40 Ingredients Forever

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Butter-roasted tomato sauce

Ali Slagle — Thu, 20 Aug 2026 13:56:42 GMT

40 Ingredients Forever is devoted to recipes that are abundant in flavor and joy yet streamlined in process and shopping—because they’ll all be made using my 40 go-to ingredients.

Learn more

Only fools futz with Marcella Hazan’s perfect tomato sauce, in which canned or fresh tomatoes, a halved onion, butter, and salt simmer together for 45 minutes or so.

The butter softens the tomatoes’ acidity and gives the sauce a creaminess, and the onion sweetens the sauce without making it oniony. You don’t need garlic or herbs. You barely even need cheese.

And yet.

When you’ve made a recipe dozens of times, you start to see which parts are essential and where there’s room for creativity. Getting up close to a recipe helps you see its potential! And that familiarity makes it less scary to switch things up… (This is also why I like cooking with the same 40 ingredients.)

So instead of simmering Marcella sauce on the stove, where it spits and sputters, today’s recipe roasts the same ingredients in the oven for a sweeter, richer rendition.

The onion chars. The tomatoes caramelize. The butter browns and mingles with the concentrated tomato juices.

This method is especially useful with summer’s imperfect tomatoes—the bland and bruised, the bags of “sauce tomatoes” sold at a discount. The oven smooths out their rough edges and coaxes out their sweetness.

In the end, this recipe isn’t better than Marcella’s version. It’s just a more golden, roasted, savory expression of it. It fits a different craving and moment — when your tomatoes need the heat of the oven to be their best, when you need something hands-off, and when maybe (just maybe) turning on the oven sounds fun again. I’m not quite there yet, but that time is coming.

Butter-roasted tomato sauce

Makes 3 cups for 4 to 6 servings

2 to 3 pounds cherry or other ripe tomatoes
1 yellow onion
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt
1 pound pasta

1. Heat the oven to 400°F. Toss 2 to 3 pounds cherry tomatoes onto a sheet pan. If you’re using larger tomatoes, cut them in half or quarters first. Cut 1 yellow onion into six wedges through the root and thinly slice 5 tablespoons butter. Add the onion, butter, and a big pinch of salt to the sheet pan. It might feel wrong to send the tomatoes into the oven without oil, but the butter will do that job once it melts.

2. Roast the tomatoes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes and onion are soft and blistered brown in spots, 30 to 40 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through so the butter “tips” into the empty spaces and keeps juices from burning.

3. Now you have a choice: You can blend all of this into a smooth sauce, or you can mash it with a fork or potato masher into a coarse sauce. Either way, be sure to scrape all the browned bits from the pan; you can even add a few tablespoons of water, then scrape to unstuck them. (Sauce will keep refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 3 months.)

4. When you’re ready to eat, boil 1 pound pasta in salted water until al dente. Reserve 1 ½ cups pasta water, then drain. Return the pasta to the pot, along with the tomato sauce and ½ cup pasta water. Toss over medium-high until the pasta is coated in sauce. Add pasta water as needed until glossy.

PRINT THE RECIPE

Butter Roasted Tomato Sauce Ali Slagle's 40 Ingredients Forever

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FAMILY TREE (what this recipe is related to)

Recipe testing: Anna Billingskog

Toddler-friendly dinners with tofu, zucchini & miso

Ali Slagle — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 14:11:30 GMT

Welcome to Dinner Tetris, an advice column here at 40 Ingredients Forever where a reader shares the ingredients they always have on hand and I dream up three dinners using those ingredients. If you’d like your pantries Tetris-ed into dinner, head here.

’s Tetris is here. ’s Tetris is here. A high-protein, high-fiber Tetris for subscriber Shayna is here.

Spicy-sour tomato noodle salad

The cook: Krista

Occupation: Grants administrator

Residing in: Chico, CA

Feeding: 3

Notes: Recipes need to be relatively easy and quick and mildly toddler friendly!

