Our 31 recipes to cook in July 2025, whether you’re in the midst of winter in the southern hemisphere or sweating through a sultry summer in the north, include recipes for everyone, from a cooling chilled soup and no churn ice cream to a warming spiced curry laksa and comforting Irish beef stew. No matter the weather and where you are, we’ve got a recipe for you. In fact, we’ve 31 recipes for you to make this July, whether you’re using a food day as an excuse to cook a dish or you’re cooking for love and comfort.
We’ve got recipes for everyone in this collection of 31 recipes to cook in July 2025. I’ve pulled together a round-up of recipes for you to make, wherever you are, whether it’s winter or summer, from a recipe for a cooling chilled Russian okroshka soup made with kefir to a warming coconut milk-laced Singapore laksa recipe that makes a comforting, richly spiced broth.
I’ve also used Food Days to give you a fun excuse to cook up some of our favourite dishes. I’ve included an easy no-churn Thai tea ice cream recipe because 1st July is Creative Ice Cream Flavour Day. (I have no idea who comes up with some of these days…) and a speedy recipe for Italian green beans with pangrattato of crunchy breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese for July 3rd, which is Eat Your Beans Day.
I’ve used Mango Day on 22 July as an excuse to include a Cambodian green mango salad with smoked fish that is full of fragrance, texture and flavour, thanks to the raw fruit and veg, crispy smoked fish, dried shrimp, crunchy peanuts, and a classic Cambodian dressing. And for Avocado Day on 31 July, I’ve sared a compilation of our best avocado recipes, which include authentic guacamole, avocado smoothies, smashed avocado on toast, creamy avocado pasta, and more.
And if you don’t find cooking inspo in this post, do browse our recipe archives, which are brimming with 15 years of recipes we’ve cooked, created and collected around the world, from places we’ve lived, worked, travelled, and loved. Or check out our compilation of the most popular recipes of June, which are the most searched-for recipes on the site, the recipes where our readers spent the most time on and hopefully cooked.
Before you scroll down to our 31 recipes to cook in July 2025, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon; buying a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; booking a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith; or by buying something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, or gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers. Now let’s tell you about our 31 recipes to make in July.
31 Recipes to Cook in July 2025 from Chilled Soups to Warming Stews
These are the 31 recipes to cook in July 2025, whether you’re using a food day as an excuse to cook a dish you love, you’re cooking for a casual gathering of family or friends, or making a meal for one or two. As we’re in the midst of summer in the northern hemisphere and winter in the south, we have something for everyone, wherever you are, and no matter what the weather.
Thai Tea Ice Cream Recipe for the Easiest No Churn Ice Cream
We’re kicking off our list of 31 recipes to cook in July 2025 with one of our best Southeast Asian desserts recipes, this Thai tea ice cream recipe for the easiest no churn ice cream that you’ll ever make using just four ingredients: Thai tea mix, whipping cream, condensed milk, and salt. And that’s because the 1st July is Creative Ice Cream Flavour Day. Seriously.
If you’ve been to Thailand and you tried the bright orange Thai iced tea at a coffee shop or local restaurant and you loved it, then you are going to love this Thai tea ice cream recipe. If you tasted the soft serve Thai tea ice cream at Bangkok’s Chatuchak market, then you’re going to adore this rich creamy ice cream.
If you don’t own an ice cream maker but you love homemade ice cream, then you’re going to love this super simple recipe. To make this, you’ll use an electric hand beater to whip heavy whipping cream until peaks form, then fold in the sweetened condensed milk.
For the Thai tea, spoon loose tea leaves of ChaTraMue Extra Gold Thai Tea Mix (or a similar tea, such as Number One Brand Original Thai Tea Mix Red Label) into a teapot with stainless steel filter and pour boiling water over the tea leaves. If you don’t have a filter or infuser built into your tea pot, you’ll need a Thai tea filter or tea strainer.
And if you’re not a fan of Thai tea, then you can add any anything to our easy no churn ice cream recipe below, from vanilla to chocolate chips, ground peanuts to crushed biscuits.
