52 Cold Weather Comfort Food Recipes For Cozy Nights At Home

1. Shakshuka For One

What’s more comforting than digging into a piping hot skillet of tomato stew with freshly baked bread? We can’t think of anything better! Try this easy shakshuka for one recipe if you’re planning on cozying up by yourself this fall, or check out our shakshuka for two if you plan on sharing this cozy meal with someone special.

2. Buffalo Gnocchi

This gnocchi is fire, in more ways than one. Not only will it warm your insides on a chilly evening, but it’ll also spice up your tastebuds and make you wonder why you never thought of buffalo-izing gnocchi before! It’s the ultimate cold weather comfort food dinner, especially when you pair it with some fresh bread to sop up the extra sauce with.

3. Spicy Butter Chicken

So you might be seeing a trend here… because obviously the best comfort foods are warm, saucy, spicy dishes you can eat with bread instead of a fork! This spicy Indian butter chicken checks all the boxes when it comes to cozy comfort food. Scoop it up with fluffy naan when you’re craving a creamy and decadent meal to wrap up a long day.

4. Butter Chicken Sandwich

If you’re intrigued by our spicy butter chicken, you’re gonna have to try this butter chicken sandwich! A deliciously messy handheld version of the classic Indian dish, this sandwich is the epitome of comfort food. Serve it with extra sauce on the side for dipping and don’t worry about how messy you get while eating – that’s what comfort food is all about.

5. Spaghetti Carbonara (No Egg)

Everyone’s favorite cheesy comfort food pasta recipe, made easy with a no egg approach and commonly found ingredients so you don’t have to think twice about recreating this Italian classic at home! Sure, it’s probably closer to a “bacon alfredo” (as the trolls on Instagram like to point out), but honestly, that makes it sound even better to us. Whip this up in just 25 minutes next time you’re craving the comfort of a warm Italian pasta dinner.

6. Spicy Szechuan Dumpling Soup

We all know soup is one of the best fall and winter meals. But this spicy dumpling soup is off the charts when it comes to comforting, cozy, and flavorful! Make a batch of homemade pork dumplings for it or use your favorite store bought brand, and indulge in a meal that’s somewhere between a saucy dumpling appetizer and a wonton soup. You won’t be sorry.

7. Homemade Cheesy Gordita Crunch

Taco Bell fans, this one’s for you. When you’re craving your favorite fast food meal, but you don’t want to leave the house or wait for delivery to arrive, whip up these copycat tacos instead! They’re cheesy, crunchy, and saucy, and oh so savory. Bonus: they’re even healthier than the original since you can make them with fresh ingredients, so you can indulge to your heart’s content.

8. Cheeseburger Mac and Cheese

This big batch meal is like two comfort foods in one! Cheeseburgers meet mac and cheese in a lovely mashup that’s equal parts cozy and satisfying. The whole family will love this dinner – especially after a long day of playing in the pile of leaves in the backyard.

9. Goat Cheese and Tomato Gnocchi

One of our personal favorite comfort food dishes, this gnocchi is ultra creamy and decadent thanks to goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes. In just 10 minutes, you can be digging into the most comforting gnocchi you’ll ever have. Which makes it perfect for cozying up on a cold winter evening after a long day at the office!

10. Loaded Baked Potato Tacos

We all know and love loaded baked potatoes, but have you ever tried turning them into tacos? That’s right – these tacos take all the best parts of loaded potatoes and stuff them into a flour tortilla. This recipe basically gives you an excuse to eat loaded baked potatoes as an entire meal instead of just an appetizer. Yes, please!

11. Smash Burger Quesadilla

Is it a quesadilla or is it a burger? Or is it the best of both worlds? This ultimate comfort food delivers the perfect blend of cheesy goodness and greasy burger. Top it off with some chipotle mayo and a side of chips and dip and you’re all set for a wonderful night that will help cure whatever has you feeling the need for comfort food.

12. Creamy Gochujang Pasta

For some reason, most of our fusion recipes end up being comfort food spins on our favorite dishes! This creamy pasta with a Korean flair is no exception. Based on penne alla vodka and amped up with gochujang, this is one unique dinner you’ll have to try if you’re a fan of Korean flavors.

13. Braised Short Rib Grilled Cheese

Savory meat and caramelized onions stuffed into a super gooey grilled cheese on artisan bread? We can’t think of anything we’d rather make for lunch when we’re craving a midday comfort food fix. Use leftovers or make our beer braised short ribs ahead of time so you can whip this sandwich up whenever the craving strikes.

