tortillas for an easy Tex-Mex dinner.

Granny's chicken and sausage gumbo, built on a deep brown roux and loaded with okra, smoky sausage, and tender chicken. Thickened twice with okra and file, simmered low, and ladled over hot rice.

Chunky beef posole chili built on tender chunks of browned beef shoulder with jalapeno, cumin, and tomatoes, thickened with grits for a corn-rich body. Topped with cilantro, scallions, sour cream, and tortilla.

Pheasant braised until tender in a Mexican-style almond red sauce, where ground almonds thicken a rich, nutty, mildly spiced sauce. A rustic game-bird dish that works just as well with chicken.

Oven Barbecued Eggplant salts the slices and rests for 30 minutes before baking with BBQ sauce brushed on both sides until tender but not mushy. A 3-ingredient vegan side dish ready in an hour.

Baked beets roast whole and unpeeled until tender, then slip out of their skins easy as that. Mash with butter and sour cream, finish with a squeeze of lime, and you have a five-minute side that tastes like Sunday dinner.

Low and slow baby back ribs rubbed overnight and smoked for 5 hours with homemade BBQ sauce. Eight full racks feed a crowd and deliver that fall-off-the-bone tenderness every pitmaster chases.

Braising can turn a tough piece of meat into a tender, fall off the bone, comfort food. I can think of no better example than the classic dish osso buco, made from veal shanks.