Leite’s Culinaria’s editors and home recipe testers curated, tested, retested, and posted 663 recipes this year. (That’s a lot of dishes to wash, kids!) And while we’re pretty enthralled with each of them, we’re curious which were your 20 most popular recipes of 2018. We wanted to know which ones you simply couldn’t stop eating. Which ones your family requests most often. Which recipes you, our intrepid cooks, rely on to make your life easier and impress your guests. Well, we crunched the numbers and discovered a few things:
- You’re absolutely crazy about a very special Portuguese dessert
- You’re nuts for bread (Who says Paleo rules?!)
- You’re hardcore pork aficionados
- You’re wild about roasts
- You’ve fallen hard for a classic Italian cocktail.
So here are your most favorite, most loved, most cooked, most commented-upon, most shared recipes of 2018.
As they say, “It was a very good year.”
Pastéis de Nata ~ Portuguese Custard Tarts
Not Portuguese? Not a problem. It won't lessen your appreciation for these little lovelies with the shatteringly crisp pastry cradling ridiculously creamy custard.
Pressure Cooker Ribs
We confess, we'd never imagined you could turn ribs fall-off-the-bone tender in 30 minutes. Until this recipe made believers out of us.
Homemade Pasta Dough
Pasta made fresh according to Italian tradition is unspeakably more supple, satisfying, and gratifying than the dried-out store-bought stuff and will make your mouth water. Here's how to make it at home.
No-Knead 5-Minute Artisan Bread
Um, 5 minutes hands-on time for a loaf of bread? Please. That's nothing. Nothing short of a miracle.
Pork Loin Roast
Just like what your grandma would put on the table for Sunday night dinner. (Don't you love how food instantly transports you through time?!)
Batter-Fried Chicken
Proof that it doesn't take buttermilk or an insufferably long overnight brine to make insanely tender, crazily crisp, gosh darn perfect fried chicken.
Classic Negroni
We upended the proportions of gin, vermouth, and Campari to create a better, stiffer, spiffier negroni cocktail to see you through the crazy holiday season.
Ciabatta
Every once in a while, along comes a loaf of bread that's so rustic, so memorable, it ruins every other bread experience. Here's that loaf.
Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread
Behold, the no-knead bread recipe that incited an insurrection among home bakers everywhere.
Roast Pork Butt
Excuse us, but we're too preoccupied stuffing our pieholes with roast pork butt to say anything. Hey, anyone seen the napkins?!Homemade Larabars
We got nothing against the Larabars we've been noshing for years. Save for the crazy price tag. Here's a less expensive, more customizable alternative.
Julia Child's Coq au Vin
Coq au vin, aka chicken soused in wine, is a French classic that exists in countless incarnations. This rich, soulful riff is from Julia Child.
Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Grab your spoons. Whether you crave sweetness or sustenance of a different sort, this simple childhood pleasure may at least bring you a little pleasure in the moment at hand.
Carnitas ~ Mexican Braised Pork
This Mexican carnitas recipe is authentic braised and fried pork that makes for conversation-stopping, fall-apart-tender awesomeness.
Easy Rhubarb Jam
Making preserves was never so easy or gratifying as with this foolproof old-fashioned recipe. Just four ingredients and an occasional stir. No prior canning experience required. Swear.
Pan Seared Scallops
Perhaps the easiest and most elegant dinner conceivable. Here's how to cook your pricey (and worth every penny) sea scallops to perfection.
Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce
Is anything more soothing than standing before a burbling pot of Marcella Hazan's Bolognese sauce? (Hint: Our answer is absolutely not.)
Adobo Sauce
Best known as the earthy sauce bathing canned chipotle peppers, this Mexican staple is ridiculously versatile. And easy to make.
Slow Cooker Ribs
All the scintillating, fall-off-the-bone magnificence of smoked ribs. None of the standing outside in the snow or sleet to tend your grill or smoker.
How To Make Natural Food Coloring
At last, after literally years of searching, we have the perfect DIY natural food coloring recipe. No preservatives. No artificial coloring. No monumental price tag.
© 2018 Leite's Culinaria. All rights reserved. All materials used with permission.