Our compilation of 28 recipes to cook in February includes lots of warming dishes for the last month of winter – from comforting soups, hearty stews and satisfying braises to spicy chillies, not-so-fiery curries and filling pastas and dumplings. We’ve got everything from a vegetarian bean chilli to a chicken Stroganoff, Massaman curry fried rice to Moroccan chicken tagine.
February may be the last month of winter if you follow the meteorological calendar – although according to the astronomical calendar, it ends with the spring equinox on 20 March 2023. Either way, for most of us in the northern hemisphere the weather isn’t warming up yet.
In fact, for many in the northern part of the world, February can be the coldest month of year in – which means another month of stirring big pots of soup, shaping dumplings and croquettes, frying woks of comforting fried rice, and slow-cooking soul-warming stews and curries.
And if you don’t find enough winter cooking inspiration, below, do browse last month’s collection of 31 Recipes to Cook in January, the Winter Edition, and last year’s round-up 31 Winter Recipes to Cook in August, which we published during the southern hemisphere winter last year, for 62 completely different winter recipes to this list.
Now before I tell you about our 28 recipes to cook in February, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee.
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Now let me share our top 28 recipes to cook in February to keep you warm during winter’s last month.
28 Recipes to Cook in February – Warming Dishes for the Last Month of Winter
Here’s our collection of 28 recipes to cook in February, which features loads of warming dishes for the last month of winter for our northern hemisphere readers.
Vegetarian Chilli Recipe for a Meat-Free Chilli Con Carne
Few things warm you up like a big ol’ bowl of chilli. My easy vegetarian chilli recipe will make you a delicious pot of meat-free chilli and it tops our list of 28 recipes to cook in February to keep you warm. Made with red kidney beans and lots of spices, it’s one of our best canned beans recipes if you’re looking for wallet-friendly meals. If a chilli without beef is unthinkable, see Terence’s chilli con carne, which has deeper flavours due to a variety of chillies, bacon, beer, roasted dried spices, and hours simmering on the stove. This vegan chilli is still delicious and a better choice if you’re time-poor. Make this authentic guacamole, red salsa, pickled onions, and pickled cabbage to go with it. Leftovers? Make our ultimate nachos or quesadillas.
Easy Vegetarian Chilli Recipe for Chilli Con Carne Sin Carne (Without Meat) and It’s Vegan Too
Broccoli and Potato Soup Recipe with Cheddar Cheese, Crispy Bacon and Crunchy Croutons
This broccoli and potato soup recipe with cheddar cheese, crispy bacon and crunchy croutons is another of my top 28 recipes to cook in February to stay warm. It makes a deliciously creamy broccoli potato soup without cream, but loads of flavour and texture thanks to the cheese, bacon, croutons, and (optional but recommended) toppings such as fragrant fresh herbs, extra virgin olive oil, sour cream, and chilli flakes. Melted cheddar cheese will give your broccoli potato soup a richness and denser texture if you use enough of it – and there’s a long tradition of using cheddar in broccoli soups. I prefer to sprinkle a little quality vintage cheddar at the end or a little Parmigiano Reggiano.
Broccoli and Potato Soup Recipe with Cheddar Cheese, Crispy Bacon and Crunchy Croutons
Chicken Stroganoff Recipe for a Rich and Spicy Stroganoff
My Russian chicken Stroganoff recipe makes one of our best Stroganoff recipes and it’s another of my top 28 recipes to cook in February. Inspired by the old Shanghai-style of Stroganoff, it’s incredibly rich, redolent of spices, and slightly tangy due to the addition of Worcestershire sauce, which, while included in the early recipes, was bumped up in the Russian restaurants in early 20th century Shanghai and Harbin. In each of those cities, Russians exiles established vibrant communities with bakeries, delis, tea rooms and restaurants. Most of those establishments have long gone but Stroganoff still appears on menus everywhere from Shanghai to Hong Kong.
Chicken Stroganoff Recipe for a Rich, Spicy, Tangy Old Shanghai Style Stroganoff
Chicken and Potato Soup Recipe that Starts with an Easy Stock
This easy chicken and potato soup recipe makes another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February if staying warm is top of your mind. One of our best potato soup recipes, it makes a homemade potato and chicken soup from scratch that is soothing and healing. It’s a simple, hearty soup that’s subtly seasoned but given texture at the end with crunchy croutons and crispy fried onions, and is enlivened by fresh fragrant dill – or any aromatic herb of your choosing. It’s incredibly versatile. The base of this warming winter soup is the easiest chicken stock you’ll ever make, made from perfectly poached chicken breasts, which you then pull apart and add to the broth near the end.