14. Japanese Crispy Chicken Rice Bowl

We don’t know about you, but crispy chicken and a flavorful sauce always hits the spot when we want something super satisfying. Paired with rice and fresh scallions, this crispy chicken bowl is our go-to when we want an Asian takeout style meal at home! Make it in just 45 minutes and then curl up on the couch with this warm bowl of savory deliciousness before digging in.

15. Creamy Pesto Gnocchi

Sometimes you just need an easy comfort food dinner that you can lean on after a hard day. And what’s better than a gnocchi dinner that comes together in less than 10 minutes and can be made with just 3 store-bought ingredients? Plus, this pesto gnocchi is packed with flavor in each pillowy bite. Let this easy dinner make your tough day better.

16. Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese

We took your favorite BBQ joint and brought it home with this pulled pork mac and cheese. Made with cavatappi, your favorite BBQ sauce, a 4 ingredient cheese sauce, and our slow cooker pulled pork, there’s nothing not to love. Forget getting a meat plate with a side of mac and cheese when you can just combine them into one big, cozy, delicious dish.

17. Creamy Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Picture this: it’s a cold and snowy night, the sun has set far too early, and you just got home from a long day at work. But thankfully this morning you thought ahead and spent a couple minutes throwing ingredients into your slow cooker, and now you have steaming hot loaded potato soup waiting for you for dinner. This creamy, hearty, soup is like a baked potato in liquid form, and we say that as a good thing – it’s like a warm hug for your belly.

18. Chicken Parm Pizza

If chicken parm is considered comfort food, then this chicken parm pizza is the ultimate comfort food combo! Saucy, cheesy, and topped with tons of crispy breaded chicken, this is one pizza that’ll leave you feeling satisfied after just one slice. But go ahead, chow down as many slices as you want – you deserve it.

19. Chicken Burritos Ranchero

There may be nothing more comforting food-wise than sitting down in front of a way-too-big wet burrito that you know you shouldn’t eat all of, and eating it all anyway. Our chicken burrito ranchero is made with cilantro lime rice, refried beans, salsa marinated chicken, Mexican cheese, and of course, our homemade ranchero sauce. Serve with some chips and guac, or maybe some cottage cheese queso, and you have yourself a meal that will put you into a lovely food coma.

20. Chilaquiles Verdes

Some days you wake up and just know it’s gonna be a rough one. That’s why we’re here to offer you these chilaquiles so you can start your day off with a comforting meal. When you know it’s gonna be a bad one, just lean into the little comforts all day long. And that means a breakfast that’s worth getting out of bed for. It’s okay, we’ve all been there.

21. Pork Enchiladas Verde

How about a big batch comfort food recipe? Make this ahead of a busy week for easy grab and go meal prep that will fuel you all week long. Being able to easily heat up one of these delicious enchiladas at work for lunch, or right when you get home, is an easy win any day of the week. We always take those when we can.

22. Buffalo Chicken Nachos

These buffalo chicken nachos are the ultimate fall football comfort food. Combining two of the best game day foods, these nachos are sure to please everyone who gets to share in their deliciousness. Whether that be everyone at your party, or just your party for one. Good football food must have been invented by fans of the losing team, because a lot of times it’s the best part of the game.

23. Asian Fried Chicken Tacos

These fried chicken fusion tacos are inspired by one of our favorite Asian takeout dishes from Silverlake Ramen – their chicken karaage bowl. The fried chicken is smothered in two sauces, a sesame glaze and a sriracha aioli, and then topped with scallions for a simple, yet flavor-packed taco. These tacos make for the perfect twist on your next Taco Tuesday.

24. Chicken Bacon Ranchero Pizza

This twist on a classic pizza adds a little bit of spice that is perfect for a cozy fall dinner. Replacing the ranch dressing in a bacon chicken ranch with a spicy ranch made using ranchero sauce takes this recipe to the next level. Add in some chipotle chicken, crispy bacon, and fresh red onion and jalapeno, and you have a perfect takeout style pizza at home.

25. Blackberry Balsamic and Brie Grilled Cheese

When the weather turns colder, we just love digging into an ooey gooey grilled cheese! This sweet and savory brie grilled cheese is extra decadent for the days you’re craving extra comfort. Slathered with balsamic vinegar and blackberry preserves, it’s got that melt in your mouth goodness we all crave this time of year.

26. Sweet Potato Black Bean Rice Bowl

“Healthy comfort food doesn’t exist… wait? What? It does?!” Yes, yes, healthy comfort food does exist. And this sweet potato black bean rice bowl is the perfect example of a healthy, nutritious dish that can also wrap you in a warm cozy blanket on a tough day. Made with brown rice, sweet potatoes, an assortment of fresh veggies, and black beans and then topped with goat cheese and avocado, this dish is everything you’re looking for. So go ahead, have that cozy meal without cheating on your diet.

