23 Delightful White Wine Recipes to Make Now

By Food & Wine and Megan Soll
Updated June 04, 2020
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Credit: Abby Hocking
Bright and buttery white wines are the perfect match for plenty of dishes, but cooking with white wine can be even better. Delicious pastas, dishes with mussels, clams, and oysters, and plenty of chicken recipes are made even better when you add wine. Chicken thighs with white wine sauce, buttery pasta with clams, or brothy mussels make for the perfect dish with Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. Read on for some of our favorite ways to cook with white wine.
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Coq au Riesling

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In this creamy take on coq au vin, the chicken is braised in dry Riesling and silky-rich crème fraîche is stirred in at the end, making it extra-decadent.

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Poached Salmon with Corn and White Wine-Butter Sauce

Credit: © Frances Janisch
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Poaching fish in wine is an easy way to infuse it with subtle flavor. To prevent seasoning from washing off, serve the salmon with a sprinkling of coarse salt.

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Sauvignon Blanc-Steamed Mussels with Garlic Toasts

Credit: Photo © Stephanie Foley
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A crisp, citrusy Sauvignon Blanc, such as Indaba, would be great in these mussels and to drink with them.

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Riesling Gelée with Strawberry Conserve

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This beautiful, impressive dessert is easy to make and can be prepared the day before.

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Viognier-Steamed Clams with Bacon and Parsnips

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These bacon-garnished briny clams, steamed in a fruity and floral Viognier, are perfect for the cooler spring and fall months. Try serving them with the wine they're steamed in.

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Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone Ice Cream

Credit: © James Merrell
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Chef Daniel Humm infuses roasted peaches with honey-rosemary syrup and displays a strong Italian influence by using mascarpone in this ice cream.

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Zesty Braised Chicken with Lemon and Capers

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Sauvignon Blanc adds zip to the lemon-and-caper-infused liquid.

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Seared Scallops with Pinot Gris Butter Sauce

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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Chef Hugh Acheson flavors shallots with butter and Pinot Gris to create a sauce for scallops: "Pinot Gris loves shellfish," he says.

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Garlicky Littleneck Clams with Fregola

Credit: © Constantine Poulos
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A sweet, versatile garlic puree is the star of this satisfying dish. Spreads the leftovers on toast in place of butter or fold it into Greek yogurt for a quick dip. Once the garlic puree is made, this dish comes together in minutes.

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Saffron Risotto

Credit: Jennifer Causey
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One of the classic ingredients in this risotto is bone marrow ... not generally something most people have in their larder. But Snake River Farms, one of America’s great meat purveyors, solves that problem. They package and sell dry-aged beef fat, called Chef’s Gold. The flavor is rich and complex, and you can store it in your freezer. And it whips into the risotto just like the butter most recipes call for at the end of cooking. It’s an excellent stand-in for marrow in this dish.

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Linguine with Clams and Fennel

Credit: © Tara Fisher
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Cooking clams with sautéed fennel and leeks infuses them with flavor. They’re fanastic with this chile-laced pasta from chef Erling Wu-Bower.

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White Wine–Baked Apples

Credit: Abby Hocking / Food & Wine
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The key to these simple baked apples from Spanish winemaker Álvaro Palacios is using a delicious drinking wine, like white Rioja.

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Pork Loin Roast with Caramelized Onions and White Wine–Dijon Sauce

Credit: Charissa Fay
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It’s important to make sure that the pork roast has enough air circulating around it (especially underneath) as it cooks, so use a roasting pan fitted with a rack to elevate the meat as it cooks.

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Slow-Roasted Lamb Shoulder with Shallots and White Wine

Credit: Eva Kolenko
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Pre-salting the lamb (the longer the better) will deepen its flavor and increase moisture and tenderness in the meat. Afterward, a simple sear then braise renders fork-tender shreds of meat. A spoonful of garlicky gremolata heightens those long-cooked flavors.

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Baked Clams with Bacon and Garlic

Credit: Marcus Nilsson
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This ultimate version of baked clams has chopped clams in the filling, doubling down on briny clam flavor. Bacon, parsley, lemon and a touch of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese add a savory, herby kick.

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Chicken with Roasted-Garlic Pan Sauce

Credit: Abby Hocking / Food & Wine
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This dish is inspired by the rotisserie chicken and sauce from El Asador de Nati in Córdoba. The base for the rich, extremely flavorful pan sauce comes from the chicken pan drippings and a whole head of luscious roasted garlic.

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Summer Squash Gratin

Credit: John Kernick
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Laura Rege puts abundant summer squash and zucchini to good use in this beautiful and very simple gratin, which gets fantastic flavor from white wine, leeks and Gruyère cheese.

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Fennel-and-Mussels Alfredo

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This rule-breaking pasta from chef Joshua McFadden will completely change your mind about dairy and seafood. The deeply sweet, creamy flavor of the anise-laced sauce perfectly compliments the brininess of the mussels.

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Lobster Gnudi

Credit: Abby Hocking
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This elegant lobster gnudi dish from chef Scott Conant gets a springy spin with bright green peas and ramp leaves. If you have fresh fava beans, those would also be great tossed into this dish.

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Buttered Pasta with Clams and Green Chiles

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At Chicago’s Roister restaurant, chef Andrew Brochu puts a delicious spin on classic pasta with clam sauce, adding a spicy green chile ragout, fresh herbs, crème fraîche and lime juice.

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Linguine with Red Clam Sauce

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Pasta tossed with plenty of chopped clams, garlic, and tomato sauce is an iconic Italian-American dish. Here, a few simple touches enhance that homestyle taste: A dose of anchovies boost the savory taste of the clams, herby vermouth stands in for dry white wine (although you could use either), and a touch of butter tossed in at the end unites the pasta and sauce in a truly magical way.

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Rustic Garlic Chicken

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Yes, three heads of garlic. You don't have to peel the cloves first. They soften during cooking and take on a subtle sweetness. Each person squeezes the garlic out of its skin onto the plate to eat with the chicken.

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Risotto with Anchovy and Ginger

Credit: © Con Poulos
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Marzapane restaurant in Rome flavors this buttery risotto with both salted anchovies and colatura, the deeply savory Italian version of fish sauce. As a surprisingly delicious contrast to the rich risotto, the chef garnishes the dish with candied ginger.

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By Food & Wine and Megan Soll