50 Fabulous Fall Recipes

This fantastic one-pan dinner is ideal for a Sunday supper or casual fall get-together with friends; the sauce is delicious, so serve with bread or mashed potatoes to soak up every delicious bite.

Like chili on a baked potato—except so much more alluring, with caramelized roasted sweet potato and spiced chickpeas. Tie it all together with lemon-tahini dressing, fresh mint and dreams of far-off places.

One oven temp, so much goodness: Bratwursts sizzle and crisp, fingerling potatoes become burnished golden nuggets, and cabbage turns nutty and sweet. A final drizzle of brown butter and fried sage leaves ties the elements together.

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!

This tender beef creation includes a gorgeous, glossy red wine sauce that amps up sweet root vegetables, mushrooms and onion.

If you have partial bags of dried beans loitering in the pantry, throw them all in the pot to make this anything-goes fall soup. Perfumed with thyme and sage, it's creamy, homey and gratifyingly resourceful.

We gave a classic dessert a new name, in honor of all the people who have cooked in servitude or fought for social justice over the centuries—and we updated the flavors, too, with almond cookies and a splash of bourbon.

This quick twist on the classic German chocolate-cherry cake uses boxed cake mix and cherry preserves. Don't skip the kirsch or brandy; it adds that signature Black Forest flavor.

If you have a big bunch of chard from the farmers market or a CSA box, this healthy, easy 30-minute dinner is a great way to use it up. 

This beautiful, buttery beef tenderloin is so simple. Brown the beef in a cast-iron skillet, roast it in the oven, then take advantage of the hot pan to toss together the thyme- and sherry-glazed mushrooms.

This hands-off, slow-cooker recipe has just a pound of ground beef and a can of stock. All the rest of the heft and taste comes from black beans, fire-roasted tomatoes, smoked paprika, chipotle peppers and corn tortillas.

This dinner for two is weeknight-easy. Use bone-in chops for the best flavor and serve with mashed potatoes or rice.

At Iowa's Rapid Creek Cidery, Matt Steigerwald serves his chicken and savory mushroom sauce with Sweet Apple Risotto (find the risotto recipe here), but mashed potatoes or buttered noodles would be just as good.

This six-ingredient hotdish recipe from an Appleton, Wisconsin, reader features an all-star lineup of Wisconsin foods, including bratwurst, cheddar cheese and potatoes. "It's a quick, easy recipe," our reader says. "There's not much you can mess up."

Buttery onions, cheddar and green chilies lace our stuffinglike pudding. Inspired by traditional skillet corn bread, this recipe works as a side or as a meatless main served with a salad or garlicky sauteed kale.

A side of salmon is as celebratory as a traditional meaty roast-in way less time. Elegant and easy, this recipe cleverly uses the same flavored mayonnaise for brushing and serving as a condiment.

Sweet potatoes and apples hold their own with spicy chipotle chilies in this perfect sweet-heat balance. Does it take a lot of peeling and chopping? Yes. Is it worth it? Oh, yeah.

When life gives you lemons, make the legendary lemon-ricotta hotcakes from Hell's Kitchen, a Minneapolis favorite.

A touch of lemon, chopped cranberries and walnuts make this quick bread taste like coffee cake.

Who knew a pork shoulder seasoned with just salt and pepper could be so scrumptious? The recipe comes chef Marshall Paulsen of Minneapolis' Birchwood Cafe. The salsa recipe makes a very generous amount of the apple salsa, about 4 cups. It will keep fine for a day or so in the refrigerator to eat with leftovers, or just halve the recipe if you don't think you'll use it all. Any leftover pork makes a mean sandwich.

Apples, pears and cranberries mix with caramelized onions in a luscious tumble over chicken breasts. Why leave the skin on and bones in? Trust us; you'll notice the extra flavor in this fabulous fall recipe.

You can almost remember a misty-morning trip to the orchards and bogs when you taste this riff on a Midwest favorite. A pumpkin-cornmeal biscuit crowns the sweet-tangy fruit duo.

This simple, orchard-fresh dessert captures the flavor of vanilla ice cream melting into the warm apples in a pie-but more quickly, and with way less fat and sugar.

In the final minutes of cooking, a splash of fresh orange juice and cider vinegar adds the perfect sweet acidity to a company-worthy (but family-night-easy) side dish.

