40 Favorite Comfort Food Recipes

By The editors of MidwestLiving.com
Updated December 25, 2020
Credit: Brie Passano

Macaroni and cheese, Amish apple dumplings and chicken pot pie are among our Midwest comfort food favorites.

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Wine-Braised Short Ribs

Credit: Brie Passano
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With marrow-rich bones and fatty marbling, short ribs deliver flavor and richness that cubed stew meat never will. Karen Bell, chef and owner of Bavette La Boucherie in Milwaukee, recommends using grass-fed beef which tastes less sweet than corn-fed.

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Classic Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish

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Rich cream sauce stands in for canned soup in Minnesota chef Amy Thielen's spin on classic chicken and wild rice hotdish. The recipe comes from Amy's book The New Midwestern Table (clarksonpotter.com).

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Flat-Iron with Chimichurri and Smashed Potatoes

Credit: Brie Passano
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In a riff on French steak frites, Karen Bell, chef and owner of Bavette La Boucherie in Milwaukee, pairs grilled steak with an herby sauce and rustic baby potatoes.

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Squash and Sausage Gnocchi

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Hello, comfort! This one-pan supper dish is loaded with Italian sausage, butternut squash, spinach and cheese.

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Beans on Toast with Fried Egg

Credit: Blaine Moats
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Inspired by British pub fare, this breakfast-for-dinner (or brunch!) dish tops buttered toast with bacony stovetop baked beans, tomatoes and a fried egg.

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Macaroni and Cheese Chowder with Crispy Ham

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A splash of hot sauce, a topper of pan-fried ham and a just-right secret ingredient for ultrasmooth creaminess. (Guilty pleasure, thy name is American cheese.)

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Chicken Pot Pie

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This dish is pure creamy, chickeny goodness. The pastry lids can be made a day or two ahead. Bake as directed; cool and then cover loosely with plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

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Shortcut Cassoulet

Credit: Blaine Moats
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This classic country French dish is a meat-lovers' fantasy that's heavy on the beans—because why not use all the proteins? Add a blanket of crispy breadcrumbs and serve with both red wine and an elastic waistband.

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Milk-Braised Pork with Cheesy Grits

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There are a lot of ingredients in this spruced-up comfort-food dish, but trust us, it's worth the effort for a weekend treat. The recipe from Michael Watz of Chicago was a finalist in a Best of the Midwest recipe contest.

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Amish Apple Dumplings

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We often equate Amish food with comfort. Here's our version of a favorite dessert you might find at Amish-based restaurants in the Midwest.

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Spicy Beef, Bean and Vegetable Stew

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Affordable beef chuck roast, apple, parsnip and sweet potato slow-simmer in broth flavored with dark beer, herbs and spices. Warm corn bread muffins and cold winter night optional.

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Millionaire's Pie

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Chocolate alone delivers all the comfort a lot of us require. But add it to pecan pie with some coconut, and you've awakened a flood of welcome food memories: German chocolate cake, toasted pecan pie and chocolate chips. All that in a flaky piecrust.

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Sage Biscuits and Sausage Gravy with Roasted Vegetables

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Your quest for cold-weather comfort stops here, with maple-flavor sausage, creamy milk gravy, herby biscuits, and mustard-glazed roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts.  

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Chicken and Kielbasa Winter Stew

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Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but this hearty supper soup takes just an hour to make. The secret? Deli-roasted chicken and precooked sausage. Pair with breadsticks or a crusty baguette for a perfect cool-weather meal that will fill your house with good smells.

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Lemon-Rosemary Pork Loin with Cherry Sauce

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The classic fruit and pork combo gets a bold update: Slather the meat with a paste of garlic, mustard, lemon and rosemary, then serve with ruby red cherries. This recipe multiplies easily for entertaining.

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Cinnamon-Spiced Beef Stroganoff

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A few pinches of pantry spices jazz up the traditional sour-cream gravy. This cozy weeknight dish dances on the line between comfort food and curry.

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Garlic Mashed Potatoes

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Quivey's Grove in Madison, Wisconsin, whips up this version of mashed potatoes that matches plenty of dairy richness with garlic, Parmesan, black pepper and green onion.

