Best Recipes Ever: Stews and One-Pot Dishes

This brothy stew is succulent and soothing, but sisters Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley invigorate it with fish sauce, Asian spices and lemon juice. "We both just love sour flavors," says Jasmine Hemsley. "It's our Filipino mum's influence."

In this luscious, tomato-rich stew, Marco Canora cooks calamari slowly until it becomes supertender. He says calamari is absolutely essential to the success of the dish, because it releases its liquid as it simmers, which adds a huge amount of flavor to the sauce. “I’m a big fan of substitutions,” he says, “but not in this case.”

In this version of chicken stew from Food & Wine's Paige McCurdy-Flynn, hominy takes place of noodles, and add fresh turmeric and lime juice add an irresistible deep flavor. If you can't find fresh turmeric, 1 tablespoon of ground turmeric can be substituted.

This lemony stew has a delicious mix of spinach, sorrel, watercress, romaine and herbs.

This sweet and tangy Middle Eastern stew, with falling-apart-tender lamb, is one of wordsmith and perfect host Jesse Sheidlower’s favorites. He found it in Nawal Nasrallah’s Delights from the Garden of Eden: A Cookbook and a History of the Iraqi Cuisine.

This hearty recipe is a cross between a soup and a stew. The grated fresh corn that’s added at the end gives the dish body and a wonderfully fresh flavor. The beans need to soak overnight, so plan accordingly.

Andrew Zimmern’s sensational seafood-packed gumbo is terrific in its simplicity, with a foolproof roux that requires just 15 minutes of stirring instead of the usual hour.

When F&W editors first saw the recipe for this simple braised vegetable dish from legendary French chef Alain Ducasse, we were skeptical; the combination just seemed so odd. But gently cooking the fruit and vegetables in chicken broth makes them surprisingly delicious. The dish has since become our favorite cold-weather side for chicken, pork and duck.

This hearty pasta dish is studded with chunks of Italian sausage and mixed with a quick garlic-infused tomato sauce. It’s then topped with dollops of fresh ricotta and a sprinkling of both mozzarella and Parmigiano-Reggiano, which form a cheesy layer as the pasta bakes.

When making most stews, cooks typically brown the meat before braising it; here, Ethan Stowell skips that step, which simplifies the Moroccan recipe and gives the lamb a buttery, melt-in-the-mouth texture. The dish is vibrantly flavored with ginger, cumin, coriander, olives and lemon; the broth is delicious over couscous.

The chicken stock and sour cream both serve a dual purpose here: They moisten the biscuits and enrich the thick, luscious sauce.

“While in Los Angeles filming the second season of Top Chef: Just Desserts, I discovered Café Gratitude, a vegan café with a cult following,” Gail Simmons says. “For me, its fresh, simple food was the perfect antidote to all that sugar. I became addicted to aptly named dishes like I Am Fortified—a bowl of whole grains with lots of cooked vegetables. When I got back to New York, I developed my own version.”

The chopped fresh herbs in the biscuits that top this comforting chicken stew add another layer of flavor to the dish.

This spicy Mexican-style stew is loaded with vegetables, including carrots, an excellent source of vitamins A and K. Andrew Murray makes it for his employees around harvest time. “It’s our comfort food at the winery,” he says. “And it’s a nice excuse to stop for a few minutes and eat together, even when we’re busy.”

Chef Laurence Jossel created this stripped-down version of the classic French stew, with creamy white beans, luscious store-bought duck confit, smoky French garlic sausage and slab bacon. Letting the beans rest overnight develops their flavors.

For Aida Mollenkamp, spiced Moroccan tagines are a dinner-party staple because they can be made in advance. “In case something impromptu happens,” she says, “you’re not stressed about the main dish.” And tagines are incredibly versatile. This version is vegetarian, but lamb or chicken could be added.

For this beef stew, Jacques Pépin uses a special piece of the shoulder called the flatiron steak. This long, narrow piece is extremely lean, tender and moist, and it makes an ideal stew. He does not use stock, demiglace or even water. He makes his stew strictly with a robust red wine. This rich, winey beef stew is always a hit with his chef friends.

This one-pot dinner from F&W’s Gail Simmons is an enriched take on classic chicken soup with rice; at once flavorful, hearty and comforting.