27. Shredded Chicken Parm Sliders

These sliders are drenched in sauce and loaded with gooey cheese. What more can you ask for when it comes to comfort food? We love making these for dinner on game days with a side of fries, and then cozying up on the couch instead of eating at the table. Sure, it gets a little messy, but there’s really nothing better than being super comfy while eating comfort food!

28. Spicy Cashew Pasta With Crispy Chicken

This pasta is slathered in a creamy, spicy cashew sauce that’ll make you start salivating as soon as you start cooking. Paired with crispy chicken breast and noodles, this dinner is easily one of our favorite comforting meals to enjoy on a cold night! Plus, it’s packed with protein so you don’t have to feel too bad about indulging.

29. Garlic Udon Noodles

These chewy, garlicky,  and saucy noodles are a perfect fall comfort food dinner. This recipe takes only 15 minutes to make so you’ll be scarfing down noodles before you know it. We love making some dumplings along with these noodles for a more filling dinner. And seriously, what’s more comforting than noodles and dumplings?

30. One Pot Spinach And Artichoke Pasta

This one pot recipe is perfect for the nights when you want to keep dinner as simple and easy as possible. This decadent pasta comes together in under 30 minutes and leaves you with very little to clean up afterwards. So let yourself indulge in some cheesy goodness tonight. And plus, there’s spinach in it, so it’s healthy comfort food… right?

31. Air Fryer Chicken Tenders

Did you have a long day at work? Or your kids have a hard day at school? Or maybe you had to take them to the doctor’s and we all know that isn’t fun for anyone. Make a comforting dinner for everyone to share with some air fryer chicken tendies, fries, and a nice spread of all your favorite condiments. Bonus points for serving this dinner in the living room while you watch a fun family movie. Ratatouille, anyone?

32. Thai Drunken Noodles

Thai is one of our favorite go-to takeout dinners, which normally means at least one order of drunken noodles. If you’ve been to our blog before, you know we love to make our favorite takeout recipes at home so that we can personalize them to our tastes and make them a little bit healthier. Drunken noodles is such an easy dish to make at home and has become one of our favorite cold weather comfort meals because of that.

33. Chicken Enchilada Casserole

We love making big batch comfort food recipes because we can do all the work up front and reap the benefits all week long when we don’t feel like cooking or making lunch. This easy chicken enchilada casserole makes for the perfect Sunday dinner that will just keep on giving throughout your week. Made with shredded chicken, black beans, fresh produce, and of course, tortillas, this recipe has many of our favorite Mexican ingredients all packed into a delicious casserole. 

34. Sausage And Peppers Rustica

Nothing says “cozy fall evening” like a rustic pasta with sausage, peppers, and red sauce. And the best part? It comes together in less than 30 minutes so you can spend more of your time enjoying the beautiful evening and less time making dinner. So whip up a quick batch of this sausage and pepper rustica for you and your whole family and enjoy a little comfort this fall.

35. Pizza Pasta Bake

This pizza pasta bake is the best comfort food for when you’re looking for a bowl of something warm and cheesy that you can snuggle under a blanket on the couch with to chow down. And honestly, if you wanna just bring the whole baking dish to the living room with you, it can be our little secret. We don’t judge here.

36. Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

Comfort food is supposed to help us after a long hard day. And comfort food doesn’t do us any good if it isn’t also easy to make, cause who wants to make a difficult meal after a difficult day? Not us. That’s what makes this slow cooker chicken tikka masala such an amazing cozy night dinner. Set it up earlier in the day, and dinner will be ready and waiting for you whenever you want it.

37. Carnitas Burritos Verde

Make yourself up a big batch of our slow cooker carnitas and enjoy them all week long with various carnitas recipes like this wet burrito or some carnitas enchiladas verde. This burrito is packed with pork, onion, jalapeno, rice, beans, and cheese and then smothered with our spicy verde sauce. This recipe has everything needed to make the perfect comfort food dinner for you and the family.

38. General Tso’s Chicken

Chinese takeout may seem like the simple answer when you want a cozy comforting meal on a Friday night. But if you’re trying to save money, you can make this classic dish at home in just 45 minutes! You don’t need any fancy ingredients, and it’s really pretty simple to fry up the chicken if you have a trusty cast iron pan. Give this homemade general Tso’s a try this fall or winter and you might just start cooking at home more often instead of turning to takeout!

39. Fettuccine Alouette-o

If you’re looking for a vegetarian comfort food recipe, we have the perfect suggestion for you. This fun spin on a classic fettuccine alfredo uses Alouette’s garlic and herb spreadable cheese for an easy to make cheese sauce. Now this is far from a classic alfredo, but it may just be better if we have to say so.

