Our 10 most popular recipes of December include recipes for everything from a traditional Italian chicken cacciatore recipe with a rich, luscious tomato sauce to my classic beef kofta recipe for traditional Lebanese kafta – grilled, spiced, ground meat kebabs that are made throughout the Middle East – along with a handful of recipe collections.
Happy new year, dear readers! Well, December is over and 2022 is over – did that feel fast or was it just me?! At the end of every month we usually review our site stats to see what visitors to Grantourismo searched for, read and cooked, or at least saved to cook, and we share those with our readers.
We’re a day late, but the results were fascinating as usual, so we’re still sharing. I always find it so interesting to see what recipes brought you to our site and what recipes most inspired readers, and these month-in-review posts are also popular with our readers, so we thought we’d share our 10 most popular recipes of December 2022.
Some of our most popular posts have been our best Christmas recipes and best New Year’s Eve recipes, however, I’ve excluded those as I also want this to be inspirational and useful. Those recipe collections followed the chicken cacciatore and beef Stroganoff recipes, so what you really have below is a top 20 list, but considering we have thousands of recipes…
Now before I tell you more about our 10 most popular recipes of December 2022, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve cooked our recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee. Or you could buy us a coffee and we’ll use our coffee money to buy cooking ingredients for recipe testing.
Another option is to use links on our site to buy travel insurance, rent a car or campervan or motorhome, book accommodation, or book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide. Or buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, James Beard award-winning cookbooks, cookbooks by Australian chefs, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, travel books to inspire wanderlust, and gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers. We may earn a small commission but you won’t pay any extra.
Lastly, you could browse our Grantourismo store for gifts for food lovers, including food themed reusable cloth face masks designed with Terence’s images. Now let me tell you all about our 10 most popular recipes of December 2022.
10 Most Popular Recipes of December from from Chicken Cacciatore to Beef Kofta
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe for a Traditional Italian Chicken Stew with Luscious Tomato Sauce
Topping the list of our 10 most popular recipes of December 2022 was this classic chicken cacciatore recipe, which makes a traditional Italian chicken stew with a luscious tomato sauce.
My chicken cacciatore was so popular, it went viral, becoming one of our 22 most popular recipes of 2022, although it didn’t make that list as we’d published it a few days earlier.
Called pollo alla cacciatora in Italian, which translates to ‘hunter’s chicken’ – ‘pollo’ is ‘chicken’ and ‘cacciatore’ means ‘hunter’ – it’s a rustic old Italian dish traditionally eaten alone as a main course with crusty bread to mop up the rich sauce. We recommend thick slices of sourdough bread.
I think a panzanella – an Italian bread and tomato salad from Tuscany – is fantastic on the side. If I was feeding a group of family and friends, I’d also be inclined to serve roast potatoes, such as these hasselback potatoes or, in winter, creamy mashed potatoes. Just don’t tell your Italian friends that suggestion came from us!
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe for a Traditional Italian Chicken Stew with Luscious Tomato Sauce
Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe for a Retro Classic from a Palace of Russian Nobles
My authentic Russian beef Stroganoff recipe makes the deliciously rich and creamy braised beef and mushroom dish cooked centuries ago in the grand kitchen of St Petersburg’s glorious pink Stroganov Palace.
Better known as a retro classic of the Seventies, beef Stroganoff is rich in history and incredibly comforting. An aristocratic Russian dish with peasant roots (there were mushrooms and beef stews centuries before this Russian beef Stroganoff recipe was said to have been invented), it was refined in the Stroganov dynasty’s St Petersburg palace kitchen by a French chef.
Beef Stroganoff would go on to travel the world with Russian émigrés and World War II refugees like my grandparents, becoming popular everywhere from China and Hong Kong to Australia and the Americas.
This beef Stroganoff is fantastic with shoestring fries (the dish’s traditional side) or creamy mashed potatoes. Some enjoy buckwheat kasha, rice or pasta with their Stroganoff. A Russian garden salad is essential.
