100 Dinner Ideas for Right Now

The calendar says that the first day of January is the start of a new year. But for me, it has always been September, when I put aside the sandy and slack routines of summer (hot dogs on the grill, takeout pizza on the beach) and stare down the months and school year ahead. What will I make for dinner tomorrow? What even goes in a lunchbox? It’s a time teeming with decisions to make, appointments to schedule and forms to fill; your calendar becomes your single source of truth.

So let us take one thing off your to-do list and help you decide what to cook. Every week, I talk a lot of about fast favorites in my newsletter, Five Weeknight Dishes. (Sign up here!) Now, as is our annual tradition at New York Times Cooking, I’ve handpicked 100 recipes for you to try in the months ahead. All take less than an hour to make, with many ready in less than 35 minutes, and one recipe requiring only 10.

I kept families with young children in mind when I made this list, but plenty of recipes on it are more sophisticated, for those of you who don’t have a passel of chicken nuggets stocked in the freezer. (Or give the kids the nuggets and make yourself spicy green curry steak, served with a very cold beer.) But all are designed to help you get in and out of the kitchen, well fed on the way and on with your night.