34 Warm and Comforting Recipes for Cold Weather

Baked ziti with ground beef — The Spruce Eats

There's nothing more refreshing than having a hot meal on a chilly day. Need ideas on how to warm up your kitchen and your stomach? Well, dig out your pots and pans and put one of these recipes to the test. Almost all of these recipes are easy on the budget and family-friendly, and most of them are excellent choices for any night of the week.

Plan ahead and incorporate some of these meals into your weekly dinner list.

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Beef and Guinness Stew

The Spruce Eats

Guinness stout adds body to this hearty beef stew. Super easy to make with some bacon, stewing beef, Guinness Stout, and vegetables. It's the perfect stew to make on a cold day. Serve it with cheese scones or Irish soda bread for a filling meal.
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Hearty Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

The Spruce Eats

Boneless chicken breasts and canned beans make the dish super easy and convenient. You can freeze any excess for a quick meal on another day. Serve with your favorite toppings, like cheese and sour cream, along with corn chips or cornbread, and you have a complete meal.
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Creole Jambalaya With Chicken or Ham

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

Jambalaya is one of Louisiana's most versatile dishes. A delicious combination of rice, chicken, andouille sausage, and shrimp make this a hearty dish. Seasoned with tomatoes, garlic, and herbs, you'll be going back for seconds and thirds!
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Oven Braised Country Style Pork Ribs With Apple Cider

The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray

This delectable dish is made with country-style pork ribs on the bone. A variety of chopped aromatic vegetables and apple cider add flavor to the wonderful broth and it's an easy dish to assemble, most of the work is done by the oven.

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Simple Meatloaf With Optional Topping

The Spruce

There's nothing quite as comforting as a classic meatloaf, and this easy recipe delivers a meatloaf that's moist and full of flavor. The simplicity is part of what makes this meatloaf so good, and you are likely to have most of the ingredients on hand.
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Coconut Curry Braised Chicken

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

Vietnamese curries are not as well known as Indian or Thai curries, but they are just as flavorful and bold in flavor. In our version of cà ri gà, or chicken curry, coconut milk gives the curry a mild sweetness and a luxurious creaminess. Chunks of russet potato, sweet potato, and carrot add texture and bulk to make this curry filling and satisfying.
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Southern Pinto Beans With Ham Hocks

The Spruce Eats / Abbey Littlejohn

Pinto beans with ham hocks are a Southern favorite, traditionally served with cornbread. They go well with barbecue, tacos or burritos, and fried chicken, and are an ideal potluck dish. The ham hock seasons the beans and makes the dish hearty enough to serve on its own, but if you want even meatier beans, add extra diced ham.
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Savory Oven Braised Lamb Shanks

The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray

These tender braised lamb shanks are seared and then cooked in a tasty red wine broth with chopped vegetables. Serve the lamb shanks with these amazing light garlic mashed potatoes and Southern green beans or English peas.

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Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup

The Spruce Eats / Julia Hartbeck

This crockpot butternut squash soup is a warm and creamy soup that’s cooked up in the slow cooker. It’s easy and requires very little effort. Although it’s creamy, there’s no cream added at all! The recipe is completely vegan and is full of sweet butternut squash and apple flavors.
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Cabbage Rolls

The Spruce Eats

These cabbage rolls are stuffed with ground beef and rice and baked to perfection with a tangy tomato sauce. Cabbage rolls are a favorite comfort food from Eastern Europe and are often reserved for special occasions or big family dinners.
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Slow-Cooker Chicken Tinga

The Spruce Eats / Maxwell Cozzi

Chicken tinga is a Mexican stew of chicken, tomato, onion, and chipotle peppers. The dish is savory, smoky, tangy, and as satisfying as any comfort food. It's incredibly versatile and makes a nice filling for tacos, burritos, huaraches, enchiladas, and even nachos. Like most stews, it also keeps well, and may even taste best on the second or third day as the flavors marry.
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Instant Pot Chicken and Rice

Diana Rattray

This comforting and adaptable dish makes the whole family happy. Perfect for those school nights when you need to get dinner on the table quickly or a curl-up-by-the-fire Sunday, Instant Pot chicken and rice can be your go-to all-in-one meal.