Authentic Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe for a Retro Classic from a Saint Petersburg Palace Kitchen
Warming Sunday Dinner Ideas for a Cold Winter Night – Soups, Stews, Braises, Curries
Our collection of warming Sunday dinner recipes for a cold winter night includes everything from comforting soups and braises to stews and curries, and was another of our 10 most popular recipes of December.
The round-up features recipes for a traditional borscht and authentic beef Stroganoff, Cambodian fried spring rolls and stirring pot soup, a Moroccan chickpea soup and lamb tajine, a Burmese curry and Thai curry, and braises and stews from Spain.
This compilation was the latest edition of our fairly random series of our best Sunday night dinner ideas. If you’re in a cold climate right now and can’t find anything you want to make from these cosy suggestions, browse this collection of warming winter soup recipes.
Warming Sunday Dinner Ideas for a Cold Winter Night – Soups, Stews, Braises, Curries
22 Most Popular Egg Recipes of 2022 from our Weekend Eggs Series
It was so cool to see this collection of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 make this list of 10 most popular recipes of December, which is probably why I should have called in most popular recipe posts, instead of recipes… oh well.
These egg recipes are from our 13 year-old Weekend Eggs series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we launched with Grantourismo back in 2010 with our year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel.
They include eggs recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to egg recipes from Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, and Ireland.
On that trip, we settled into places for two weeks at a time to get an insight into how locals lived, and in each place that we stayed we explored the local food, engaged with local cooks and chefs, and learnt to cook local specialties.
We’ve continued the eggs recipe series ever since and in 2023 have plans to finally publish a Weekend Eggs cookbook, which we’ve talked about for years. Watch this space!
22 Most Popular Egg Recipes of 2022 from our Weekend Eggs Series
Beef Kofta Recipe for Classic Lebanese Kafta – Grilled Ground Meat Kebabs
This beef kofta recipe makes traditional Lebanese kafta – grilled, spiced, ground meat kebabs that are made throughout the Middle East – and it was another of the 10 most popular recipes of December.
Cooked at home, served at restaurants, and barbecued in parks at family gatherings on weekends and holidays, these Arabic minced meat kebabs are one of the most beloved dishes in a region that loves its grilled meats.
Our easy beef kofta recipe will make you the mouthwatering Lebanese kafta of the kind that we used to eat when we lived in the Middle East. Arabic restaurants were on every corner in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, our homes for almost eight years, and we’d tuck into the food a few times a week.
While summer might be barbecue season in many countries, come winter in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, on cool weekend nights, Middle Eastern expat families from around the region would head to the public parks for picnic dinners, setting up portable grills and small barbecues to make kebabs for moonlit meals.
Terence and I’d be on our evening stroll when we’d get a whiff of the smoky aromas of grilled meats wafting our way. On our walk home, we’d buy a bottle of red and drop into our favourite Arabic restaurant to order take-away: hummus, baba ganoush, fattoush (below), tabbouleh, and a mixed grill with lamb kebabs, shish tawouk (garlicky chicken) and beef kofta.
Beef Kofta Recipe for Lebanese Kafta – Grilled Spiced Ground Meat Kebabs
What to Cook This Week – 5 Fast and Frugal Noodle Recipes
This round-up of 5 fast and frugal noodle recipes were collected for our random What to Cook this Week weekly recipe series, and it was another of the 10 most popular recipes of December.
The compilation was for those of you who were saving your cooking energy for the big lead-up to Christmas and New Year. These super-easy and affordable weeknight meal suggestions include everything from jazzed-up instant noodles and Korean ramen to Japanese yaki udon
For What to Cook this Week I share meal suggestions for those nights when you’re feeling like you don’t want to spend a whole of time in the kitchen, as well as ideas for meals requiring a bit more effort for Friday night, when you’re happy to while away the evening in the kitchen with loved-ones, a bottle of wine, and good music in the background.
What to Cook for Dinner Tonight from Your Freezer
This collection of our ideas for what to cook for dinner tonight from your freezer are for those of you who have had so much going on you left it too late to go shopping let alone plan something nice for dinner.
We hear you. Never fear, there are freezer meals. This recipe round-up includes everything from our best ground beef recipes to our easiest chicken mince recipes and it was another of our 10 most popular recipes of December.
