Best Labor Day Recipes

Lemon-Buttermilk Pound Cake

The lemon pound cake for angel food cake lovers.

By Matthew CardApril 4, 2017

Lemon-Lime Lacquered Grilled Chicken

For great grilled chicken, Filipinos crack a can of soda

By Albert StummJune 3, 2019

Parisian Lemon Meringue Pie

If all-American lemon meringue pie attended finishing school in Paris, this dessert would be the result. At L’Almanach Montmartre in the 18th, chef Léo Giorgis prepares a magical tarte citron meringuée by filling a buckwheat short crust with a gelatin

By Lawman JohnsonMay 20, 2026

Summer Tomato Tian

Ripe summer tomatoes are ideal for this all-tomato take on tian, with rich, concentrated flavor.

By Courtney HillSeptember 20, 2021

Pasta Salad with Charred Corn and Cilantro

Creamy-rich yet bright and fresh, this pasta salad takes inspiration from Mexican esquites, corn that typically is grilled or roasted and finished with a mixture of herbs, lime, chili and cheese. We simmer corn cobs in the water that’s later used for

By Dimitri DemopolousOctober 17, 2023

Grilled Corn with Miso Butter and Sesame Salt

We balance the toasty sweetness of grilled corn with the creamy-salty richness of butter, miso, sesame and salt. To keep the cooking simple, we borrow cookbook author J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s clever idea of using a disposable aluminum pan to contain the e

By Courtney HillMarch 25, 2025

Pesto Potato Salad

A no-mayo potato salad you can assemble in under an hour. Dress the potatoes while they’re still warm so they soak up the pesto.

By Lawman JohnsonJuly 8, 2026

Japanese Macaroni Salad

The key to Japan’s creamy-yet-fresh-tasting macaroni salad: Kewpie mayo that’s lush and rich, yet tangy-sweet.

By Dimitri DemopolousApril 25, 2023

Upside-Down Tomato Tart

For a crispy, sog-free tomato tart, bake the crust on top.

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 20, 2021

Thai Grilled Pork Skewers (Moo Ping)

These marinated skewers, coated in an umami-rich mixture of fish sauce, brown sugar and aromatics, are based on Thailand’s street food grilled over hardwood charcoal.

By Dawn YanagiharaApril 8, 2019

Batch-Muddled Mojitos

A stand mixer makes muddling mojitos for a crowd a breeze. The syrup and rum can be combined, covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours; any longer than that and the flavors mellow too much. We especially enjoy the slight salinity of San Pellegrino

By Matthew CardMay 31, 2017

S'mores Bars with Marshmallow Meringue

Cheryl Day, pastry chef and co-owner of Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, Georgia, makes a delightful baked good out of a classic campfire treat: s’mores. A buttery graham cracker crust is topped with a layer of chocolatey brownies and finished with

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 28, 2023

Taiwanese Grilled Corn

This smoky-spicy-sweet grilled corn was the highlight of Chris Kimball’s trip to a carnival-like market in Taipei.

By Diane UngerJune 4, 2018

Grilled Cilantro-Lime Skirt Steak

Cilantro, fish sauce and lime team up to quickly flavor grilled skirt steak. The saltiness of the steak pairs perfectly with pepper-lime dipping sauce. Grate the zest from the same limes you will juice to make the sauce.

By Courtney HillAugust 5, 2019

Coconut Macaroon Pie

Adapted from Yelapa—where pie is sold by the slice and eaten by hand—recipe developer Paola Briseño-González describes this as coconut macaroon in pie form.

By Rose HattabaughDecember 15, 2022

Burmese Tomato Salad with Shallots and Peanuts

This tomato salad is an electric symphony of sweet, salty, tangy, nutty, herbal and spicy notes that elevate tomatoes’ summery flavor.

By Courtney HillAugust 15, 2022

Austrian Potato Salad (Erdäpfelsalat)

The best potato salads come from outside the US, still creamy, yet made without mayo.