Thai Tea Ice Cream Recipe and an Easy No Churn Ice Cream Recipe for Any Flavour
Hummus with Spiced Ground Beef Recipe for Hummus bil Lahme
One of our best Middle Eastern recipes and one of my favourite hummus recipes, this easy hummus with spiced beef recipe makes hummus bil lahme, a delicious Arabic dish that originated in the Levantine cuisines of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan, eaten across the Middle East.
One of our best 31 recipes to cook in July 2025, hummus bil lahme is usually served as an appetiser with other Middle Eastern mezze, the dips, snacks and pickles served as starters and appetisers that are made to be shared and eaten with pita bread, from this muhammara and baba ganoush.
It can also be eaten as a side with Middle Eastern salads, such as fattoush, tabbouleh and hummus balila, a creamy cumin-spiced hummus and fresh chopped garden salad, and mixed grilled meats, beef kofta, shish tawook, or spiced meatballs. Add a plate of batata harra, Lebanese spicy potatoes served with garlic sauce and fresh coriander, and you’re set!
Italian Green Beans Recipe with Crunchy Breadcrumbs and Parmesan Cheeses
July 3rd is ‘Eat Your Beans’ Day, so we’re sharing our speedy recipe for Italian green beans with pangrattato of crunchy breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese. It makes an addictively delicious vegetable side dish that is full of freshness courtesy of the just-cooked beans, loads of texture thanks to the panko breadcrumbs and sesame seeds, and plenty of umami from the balsamic vinegar and Parmigiano Reggiano.
As we do with these blistered green beans on garlicky white bean puree with toasted almonds, the beans can be spread on a bed of savoury whipped mascarpone or goats cheese, call it Mediterranean and do the same with whipped feta; pile the beans on a creamy butter bean spread (more beans!); or fuse the bean with Middle Eastern flavours by heaping them onto creamy hummus and showering the lot with dukkah for more crunch and spice.
And if you’re not a fan of crispy green beans, blister those beans! However you tweak this dish, it’s fantastic with Mediterranean style braised chicken with olives, a luscious chicken cacciatore, succulent pan-roasted brined pork chops, aromatic Asian-spiced roast chicken, a salmon tray bake, some rustic artisanal sausages from your favourite butcher, or a side for a great steak or côte de bœuf.
Italian Green Beans Recipe with Crunchy Breadcrumbs and Parmesan Cheese
Sticky Asian Pork Ribs Recipe for Chinese Style Baked Ribs with Sesame
It seems the 4th July is ‘BBQ Spare Ribs Day’, so next on our list of 31 recipes to cook in July 2025 is this sticky Asian pork ribs recipe, which makes deliciously addictive Chinese style baked ribs.
Brining the pork helps tenderise the meat and keeps the pork succulent, while also making the cooking time over a grill quite short. Even though there’s not much chance of undercooking these ribs, we always use a meat thermometer to check doneness.
Here in Southeast Asia we often eat the pork ribs simply with stir-fried morning glory and steamed rice. But plates of pork ribs are fantastic for feeding a crowd – whether it’s a casual get-together, game day gathering or backyard barbecue, alongside your favourite barbecued meats and salads.
They’d typically form one of an array of dishes served as part of a shared family-style meal in Southeast Asia. You could serve the ribs with fried spring rolls, some dumplings, fried rice, Chinese leafy greens, and a stir-fry or braise, such as Cambodian cashew chicken or Vietnamese braised pork belly.
Sticky Asian Pork Ribs Recipe for Chinese Style Baked Ribs with Sesame
Rose Mascarpone Cheesecake Tart Recipe with Mixed Berries
Well, 5 July is Graham Cracker Day, or digestive biscuits to the rest of us, which is as good enough an excuse as any to try this recipe for a rose mascarpone cheesecake tart with mixed berries and fresh mint. It will make you the easiest no bake cheesecake made with cream cheese and mascarpone.
