21 Comfort Foods I’m Making On Repeat This Fall (So Warm & Cozy!)

Not only is this one-pot meal easy to prepare, it also tastes like it’s been simmering on the stove for hours…even though it only takes 45 minutes from start to finish. Cooking the chicken in the stew means that it releases all its juices into the broth as it cooks, giving the stew a ton of extra flavor.

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With its rich sauce deepened in flavor with red wine, Dijon mustard, and finished with tangy sour cream, beef stroganoff is the dish to keep in your back pocket when you need a reliable, cozy weeknight dinner. While it may be an old-school classic, this is the comfort food we take seriously.

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Sloppy Joe casseroles are where. It’s. AT. Cozy? Check! Meaty? Check! Buttery carbs and cheese? Check and check! This hearty casserole has plenty of peppers and onions, lots of sauce, and so much flavor too.

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Nothing satisfies a meat and potato craving quite like a classic, hearty shepherd’s pie. In this comfort food staple, ground beef is cooked with aromatics and red wine before being combined with corn and peas, all covered with a blanket of velvety, rich mashed potatoes and topped with Parmesan before being broiled until golden brown.

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The only downside of butternut squash recipes is that they do kinda take forever. But once you take a bite of the sweet squash, you’ll remember why it’s SO worth it. Roasting it before you make the soup is key to getting that caramelized, deeply sweet flavor that makes this exceptional.

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If chicken pot pie excites you, but pie crust intimidates you, you’ve arrived at the perfect recipe. Classic chicken pot pie filling is baked into a stress-free casserole and, best of all, topped with biscuits for that tantalizing golden brown finish.

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Earthy, sweet pumpkin is the perfect base for a spicy, Thai-inspired coconut milk curry. We begin by roasting the pumpkin to provide some caramelization and nuttiness that adds a lot to the final dish. Then we take some of the roast pumpkin and actually blend it into the curry sauce which adds another layer of pumpkin flavor.

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Beef stew is a cold weather essential. Wine adds a layer of rich, complex flavor to your stew, but if you don’t have any leftover cooking wine on hand, your stew will be delicious without it—just sub in more beef stock!

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Midwesterner or not, this tater tot casserole will become a weekly staple meal in your home. This is also great for anyone who loves a few dinner shortcuts, such as old-school cream of mushroom soup. Take the base of the casserole a little further with Worcestershire, sharp cheddar cheese, and mustard, and you’ll never know what hit you.

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Adding white beans makes this heartier than your average chicken noodle soup, and the addition of green chiles, jalapeño, and sour cream adds the perfect amount of heat and creaminess to switch up classic chili. Plus, everything comes together in less than an hour, making it an easy, no-stress dinner.

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If you think every bowl of chili should be hidden under mounds of melty cheese and a big dollop of sour cream, this is the casserole for you. With roasted sweet potatoes and black bean chili layered together under a gooey blanket of cheese, this easy vegetarian weeknight dinner is both incredibly comforting and surprisingly hearty.

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A cross between a hamburger and a meatball, Salisbury steak is the staunch classic that we think is well deserving of a revival. It takes seasoned and browned ground beef patties and smothers them in a rich mushroom gravy. The result is a dinner that’s as heartwarming as an at-home Saturday movie night, but simple to make.

Get the Salisbury Steak recipe.