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Chicken Marbella

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

This storied dish is adapted from The Silver Palate Cookbook, first published in 1982. Although that name might not ring a bell for younger generations, it was a standout cookbook in its time, and Chicken Marbella was its standout dish. This one-pan meal features skin-on chicken marinated in a brine of vinegar, olives, capers, and prunes, and then baked in the same dish—it couldn't be easier. This recipe is a little sweet, a little salty, and perfectly balanced with an acidic tang. Great with Spanish rice or mashed potatoes.
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Garlic Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters

The Spruce Eats

Whole chicken legs or chicken leg quarters are flavorful and juicy, and they're budget-friendly. The chicken legs are rubbed with a mixture of garlic and seasonings and then they're roasted to perfection.
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Nashville Hot Chicken

The Spruce Eats / Nyssa Tanner

Is there anything more cozy than smelling the aroma of fried chicken, and waiting for biscuits from the oven? This Nashville fried chicken has just enough spice to chase any rainy-day blues away. It's inspired by Prince's Hot Chicken, a now-legendary institution that first served up this style of deep-fried, spicy bird in the '70s. Nashville hot chicken is characterized by its spicy, deep red glaze, traditionally made with cayenne pepper. It's almost always served on top of white bread—plain white bread, the cheaper and sweeter the better—with some pickles on top.
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Instant Pot Taco Soup

Diana Rattray

When you are in the mood for a taco but want something more comforting, this Instant Pot taco soup hits the mark. Seasoned ground beef, beans, tomatoes, and green chilis quickly cook together into a hearty soup. Finish with your favorite taco toppings.

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Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Barbecue

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This is another fantastic slow-cooker meal. Pulled pork is always a family favorite, and preparation is so easy. Use your favorite barbecue sauce to make sandwiches with this pulled pork. Serve with coleslaw and beans.
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Instant Pot Jambalaya

Diana Rattray

Jambalaya is one of those all-in-one dishes where almost anything goes. Like many Cajun and Creole dishes, jambalaya starts with the "holy trinity" of onions, celery, and green bell pepper. The addition of tomatoes makes it more of a Creole-style jambalaya.
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Simple Chili With Ground Beef

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

This classic chili is quick and flavorful, making it an excellent choice for dinner after a busy day. The traditional chili con carne ("with meat") of tender beef in a spiced tomato stew is hard to beat; this recipe adds hearty beans as well. Unlike other chili recipes, it's made on the stovetop and ready within an hour, so it's perfect for a last-minute chili night.
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Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice With Andouille Sausage

The Spruce Eats / Katarina Zunic

Spicy andouille sausage jazzes up this basic crock pot red beans and rice recipe. If you like meatier red beans and rice, add a ham bone, ham hocks, diced ham, or some bacon to the beans.

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Skillet Pork Chops and Braised Red Cabbage

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

This easy-spiced braised red cabbage makes an excellent side dish with tasty pork chops and cream sauce. The cabbage includes apples, a little vinegar and wine, and spices you probably have in your pantry. The pork chops are perfectly cooked in the skillet and finished with a tangy mustard and cream sauce.
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Chicken Tortilla Soup

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

Make this soup even easier with purchased tortilla chips or the tortilla strip salad toppings you can find in the salad dressing aisle. The soup makes a fabulous lunch or dinner soup, and it's an especially nice choice for cooler-weather meals.
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Slow Cooker Manhattan-Style Clam Chowder

The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray

This slow cooker clam chowder, made with tomatoes instead of milk, is a Manhattan-style version. The bacon and extra clam juice make this chowder flavorful, and the slow cooker makes it easy. Using canned clams and canned tomatoes, you can make this chowder any time of the year with ingredients from your pantry. It is simple to put it together in the morning and have ready for dinner.
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Cauliflower Chowder

The Spruce Eats / Elaine Lemm

If you are a fan of cauliflower, you are going to love this soup. Rather than puréeing the vegetable until super smooth, this soup is thick, hearty, but still creamy and packed with flavor. It's similar to a potato chowder, but much of the carb-loaded potatoes are swapped for healthy cauliflower. It's a vegetable-laden bowl that's oh-so-satisfying. Though there are a few processes to go through, it's easy to make and the results are spectacular.

