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Food

30 Simple Recipes That Only Need 6 Ingredients or Fewer

These 6-ingredient dishes and desserts will keep you fed even when your fridge looks like you just got into minimalism.

Why do some of the dishes that seem the most simple, and the most "rustic," actually require a list of ingredients as long as the phone book? (Heh, remember phone books?) A rustic French peasant dish, like cassoulet, seems like it shouldn’t require you to gather dozens of ingredients to pull it off—isn’t that stuff supposed to be born out of using up whatever you happen to have lying around?

If we’ve gotta go to three different grocery stores to get all the right things just to make dinner, that’s too many ingredients. Here are a few recipes from the MUNCHIES archives that you can pull off with six ingredients or fewer—and get out of the grocery store by taking advantage of the 10 Items or Less [sic] lane.

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(Full disclosure: we’re considering ingredients like oil, butter, salt, and pepper to be things that a mildly competent home cook generally keeps stocked in their pantry already, but if you are less prepared, well, then, these are still at least 10 ingredients or fewer and that ain’t bad either.)

Soppressata-Fried Artichoke Hearts Recipe

Tender bites of artichoke hearts draped with a sage leaf; wrapped in a crispy, salty, porky blanket of soppressata; and tucked into bed with a shower of parm—and yes, it's just as dreamy as it sounds.

Easy Homemade Hot Sauce Recipe

Use any small spicy red pepper you prefer, at the heat level of your choice, for a quick and extremely flavorful homemade condiment that doesn't take much time at all.

Salmon and Kimchi Pancakes

These salmon and kimchi pancakes take just five main ingredients to pull together, plus one extra (mayo) to make a dipping sauce. Sure, you can call it "aioli" if you wanna feel fancier.

Baked Bacon and Eggs Recipe

Baked Bacon and Eggs Recipe

The MUNCHIES crew are all massive fans of this recipe at the moment, and we want to pull you all into the one-pan-baked-bacon-and-egg cult, too.

Parmesan and Garlic Pasta Recipe

Parmesan and Garlic Pasta

Buttered noodles skirt that line between "desperation food" and "comfort food." But add some garlic and cheese, and you'll definitely be sure which side they fall on.

Extra-Rich Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe

Extra-Rich Carbonara Recipe

This not-totally-traditional carbonara gets an extra hit of umami from soy sauce, but if you'd rather do as the Romans, all you really need are egg yolks, guanciale, pasta, and grated cheese.

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Pasta Limone with Artichokes Recipe

Eating artichokes is great; breaking them down is kind of a pain. Use frozen artichoke hearts in this quick pasta and no one will be the wiser.

Soy-Cured Eggs Recipe

Soy-Cured Eggs Recipe

Something "cured" sounds like it'll take an awful long time before it’s ready to be eaten, doesn’t it? Not the case here: these soy-cured eggs taste great after an hour and a half, or up to three days for maximum potency.

Homemade Sourdough Bread Recipe

The ingredients are the easy part of sourdough bread baking—it's the technique and timing that take practice. Give this bread recipe a try when you're looking for a new challenge.

Breakfast Bologna Bowl Recipe

Bologna Bowl Recipe

Look, we know this looks like something that was the brainchild of a five year old or else someone just really, really stoned, but this bologna-and-egg bowl is remarkably tasty—and it takes just 10 minutes and uses only the microwave.

Smoked Salmon Toasts Recipe

These salmon-topped triangles are perfect for brunch, a lazy dinner, a fancy-ish high tea, or a desk lunch that's much, much better than average. They're perfect pretty much anytime.

Homemade String Cheese Recipe

You might think that the kinda unnatural shape of a stick of string cheese is the creation of mad scientists employing untold forms of chemical experimentation? Nah. Turns out, it's pretty easy to make them yourself with just curds and salt!

Easy Hungarian Pogasca Recipe

Eating one big biscuit is fun. Eating handfuls of tiny, cheesy, buttery biscuits is even more fun.

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Basic Scone Recipe

Easy Scone Recipe

These absolutely perfect scones from pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz are delightful as breakfast or dessert or a mid-afternoon treat.

Passionfruit Curd Recipe

Passionfruit Curd Recipe

Use this sweet and tropical curd to top the scones above, or maybe a pavlova to brighten your spirits in the midst of dreary winter.

Simple Roast Chicken Recipe

Simple Roast Chicken Recipe

Alright, this recipe isn’t so much a "recipe" as it is an explanation of a technique, but still—you can be on your way to a delicious roast chicken dinner with just a bird and some salt. No need to mess with the classics.

Avocado Egg Toast Recipe

Avocado Egg Toast Recipe

Avocado toast is boring and blah blah blah, people will talk some crap about Millennials on the internet. Toad in the hole toast with avocado, meanwhile? Absolutely delightful.

Butcher Sandwich Recipe

Butcher Sandwich

Steak scraps + good bread + condiments of your choice + herbs + salty cheese = lunch, done.

Pepperoni Pizza Pockets Recipe

Frozen puff pastry saves the day yet again in these pepperoni pizza pockets, which are basically the best Hot Pocket you've ever had.

Chicken Paillard Recipe

Chicken Paillard Recipe

Five ingredients create a delicious and simple main course in just 12 minutes. What excuse do you have to not cook dinner tonight?

Chicken Saltimbocca Recipe

Chicken Saltimbocca Recipe

When Jess Shadbolt and Clare de Boer from New York’s King restaurant have saltimbocca on their menu, it’s usually a bird that’s a little fancier than chicken, but this adaptation of their dish is perfect in its simplicity.

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Pork, Cheddar, and Tomatillo Chimichangas Recipe

We love homemade salsa too, but "nights you want a quick and simple meal" and "nights you want to make your own salsa" are kind of mutually exclusive. For those lazy nights, it's fine to use the premade stuff for these easy chimichangas.

Chicken Liver Mousse Recipe

Chicken Liver Mousse Recipe

Slather this chicken liver mousse on toast with cucumbers for a light lunch, or serve it with crostini as a party snack.

Pesto, Artichoke, and Olive Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe

Switch your tuna salad up using pantry staples that are definitely more fun than the bunch of celery that'll go limp and sad in the fridge when you can't think of anything else to do with it.

Stir-Fried Japanese Eggplant Recipe

Japanese eggplant hold their shape and texture a little better when stir-fried in this dish, but if you can only get your hands on Italian, those’ll work fine, too.

Canned Tuna and White Bean Salad with Avocado Recipe

You know what's even better than a short ingredients list? An even shorter list of directions. For this fresh take on tuna salad, all you've really gotta do is open some cans and stir.

Easy Melon Salad Recipe

Easy Melon Salad Recipe

The best thing about summer is you can get away with barely cooking anything and showing it off as a "simple way to show off the season's bounty." When the time comes, make this no-cook combo of melon and feta.

Easy Latkes Recipe

Easy Latkes Recipe

Don’t skip the matzoh meal and a bit of schmaltz, which give these latkes a richer taste. And sure, it adds to the ingredient list, but latkes wouldn't be the same without applesauce and sour cream for serving.

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Sweet Potato Chip Tortilla Recipe

A bag of potato chips is absolutely a valid dinner when you're feeling the mid-week morale slump—but when you've got a little more gas in the tank, turn those chips into an easy Spanish tortilla. You'll be shocked by how far eggs, chips, and oil can stretch.

Homemade Kouign Amann Recipe

This is proof that the simplest ingredients can turn out the most indulgent results—though, again, this one's all about technique. Kouign amann are a bit like croissants with caramelized sugar edges, and who better to learn from than cronut inventor Dominique Ansel?

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