I’ve flavoured the cheesecake tart with rose for a taste of the Middle East and generously topped it with mixed berries — summer berries or winter berries, depending where you are — and garnished it with fresh mint leaves. Make this showstopper the centrepiece of the table and I guarantee it will brighten any day.
Graham Crackers or digestive biscuits go into the biscuit crust, which is made to a very traditional recipe from a classic Margaret Fulton 1970s cookbook. You can also use a store-bought base, which I’ve done a few times when I’ve been super busy. Although homemade tastes best.
And if you’re looking for more sweets or dessert recipes with berries, please try my recipes for Scottish cranachan with whiskey, honey, oats, raspberries and cream, sweet varenyky with berries for Ukrainian dessert dumplings, and an easy French toast with berries and whipped cream.
Rose Mascarpone Cheesecake Tart Recipe with Mixed Berries and Fresh Mint
Best Fried Chicken Recipes from Japanese Karaage to Korean Fried Chicken
Mark this date on your calendar: 6 July is Fried Chicken Day. Aside from the crunchy skin and juicy meat, one of the other things we love about fried chicken is that you can eat it year-round. Fried chicken is fantastic with creamy mashed potatoes or spicy potato wedges in the cooler autumn/ or winter months and pairs perfectly with fresh crisp salads in spring and summer.
You can pack finger-licking spicy Southern fried chicken and potato salad into a picnic basket (is there better picnic food than fried chicken?), make fried chicken burgers for a weekend summer lunch, or turn leftovers into fried chicken fried rice, a dish that’s warming on a chilly autumn, fall or winter night.
Every cuisine seems to have fried chicken recipes – we’ve eaten fried chicken everywhere from Myanmar to Mexico. And fried chicken is probably older than you think – fried chicken dates back to Roman times. The earliest documented fried chicken recipe is in Apicius or De re culinaria or De re coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), the 4th Century Roman cookbook.
But what I really love about fried chicken is that if you have any leftovers – let’s assume you made a big batch of fried chicken for a family gathering or game day – you can simply reheat the chicken in the oven and the crispy fried chicken will be even crunchier. Or you can re-purpose it in soups, sandwiches, burgers, or fried rice.
Best Fried Chicken Recipes from Japanese Karaage to Korean Fried Chicken
Classic Mac and Cheese Recipe with Crispy Bacon and Caramelised Shallots
And it’s Macaroni Day on 7 July, so why not try this quick and easy mac and cheese recipe? It makes a classic macaroni and cheese with crispy bacon and caramelised shallots for texture, umami and sweetness. This mac and cheese is nothing if not versatile. Ground paprika adds gentle spice, but add a kick of heat with chilli flakes, use mature cheddar or whatever combo of cheeses you have on hand.
But who really needs an excuse to make mac’n’cheese?! There are few pasta dishes as comforting. The dish of pasta and cheese originated in Ancient Rome, was first documented in 14th century Latin and English cookbooks, taken to the Americas and Australia with European settlers, and evolved as it travelled the globe. Macaroni cheese recipes appeared in Australia’s oldest cookbooks.
Another of our best Italian pasta recipes, our mac and cheese recipe makes a classic stovetop macaroni cheese that’s addictively delicious and super versatile. You can use mature cheddar cheese or whatever combination of cheeses you have in the fridge, add even more crunch with pangrattato or some fragrance and zing with gremolata.
I shared this recipe last year as part of a series of speedy pastas that included recipes for a creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi, my penne Bolognese for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, an asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi, a cherry tomato feta pasta recipe, a spaghetti pangrattato, my sardine pasta with caper gremolata and pangrattato, tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, this lemon pasta recipe for pasta al limone, my pesto pasta with green beans and potatoes, and fusilli with creamy pumpkin pasta sauce.
Classic Mac and Cheese Recipe with Crispy Bacon and Caramelised Shallots
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice Recipe for a Tasty Summery Tropical Fried Rice
And, no, 8 July is not Thai Pineapple Fried Rice Day, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s somewhere on a Food Day list as some of these days are so silly. But this super-easy Thai pineapple fried rice recipe is one of our best Thai street food recipes, and it’s another of our best 31 recipes to cook in July 2025.
