“Weeknight” has become a (maybe even the) central pillar of recipe content online. It is that vast category of solutions for people who are cooking because they have to, in the all-too-imperfect circumstances that most of us find ourselves in from Monday through Friday. Namely, the lack of time, ingredients, knowledge, and will.
The proof is in the data: At Bon Appétit our weeknight recipes reliably outperform other categories, like projects, baking, and drinks. But the question of what exactly constitutes a weeknight recipe has always been up for review. It’s a highly subjective designation, and the qualifications have shifted during my time here.
Internally, we rely on a set of “rules” for weeknight recipes. The ingredients list shouldn’t be a mile long, ideally a dozen or under. You shouldn’t have to go to multiple grocery stores. Active time should be well under an hour. But all this it’s a moving target at best. So this week, I gathered four of my colleagues—deputy food editor Hana Asbrink, senior commerce editor Noah Kaufman, associate cooking editor Nina Moskowitz, and senior service editor Kelsey Youngman—to see if we could come up with a better definition.
Chris: Are we ready to talk about WT actual F is a weeknight recipe? Does anyone have an off the cuff definition?
Kelsey: I don’t think this counts as a definition, but I have a…firm boundary? Which is no sub-recipes allowed
Chris: Oh Kelsey I like that- it is something easy to overlook. Say more!
Kelsey: I am really happy to spend more than 20, or 30 or 45 minutes on dinner but I will not be making three separate components that then need to be assembled and cooked again.
Nina: Okay but sauces don’t count as a sub recipe right?
Kelsey: If they are uncooked, they’re in! I will whisk a sauce or dressing. I will chop a salsa or side salad.
Chris: Yeah interesting- Kelsey- if we separated a sauce as its own standalone element, lets say in a dilly chimichurri for salmon, would you be annoyed? Is it a recipe formatting thing?
Kelsey: partially recipe formatting for sure. I see line breaks and subheads and I assume there will be more work. I’m more interested in optimizing great store-bought helpers and not wanting to feel like I’ve embarked on a project instead of feeding myself
Chris: And while we are here, what about other definitions of weeknight cooking? Like is it 10 ingredients or less? With freebies for cooking fat, salt and pepper?I feel like we make rules in media, then break them, then make new rules.
Hana: My personal benchmark for a weeknight recipe: If it can be prepared in the amount of time my Zojirushi cooks rice on the quick setting (approx. 30-45 mins), it’s a 👍
Nina: Ooh i like that Hana.
Kelsey: Same!
Chris: Hana tell me more about what you actually cook on a weeknight because I think I actually have no idea?
Hana: That is a great Q – usually I set the rice cooker and figure it out as I go… a lot of salmon (that I can cut into fillets and quick-sear or keep whole on a sheet-pan)… a lot of ground beef seasoned with soy or other hard-working Asian ingredients… and then a stir-fry or blanch/seasoning of whatever is in the drawer. It’s more of a formula (“journey”), less of a prescriptive end result (“destination”).