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Slow-Cooker Brat and Sauerkraut Soup

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Potatoes, onion, sauerkraut and brats pack in the German flavor in this homey slow-cooker soup. Try with Whole Wheat Pretzel Rolls; the soft pretzels' chewy, brown exterior comes from being boiled in an alkaline solution-the 1/4 cup baking soda in the water isn't a typo!

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Fork-Tender Pot Roast

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This pot roast slow-cooks until the meat turns brown and tender and the flavor mellows to an almost caramel overtone. Browned bits in the pan become the base for the rich red-wine gravy.

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Salty Caramel and Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

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These cookies come with a friendly warning: Chewy caramel, toasted pecans and a flurry of sea salt will make you popular. Very popular. A product called caramel bits gives these cookies great flavor and chewy texture. Some supermarkets carry them, and they're widely available online. (Search for Kraft Caramel Bits.) Take care to follow recipe directions when baking: caramel bits melt quickly.

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Hearty Meatball Soup

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This version of a winter staple, from author and cooking-school instructor Marilyn Harris of Cincinnati, features basil-flecked meatballs. "This is a quickie version of veggie-beef I created that's great to make when time is limited," Marilyn says. "But it still has all of the good flavors."

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Meat and Potato Pizza

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Chalk this recipe up as an occasional indulgence. It's topped with a totally mouth-watering combo of thin-sliced potatoes, bacon, sausage and a delectable garlic-rosemary butter. The recipe comes from Hidemi Walsh of Plainfield, Indiana.

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Lemon-Rosemary Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

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Rub a blend of lemon peel, rosemary, thyme, parsley and garlic on the chicken before baking; Add fresh thyme sprigs and garlic bulbs around the chicken for even more flavor. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots make this a one-pan meal.

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Cheeseburger-Style Meat Loaf Sandwich

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Start with a darn-good glazed meat loaf. Add toasted French bread, melted Muenster and peppery arugula (to make it fancy). Then douse it all in special sauce (because fancy needs to loosen up).

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Bacon and Baked Potato Soup

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Salty-smoky crumbled bacon tops our cheesy potato soup. "I made this soup and we loved it! Best potato soup ever!" writes one of our website reviewers. "I put carrots in mine; made it even better."

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Old-Fashioned Chicken and Noodles Lasagna

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The chicken, vegetables and gravy are as rib-stickingly good as you remember, or maybe even better, tucked up cozily under a blanket of dill Havarti.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Cream Cheese Puffs

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Dawn Logterman of Verona, Wisconsin, created this clever twist on the classic cream puffs served at the Wisconsin State Fair. Her recipe was a finalist in one of our recipe contests.

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Army and Lou's Macaroni and Cheese

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This three-cheese specialty comes from the former Army and Lou's, a soul food eatery on Chicago's South Side. The one-dish masterpiece embodies everything we want in a comfort food: It's warm, it's fattening, and it revives childhood memories.

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Sweet Potato-Corn Chowder

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Cincinnati-area chef Paul Dagenbach upgraded the classic Midwest corn chowder. Sweet potatoes and andouille sausage made their way into the mix, along with cumin, chili powder and Cajun spice for a little zing.

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Turkey Run Inn’s Bread Pudding

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A brown sugar and butter sauce completes this down-home dessert served at Turkey Run Inn at the state park in Marshall, Indiana.

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Apple Harvest Chili

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Fresh apple, dried fruit and cashews add color, sweetness and crunch to a ready-in-45 vegetarian chili. For a twist on the traditional toppers (and to hint what's inside), garnish with apple slivers.

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Never-Fail Rice Pudding

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This warm and comforting dessert recipe, one of the winners in a Midwest Living® Favorite Winter Recipes contest, comes from a Brookfield, Missouri, reader. Serve with raisins, dried cherries or dried cranberries for extra flavor and color.

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Hickory Nut Cake

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Hickory nuts add a buttery taste to the inside of this dense cake, from Audrey and Robert Biersach of Columbus, Wisconsin.

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Cranberry-Orange Wild Rice Muffins

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This North Woods-inspired recipe from Cheryl Francke of Arden Hills, Minnesota, was a finalist in our Best of the Midwest® recipe contest. 

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Classic Lasagna

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With its rich meaty sauce and creamy cheese layers, this lasagna is always a favorite main dish.

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