Our recipe makes the tasty summery tropical fried rice called khao pad sapparot, a fragrant fried rice that’s sweet, savoury, gently spiced courtesy of curry powder, and packed with umami thanks to soy sauce, and/or if you prefer, fish sauce. It’s one of the most popular fried rice dishes with travellers to Thailand, as well as Southeast Asia more generally.
Tuck into a bowl at home and you can imagine you’re back in Southeast Asia enjoying it at a beachside street food shack with your toes in the sand. Don’t let winter stop you: if you can’t source fresh pineapple, use canned pineapple for a year-round treat.
Ad while I’m sharing the Thai take on the deliciously filling street food dish, this tasty fried rice is also popular in Cambodia and Vietnam. And not only with visitors, it’s just as loved by locals where it’s made at home, particularly on weekends in the countryside during pineapple season.
My Thai pineapple fried rice recipe appears to be the final part of an unplanned trilogy of fried rice recipes I’ve shared this week. I should probably have declared it ‘Fried Rice Week’ on Grantourismo, seeing I posted a classic Korean kimchi fried rice recipe for kimchi bokkeumbap last week and the Indonesian fried rice, nasi goreng, yesterday for our Weekend Eggs series.
Thai Pineapple Fried Rice Recipe for a Tasty Summery Tropical Fried Rice
Classic Korean Japchae Recipe for Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Mixed Vegetables
This classic Korean japchae recipe makes a delicious Korean noodle dish of stir fried glass noodles with mixed vegetables. Called dangmyeon in Korean, the potato and sweet potato starch noodles are doused in sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds, then combined with stir-fried carrot sticks, onion, mushrooms, and spinach. Not only addictively delicious, they’re quick and easy, coming together in 30 minutes or less.
Years ago, when we lived in Sydney’s Potts Point, there was a lively Korean and Japanese dining and drinking scene, thanks to Korean and Japanese business travellers who stayed in the neighbourhood. We used to eat Korean food weekly, including japchae or chapchae, one of my favourite Asian noodle dishes, not just a favourite Korean noodle dish.
In the years since, along with the Korean dishes bulgogi, bibimbap and kimchi bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice) – in fact, anything with kimchi – japchae has become one of the most popular Korean dishes in the world. These days, I make japchae at home with chewy Korean glass noodles or sweet potato noodles. Drenched in a sauce of sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds, the boiled noodles are combined with mixed vegetables, before the whole lot is stir-fried again.
Classic Korean Japchae Recipe for Stir Fried Glass Noodles with Mixed Vegetables
Classic Pina Colada Recipe – A Cocktail that is the Tropics in a Glass
So 10 July is Pina Colada Day, which, while not ‘food’ for me, might be food for some, I guess. This classic pina colada recipe is based on the original piña colada recipe of Ramón ‘Monchito’ Marrero who claimed to have concocted the pineapple and coconut cocktail at the Hilton Caribe Hotel in Puerto Rico. It’s a taste of the Tropics in a glass.
That means this classic pina colada recipe – a deliciously rich aromatic cocktail that screams tropical sunshine and summers on the beach – does not contain any Malibu, a coconut flavoured rum that was originally invented for bartenders to simplify the classic piña colada recipe.
The original piña colada recipe is simple enough to make as it is, and far easier than my copious notes suggest – especially if you’re not making your own coconut cream and sugar syrup. Nor toasting dried coconut. But that’s part of the fun of making cocktails.
We shared this classic pina colada recipe some years ago as part of a holiday cocktail series, which included recipes for an authentic Cuban mojito, classic Champagne cocktail with a tropical (dragonfruit) twist, a classic Negroni with winter spices, and a frappe-style White Peach Bellini recipe from Chef Peter Gilmore of Sydney’s Quay restaurant.
