959 tender recipes

Lemon basil chicken is an oven-bag method that steams boneless chicken breasts in lemon juice, dried basil, and onions for tender, low-fat results with zero cleanup. Ready in about 40 minutes.

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.

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.

How to cook white asparagus, Europe's springtime white gold: peeled and gently simmered in lemon-butter water until silky and tender. The simple method that keeps the stalks sweet, not bitter or stringy.

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.

Homemade pork sausage ground from fresh pork shoulder and seasoned generously with sage, savory, marjoram, parsley, and a hint of allspice. An egg and a splash of water keep the patties juicy and tender.

Smoke-at-home beef brisket with simple salt and pepper rub, cooked low and slow over oak or hickory chips for 8 to 9 hours. The Texas-style technique that turns tough muscle into fall-apart tender.

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.

Chuck roast marinates in a bright lemon-onion bath before roasting until tender in this citrus-forward pot roast where fresh lemon slices and marjoram create unexpected flavor that breaks from traditional brown gravy.

Tender cod simmered in a spicy Cajun sauce piquant built on the holy trinity of onion, bell pepper, and celery with garlic and cayenne. Serve it over rice for a Louisiana-style fish supper.

Split peas simmered with chopped turnip, carrots, and onion in vegetable stock until thick and tender. A nourishing, plant-based soup that costs pennies to make and fills you up like a million bucks.

Quick bran muffins made with bran cereal and cake mix for a semi-homemade shortcut that still tastes scratch-baked. Golden, tender, and butter-brushed on top. Ready in 30 minutes, makes a dozen.

Microwave poached salmon cooks a salmon fillet in just 5 minutes with nothing but water and a covered dish. The fastest way to get tender, flaky salmon on the table for one or two.