Tomato Salad with Burnt Honey Vinaigrette

Honey cooked to a deep amber gives ripe summer tomatoes a bittersweet backdrop, poured on warm with fennel, red wine vinegar and pounded pistachios.

By Courtney HillJune 30, 2026

Chili-Pineapple Margarita

The inspiration for this spicy margarita came from a cocktail we had at Hartwood, a restaurant in Tulum, Mexico. Chef Eric Werner steeped habanero chilies in tequila for over 36 hours to add kick. We simplified, infusing simple syrup with the same fla

Amalfi-Style Lemon Cake

"I married her just for the lemon cake," a sixth-generation Amalfi lemon farmer told us.

By Rose HattabaughOctober 22, 2021

Lemon and Pistachio Bars

To balance the bright acidity of lemon, our take on this classic bar incorporates a small measure of fruity, savory olive oil in both the custard and crust. We found that using egg yolks in addition to whole eggs boosts both richness and color. Butter

By Courtney HillJune 27, 2024

Slab Pizza with Sausage, Chard and Onion

This slab-style pizza boasts a pillowy, focaccia-like dough topped with garlicky tomato sauce, crisp sausage and silky sautéed greens. A flavorful cheese blend brings everything together. We recommend provolone and Asiago for their slightly funkier no

By Courtney HillAugust 21, 2024

Garlic-Rosemary Burgers with Taleggio Sauce

These deeply savory burgers were inspired by a recipe by Ignacio Mattos, chef of Estela in New York and author of a book by the same name. Mattos uses fish sauce as a seasoning for steak, but we opted for similarly salty and umami-rich Worcestershire

By Courtney HillApril 8, 2019

Georgian Garlic-Spiced Roasted Potatoes

At Dezerter Bazaar in Tbilisi, Luiza Panchulidze taught us to make Svanetian salt, a seasoning from the Svaneti region in mountainous northwestern Georgia. It is flavored with dried chilies, warm spices and ample garlic, and usually is paired with pot

By Rose HattabaughMarch 27, 2025

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

This super versatile reader favorite makes a light and sweet breakfast, dessert, or anytime snack. And it's made in a blender!

By Calvin CoxMarch 25, 2020

Apple Pie with Sour Cream Crust

For anyone who loves a double-crust apple pie but dreads the dough: sour cream makes this pastry rich, tender and genuinely easy to roll out.

By Rose HattabaughMarch 3, 2026

Japanese Potato Salad

Equal parts tangy and savory, this partially mashed potato salad is creamy without being heavy.

By Elizabeth GermainApril 10, 2017

Smashed Cucumber Salad

Smashing the cucumbers helped release their seeds and created rough surfaces for the dressing to cling to. For a simple variation on this recipe, add ¼ cup creamy peanut butter and 2 tablespoons water with the soy sauce and sesame oil to smooth the dr

Frozen Lemon Mousse

Thanks to store-bought lemon curd, you don’t need to spend any time at the stovetop to make this ethereal frozen mousse. With the help of a stand mixer, the base comes together in a few minutes, then is frozen in a loaf pan until firm enough to unmold

By Rose HattabaughAugust 12, 2024

Charred Guacamole (Guacamole Tatemado)

A trip to Mexico City revealed that when it comes to guacamole, anything goes. We saw it garnished with peanuts, flavored with all manner of herbs, even studded with seafood. We like the butteriness of avocado paired with smoky notes, so we created th

By Courtney HillApril 28, 2025

Tomato, Bread and Chorizo Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette

Italy’s toasty bread salad meets Spain’s bread-and-chorizo dish—a simple, yet incredibly satisfying balance of deep umami, sweetness, and crunch.

By Diane UngerAugust 9, 2023

Gochujang-Glazed Baby Back Ribs

Korean dwaeji kalbi are pork ribs seasoned with gochujang (a fermented chili paste), garlic, sugar and a few other high-impact ingredients. The ribs typically are grilled for only enough time to cook the pork through, not for hours on end to render th

By Diane UngerDecember 14, 2020

Whipped Feta Dip

Processing the feta and cream cheese before adding the remaining ingredients was the key to a light, whipped texture. We liked garnishing with mint, olive oil and pepper flakes. The feta can be refrigerated for up to a week. Use as a dip for crudite,

By Elizabeth GermainOctober 16, 2017

Smoky Chili-Garlic Pork Burgers

This recipe will make you a pork burger convert—succulent pork uniquely accommodates loads of spicy-sweet-garlicky flavor, with very little effort.