Classic Pina Colada Recipe – A Cocktail that is the Tropics in a Glass
Greek Chicken Souvlaki Recipe for Smoky Char-Grilled Marinated Skewers
July 11 is French Fry Day, Mojito Day (here’s our authentic Cuban mojito recipe), and World Kebab Day, so I thought I’d celebrate the smoky kebab or grilled skewers, and in this case, the Greek kebabs better known as souvlaki. Our chicken souvlaki recipe makes classic Greek grilled skewers marinated in dried oregano, thyme and mint, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice, and it’s one of our best Greek recipes and one of our best skewers recipes.
Our Greek kebabs are cooked in a grill pan on the stovetop, but you could slide them under an oven-grill (broiler) or do them on a barbecue or an outdoor grill if you’re having a backyard barbie. But there’s no need to fire up the Weber just for the skewers.
When I’m making these for two of us, I’ll slather some tzatziki on warm pita, pile on some Greek salad, slide the chicken off the skewers, and use tongs to arrange the grilled chicken pieces on top, so the lot can easily be rolled up in the pita. Feeding a crowd? Serve mezedes such as this Greek eggplant dip, taramosalata, artichoke dip, this pan fried feta cheese, and these Greek meatballs for guests to nibble on while waiting for the souvlaki.
If you’re a fan of grilled skewers, try our recipes for Middle Eastern beef kofta kebabs and shish tawook garlicky chicken skewers, Thai chicken satay skewers, Cambodian lemongrass beef skewers, and these Cambodian beef and pork belly skewers from Battambang.
Greek Chicken Souvlaki Recipe for Smoky Char-Grilled Marinated Skewers
Ribollita Soup Recipe for a Hearty Tuscan Style Bean, Kale and Bread Soup
It’s well and truly soup weather here in Australia, making this ribollita recipe another of our best 31 recipes to cook in July 2025. If you love soups as much as I do – fish soups, chicken soups, noodle soups, chicken noodle soups, warming winter soups, cold summer soups, I adore them all – then you’re going to love this ribollita recipe made from scratch, using stale sourdough bread.
This classic ribollita soup recipe makes the Tuscan bean, kale and bread soup, invented to use up leftovers, including stale bread. ‘Ribollita’ means ‘re-boiled’ in Italian and traditionally this hearty vegetarian broth was made with leftover soup, such as minestrone or white bean soup that was re-boiled with old bread. Comforting and warming, it’s perfect for a cold winter’s day.
It’s also a perfect example of a dish of Italy’s ‘cucina povera’, literally ‘poor cooking’, a traditional cuisine of the countryside that was born out of poverty and frugality that has resulted in some of Italy’s most delicious specialties. Cucina povera was all about stretching out ingredients and dishes, and making use of everything in the kitchen, so that nothing went to waste. And, of course, that philosophy has guided country cooking around the world, not only in Italy.
As much as we adore Terence’s beautiful sourdough bread, we rarely get through a whole sourdough batard and it breaks our hearts to have to throw out a sourdough end, let alone half a loaf as we reluctantly did the other day, as two people can only eat so much. This recipe is fantastic for using up those sourdough ends.
Classic Ribollita Soup Recipe for a Hearty Tuscan Style Bean, Kale and Bread Soup
Russian Okroshka Soup Recipe for a Cold Summer Soup You Can Slurp All Year
This Russian okroshka soup recipe made with kefir (Окрошка с кефиром) makes a cold summer soup you can slurp any time of year. It’s winter where you are? Turn up the heating. Seasonable vegetables such as cucumber and radish can be substituted with whatever’s available that’s crisp and crunchy. This chilled soup is healthy and one of the easiest soups you’ll make, coming together in half an hour.
My easy Russian okroshka soup recipe will make you a delicious cold summer soup that’s perfect for lunches in the sun in spring or summer and can be eaten just as you might a mango gazpacho or this cold Cambodian soup that we love. But, if you’re like me, you can really slurp okroshka (Окрошка), also spelt ‘okroschka’, any time of year. You’re in the southern hemisphere experiencing winter right now? Wear an extra layer and turn the heating up!