Forever ingredients:

Proteins: Eggs, ground beef, ground sausage, chicken thighs, shrimp, tofu, parmesan, cheddar cheese, miso
Starches: Brown rice, wide egg noodles, spaghetti, oats, white flour, sugar, sweet potato, panko
Flavorings: Japanese curry powder, salsa (green/red), canned tomatoes, hazelnuts, currants, sunflower seeds, almond milk, chicken broth, butter, avocado oil, salt
Produce: Bananas, berries, cabbage (red/green), lettuce, carrots, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, celery, garlic, ginger, lemon

Three Toddler-Friendly (I think?) Dinners Using Krista’s Ingredients

Tempeh tabbouleh

Ali Slagle — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:32:23 GMT

I’ve been wanting to write about how the key to a good grain salad is using fewer grains. Ideally the ratio of stuff to grains is at least 2:1. Grains make great accessories, but when they take center stage, they can be too toothsome, too chewy — so substantial they create a dense salad.

Tabbouleh already understood this. The Levantine dish with roots in Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine is an herb salad that has bulgur in it. The bulgur has an important job: Its itty bits add texture and nuttiness; absorb and carry the oil, lemon, and spices; and ground the buoyant fresh vegetables. But it’s a background role, one tempeh also plays surprisingly well.

Golden, craggy, cumin-spiced bits of tempeh are earthy, toasty, chewy, and subtly crisp. They’re not as small as bulgur, making a coarser, chunkier salad. Eat it as a main dish, or as part of a spread with dips and pickles and grilled meat, or swaddled in a pita with yogurt. It’s in no way traditional, but tabbouleh wasn’t a grain salad anyways.

More summery salads

Broccoli mac salad

Schmaltzy panzanella

Crispy tempeh with herbs & seeds

7 days of dinner ideas

Ali Slagle — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 14:13:42 GMT

Hi everybody! We cannot live on tomatoes alone, as my partner reminded me the other day when he said “What about BBQ chicken? Pulled pork? A burger?”

So I thought I’d recommend 7 days of dinner ideas that hit more than the salad spot. They’re a mix of staples that you can eat throughout the week and fast numbers to zip together at the last minute. There is salad. There is also a burger.

May your week include every dinner you dream of,

Ali

P.S. If you find this sort of list of dinner ideas (that aren’t necessarily related to my 40 forever ingredients), can you let me know by hitting the heart button?

Tomato baked rice

And how to turn it into three dinners throughout the week.

Bacon-jalapeño turkey smashburgers

Who needs ketchup when there’s bacon fat?

Cottage cheese basil pasta

Kid-approved (judging by the number of photos I’ve received of kids’ and babies’ faces smudged with this green sauce).

Salsa verde beans

Another staple that can morph into lunches and dinners.

Shrimp scampi with orzo

An oldie-goodie.

Sour cream & onion hot dogs

Dogs topped with coleslaw (dressed with sour cream and onion dip) and crushed chips.

Halloumi, peach & cucumber spoon salad

Salty, sweet, juicy and crunchy in every spoonful.

New new new

As a thank-you to subscribers who keep this newsletter running, there are unlocked links to six of my brand-new, peak-summer NYT recipes after the paywall. These are the recipes to make when the corn is sweet, the tomatoes are drippy, the zucchini is overflowing — but you still gotta make dinner. Thank you for being here and making this newsletter possible. Now go look at something that isn’t a screen!

Salsa verde beans

Ali Slagle — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:47:22 GMT

40 Ingredients Forever is devoted to recipes that are abundant in flavor and joy yet streamlined in process and shopping—because they’ll all be made using my 40 go-to ingredients.

Bruschetta beans with brown butter

I should be honest about summer produce. First, I love it. See me gasping at tomatoes and corn like the next California girl who’s thrilled to have made it through another Northeast winter.

But.

Sometimes I struggle to make it into a meal? (Do you feel this too?)

A Greek salad fills me with warm and fuzzy feelings, but then I’m hungry in five minutes. So I snack on baby carrots and snap peas, and then I’m hungry five minutes after that. This pattern can’t continue because there’s swimming and sunbathing (and yes, work) to do.