Chicken and Potato Soup Recipe for a Comforting Soup that Starts with an Easy Stock
Spanish Chorizo and Potato Croquettes Recipe
One of our best Spanish tapas recipes, this classic Spanish chorizo and potato croquettes recipe for piping-hot croquetas de patata y chorizo makes a wonderful winter snack or starter and is another of my top 28 recipes to cook in February. A light crunchy exterior encases fluffy chorizo-flavoured mashed potatoes, flecked with spicy pieces of chorizo. Use fresh chorizo; cook the crumbly chorizo quickly but if you use firm chorizo, chop it into small pieces. We use panko breadcrumbs for everything from chicken kotleti to chicken schnitzel, as well as for these croquettes. They result in a crunchier exterior. Deep-fry them at180°C/350°F; any hotter and you risk having dark brown casings but a cold filling, so best to use a thermometer. Make a big batch. They’re addictive!
Spanish Chorizo and Potato Croquettes Recipe for Croquetas de Patata y Chorizo
Baked Potato Soup Recipe with Crispy Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Sour Cream and Spring Onions
This baked potato soup recipe makes another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February. There are few more warming winter dishes to make that this creamy potato soup topped with crispy bacon, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and spring onions or chives. The delicious potato soup is not made with baked potatoes, rather it’s inspired by the traditional British baked potato or jacket potato with toppings first sold by hawkers on the streets of London back in the mid-1800s. This baked potato soup is based on those jacket potatoes – just without the smokiness. I need to work on that!
Baked Potato Soup Recipe with Crispy Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, Sour Cream and Spring Onions
Massaman Curry Fried Rice Recipe for Fried Rice with Crispy Onions, Crunchy Potatoes and Pan-Roasted Peanuts
Fried rice is not only a fantastic solution for leftover rice, but also for leftover curries and stir-fries. Fried rice was invented to use up leftover rice, after all. I’m obsessed with rice and Terence and I love to invent new fried rice dishes, so I created this recipe to use up day-old steamed rice and some Thai Massaman curry leftovers in the fridge. This Massaman curry fried rice recipe makes a fantastic, filling, fragrant fried rice with crispy onions, crunchy fried potatoes, pan-roasted peanuts, and the perfume of dried spices, such as cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and it’s one of our best leftover rice recipes. Garnish with fresh coriander to lighten things up.
Old-Fashioned Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe
This easy vegetable barley soup recipe makes a versatile clean-out-the-fridge soup that’s deliciously filling, deeply flavourful, and super affordable. The recipe was inspired by a soup my Australian grandmother used to make to use up an abundant harvest from my grandfather’s backyard veggie garden, and while the veggies would vary depending on the season, Nanna would always include potatoes. You can follow my recipe or use whatever you have that’s looking wilted, shrivelled and forlorn for the ultimate clean-out-your-veggie-drawer broth made for these economically challenging times.
Old-Fashioned Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe for a Versatile Clean-Out-the-Fridge Soup
Thai Meatball Curry Recipe for a Thai Red Curry with Tender Meatballs
This Thai meatball curry recipe makes another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February. It’s a classic Thai red curry with tender meatballs flavoured with Thai spices and fresh herbs, and garnished with fresh fragrant Thai basil and coriander, red chillies, and crunchy fried shallots. While the red Thai curry is traditional, the soft succulent meatballs are my not-so-traditional addition, but they’re delicious all the same. If you’re fond of Thai food and rich curries, but prefer rustic, succulent European-style meatballs to bouncy, spongy Thai meatballs, you’re going to enjoy this warming Thai meatball curry.
Thai Meatball Curry Recipe for a Thai Red Curry with Tender Meatballs and Fragrant Basil
Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe
Our easy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe makes a creamy vegetable soup that’s incredibly comforting. We have a whole collection of potato soup recipes (link above), but if you only make one this is my pick of our best potato soups and it’s another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February. You could enjoyably slurp it as is on a chilly winter or autumn/fall evening, dunking toast into the velvety broth, or add texture by sprinkling crushed croutons, fresh fragrant dill sprigs and cracked black pepper on top. This silky vegetable soup tastes so rich and creamy you’d think there was cream in it but there isn’t.
Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe for a Comforting Creamy Vegetable Soup
Classic Moroccan Chicken Tagine Recipe with Preserved Lemons and Olives
This Moroccan chicken tagine recipe with preserved lemons and olives makes one of Morocco’s most quintessential tagines, alongside a lamb tagine with prunes and almonds, and it’s easily another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February. Infused with intense citrus notes courtesy of umami-rich preserved lemons, the comforting Moroccan stew is traditionally eaten with crusty round bread called khobz. It’s also delicious with couscous, just don’t tell your Moroccan friends! If you want to make a warming Moroccan feast, kick off with this Moroccan chickpea soup.
Classic Moroccan Chicken Tagine Recipe with Preserved Lemons and Olives
Curried Beef Sausage Rolls Recipe Made With Saraman Curry
If you’re a sausage roll fan and a spice lover, you are going to love this Saraman curry beef sausage rolls recipe, which is one of our best sausage roll recipes and another of our best 28 recipes to cook in February. This homemade curried beef sausage roll is made with Cambodian Saraman curry and the puff pastry of a normal sausage roll, but instead of the traditional sausage roll spices, Terence has used Cambodian Saraman curry paste to flavour the beef. To get the authentic flavour of the Cambodian Saraman curry we add ingredients that are normally added to the curry while cooking the paste itself.
Homemade Curried Beef Sausage Rolls Recipe Made With Cambodian Saraman Curry
Meatball Stroganoff Recipe for Juicy Meatballs in a Gently Spiced Mushroom Gravy
This meatball Stroganoff recipe makes another of my best Stroganoff recipes, combining two of my favourite Russian dishes, my spicy mushroom Stroganoff and juicy Russian meatballs called tefteli. My mother and grandmother did not make meatball Stroganoff. I take full responsibility but I’m certain baba would have approved. The inspiration for my gravy is the 1899 beef Stroganoff recipe in Pelageya Aleksandrova-Ignatieva’s book Practical Guide to the Basics of Culinary Arts, which includes Kabul sauce on the list of ingredients, a sweet and sour umami-rich condiment, and that’s my justification for using more spices, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, and tomato sauce in my meatball Stroganoff recipe.
Meatball Stroganoff Recipe for Juicy Meatballs in a Gently Spiced Mushroom Gravy
Homemade Pot Stickers Recipe for Crispy Chinese Fried Dumplings with Chicken and Vegetables
Our easy pot stickers recipe makes crispy Chinese fried dumplings with homemade wrappers and a savoury ground chicken and vegetable filling and it’s another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February. First fried until crunchy then quickly steamed in the wok, they’re super-easy to make and also versatile: fill them with minced pork and vegetables or just vegetables. Fry them one side or both, even skip the steaming. The homemade wrappers are easy to prepare, but you could use store-bought wrappers. We love to eat these with homemade Sichuan red chilli oil and homemade Sriracha sauce, but again you could use store-bought Sichuan-style chilli oil.
Homemade Pot Stickers Recipe for Crispy Chinese Fried Dumplings with Chicken and Vegetables
Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Recipe for A Puglian Classic with a Twist
This orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe recipe is one that Terence cooks when he can’t bring himself to make another carbonara or puttanesca, my most requested pastas. Orecchiette with sausage and broccoli is a classic Italian combination from Puglia, but broccoli rabe or rapini, and broccolini also work, and crispy pancetta adds salt and crunch. While we like the combination of the bitterness of the radicchio against the sweetness of the sausage and the salty hit of Parmigiano Reggiano, sometimes the radicchio can be a little bit too bitter.
Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Recipe – A Puglian Classic with a Twist
Chunky Potato Soup Recipe with Cabbage, Smoky Pork Sausage, Butter Beans and Sour Cream
My chunky potato soup recipe makes a hearty, creamy potato soup with sautéed cabbage, smoky pork sausage and butter beans, to which I add fresh dill and finely chopped parsley, and a dollop of sour cream, which I stir through just before eating. It’s a thicker version of an Eastern European style soup, based on a family recipe, although I’ve made a few tweaks, and season it simply with sea salt and white pepper. My grandmother used a kind of soft smoky pork kielbasa or Polish sausage in her soups, which were easy to get in delis in Western Sydney and added loads of flavour. We can’t get them here, so I used a British smoky pork sausage. This is easily another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February.
