Unlocked: our favourite one pot recipes

by Great British Chefs

Despite being called ‘Great British Chefs’, we’re all too aware of the fact that most of our readers do not, unfortunately, have a full-time kitchen porter at their beck and call. As much as cooking can be a joy, it is also a necessity, and there are some days when you just want to stick everything into one pan and call it a day. This is our guide to recipes for those days – fast ones, slow ones, vegetarian ones and meaty ones, no matter what you’re after you’ll only have one pot to wash.

Unlocked: our favourite one pot recipes

by Great British Chefs

Great British Chefs

Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews.

Great British Chefs is a team of passionate food lovers dedicated to bringing you the latest food stories, news and reviews as well as access to some of Britain’s greatest chefs. Our posts cover everything we are excited about from the latest openings and hottest food trends to brilliant new producers and exclusive chef interviews.

While, yes, there are plenty of recipes on this site which could dirty every pan in a restaurant kitchen let alone a home kitchen, we also know the importance of a one pot recipe. While for lots of these you might need to cook your carb on the side, many of them would be just as delicious simply scooped up with some bread. For tired days couscous is also a good shout – just pour hot water directly over it in the bowl you’ll serve it out of, cover, wait 5 minutes and you’re done. However, while these recipes might be low on dishes, we hope you’ll agree they get top marks for flavour.

How to make baked beans

Bring on the beans

Braised eggs with leeks and za'atar

by Yotam Ottolenghi

Lots of popular one pot meals tend to be meaty, like braised beef or chillies. However, vegetarian food can be just as simple and comforting. Dal makhani, a buttery dal made from black lentils is slow-cooked comfort, while Ottolenghi’s braised eggs with leeks and za'atar comes together in a flash and is packed with delights like preserved lemon.

Dal makhani

by Alfred Prasad

Harissa black bean ragout with butternut squash

by Sabrina Ghayour

Carby comfort

While we noted at the start that quite a few of these recipes do need something to accompany them, not so for the next four recipes. These are true one-pot wonders, with rice or pasta cooked with their seasonings in one pan. They’re often the result of clever innovation from their creators – like Georgina Hayden one-pan pastitsio, which manages to fit all the flavours and elements of a towering pastitsio into just one container.

Similarly our GBC Kitchen tray bake risotto allows you to cool the whole dish – salmon, rice, you name it – not just in one pan but in the oven, for the ultimate hands off job. One slightly cheeky addition to this list is Gurdeep Loyal’s risotto – he officially recommends using a separate pan to cook the lemons, however you can do everything in one pan to streamline things if needed.

Cacio e pepe risotto with brown-butter lemons

by Gurdeep Loyal

One-pan pastitsio

by Georgina Hayden

Coriander and chilli pesto salmon tray bake risotto

Coriander and chilli pesto salmon tray bake risott...

by GBC Kitchen

One-pot chicken baked with preserved lemon, orzo and parsley

One-pot chicken baked with preserved lemon, orzo a...

by GBC Kitchen

Slow-cooked sensations

These recipes are hearty, meaty, stick-to-your-ribs sort of food. They’re made for blustery, cold days, and – of course – require minimal dishes. For lots of us, a go-to easy one-pot meal has to be chilli. However, if you’re a chilli novice – or after some new recipes – then check out our guide to making chilli, which will talk you through everything you need to know, from the dish’s origins to where to which sorts of chipotle to avoid.

If you’re cooking for a crowd, but don’t want to be washing up for one, then try our pot roast or zigni berbere. Both are hands off, can feed a crowd, and are sure to go down a storm. The pot roast is particularly good in spring, when wild garlic is a delicious addition, but works almost as well with tarragon.