This is part of the idea behind this newsletter, 40 Ingredients Forever: that a stable of core ingredients creates a reliable route to dinner. Tomatoes and peaches come and go, but beans, eggs, and other “forever ingredients” are forever (and make a meal). When you’re supported by these staples, you can enjoy summer produce and a satisfying dinner. (That Greek salad? It just needed beans and sardines.)

Today’s recipe is one of my favorite examples of core ingredients supporting seasonal whims. Not only do you not have to cook anything, but marinating beans in any sauce or dressing gives them a pep and shakes off their tin-can sleepiness. This time of year, I like to dress them in a lively herb sauce; eat them right away, or let them marinate for up to 3 days in the fridge.

From there, let the salsa verde beans jump-start many summery meals. Add your tomatoes and grilled zucchini and corn kernels — your dainty lettuces, too. (Scroll down for how I ate them throughout the week.)

8 more minimal-cook, minimal-sweat dinners

Broccoli mac salad

My best tomato pasta

Broccoli feta dip

Soy sauce eggs & avocado

Crispy tempeh with herbs & seeds

Sour-spicy tomato noodle salad

How I used a double batch of the salsa verde beans

The 40 Ingredients Forever starter pack

Ali Slagle — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:53:32 GMT

Hello family cook, grocery shopper, and/or dishwasher — old friend or new subscriber,

Save yourself the daily head-spin of what to make for dinner and start with these five posts, an introduction to 40 Ingredients Forever, which is a newsletter by me, Ali Slagle, devoted to dinners made with just my 40 go-to ingredients.

The limit isn't a gimmick. It's how I think most of us actually cook — starring at the same kale, beans, garlic, and eggs and wondering how to turn them into a meal that’s different from yesterday’s.

The recipes will give you complete dinners while also sharing techniques and little tricks to help you use what you have and make more with less. Hurried, hungry Tuesdays are my playground! My first cookbook’s name is I Dream of Dinner (so You Don’t Have To), and I also develop recipes for NYT Cooking. I love making everyday food that surprises and delights.

My latest, best cooking-switch up

A crispy lamb and lemon rice that also shows a newfangled way to sear ground meat.

This bean bake formula will set you free

Or how to make any beans, sauce, and cheese into dinner.

A better baked meatball

I rolled hundreds so you don’t have to.

Crispy tempeh with herbs & seeds

Starring a repeatable formula to call on when you don’t know what to cook.

Skillet salmon with soy-butter tomatoes

A mellower, less splattery route to crispy-skinned fish.

This newsletter also has a monthly column called Dinner Tetris, where a reader writes in with their 40 forever ingredients and I Tetris them into three dinners. See Samin Nosrat’s Dinner Tetris here.

There are also other random, hopefully useful, hopefully happy-making posts, such as:

Thanks for being here and making this a kind, calm corner of the internet.

Learn more

3 summery, protein-y vegetarian dinners

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 11:49:08 GMT

’s Tetris is here. ’s Tetris is here. A high-protein, high-fiber Tetris for subscriber Shayna is here.

The cook: Mika

Residing in: Brooklyn

Feeding: 2

Notes: I am mostly vegetarian, my partner gets the rotisserie chicken to top whatever veggie dish I make, but usually my veggie dishes have at least one protein. I top everything with pepitas :D

Forever ingredients:

Pantry: Olive oil, canned tomatoes, coconut milk, rigatoni, spaghetti, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, pepitas, rice, honey, maple syrup, flour, almonds, walnuts, bread
Proteins: beans (black, white, pinto beans), chickpeas, brown lentils, red lentils, rotisserie chicken from supermarket, canned tuna, eggs, oat milk, tofu
Produce: broccoli, tomato, cucumbers, lettuce, chopped bagged kale, parsley, frozen peas, lemons, yellow onions, garlic, celery, carrots, cabbage

Three Protein-y Vegetarian Dinners Using Mika’s Ingredients

This bean bake formula will set you free

Ali Slagle — Thu, 09 Jul 2026 14:16:06 GMT

Maybe you know the white bean bake, AKA pizza beans.