Chunky Potato Soup Recipe with Cabbage, Smoky Pork Sausage, Butter Beans and Sour Cream
Vietnamese Meatballs and Rice Noodles Recipe with a Tangy-Sweet Sauce
Our Vietnamese meatballs and rice noodles recipe with a tangy-sweet sauce and fresh herbs will make you a delicious Vietnamese rice noodle bowl. 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. This is an 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. This meatballs dish is what I make when we don’t have time to get the grill going and coals smouldering.
Vietnamese Meatballs and Rice Noodles Recipe with Tangy Sweet Sauce and Fresh Herbs
Chickpea Curry Recipe for Punjabi Chole by Christine Manfield
Our chickpea curry recipe makes a comforting Punjabi chole from the cookbook Indian Cooking Class by Australian chef Christine Manfield, whose love of spice, Indian food and India began soon after she started cooking. Chole is ‘chickpeas’ and this richly spiced chickpea stew is a beloved dish of Punjab, a region straddling Northern India and Pakistan. The recipe is called Chole Bhatura in the chef’s cookbook. Bhatura is a puffy deep-fried bread typically served with the spicy chickpea stew or chickpea curry. Having said that, it’s perfectly acceptable to eat chole with papadams and long grain basmati rice. While the origin of this chickpea curry lies in Punjabi cuisine of Northern India, this hearty dish is much-loved all over India.
Chickpea Curry Recipe for Punjabi Chole from Indian Cooking Class by Christine Manfield
Dumpling Soup Recipe for Siberian Pelmeni Soup with Fresh Dill and Sour Cream
This dumpling soup recipe for Siberian pelmeni soup with fresh dill and sour cream makes the delicious Russian dumplings called pelmeni in the Siberian style – Siberia in the far east of Russia being the origin of pelmeni. Petite pelmeni stuffed with a savoury ground beef, minced pork and soft fried onion filling are served in a buttery broth with cracked pepper, dollops of sour cream, and plenty of fresh fragrant dill. It’s a fantastic winter warmer, as the Siberians, who live in freezing conditions for much of the year, could attest! This is easily another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February.
Dumpling Soup Recipe for Siberian Pelmeni Soup with Fresh Dill and Sour Cream
Tonkatsu Fried Rice with Onsen Eggs Recipe for a Rice Leftovers Dish You’ll Want to Plan
This tonkatsu fried rice with onsen eggs recipe combines a few of the things we love – fried rice, eggs and tonkatsu, the succulent Japanese pork cutlet breaded in panko crumbs and deep-fried. Like the original Chinese fried rice that was invented to use leftover rice, this tonkatsu fried rice with onsen eggs recipe is the result of combining leftovers – we had a couple of pieces of tonkatsu, the deep-fried Japanese breaded pork cutlets, and some steamed rice in the fridge – as well as a little experimentation, as Terence had been making onsen eggs. It’s easily one of our best leftover rice recipes and another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February.
Tonkatsu Fried Rice with Onsen Eggs Recipe for a Rice Leftovers Dish You’ll Want to Plan
Creamy Corn Chowder Recipe with Potatoes, Parmesan and Croutons
My corn chowder recipe makes a creamy potato corn chowder with Parmigiano Reggiano, scallions and croutons. The chowder is ever so lightly spiced with a little curry powder, ground turmeric and ground paprika – so gently spiced it just adds warmth. A rind of Parmigiano Reggiano melts in the chowder adding a kick of umami. The deliciously dense creamy corn soup is traditionally thickened with milk or cream, however, I use potatoes to give it a creamy consistency, and crunchy homemade croutons to add texture. If you’re a corn lover, we have loads of corn recipes here.
Creamy Corn Chowder Recipe with Potatoes, Parmesan, Croutons and a Potted Chowder History
Best Chicken Stew Recipe for a Deeply Flavoured Old Fashioned Stew
Our best chicken stew recipe will make you a deeply flavoured chicken stew with melt-in-the-mouth chicken that falls off the bone. Subtle use of spices such as turmeric and paprika add earthiness and warmth, while using two types of potatoes – waxy and starchy – ensure some potato pieces remain firm while others break down, creating a thick comforting stew. Who really needs another chicken stew recipe? You do, fellow stew lover. Chicken stews may be the most ubiquitous dish in the world, made everywhere by everyone in some form of another since time began but my chicken stew recipe is going to make you a chicken stew that’s more deeply flavoured than most chicken stews with a lovely dense texture and luscious sauce yet no flour or gluey gravy in my chicken stew!
