8 Comfort Food Classics to Make This Fall

As the days grow shorter and chillier, you may find yourself with a case of NFCF. That’s Need For Comfort Food. Whether you’re missing your mom’s spicy tofu jjigae simmering on the stove or an ultra-creamy mac‘n’cheese that riffs on the boxed one, whipping up the perfect comfort food is a dream within reach. Try one of these eight renditions of classics, then curl up on the couch with a duvet and your favorite show.

1. The Ultimate Lasagna

Is there a better recipe to start with than lasagna? Layer upon layer of pasta, cheese, tomato sauce and meat represent peak cozy. This recipe walks you through making both a homemade béchamel and a ragù, but it would still be stellar with a quick ricotta sauce (find the instructions here) and jarred sauce.

2. Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Crunch French Toast Casserole

This remix of the nostalgic breakfast standard leans hard into the bread pudding aspect of French toast. To make it, soak slices of day-old bread in a cinnamon-flecked vanilla custard before shingling them in your small roasting pan (or another 9x13-inch baking dish). The next-level cinnamon crunch topping puts this dish into over-the-top delicious territory, but if you’d rather something a little more restrained, simply skip it. 

3. Zucchini Carbonara With Herbed Ricotta

If creamy pasta is your comfort food ideal, this zucchini-studded carbonara is your the answer to your quest. Yes, it adds a dose of veggies to the classic Italian dish, but that can either be skipped or embraced as a nod to adult responsibilities (sigh). We’re team zucchini in this case, as it brings welcome textural variation to the silky strands of spaghetti, which are coated in the rich pecorino sauce.

4. Cheese-Crusted Quesadilla

If we’re playing comfort food word association games, this cheese-crusted quesadilla is definitely coming up. This two ingredient recipe stuffs flour tortillas so full of cheese that it creates a lacy cheese crust. Enjoy as is or add cooked chicken, black or pinto beans and/or sautéed vegetables to the cheese mixture for a more filling option.

5. Kimchi and Tofu Soup

Our version of kimchi jjigae starts with a half-pound of pork belly, which infuses the tofu stew with savory flavor. Honor your own taste preferences and play with the exact proportions of gochujang and gochugaru, and whether you want silken or soft tofu added. Whatever path you choose, the result is bound to be delicious. 

6. Pepperoni Pizza

Though ordering takeout pizza is easier than making your own, there is a unique pleasure in investing the time to make a pie totally from scratch. Okay, well, maybe just take the time to make your own dough—we won’t expect you to start curing your own pepperoni. With a HexClad Hybrid Pizza Steel, it’s not hard to channel your inner pizzaiolo. The only question left is whether to open your own spot. 

7. Big Batch One Pot Mac and Cheese

There’s something heartbreaking about returning to a beloved childhood food—we’re looking at you, boxed mac and cheese—only to find it doesn’t live up to the memory. Skip the disappointment and instead recreate it (but better) in your 4.5-quart Hybrid Deep Sauté Pan. It’s easy to do: cook the pasta in a seasoned milk-and-water mixture until tender before stirring in three types of cheese. Sliced hot dogs and ketchup not included.

8. Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

It wouldn’t be a comfort food recipe roundup without a classic chocolate chip cookie, and a single, gigantic cookie is the pro move. Ours is baked in a 3.3-quart Hybrid Deep Sauté Pan, though if you wanted to bake individual cookies, you could do that, too. ¼-cup (2 oz) balls of dough bakes into nicely sized cookies.

We’re not saying that making comfort food fixes everything in the world, but it’s a start.