Or the black bean bake (enchilada beans).

Or the green chile bean bake (queso beans).

Or the French onion beans or harissa beans from I Dream of Dinner.

Behind all these recipes is a basic structure: saucy beans topped with melty, slouched, bubbling cheese. They all require only a skillet, flavorful sauce, cooked beans, cheese, and high heat. (Is it a casserole? Perhaps.) But that simple framework can create something rich and cozy without much planning or cleanup.

This flexibility is why the bean bake can take so many forms. Any cooked bean works. Any flavorful sauce that’s not too thick works. Any melting cheese works.

Here’s how to make a bean bake with whatever you have:

1. Heat the broiler to high. Start with an oven-safe skillet and sizzle something flavorful in fat. Olive oil, butter, or a mix; onion, garlic, scallions, chiles, ground spices, or tomato paste — anything that smells good when it hits heat. Cook it until softened and it smells good.

2. Add something saucy, 1 to 2 cups. That might be crushed or cherry tomatoes, salsa, cream, stock, pesto, jarred marinara, or even water loosened with tomato paste or miso. Simmer until it’s thicker than broth but thinner than jarred pasta sauce.

3. Stir in any kind of cooked beans, about 3 cups. Stir them until warmed through. Feel free to add another element too, like a vegetable and simmer it until cooked through. If the mixture looks tight, add a splash of water or stock; it should look slightly too saucy before it goes under the broiler and loose enough to pool for bread, pasta, tortilla chips, or grains.

4. Top with cheese. Tear or grate something that melts — mozzarella, Monterey jack, Cheddar, Gruyère — and add a saltier accent like feta or Parmesan if you like. Use 4 to 6 ounces. If you find that the cheese is sinking into the sauce, pause: The sauce is too thin. Simmer a bit more before adding the rest of the cheese.

5. Finish under the broiler until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is gooey and browned in spots. If you like, top the skillet with something fresh: a squeeze of lemon, herbs, a little arugula salad.

10 bean bakes to get you started

Scallions + gochujang + kimchi + water + navy beans + mozzarella
The last of the tomato soup + white beans + cheddar
The last of the chili + more beans + Mexican cheese blend
Butter + thyme + lots of onions, caramelized + chicken stock + white beans + Gruyere
Poblano peppers + jarred salsa + pinto beans + pepper jack
Preserved lemon + cream + baby spinach + white beans + Parmesan
Pesto + beans + frozen broccoli + mozzarella + goat cheese
Sage + onion + canned pumpkin + stock + beans + ricotta + Parm
Cubed sweet potato + chipotles in adobo + water + pinto beans + jack cheese
Today’s recipe: Shallot + tomato paste + cherry tomatoes + honey + butter beans + feta + herbs

Honeyed feta bean bake

Serves 4

1 shallot
A soft-stem herb (parsley, dill, or cilantro)
Extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 pints cherry or other small tomatoes
1 tablespoon honey, plus more for drizzling
Crushed red pepper
Salt
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans
4 to 6 ounces feta
½ lemon
Crusty bread, rice, or small pasta, for serving

1. Set a rack in the upper third of the oven, then set the broiler to high. Coarsely chop 1 shallot and ¼ cup soft-stem herbs.

2. In a large ovenproof skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tablespoons tomato paste, and the shallot over medium-high. Stir until a shade darker, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1 cup water, 2 pints tomatoes, half the chopped herbs, 1 tablespoon honey, and ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper. Season with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring and smashing the tomatoes occasionally, until about half the tomatoes have burst, 8 to 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, drain and rinse 2 cans of white beans. Add the beans to the tomatoes and simmer until warmed, 2 to 4 minutes. Taste for salt and crushed red pepper. If the mixture is dry, add ¼ cup more water; you want it slightly too saucy since more liquid will evaporate in the oven.

4. Thinly slice 4 to 6 ounces feta and scatter on top of the bean mixture. Drizzle with oil, then broil until the feta is golden in spots and the juices are bubbling, 4 to 6 minutes.