Russians love their soups and there are soups for every season and occasion. You probably know borscht, the hearty beetroot-based vegetable and meat broth that’s one of Russia’s best-known soups, although its provenance is thought to be in Ukraine. You may also have heard of shchi, the Russian cabbage soup I posted a recipe for yesterday, that’s one of my favourites that’s also beloved by Russians – so much that it was named a “national treasure” by the Moscow Times.
But you may not have cooked a Russian okroshka soup recipe or even heard of okroshka unless you’re Russian, of Russian heritage, or a chef, food writer or cookbook author. I’ve found that outside Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Russian and Soviet diasporas around the world, okroshka is little-known. Yet it’s so delicious it should be just as well-known as Southern Spain’s gazpacho.
Russian Okroshka Soup Recipe for a Cold Summer Soup You Can Slurp All Year
Fragrant Potato Salad Recipe with Garden Peas, Fresh Herbs and Aromatic Spices
Who doesn’t love a potato salad? Being partly of Russian-Ukrainian heritage, with mayonnaise running through my veins, I could live on potato salad (any potato dishes in fact!), but especially potato salads. And some of our best potato salad recipes are some of our best summer salads, but they’re also fantastic in winter.
This potato salad recipe with peas, fresh herbs and fragrant spices makes a bright, aromatic salad inspired by some of our best potato salads and green herb salads. It comes together quickly – you’ll spend more time waiting for the potatoes to boil then cool down than you’ll spend cooking – and is a fantastic side to so many dishes.
It’s inspired by a perfumed herb salad by chef Chalee Kader of one of our favourite Bangkok restaurants, a zesty Burmese potato salad, and a Persian salad by Lucy and Greg Malouf which I came across in Australia Gourmet Traveller from their book New Feast, and Russian potato salads, and it’s absolutely delicious.
A lover of potato salads, I’ve been pondering whether I could combine a potato salad with Chalee’s herb salad since we first fell in love with it at his restaurant, 100 Mahaseth, some years ago, but I didn’t think it would work. It took a few other potato salads, each of which provided food for thought, to convince me it would. Fortunately, it did, and now I’m hooked.
If you adore potatoes as much as we do, also browse our compilations of best potato recipes, potato soups and potato sides, for recipes for everything from crispy Hasselback potatoes to the creamiest mashed potatoes.
Fragrant Potato Salad Recipe with Garden Peas, Fresh Herbs and Aromatic Spices
French Recipes to Cook for French National Day or Bastille Day on 14 July
While we don’t need an excuse to make French food, it’s the French National Day or Bastille Day this Friday 14th July, so that’s as good an excuse as any. I’m hoping to cook a couple more French dishes between now and then to add to these, so do bookmark this page if you’re a lover of French cuisine.
Our iconic French recipes to cook for French National Day include quintessentially French dishes such as a classic salade Lyonnaise, a hearty French onion soup, a traditional olive tapenade from Provence, a classic Toulouse cassoulet, and an cote de boeuf recipe courtesy of chef Pierre Gagnaire.
If you only make one recipe, try my fragrant French onion soup recipe fora classic French onion soup with a subtle Asian twist. Having lived in Southeast Asia for so long, I can’t help myself. Inspired by French chef Raymond Blanc’s vegetarian French onion soup recipe, which uses toasted flour to add a nuttiness to the broth, I added a little fish sauce for umami and star anise for aroma and flavour to create a deeply-flavoured onion soup.
Although I also love our French-style braised chicken recipe for the juiciest chicken with crispy skin from just seven ingredients – stock, olive oil, lemon, garlic, a homemade chicken seasoning, and butter. It couldn’t be easier and it makes one of our best chicken recipes: incredibly succulent chicken legs with crispy skin and full of so much flavour. If you cooked and enjoyed our Spanish style braised chicken with olives and capers or Italian roast chicken with peppers and leeks, you’ll love it.