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Oven Braised Rosemary Chicken Legs

The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray

Garlic and rosemary flavor these delicious chicken legs, and a little tomato paste white wine make a hearty, rustic broth. Don't worry if you don't have whole chicken legs—this recipe works equally as well with a mix of drumsticks and thighs or even just thighs. Braising is an excellent cooking method for chicken legs and thighs.
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Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray

Shredded pulled pork in an hour and a half? Pulled pork normally takes hours to cook, but the pressure cooker shortens the cooking time significantly. This pressure cooker pulled pork tastes like it was cooked low and slow all day. In about 80 minutes, your boneless pork roast will be tender, delicious, and super easy to shred. Pulled pork is a great dish to fix for a game-day get-together or party.
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Braised Lamb Shoulder Chops Recipe

The Spruce Eats

Use your favorite dry red wine to flavor these comforting lamb shoulder chops. The chops are browned and then braised in red wine along with a complementary combination of onions, rosemary, and garlic. While lamb shoulder chops are known to be a tougher cut of meat, the long, slow, oven braising ensures tender, melt-in-your-mouth lamb chops.
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Baked Ziti Recipe With Ground Beef and Italian Sausage

The Spruce

Your family will ask for this meaty ziti bake again and again. This delicious baked ziti casserole is similar to lasagna—a layered dish of pasta, ricotta, meat sauce, and mozzarella—but it's not as time-consuming. The ziti is cooked and tossed with the cheeses and meat sauce and then layered with more sauce and cheese before it's baked until golden and bubbling. It's the perfect dish for a snowy winter evening. Serve it with crusty garlic bread and a simple tossed salad.

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Roast Pork Rib Roast With Fingerling Potatoes

The Spruce / Diana Rattray

This easy and elegant dish is special enough for a holiday or celebratory meal, and most certainly will be welcomed as a Sunday family dinner. Fingerling potatoes accompany this tender and juicy pork roast and cook in the same pan, which is a great and convenient way of feeding a crowd without using too many dishes and pots.
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Roasted Potatoes With Ham

The Spruce Eats

Roasted potatoes with ham, onion, and seasonings make a fabulous one-dish, everyday meal. The recipe is simple, takes very little time to prepare and cook, and is an excellent way to use leftover ham.
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Stuffed Peppers With Ground Beef and Rice

The Spruce

Stuffed bell peppers make a delicious everyday meal, one that many people consider comfort food. With the classic combination of ground beef and rice, veggies, and melted cheese on top, they are more filling than you might expect.
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Janetta's Vegetarian 15-Bean Soup

The Spruce Eats

This 15-bean soup is a nutrient-rich soup with loads of flavor. The soup can be made with a 15-bean or 16-bean soup mix. The soup gets its aromatic flavor from a number of herbs, peppers, garlic, and onions.

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Slow Cooker Beef and Chicken Stew With Vegetables

Slow Cooker Beef and Chicken Stew.
The Spruce Eats / Diana Rattray

This slow cooker stew recipe is made with a combination of stew beef and chicken thighs. It's a meaty stew with potatoes, carrots, and loads of flavor. The secret to the heightened flavor is a few tablespoons of steak sauce. Chicken thighs are excellent in slow-cooked dishes and they add so much to the texture and flavor of this stew. Use boneless chicken thighs and cut them up before they go into the pot.
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Easy Brunswick Stew With Pork and Chicken

The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga

This Brunswick stew is made with cooked pork shoulder or leftover pulled pork, along with shredded or chopped cooked chicken thighs and vegetables. The meal takes about 1-hour start-to-finish if you cook the chicken and pork in advance.

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