5. Top with a squeeze of ½ lemon, the remaining herbs, more crushed red pepper, and honey. Serve immediately, with crusty bread, rice, or pasta for soaking up the sauce.

PRINT THE RECIPE

Honeyed Feta Bean Bake Ali Slagle's 40 Ingredients Forever

129KB ∙ PDF file

FAMILY TREE (what this recipe is related to)

The bean bakes above
Gigantes plaki
Sheet-pan feta with chickpeas & tomatoes

Recipe testing by Anna Billingskog

10 things I like

Ali Slagle — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 15:40:58 GMT

1. Making berry jam

2. Anomia (the game not the condition)

3. Sardines on buttered toast

4. Sardines in general

See above, here, and here

5. Supported fish

6. S’mores with Tates instead of graham crackers

7. Current Rothko

8. When the avocado pit goes plop

9. Baby blue + maroon

10. This face

(coming soon 😏)

What to make with miso, ground turkey & chickpeas

Ali Slagle — Thu, 18 Jun 2026 13:30:19 GMT

’s Tetris is here. ’s Tetris is here. A high-protein, high-fiber Tetris for subscriber Shayna is here.

The cook: Nikkitha (she/her)

Occupation: is an Indian-American writer living in London. She is the author of the dark comic novel Ghost Chilli, and writes about astrology, tarot and culture in her newsletter The Fool Story.

Feeding: 1

Forever ingredients:

Proteins: Pecorino cheese, Cheddar cheese, eggs, ground meat (beef/pork/turkey), boneless chicken thighs, canned beans (cannelini or chickpeas), peanut butter, miso, frozen Chinese dumplings
Starches: dried pasta, bread, rice (jasmine), oats, flour
Produce: garlic, onions, spinach or kale or salad greens, fresh chillies (jalapeños), lemon or lime, avocados, herbs (basil/cilantro/dill)
Flavorings: butter, Everything Bagel seasoning, chili crisp, capers, oat milk or whole milk, mayonnaise, olive oil, mirin, rice vinegar, soy sauce, coffee, canned coconut milk, canned tomatoes, dashi powder, nori sheets, turmeric, paprika, maple syrup, preserved lemons

Three Dinners Using Nikkitha’s Ingredients

Mint meatballs with asparagus & orzo

Ali Slagle — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:58:52 GMT

I tried counting how many meatball recipes I’ve developed, and then I lost count. Or rather, I got so embarrassed I stopped counting. That’s because there are many ways to play ball: change how you cook them, what you eat them with, and what seems to be my preference, what you can put in them.

Making a meatball with a panade (a combination of starch, like breadcrumbs, and liquid, like milk) is meant to retain moisture for tenderness. It works unless it doesn’t. If the ratio’s off, the meatballs will end up dense, dull, or both. And besides, you don’t have to do all that, as meatballs throughout the Middle East and Asia show.

There are also plenty of other ways to introduce moisture, including sauces, dairy, and juicy vegetables. The texture will be meatier, like a burger patty, but the flavor will be crisper, clearer, undiluted by as much starch and fat.

Today’s meatballs have a whopping 1 1/2 cups of chopped mint, an idea so wild I never would’ve tried it if the food writer Tammie Teclemariam hadn’t first. Mint can be intense, and so much of it seems unwise, but as the mint steams in the meatballs, it lets off a tingly cooling quality that’s pretty cool with the richness of ground meat (lamb and beef both work).

And if that’s not your ball game, here are seven other recipes that all roll with much more than breadcrumbs.

Sesame-feta meatballs with burst tomatoes

Filled with: Feta brine & shallot

Mostly greens meatballs

Filled with: Kale, scallions, and parsley

Get the Thai-style recipe

Spicy tahini meatballs | Thai-style meatballs

Filled with: tahini & hot sauce | cilantro, ginger & chile

Get the tahini recipe

Turkey-ricotta meatballs

Filled with: Ricotta

Spinach meatballs

Filled with: frozen spinach

Okay, fine, a classic Italian meatball

Filled with: breadcrumbs, water, egg & herbs (in the ideal ratio)

Mint meatballs with asparagus & orzo

Sour-spicy tomato noodle salad

Ali Slagle — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:30:28 GMT

40 Ingredients Forever is devoted to recipes that are abundant in flavor and joy yet streamlined in process and shopping—because they’ll all be made using my 40 go-to ingredients.

