35 Big-Batch Recipes for Easy Meal Prep

Alain Ducasse's Gougères

This gougères recipe is a wonderful make-ahead hors d'oeuvre option: A soft dough that gets piped out and baked into crisp, airy pockets of cheesy delight. Simply stash the baked puffs in the freezer, then reheat in the oven when you're ready to serve.

Beef-and-Fonio Meatballs with Sweet Potato Stew

Fonio, a West African staple grain, keeps these meatballs tender while imparting a mildly nutty, earthy flavor. They can be formed and frozen up to 1 month ahead. Simply scale the recipe as needed and thaw before cooking.

Sweet Plum Focaccia

With a delicate and airy crumb, this focaccia is the perfect showcase for ripe plums, which caramelize in the oven as the focaccia bakes. The focaccia can be frozen in a zip-close bag for up to one month and reheated in a 400°F oven.

Lalo's Cacahuate Beans with Pico De Gallo

Mexico City chef Eduardo "Lalo" Garcia's slow-cooked beans are super-soft and complex with concentrated flavor, freshness, and crunch. The recipe yields four main-course bowls worth or eight side dishes that can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to three months.

Smoked Mozzarella Mezzelune with Braised Onion Sauce

This crescent-shaped stuffed pasta similar to ravioli is filled with rosemary and smoked mozzarella and frozen for up to three months.

Carla Hall's Buttermilk Biscuits

Made with a combination of grated cold butter for flavor and vegetable shortening for tenderness, Carla Hall's biscuits owe their towering, flaky layers to her classic laminating technique. The unbaked biscuits can be frozen in a resealable freezer bag for up to two months.

Sweet Potato Cheesecake Empanadas

Puerto Rico and the American South intersect deliciously in this dessert empanada, which combines the flavors of marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole with spiced pumpkin cheesecake. The empanada wrappers can be filled and frozen for up to two months before frying.

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

This iconic sauce from Italian cooking expert Marcella Hazan is good in any season and can be made in one pan with minimal cleanup. The ingredients are widely accessible and the recipe can be doubled to feed a crowd. The finished sauce can be frozen in an airtight, freezer-safe container for up to one month. 

Two-Bite Parmesan Biscuits

These biscuits are baked on a bed of grated Parmesan cheese, resulting in a crispy, cheesy crust around the bottoms. The dough can be prepped and frozen for up to three months, making these an easy addition to a bread basket or for sandwiching a holiday ham.

Easy Ravioli

Use your choice of cheese or meat filling to prepare square, half-moon, or sun-shaped stuffed pasta. Uncooked ravioli can be frozen for up to one month before cooking in batches in boiling, salted water for about three minutes each.

Brown Butter and Dark Chocolate Rye Cookies

Dark rye flour adds an extra layer of earthiness to these crumbly dark chocolate cookies. The dough logs can be refrigerated for up to a week or frozen for up to two months for slice-and-bake cookies as needed.

Chipotle-Cranberry-Glazed Turkey Meatballs

Chipotle pepper and honey give this cranberry sauce gentle notes of heat and sweetness, and the meatballs are well-seasoned with cumin, ancho chile powder, and smoked paprika, so that every bite is full of flavor.

The sauce can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for up to six months. The cooked meatballs may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days or in the freezer for up to three months.

Thousand-Layer Duck Fat Potatoes

Chef Shaun Searley's gorgeous layered potatoes from The Quality Chop House in London come out fluffy on the inside and impossibly crisp on the outside. The portioned potatoes can be stored in the freezer for up to a month before frying.

Soup Joumou

This Haitian stew of beef, vegetable, and squash is commonly eaten on January 1 to signify the anniversary of freedom from French Colonial rule in 1804. Nadege Fleurimond's recipe yields 5 quarts, and the aromatic flavor base Epis can be frozen for up to a month to use as a marinade or to swirl into soups, stews, or sauces.

Cinnamon-Sugar Churros with Cajeta

Churros require a relatively stiff batter to help them hold their ridged shape, leaving plenty of nooks for cinnamon-sugar. Claudette Zepeda's recipe can be piped and frozen for up to a month before frying.