Thankfully, if there’s one thing we’ve learnt from this pandemic (we’ve actually learnt a lot of things), it’s to always keep the freezer full of minced chicken, pork mince and ground beef, and whatever else we can cram in there. Chicken thighs and chicken breasts are also handy to have.
You’ll always find ground pork, minced beef and ground chicken in our fridge as minced meats are affordable, quick to defrost, easy to cook with, versatile, and tend to make dishes that make fantastic leftovers, such as meatballs, Bolognese and chilli con carne, whose leftovers are perfect for nachos.
What to Cook for Dinner Tonight from the Freezer – Meatballs, Larb, Nachos and More
Fattoush Salad Recipe for a Traditional Lebanese Village Salad
This classic fattoush salad recipe makes a traditional Lebanese village salad of ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, zingy radishes, and fresh fragrant herbs. It was another of our 10 most popular recipes of December.
Fattoush is tossed in a delightful salad dressing distinguished by the beloved Middle Eastern ingredients of pomegranate seeds and ground sumac, and is textured with crispy pita chips. It’s fantastic served with hummus, baba ghanoush, beef kofta and kebabs.
Winter is pomegranate season, so if you’re in the northern hemisphere and are lucky to be able to access fresh pomegranates and pomegranate molasses, then it’s time to make our easy fattoush salad recipe.
If you’re in the southern hemisphere and can’t source pomegranate seeds or pomegranate syrup, then make our fattoush recipe, anyway. It still tastes delicious without pomegranates, just don’t tell your Arab friends we said that!
Fattoush Salad Recipe for a Traditional Lebanese Village Salad
Best Recipes for Stale Bread – Easy Stale Bread Recipes from Croutons to French Toast
Our best recipes for stale bread will make you everything from crunchy croutons and crispy pita chips to French toast and a panzanella salad for the delicious Tuscan-style bread and tomato salad. This compilation of our best stale bread recipes was another of our 10 most popular recipes of December.
Whether it’s that second baguette you bought which didn’t get used, the ends of your home-baked sourdough that get wasted every few days, or the last few slices of an expensive artisanal bakery loaf or a store-bought sliced loaf of white bread, all can be used to make croutons from scratch or added to salads and soups.
I love to top whole croutons or pound croutons in a mortar and pestle to create crunchy crouton crumbs to sprinkle on soups such as this spiced pumpkin soup, my broccoli and potato soup, this potato and bacon soup or loaded baked potato soup.
Combined with fresh herbs, a drizzle on a decent extra virgin olive oil, a shake of chilli flakes, a grind of cracked black pepper, a sprinkle of crispy fried shallots, and dollops of sour cream, crumbled croutons add lots of texture and flavour.
Best Recipes for Stale Bread – Stale Bread Recipes from Croutons to French Toast
Vietnamese Meatballs and Rice Noodles Recipe
Our Vietnamese meatballs and rice noodles recipe with a tangy-sweet sauce and fresh herbs will make you a delicious Vietnamese rice noodle bowl and it was another of our 10 most popular recipes of December.
Mouthwatering tender meatballs are doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, and served with a carrot-daikon quick pickle, crunchy cucumber, and fragrant herbs. This dish is inspired by bún chả, a traditional Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả.
As much as I adore this authentic Vietnamese bún chả Hanoi recipe, based on the bún chả we used to eat a few times a week when we lived in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, sometimes we don’t have time to get the grill going and coals smouldering.
I make this delicious and easy Vietnamese meatballs and rice noodles recipe instead, as it has a few elements that remind me of the Hanoi street food specialty, even if it’s not bún chả. This is what a typical bún chả looks like that’s cooked and eaten on the streets of Hanoi, although Google search results would have you believe otherwise. But names matter, especially when we’re cooking cuisines that are not our own.
Vietnamese Meatballs and Rice Noodles Recipe with Tangy Sweet Sauce and Fresh Herbs
Please do let us know in the comments below, if you make any of our 10 most popular recipes of December 2022, as we’d love to know how they turn out for you.
