What Is Wholesome Comfort Food?
How we use real ingredients and familiar flavors to create satisfying meals that nourish both our bodies and souls.
It’s no secret we love comfort food. Pizza, burgers, pasta, and game day snacks are our specialty – and recreating our favorite restaurant dishes is one of our biggest sources of inspiration in the kitchen.
But the more we learn about where our food comes from, what makes a dish taste great, and how the foods we eat impact our overall well-being (read more about our story here), the more we realize the importance of using real ingredients in our cooking.
We’ll dive deeper into what “real ingredients” are in a second. But here’s the gist of why we cook the way we do:
As two people who will never swap tacos for zucchini boats or only eat salads for lunch, we made it our mission to create comforting, delicious recipes using high quality, less processed, wholesome ingredients. In the true spirit of comfort food, we always prioritize flavor and good-for-the-soul vibes. But by balancing this with mindful ingredient selection, we’ve found that we can enjoy all of our favorite comfort foods in a way that’s also kind to our bodies – and you can, too.
How We Define Wholesome Comfort Food
It’s simple: “wholesome comfort food” means comfort food that’s made with real ingredients.
Our recipes are cozy, satisfying, and feel like a warm hug. But they’re also made with ingredients that nourish our bodies, so we feel good inside and out. Think fresh produce, beans and lentils, grains, pasta, dairy, and lean protein.
As big believers that food is central to joy, celebration, and connection, it’s important to us that our recipes never feel restrictive or inaccessible. Using real ingredients – without adhering strictly to “clean” or “minimally processed” foods – gives us room to make our recipes realistic and approachable for every home cook. Whether you want to make something from scratch or use a store-bought alternative, we’ll always help you choose the best option for your time, energy, and budget.
What Are “Real Ingredients”?
“Real ingredients” are the foods that come to mind when you think about the outer aisles of the grocery store. Fresh produce, grains, meat, dairy, pasta, legumes. Basically, anything that’s not highly processed, like canned soups, shelf-stable dressings, and ready-made meals, for example.
You might think of “real ingredients” as minimally processed foods, but the actual definitions of processing get tricky (you can learn more here if you’re interested) and we don’t constrain ourselves to avoiding “processed” foods entirely. Our approach to cooking is all about balance, meaning that we make mindful choices about the ingredients we use to achieve the best flavors and textures in the most realistic way possible. The quality of the dish is always our main goal, but we’re also conscious of our time and money (and yours!) – which sometimes means choosing a more convenient or affordable option versus the more “natural” or made-from-scratch alternative.
Our Philosophy In Practice
Since our approach to wholesome comfort food is all about balance, we like to focus on a few key areas when creating recipes:
With these in mind, we’re able to give our bodies the nutrients they need in a way that feels natural to us, not forced – through the comforting meals we love.
The Importance Of Using Real Ingredients
There are a number of reasons why we cook with real ingredients:
They Taste Better
Real ingredients just taste better.
They’re fresher and more flavorful than highly processed alternatives (especially in-season produce!), which makes a difference in the final dish.
Just think about the last time you had fresh corn on the cob during the summer, compared to the last time you ate corn out of a can at Thanksgiving dinner. You can probably taste the difference in your memory. Now, imagine making an elote pizza with fresh corn, versus the canned corn. Which one do you think will taste fresher, sweeter, and more flavorful?
The same idea holds for scratch-made ingredients or less processed versions of traditionally store-bought foods:
- Homemade tortillas made with masa and water taste 1,000 times better than the packaged corn tortillas from the store.
- Slow dried, bronze drawn pasta made the traditional way is more flavorful and has a better texture than mass produced brands.
- Chipotle mayo made from combining chipotles, mayo, lime juice, and salt is brighter, tastier, and creamier than the stuff you can buy in a bottle.
- A Caesar salad made with romaine, parmesan grated from a block, croutons, and an all-natural dressing like Marie’s is much fresher and crisper than if you made it with a salad kit.