40. Chorizo Sweet Potato Fry Pizza

You’ve probably seen a pizza with french fries as a topping, but this recipe gets a little crazy with some sweet potato fries. Combine them with some ground chorizo and chipotle mayo and you have yourself a uniquely amazing specialty pizza. You may be skeptical at first, but trust us here and give it a try. You’ll have yourself a new go-to comfort dinner if you do.

41. Grilled Cheese Patty Melt

This patty melt is basically a grilled cheese that’s stuffed with a burger patty, red onion, and chipotle mayo. These decadent patty melts only use 6 ingredients and come together in just 30 minutes. So no matter what you have planned for your night, you have time to make yourself one of these cheesy, greasy, and comforting burgers.

42. Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

Cheesy sauce with a hint of buffalo and crispy buffalo chicken, this cavatappi mac and cheese has it all. Nothing says comfort food quite like a warm, saucy, and spicy pasta dish. So grab yourself a bowl of this decadent mac and cheese and curl up under a blanket for a picture perfect fall evening.

43. Pretzel Pub Burger

Instead of going to the local pub, cozy up at home with a pub style burger that’s loaded with bacon, cheese, and caramelized onions! It’ll have your mouth watering as soon as you start cooking. Pair this burger with your favorite beer and a side of fries, and enjoy restaurant style comfort food at home on a cold winter’s night instead of braving the elements to go out for dinner.

44. Pepperoni Pizza Dip

For as much as we love making as much as possible from scratch, sometimes you just can’t beat using frozen or ready-made ingredients. And that is especially true when it comes to comfort food. Because pre-made equals easy. We love using these rise and bake yeast dinner rolls from Rhodes for recipes like this pepperoni pizza dip. Just put everything in your cast iron skillet and bake! Then you have yourself a delicious dip for any occasion.

45. Spicy Sausage And Pepper Pizza

This spicy sausage and pepper pizza is sure to warm you up on a cold fall or winter day. With two kinds of spicy peppers and Italian ground sausage, this hearty pizza delivers all the comfort. So instead of ordering takeout this weekend, fire up your oven and make a gourmet pizza at home.

46. Buttermilk Protein Pancakes

Pancakes make the perfect breakfast for dinner. Add in some protein powder to these fluffy pancakes, and you can almost pretend they’re healthy. Whether you make these for breakfast or dinner, a couple fluffy pancakes, some real maple syrup, and freshly made bacon can cure  many, many bad days. 

47. Chick-Fil-A Pizza

Another recipe where classic comfort foods collide: chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and pizza! Yes, you read that right. We made this recipe with frozen popcorn chicken and frozen fries so you can whip it up whenever you’re in the mood, but you can also totally go get Chick-Fil-A from the drive through and toss it on your pizza instead. It’s the perfect meal for when you can’t decide if you’d rather have some nuggies and fries, or a cheese pizza.

48. Sourdough Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese

If you want comfort food in a pinch, you’re going to need this grilled cheese recipe on hand! Thrown together with a few staples like leftover chicken, American cheese, and Frank’s Red Hot, this cheesy buffalo chicken sandwich will have you in comfort food heaven in less than 15 minutes. Don’t have sourdough? Don’t sweat it! Use whatever bread is laying around and simply enjoy how easy it is to make something this delicious at home.

49. Fried Chicken and Waffles

We’re still not really sure if chicken and waffles should be a breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner recipe. But what we do know is that fried chicken, crumbled bacon, maple bourbon syrup, and fresh homemade waffles is a treat like no other. Perfect for both the fall and winter, this satisfying meal is exactly the cozy comfort that you’ve been craving.

50. Meat Lovers Pizza

This meat lover’s pizza is made with al taglio dough from our favorite cookbook – Mastering Pizza. The thick and fluffy crust is perfect for supporting all the bacon, pepperoni, and sausage piled on this decadent pizza. So go make yourself some hearty meat lovers pizza the next time you’re craving a specialty pizza or take out dinner that’s full of savory meat!

51. Breakfast Burrito

This breakfast burrito is so stuffed, it’s best made for two people. But don’t let that stop you from having the ultimate comfort breakfast. With breakfast potatoes, cheesy scrambled eggs, refried black beans, avocado, pico de gallo, and bacon, this breakfast burrito has it all. Make sure to get the burrito sized tortillas at the grocery store, because you’ll need them to fit in all this amazing goodness.

52. Nutella Stuffed French Toast

Whether you’re craving a comforting Sunday brunch or a decadent breakfast for dinner, this stuffed French toast will do the trick! Get the whole family involved and have a blast (and maybe make a mess) stuffing brioche with Nutella to chase away the winter blues. As soon as you take one bite, you’ll know all the work was worth it.

If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.

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