(Not styled by Anna)

Anna Billingskog is a supremely talented food stylist and also this newsletter’s recipe tester.* There are many reasons I admire her but one is how much joy she finds in her work. It’s hard not to fall in love with food when you’re seeing it through her eyes.

When I asked her if I could share her testing notes about today’s recipe — and if she wanted me to include any professional links — she asked only to include this photo of her:

Her tasting notes on this particular recipe so vividly captured everything I was going for, so she’s going to explain today’s recipe. I, literally, couldn’t have said it better myself.

A truly perfect summer pasta cold noodle dish when you are like I cannot believe I have to cook. But then you do and it’s okay.

I was taken aback by how much flavor was imparted on the pasta nearly immediately. And how this simple concoction of a sauce/dressing could make something with so much depth. Looking forward to trying it again in two hours. This makes quite a lot, so it would be leftovers friendly.

This dish is UMAMI CITY. I loved it. A true delight.

*A recipe tester is quality control. (Not every recipe you find is tested, even when it is published in a cookbook.) It is someone who cooks a recipe exactly as it is written without making any assumptions about how they think the process should go. They call out any moments they’re confused, or moments where timing didn’t work. And then they eat the food. Their feedback relates both to how to make the process more fluid and how to make the dish more delicious.

This is a super important step in a recipe’s life because it takes the recipe for a spin with different ingredients, cooking equipment, and human. And ultimately, the recipe has to work for someone else to be successful, even if it worked for me.

I adore testing other people’s recipes because it feels like living in someone else’s recipe — noticing this new world and writing down everything I see.

Heydoh soy sauce giveaway

’s Heydoh soy sauce is savory but not too salty, a little sweet but not cloying like balsamic. I’d love for you to try a sip, or a shot, and then use it with abandon — it makes cooking easier because it carries so much flavor on its own.

Enter to win two bottles of it! Deadline is 6/12.

Enter here

Sour-spicy tomato noodle salad

Serves 4

Salt
12 ounces spaghetti
¼ cup less-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 garlic clove
2 pints cherry tomatoes
4 scallions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add 12 ounces spaghetti, and cook until just past al dente. Drain and rinse the noodles under cold water until cool to the touch.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together ¼ cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 2 tablespoons oil, and 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper. Finely grate or chop 1 garlic clove and add to the bowl. Halve 2 pints cherry tomatoes and add to the bowl. Thinly slice 4 scallions; don’t add to the bowl just yet.

3. Add the noodles to the dressing. Toss to coat. Top with the scallions. Eat right away or let it sit for up to 2 hours (the noodles will soak up the dressing, delightfully).

PRINT THE RECIPE

Sour Spicy Tomato Noodle Salad Ali Slagle's 40 Ingredients Forever

127KB ∙ PDF file

Add more vegetables

Top servings with kimchi, sliced cucumbers, avocado, corn kernels.

Add protein

Poach boneless chicken breasts in the boiling water until cooked through, about 10 minutes, before cooking the noodles. Or soft-boil eggs in the water before cooking the noodles. Marinate cubed extra-firm tofu to the bowl of tomatoes. Add hot-smoked salmon or trout, or a tin of sardines or mackerel. Top servings with sesame seeds or furikake.

Family tree (what this recipe is inspired by)

This recipe is inspired by Woks of Life’s incredible Sour Spicy Cold Noodles; the tomatoes add another source of sourness and replace the juiciness of the cucumbers.

Recipe testing: Anna Billingskog

A Dinner Tetris of make-ahead meals

Ali Slagle — Thu, 28 May 2026 13:13:49 GMT

’s Tetris is here. ’s Tetris is here. A high-protein, high-fiber Tetris for subscriber Shayna is here.