Best Chicken Stew Recipe for a Deeply Flavoured Old Fashioned Chicken Stew
Curry Beef Pie Recipe Made With Cambodian Saraman Curry
This curry beef pie recipe made with Cambodian Saraman curry is one of our best meat pie recipes and another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February. The Cambodian Saraman curry is the richest and most complex of Cambodian curries and one of the few that uses beef as the base protein in a country that loves its pork, chicken, fish, and seafood. The reason for that is that the Saraman curry is a Cambodian Muslim dish, which was traditionally made with goat. While many Cambodian curries have quite ‘loose’ and thin sauces, the best Saraman curries are akin to a great Thai Massaman curry or even a Beef Rendang, where the meat has been cooked for so long that it has absorbed most of the sauce and is packed with flavour.
Best Chicken Fried Rice Recipe Is Made With Spicy Southern Fried Chicken Leftovers
This chicken fried rice recipe combines our favourite Nashville-style Southern fried chicken by chef Morgan McGlone of Belles Hot Chicken with a classic fried rice. Like our tonkatsu rice, this chicken fried rice is the result of experimentation, as the best leftover rice recipes are. Whenever Terence make batches of Southern fried chicken, we always have leftovers. Often, we’ll reheat the chicken the next day and have it for lunch or a snack. However, after making tonkatsu fried rice and it turning out so well, we thought Terence should try making fried rice with spicy fried chicken. It’s easily another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February.
Our Best Chicken Fried Rice Recipe Is Made With Spicy Southern Fried Chicken Leftovers
Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashews Recipe
This Cambodian stir-fried chicken and cashews recipe makes cha moan krop svay chanti in Khmer. It’s a favourite of Cambodian-Chinese families and has its origins in China, in a dish that is a cross between a Sichuanese dish and a Cantonese speciality. Found elsewhere in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, it’s also similar to a dish known as ‘cashew chicken’ in the USA and Australia. It’s incredibly delicious and we especially love eating this dish in winter as it’s so satisfying. It’s easily another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February.
Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashews Recipe for Cambodia’s Take on Cashew Chicken
Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe Courtesy of Matt Preston
This spaghetti Bolognese recipe comes courtesy of food writer Matt Preston, from his World of Flavour, The Recipes, Myths and Surprising Stories Behind the World’s Best-Loved Food, which is a cookbook as much as a myth-busting culinary history that sets the record straight: ‘spag bol’ is not Italian, it’s Italian-Australian. Matt Preston’s spaghetti Bolognese recipe makes the sort of spaghetti Bolognese that Terence and I used to cook in our compact basement flat kitchen in Sydney when we first moved in together in 1986, and it’s another of our picks of the 28 recipes to cook in February.
Indonesian Egg Curry Recipe for Telur Petis from Java
This Indonesian egg curry recipe with fragrant lemongrass and funky shrimp paste for telur petis comes from the island of Java although variations can be found right across the Indonesia’s archipelago. We published this recipe in Weekend Eggs, our series on breakfast dishes from around the world, as this rendition makes a gently-spiced egg curry that’s mainly eaten for breakfast, but you can really eat it at any time of day. It’s a very moreish dish of boiled eggs in a creamy coconut milk-based curry made from a freshly pounded spice paste with lemongrass grass stalks adding fragrance and flavour to the spicy gravy. ‘Telur’ means ‘egg’ and ‘petis’ is the shrimp paste that adds a subtle funkiness to this spicy egg curry. Cook your boiled eggs as you like them. Terence has excellent tips in his guide to cooking boiled eggs perfectly.
Northern Thai Pork Belly Curry Recipe
Of all the curries in Thailand, this Northern Thai pork belly curry called gaeng hang lay moo must be the most decadent and moreish of all. It’s one of the best curry recipes in our archives and it’s easily another of our top 28 recipes to cook in February. It’s a red curry on spice steroids and the extra kick and spice, as well as the richness of the pork belly, make this one of our favourites. While the spices convey the influence of India and Malaysia, the origins perhaps are closer to the northern Thai border in Myanmar, where a pork curry called wet tha hin lay includes a sour component, just as the Thai version includes tamarind. In fact many restaurant menus in Chiang Mai translate the dish as ‘Burmese curry’. The hang lay moo recipe Terence uses here came courtesy of Bangkok-based Thai Chef Ian Kittichai of Issaya Siamese Club.
Gaeng Hang Lay Moo Curry – Northern Thai Pork Belly Curry Recipe
Please do let us know if you make any of our 28 recipes to cook in February, as we’d love to know how they turn out for you.
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