This sage-infused, company-worthy fall recipe takes full advantage of cast iron's versatility. The pan goes from stove top to oven and back to stove top.

Oats, walnuts and nuggets of chopped pear give this loaf a toothsome heartiness, while buttermilk keeps it moist and tender.

A hot cast-iron skillet mimics a pizza stone to create a crisp, evenly browned crust. We loaded our pizza with oozy red sauce and stretchy cheese. Fork and knife highly recommended.

Patty's grandmother sifted together the flour and baking powder three times before adding them to the batter. We had good results just whisking them together. This recipe comes from Patty Pinner's cookbook Sweets (crownpublishing.com).

A free-form tart is the anxious pie-maker's best friend. No fussy crimping, and any torn edges or lumpy folds just add to the charm (especially when sprinkled with sparkly raw sugar).

Chocolate and sweet potato batters are swirled together to make this moist, tender spice cake from Patricia Polley of Columbus, Ohio. Wrap and store the cooled cake overnight for easier slicing. (It's a great alternative to coffee cake for brunches.)

One of her students shared this fall recipe long ago with Gail Michael of West Lafayette, Indiana. "These were in the lunch box of one of my first-grade students in the fall of 1974," Gail recalls. She's baked many batches of these apple bars since then. It's like apple pie in a baking pan.

This hearty weeknight dinner recipe is perfect for fall and winter, when you crave cozier foods.

Lisa Johnson of Gardner, Kansas, added banana to pumpkin bread for a new twist on this quintessential fall treat. "This pumpkin bread is a favorite with our family," she says. "It's easy to make, and my two girls enjoy helping me."

Crisp on top, sweetly tender inside, this quintessential fall dessert blends tart and sweet apples -- Granny Smith, Jonagold and Braeburn -- with sugar and cinnamon under a brown-sugar and walnut crumb topping.

Because it calls for a full cup of fresh basil, this is a great dish to make in early fall, when the plants in your garden are huge and you're looking for ways to use them. This dish starts on the stove top but finishes out of the way in the oven, leaving just enough time to make rice for sopping up the creamy sauce. 

This fall dessert comes from Mooselips Java Joint in Seeley, Wisconsin. It's creamy, cool and not overpowered by the pumpkin or the spice.

This picture-perfect fall pie takes more than a flaky crust. "The key to this pie is the apples you use," says Mary Schrier of Cumberland, Iowa, who got this recipe from an old, handwritten family recipe book. She suggests not using Red Delicious apples. Instead, make this with Granny Smith, Jonathan or any sweet-tart heirloom apples.

Here's a main-dish soup loaded with veggies. Need to reduce the sodium? Use only one can of French onion soup and replace the other with 1-1/2 cups water.

This moist white cake combines toasted pecans and refreshing orange peel with cranberries. Orange peel flavors the thick cream cheese frosting, too.

Woodsy rosemary makes this a perfect dish for fall and a lovely change from traditional beef stew. Serve with crusty bread or ladled as a sauce over pappardelle noodles. 

Susan Corley of New Albany, Ohio, shared her version of the classic Italian soup in New Albany Cooking with Friends, a cooking club project. Susan often slow-cooks a pot of the soup for family meals during the holidays.

This nutty layer cake is a favorite dessert with Midwest Living® readers. Whipped cream topping complements a moist filling of pumpkin, brown sugar, pecans, butter and more whipping cream.

When cooler nights trigger cravings for warming autumn suppers but the garden still bears a summer's bounty of tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and eggplant, we call on the French for help. The classic vegetable stew is traditionally served unadorned, but we love it spooned over homemade garlic bread as a luxe fork-and-knife sandwich.

If you're a fan of classic, not-too-sweet cherry pie, look no further. This is our best one.

Compared to traditional super sugary glazed carrots, our recipe bridges sweet and savory. Come Thanksgiving, this dish is well worth a spot on the holiday table. 

Sweet bread balances tangy cranberries in this winning fall recipe. Like many quick breads, this loaf will improve in flavor and texture if you let it sit overnight before slicing it.

Combine chicken, chopped vegetables and canned beans for a warm and comforting chili. This fall recipe gives variations for Slow Cooker Chicken Chili as well as a spicier Chipotle Chicken Chili.