Some of us are quarantined alone due to the pandemic; others (myself included) find ourselves social distancing from the outside world, but sharing a single home with a fair amount of people afoot. At all times. That can mean adjusting meals to feed a lot of mouths, with leftovers for lunch the next day.
We at Voraciously love a big-batch recipe, so I rounded up some of our favorite high-yield recipes, a few that are easily scaled up and some suggestions for adaptations.
Spicy Red Shakshuka, above. Let’s start with the most important meal of the day (debatable, but for me it is). A well-spiced tomato sauce is a wonderful medium to poach eggs in. You can fit up to 8 eggs in here. You can also poach a smaller number of eggs and save the sauce to poach more eggs in later.
Big Batch Dry Mix. You don’t need Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines to whip up muffins, pancakes, waffles or quickbreads. Make this easy mix (and Charlotte Druckman’s other adaptations), then whip up Blackberry Cake With a Kick, Maple-Cashew Scones and more.
Simply Perfect Pot of Beans. A pound of beans yields 12 servings (with some tasty broth to boot). Best of all, a humble pot of beans can be repurposed in so many ways. You can toss them into a Bean and Tortilla Salad, or Bean and Poblano Tacos, or just cook up some rice and toss them right in.
Za’atar Salmon With Charred Broccoli. All hail the sheet pan. This easy to prepare dish serves six, but if you need more, it’s very easy to scale up. Bonus: Less mess to clean up afterward. (Note: If you’re the one cooking, someone else in the household needs to be cleaning.) Not feeling salmon? Try this Sheet Pan Maple-Mustard Chicken Thighs and Red Cabbage from our Nourish columnist Ellie Krieger, which can also easily be scaled up.
Mushroom and Swiss Chard Strata With Gruyere. Here’s another one from Ellie Krieger. This hearty strata serves eight. You can use whatever you have on hand. No Swiss chard? Use kale or spinach. No Gruyere? Cheddar will be just as tasty.
Greens Mac and Cheese. Before you turn your nose up at adding veggies to your mac and cheese (The shock! The horror! How dare we!), this recipe was gobbled up fast when Joe Yonan tested it in the Food Lab. Parmesan and cheddar work in tandem to pack a seriously cheesy punch to the rich sauce, leeks and garlic add their aromatic flair and the veggies add some tasty nutritional value. Not sold? We have more mac and cheese recipes here.
Bean and Barley Chili. Nothing feeds a crowd like a big, hearty pot of chili. Use this vegetarian chili as a blueprint for what suits your crowd. Want meat? Add it. No barley? Use something else. You got this.
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