Cooking for the New Year! Our Top Recipes for Celebrating and Starting Fresh!

What if the dishes you cooked on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day could invite luck, prosperity, and ease into the year ahead?

New Year’s can feel surprisingly complicated for home cooks: too celebratory to ignore, but too close to the holidays to summon big energy.

That’s why this week we’re helping you decide what’s worth cooking, what can be made in advance, and all the auspicious food rituals and symbolic dishes to sweeten the year ahead.

By the end of this episode, you’ll:

1. Discover playful appetizers that are eaten for luck and deliciousness
2. New Year’s classics like noodles for longevity, and a gumbo made with auspicious black-eyed peas
3. Nutritious and lighter recipes to ease into the first day of the year

Press play to celebrate to start a new year feeling supported in your kitchen!

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Links:

Appetizers

Bacon wrapped dates from Gimme Some Yum, and you can also make it with beef bacon

Cheese ball bites with a pretzel handle from Delish.com

Pistachio goat cheese dates from Live Eat Learn

Sour patch grapes and Prosecco grapes Delish.com

Mains & Sides

Mushroom ragu pasta by Heidi Swanson

Gochujang mushroom udon by Hetti Lui MCkinnon

Mini Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins from Our Zesty Life

Black-eyed pea and pork gumbo by Donald Link, Stephen Strymewski and adapted by Bret Stephens for NYT Cooking – served with rice and potato salad on the side, like our fave Herby Potato Salad and or Sonya’s Salad Olivier (Soviet potato salad)

Desserts

Carolina Gelen’s no-bake chocolate mousse pie or cranberry pudding

Old School chocolate trifle with chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, oreos and whipped cream

January First Food

Lentil and chicken soup with sweet potatoes and escarole by Anna Stockwell for Epicurious

Coconut braised collard greens by Von Diaz and Julia Moskin for NYT Cooking

(Served with leftover white rice from the night before if you made gumbo for NYE!)

Anna Thomas’ Green Soup from Food52

Chickpea Spinach and Feta Pie by Hetty Lui McKinnon for NYT Cooking - make in individual in muffin tins to ease you into meal prep!

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