By Calvin CoxJune 23, 2020

Yelapa-Style Sweet Corn Pie

Corn pie (pay de elote) celebrates the sweet, grassy, delicate flavors of fresh corn that pair beautifully with sugar, eggs, and dairy.

By Rose HattabaughJune 6, 2022

Cherry and Chocolate Crumble Semifreddo

Easier than ice cream cake, but just as delicious.

By Courtney HillOctober 4, 2023

Steak with Worcestershire Butter Board Sauce

“Board sauces” originate with chef and cookbook author Adam Perry Lang. The concept: Make a simple mixture of ingredients—prepped on a cutting board—then set a just-cooked steak (or steaks) on top. As the meat rests and then during carving, the steak’

By Hisham Ali HassanSeptember 2, 2025

Tomato, Arugula and Bread Salad with Fresh Corn and Mozzarella

This vibrant, summery salad includes elements of Italian panzanella (bread salad). For best flavor and texture, we mix the tomato wedges and onion slices with the vinaigrette and allow them to marinate briefly before tossing in the leafy greens, herb,

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 7, 2021

Feta and Pistachio Dip

Our answer to the cheeseball: a tangy, nutty take on Turkish girit ezmesi, inspired by our friends at Honey & Co. in London.

By Rose HattabaughDecember 22, 2025

Grilled Eggplant with Sesame and Herbs

We learned the beauty of smoky-fresh, summery eggplant in the Arabic restaurant Ein Hod, by the Mediterranean Sea: smoky and charred, yet bright and herbal.

By Diane UngerJune 5, 2017

Grilled Gochujang Shrimp with Scallions

Our Digital Editor's favorite weeknight grilling recipe. High-impact gochujang brings complex flavor to this simple grilled shrimp.

Esquites Mexican Roasted Corn

These buttery, savory-sweet corn kernels are possibly Mexico City’s best street food: “an explosion of sweet and creamy corn, tangy citrus, briny cheese and chili heat.”

By Calvin CoxMarch 31, 2022

Hot Milk Sponge Cake

This old-fashioned recipe is everything you wish angel food cake would be—light, but tender and flavorful, rather than vanishing and cotton-candy sweet.

By Milk StreetOctober 28, 2022

Cantonese Barbecued Pork (Char Siu)

In Hong Kong, our favorite iterations of char siu, or savory-sweet Cantonese barbecued pork, were from Sun Kwai Heung BBQ Food and Hoi Kee Roast Meat. To make char siu, fat-rich pork is cut into long strips, seasoned sometimes with a rub but more comm

By Courtney HillMay 5, 2025

Buttermilk Monkey Bread

Monkey bread gets an update that makes the pull-apart loaf even better thanks to buttermilk, a little whole-wheat flour and a lighter hand with sugar. The result is more tender and nuanced—and less sweet—than the versions many of us grew up with. Brow

By Erika BruceSeptember 12, 2024

Cuban-Spiced Burgers

Partially freezing the ground beef before mixing in the spices helped prevent the meat from becoming compacted during mixing and shaping. But it's still important to use a light touch when handling the beef. The burgers can be cooked immediately after

By Diane UngerJune 5, 2017

Cumin-Seared Flank Steak with Lime

We figured out how to get crazy tender steak, and work in loads of flavor, for this lightspeed version of a Cuban classic.

By Courtney HillFebruary 1, 2024

Smoky “Pulled” Portobello Sandwiches

Smoky pulled pork, but portobello: in this vegetarian twist, we smoke and sauce portobellos for succulent texture and classic BBQ flavor.