The cook: Hannah (she/her)

Occupation: Therapist

Residing in: Baltimore City

Feeding: 3 + our beautiful friends when we host

Dietary Restrictions: None

Notes: It's me, my spouse, and our housemate. We love to host friends for dinner and we are lovers of a simple, homemade meal. I am a therapist, but my spouse is a cheesemonger (hence many cheeses all the time!) and my housemate works for farmers markets on the weekends (hence the seasonal produce!) so we have access to a lot of good, quality ingredients that can help make cooking fun.

However, we all have different schedules and I often work until 7/8pm, which means that something at the intersection of tasty, simple (thank you for your last cookbook), and/or make-ahead/freezer friendly is really magical for us. Or some bases that can be made into a few different iterations (this is a skill I've learned from your substack!). Thank you for considering us for tetris!!

Forever ingredients:

Proteins: yogurt, chicken thighs, eggs, many kinds of cheese always
Starches: dried beans (Rancho Gordo bean club, baby!!), rice, tortillas, fresh bread (I made a focaccia loaf roughly once a week), dried pasta, panko
Vegetables: seasonally varies, but these days it’s winter/long shelf life veg like broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, sweet/yukon potatoes, kale, onions
Fruits/flavorings: lemons and limes, tomato paste, tahini, soy sauce, mayo, olive oil, garlic, dijon, salted butter, salt/pepper, better than bouillon

Three Make-Ahead Meals Using Hannah’s Ingredients

My juicy summer cooking bucket list

Ali Slagle — Thu, 21 May 2026 13:38:50 GMT

40 Ingredients Forever is devoted to recipes that are abundant in flavor and joy yet streamlined in process and shopping—because they’ll all be made using my 40 go-to ingredients.

My recipe development* for peak summer recipes started this week, with off-peak summer produce. Working with soft watermelon and greige peaches ensures the recipes work no matter the produce, but boy does it make me excited for summer’s juicy, drippy, colorful cooking. Here’s what I can’t wait to make first. Share your bucket list in the comments below?

*Have no idea what recipe development is? That’s totally understandable. I made a little explainer on the jungle of Instagram.

1. Fresh Tomato and Yogurt Dip

A two-ingredient dip of creamy and electric.

2. Ceviche

Chips for dinner.

3. This tomato pasta

Where the tomatoes are cooked just barely, only by the heat of the pasta.

4. Salad of whatever

When the produce is here, just get out of the way. All the fruits and vegetables need is some lemon juice, oil, and salt to become a salad. (If your produce is more bitter than you’d want it, add a bit of sugar or honey.)

5. Rhubarb galette

Made it last night for a Survivor finale watch party ✔️

6. A California sandwich

In addition to all the crunchy vegetables, I feel like the sandwich needs a significant creamy element (like avocado or hummus or cream cheese or goat cheese) and something pickled (like pepperoncinis or kimchi). And sprouts.

7. Grilled wings

Crackly, crisp, golden, and not at all greasy.

8. Wobbly fish with raw asparagus

Crunchy, spicy, juicy, summer.

Crispy salmon, brothy beans & asparagus

Ali Slagle — Thu, 14 May 2026 12:26:25 GMT

40 Ingredients Forever is devoted to recipes that are abundant in flavor and joy yet streamlined in process and shopping—because they’ll all be made using my 40 go-to ingredients.

When I was making this recipe, I was thinking about Lily, a new subscriber who wrote to say that she’s a new college grad “with my first adult money and I want to put it towards making good meals for myself!”

Huge heart emoji.

She continued: “I can cook but I’m not always super confident in my abilities and I tend to flounder when I don’t have a recipe” and “I’m hoping to learn how to better utilize ingredients multiple times and gain confidence in the kitchen!”

I was touched that she trusted me to help her in the kitchen. I also, truthfully, felt the pressure. I want your first dollars, first time using an ingredient, and first time feeding yourself to feel delightful, doable, worth it so that Lily (and everyone) cooks forever and ever.