Make-Ahead Smoky Madeira Gravy

A concentrated smoked turkey stock serves as the base of this gravy, which keeps in the refrigerator for up to three days and freezes beautifully for up to two months.

Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potato Hand Pies

Lightly mashed sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, tangy sour cream, and aged cheddar make up the creamy-cheesy filling in these savory hand pies that taste like Thanksgiving. The hand pies can be prepared and frozen before baking for up to three months.

Sister Pie All-Butter Pie Dough

This versatile, all-butter pie dough has a delicate flake from higher-fat European-style butter. Developed by Sister Pie owner Lisa Ludwinski, it can be refrigerated for up to three days and frozen for up to one month.

Swiss Army Stew

Everything goes into one pot; a few hours later a meal ideal for the depths of winter emerges with flavor and satisfaction. Leftovers can be refrigerated but resist freezing as it will compromise the texture of the potatoes.

Venison Meatballs

Cookbook author Hank Shaw likes to use ground venison for his British take on cocktail meatballs. He seasons them with warming spices and herbs and leavens them with ground oats — a Scottish variation that makes them gluten-free. These can be frozen before baking for up to three months.

Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Not only is this a great recipe for utilizing leftover chicken, it yields eight servings that can be refrigerated for up to two days.

Smoky Simmered Beans with Sofrito

Sofrito, a base of sauteed aromatics from Puerto Rican cuisine, can be used for soups, stews, and other bean dishes. It can be stored in the fridge for up to one week or in the freezer for up to three months.

Potato and Poblano Taquitos

Potatoes, chiles, and mushrooms fill these irresistible taquitos, which are easy to make for a crowd and can be frozen for up to one month.

Chocolate Pretzel Crinkle Cookies

This version of chocolate crinkle cookies is not only gluten-free but also perfectly salty-sweet with the best-ever chewy center. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days and in the freezer for up to three months.

Corn Tortillas

Hot Bread Kitchen's richly flavorful tortillas made with masa from freshly ground blue or white corn can be frozen for up to one month before cooking.

Classic Chicken Stock

Chef André Soltner's basic chicken stock is perfect for making sauces, gravies, braises and soups. This scalable recipe makes 3 quarts that can be refrigerated for up to three days or frozen for up to one month.

Parker House Rolls

Chef Alex Guarnaschelli's fluffy, buttery rolls have a homey quality. This recipe makes a big batch, and the unbaked rolls freeze well for up to one month.

Slow Cooker Beef Goulash

Grace Parisi's slow cooker recipe for this warming eastern European short rib stew is best served in deep bowls over buttery noodles. The recipe yields eight servings that can be refrigerated for up to five days or frozen for up to three months.

Ube Buns

These vibrant purple buns from PogiBoy in Washington, D.C., are soft and bouncy with a tight, fluffy crumb, making them a great base for a burger. They can be frozen for up to one month.

Four-Chile Chili

This chili can be refrigerated for up to four days and frozen for up to two months. Serve it in bowls, topped with a generous sprinkling of cilantro, and pass the sour cream at the table.

Beet Gnocchi with Walnut-Sage Butter

2012 F&W Best New Chef Jenn Louis found these intense beet gnocchi in northwestern Italy. They are sweet and earthy and so delicious, they barely need a sauce. The gnocchi can be shaped and frozen for up to one month before cooking.

Apple Pie Bars

America's iconic dessert is reinvented as a bar with a nutty, streusel-like topping and a crisp, buttery shortbread crust. Apple pie bars can be frozen for up to one month.

Mac and Cheese Bites

To make these crispy macaroni and cheese hors d'oeuvres for any gathering, prepare 35 and freeze overnight before breading and frying.

German Lentil Soup

Lydie Marshall's recipe yields 4 quarts of this hearty lentil soup with lamb, potatoes, and vegetables. It can be refrigerated for up to three days.

Chocolate Chip and Banana Muffins

Like banana bread, these especially moist chocolate chip muffins from former F&W editor Grace Parisi are a great way to use up overripe bananas. They can be wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to one month.