Red-on-Red Slaw with Horseradish and Dill

Crunchy red cabbage and tender beets join forces in this vibrant, Nordic-inspired slaw. Refrigerated cooked beets, found in the supermarket’s produce section, make this a breeze to prepare. For ease, we also use refrigerated prepared horseradish inste

By Courtney HillFebruary 24, 2025

Grilled Tacos al Pastor

We figured out how to get dripping, fall-apart tender meat for the best shortcut tacos al pastor.

Pakistani-Style Grilled Marinated Leg of Lamb

A tenderizing trio of papaya, yogurt and lemon juice gives this lamb a rich, juicy texture.

By Courtney HillApril 5, 2024

Drunken Shrimp with Tequila (Camarones Borrachos)

In camarones borrachos, or “drunken shrimp,” tequila is subtle base for layering classic Mexican flavors—lime and cilantro, cutting through rich, garlicky butter.

By Courtney HillApril 1, 2022

Char Siu-Style Baby Back Ribs

A popular style of Cantonese barbecued meat, char siu means “fork roasted,” a reference to the traditional way it was prepared. Long, thin strips of pork cut from the shoulder or butt were marinated in a sweet, spiced sauce, then suspended from long f

By Courtney HillMarch 31, 2022

Oeufs Mayonnaise

Oeuf mayonnaise is a beloved French bistro classic of halved hard-cooked eggs that are garnished with mayonnaise. At Le Saint Sebastien in Paris’ 11th arrondissement, we had a lesson in how to prepare the hors d’oeuvre from chef Chris Edwards, vice-ch

By Courtney Hill & Kevin ClarkApril 4, 2023

Spanish Almond Cake (Tarta de Santiago)

This fragrant almond cake taught us the secret to extra springy, chewy texture.

By Julia RackowAugust 6, 2018

Cabbage Slaw with Habanero and Allspice

This piquant slaw was inspired by pikliz, the fiery Haitian pickled relish that accompanies meats and fried foods to balance the richness. We toss thinly sliced cabbage with salt and let it stand for about 30 minutes to soften and draw out the water.

By Dimitri DemopolousOctober 17, 2023

Coconut Layer Cake

For our show "My Family Recipe," we recreated a Southern grandmother’s dreamy, towering coconut cake.

By Milk StreetOctober 28, 2022

Turkish Chickpea Salad

In our version of nohut piyazi, sun-dried tomatoes, Aleppo pepper, and a medley of herbs and lemon juice bring bright and rich flavor to earthy chickpeas.

By Calvin CoxJanuary 25, 2022

Coconut Cashew Cake (Sanwin Makin)

Our lighter, springier version of Burma’s simple, richly coconut-y cake.

By Yvonne RupertiDecember 11, 2017

Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream

This creamy yet refreshing cucumber salad, called uborka saláta, is a traditional accompaniment to paprikash. The skin on an English cucumber is thin, but we prefer to remove it anyway. Salting the sliced cucumber for an hour prior to dressing removes

Banana Custard Pie with Caramelized Sugar

Recipe writer Paola Briseño-González’s rustic banana custard pie, inspired by Yelapa’s beachside pie, is best topped with crackly-crisp sugar brûlée.

By Rose HattabaughDecember 21, 2021

Tlayudas (Oaxacan Quesadillas)

When a taco won't satisfy your appetite, reach for a hefty tlayuda: Oaxaca's pizza-format tortilla topped with melty cheese, meat, beans, chilis, and fixings galore.

By Diane UngerApril 8, 2019

Beer Cheese

Beer cheese, also known as pub cheese, comes in different forms—it might be spreadable like whipped cream cheese or a warm, creamy dip like Swiss fondue. We use sodium citrate, a salt that’s a key ingredient in the production of processed cheese, to k

By Milk StreetFebruary 1, 2024

Charred Zucchini and Tahini Dip

This creamy dip, a variation on baba ghanoush, uses zucchini as its base instead of eggplant. The mild, subtle flavor of the summer squash benefits greatly from deep charring (we use the broiler), a dose of garlic and a hit of lemon juice. Once tender

By Calvin CoxSeptember 17, 2021