This recipe is for her but also for anyone who needs something solid to cling to. It does not have any bells and whistles. There isn’t even lemon.

It takes 20 minutes, a pot and pan, and five ingredients (not including oil and salt). But what comes of it is food cooked well: salmon with tender meat and shattery-crisp skin; bright-green asparagus with frilly singed buds; savory, creamy, brothy beans.

Each element is a staple you can repeat for a lifetime. But together, they’re a meal. You’re getting a protein, starch, and veg, but more importantly, they hit many notes: savory (salmon and beans) and fresh (asparagus and dill); crisp (salmon skin and asparagus) and soft (beans and salmon).

They are enough—and a good place to start.

Crispy salmon, brothy beans & asparagus

One-pot salmon & avocado rice bowls

Ali Slagle — Thu, 07 May 2026 14:02:20 GMT

40 ingredients, infinite dinners.

Eating salmon and avocado in one meal feels so luxurious to me. Silky, plush, I’m rich! What’s so wonderful about the pair is that they share a buttery-soft texture, but one tastes like the sea and the other the earth.

Here, they meet up in a rice bowl along with a bracing, punchy vinaigrette loaded with raw ginger and scallions. Feel free to add other vegetables to the bowl, such as raw, thinly sliced cucumbers or radishes, or steamed or blanched asparagus or snap peas.

This is one of the recipes I developed for Primavera Avocados, which ships the best avocados to you. A little slice of California showing up at your doorstep? Talk about luxury.

More avocado recipes

Avocado sesame flatbreads

Toast a flatbread, pita, or naan in a dry skillet until crisp and browned. Top with sliced avocado. Zest and juice some lemon over top, then drizzle with tahini. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, sumac or crushed red pepper, and flaky salt.

Chicken with avocado salsa verde

A bright and creamy sauce that can go on chicken, beans, fish, salad greens, and more.

Avocado egg salad

Trade mayo for avocado for a greener, but just as creamy, egg salad.

Avocado wedges with peanut-nori crunch

A salty, crunchy, creamy snack/appetizer.

Avocado citrus salad

This salad of sweet, spicy, creamy, and juicy delights was inspired by one from Zuni Café in San Francisco.

Ginger-scallion salmon & avocado rice bowls

For 2

1 cup long-grain white rice
Salt
2 salmon or other 1-inch-thick fillets (5 to 6 ounces each)
1 bunch of scallions
1 inch ginger
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
Small handful cilantro
1 large, ripe avocado
Toasted sesame seeds, for serving

1. In a medium pot, bring 1 ¾ cups water to a boil. Add 1 cup rice and 1 teaspoon salt, stir to combine, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 12 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, pat 2 salmon fillets dry. Set aside while you make the ginger-scallion vinaigrette: Thinly slice 1 bunch of scallions and finely chop 1 inch ginger (no need to peel). Transfer to a medium bowl along with 3 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine.

3. When the 12 minutes are on the rice are up, add the salmon, skin side down if there’s skin, on top of the rice. Cover and cook until the salmon is just opaque and the rice is tender, another 6 to 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and let sit for 2 to 5 minutes.

4. Thinly slice the stems and leaves from a small handful of cilantro. Stir into the vinaigrette. Use a fork to transfer the salmon and rice to bowls or plates. Top each bowl with half of 1 avocado, then top with the ginger-scallion vinaigrette and sesame seeds.

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Salmon & Avocado Bowl With Ginger Scallion Vinaigrette Ali Slagle's 40 Ingredients Forever

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Dinner Tetris using broccoli, sweet potatoes, sausage & sardines

Ali Slagle — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 15:36:22 GMT

Welcome to Dinner Tetris, an advice column here at 40 Ingredients Forever where a reader shares the ingredients they always have on hand and Caroline and I dream up three dinners using those ingredients. If you’d like your pantries Tetris-ed into dinner, head here.

’s Tetris is here. ’s Tetris is here. A high-protein, high-fiber Tetris for subscriber Shayna is here.