They’re More Affordable
Whole foods and less processed ingredients are often the least expensive items you can find at the grocery store.
When we started shopping mostly in the outer aisles, we noticed our grocery spending drop drastically. On days when half of our cart is from the produce section, we basically get an extra bag of groceries free compared to when we buy more items from the middle aisles.
It’s also easy to find things like rice, beans, and lentils in bulk, so you can save money on these ingredients if you use them often enough. We love buying 5 pound bags of rice and then storing them in our OXO pop containers to keep our pantry organized.
They Help Us Become Better Cooks
Using real ingredients means more control over the flavors and textures in a dish.
For example, when we build pasta sauce from scratch using canned tomatoes, olive oil, and dried herbs, we get to control the amount of salt, the flavor balance of the herbs, and the pop of acid from fresh lemon juice. If we were to use store-bought tomato sauce every time we had pasta, we’d never learn how to balance flavors and textures – which is a crucial piece of becoming a good cook.
When we have more control, we can build the exact dish we’ve imagined, perfectly suited to our tastes. Every single time we step into the kitchen, we learn something new, and we have fun while doing it.
So if you want to become a more confident home cook, using real ingredients is the way to do it.
They’re Better For Our Health
Real ingredients, and whole foods in particular, are dense in nutrients and fiber. This comes with a host of benefits, including feeling full longer, a supported immune system, and healthier digestion.
We noticed this change ourselves after cutting back on our use of processed ingredients. One of the biggest surprises was when we started using bronze drawn, slow dried pasta instead of our typical store-bought brand. Where we used to feel bloated and weighed down after pasta night, switching to a less processed alternative brought about a noticeable change in digestion and satiety after dinner. We felt comfortably full without any bloating or heaviness, and energized instead of sluggish.
This really showed us that even the smallest changes can have a big impact – and is a huge reason why we cook with real ingredients and avoid highly processed foods as much as possible. Ever since we learned that it is possible to enjoy the cozy comfort foods we love without using highly processed ingredients, our whole perspective on “eating healthy” has changed, and we’ve seen a difference in how our bodies feel.
They Support Our Community
The best ingredients come from our local farms, cheesemakers, and bakeries! We love visiting the farmer’s market and going to pick-your-own farms for fresh produce during the summer. Eating more whole foods is a great way to support our local economy and connect with the community.
Even when we don’t venture out to farmer’s markets, we often look for locally made ingredients in the grocery store. The less distance our food has to travel to get to us, the fresher it is, and the better it tastes. So when you’re shopping for produce, cheese, or bread, keep an eye out for locally made ingredients – and your dinner will be the most flavorful it can be, while also supporting your community.
Examples Of Wholesome Comfort Foods
These are some of our favorite examples of the wholesome comfort food recipes you can find on our website:
Tips For Preparing Wholesome Comfort Foods At Home
Stock your pantry with canned goods, grains, and dried seasonings. When you have these on hand, it’s easier to cook from scratch – and a lot less tempting to reach for that jar of pasta sauce or bag of minute rice.
Be willing to make more from scratch. Instead of buying stir fry sauce, make your own with pantry staples like soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, and chili oil, like we do for our pork lo mein recipe. Instead of buying guacamole, make it yourself in under 10 minutes with avocados, tomato, red onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and salt (check out our easy homemade guac recipe for details). Not everything “made from scratch” has to be complicated or time-consuming!
Take shortcuts where it makes sense. Sure, you could start making mayo from scratch anytime you want a flavorful spread – or you could find a brand of mayo you like, then dress it up yourself with ingredients like pureed chipotles or fresh lime juice whenever you want more flavor. A semi-homemade version of something like chipotle mayo is much more flavorful and better for you than the highly processed store-bought version.
Find easy recipes to follow and learn from. You don’t have to start winging it in the kitchen to cook with real ingredients. There are plenty of recipes out there for comfort foods that use wholesome, natural ingredients! Start with those and learn how to make your favorite dishes at home without relying on highly processed foods. Check out all of our wholesome comfort food recipes to get started.