French Recipes to Cook for French National Day or Bastille Day on 14 July
Cambodian Banana Coconut Tapioca Pudding Recipe with Sesame and Star Anise for Chek Ktis
July 15 is Tapioca Pudding Day. Of course it is. Try this banana coconut tapioca pudding recipe, which will make you Cambodia’s chek ktis, a sweet and creamy aromatic dessert of stewed banana in coconut milk and tapioca pearls, that is perfumed with star anise. Garnish with grated coconut, add a drizzle of coconut cream, and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.
If you enjoyed our mango sago pudding recipe, you’re going to love this banana coconut tapioca pudding recipe, which will make you a deliciously simple yet much loved Cambodian dessert called chek ktis – chek means banana in Cambodia’s Khmer language, and ktis, or more correctly k’tis or k’tiss, means coconut and covers coconut milk and coconut cream.
I love how Cambodians shorten names – which is something we Australians have a tendency to do – as it makes my life so much easier when it comes to naming dishes for the Cambodian culinary history and cookbook we’re (still) working on. But, of course, chek ktis is so much more than banana in coconut milk. For me, it’s sweet Cambodia in a bowl and it’s sublime.
Note: while this recipe calls for tapioca pearls (and it’s Tapioca Pudding Day after all), you could use sago pearls if they’re easier to find. While sago and tapioca come from different sources, the texture is similar, most people can’t tell them apart, and they’re used interchangeably by many Cambodian cooks. This is another of our 31 recipes to cook in July 2025.
Cambodian Banana Coconut Tapioca Pudding Recipe with Sesame and Star Anise for Chek Ktis
Thai Corn Fritters Recipe for Tod Man Khao Pod with Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
As 16 July is Corn Fritters Day, you must try Terence’s Thai corn fritters recipe for tod man khao pod in Thai – crunchy, chewy corn fritters that we gently spice with a little chilli paste. It’s one of our best summer corn recipes. Eaten as a snack in Thailand and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries, you could serve these Thai corn fritters as finger food or as an appetiser.
The fritters are fantastic dipped into Thai sweet chilli sauce, which is also a good excuse to make our Thai sweet chilli sauce. If you have leftovers, make these corn fritter breakfast burgers with fried egg and Thai sweet chilli sauce. It makes an incredibly delicious vegetarian breakfast burger that’s packed with flavour and crunch and is one of our best burger recipes.
And if you’re a fan of corn, try our recipe for traditional Cambodian street food corn snack, poat dot, my fantastic grilled corn on the cobs with lime, butter and lemongrass mayonnaise, and this delicious grilled corn salad with lime, chilli, lemongrass mayo, and croutons.
Corn is the key ingredient in some of our favourite Mexican street corn dishes, starting with the smoky Mexican grilled corn on the cob recipe for elotes, a Mexican grilled corn salad that’s great for barbecues, and the Mexican corn in a cup called esquites or elotes en vaso, which takes us right back to Mexico City.
Thai Corn Fritters Recipe for Tod Man Khao Pod with Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce
Gourmet Hot Dog Recipes for Mediterranean Inspired Healthier Hot Dogs
Now 16 July is also Hot Dog Day it seems, but who says you can’t make hot dogs on 17 July? These gourmet hot dog recipes make healthier hot dogs inspired by the Mediterranean cuisines of Italy, Morocco and the Middle East.
I enjoy a traditional hot dog spread with mayo and mustard and topped with generous squirts of chilli sauce or ketchup as much as the next person. Add caramelised onions, bacon and melted cheese and I’m in heaven. But when I feel like healthier fast food or hot dogs that are a bit fancier, I make these gourmet hot dog recipes.
My parents owned a take-away specialising in hot dogs when I was a teen, so I’m a hot dog lover. Although I have to confess to not being a fan of classic frankfurter sausages used in hot dogs. I prefer to buy good quality butcher’s sausages, such as Italian herb sausages, Moroccan merguez and Lebanese makanek and fill the hot dogs with salads and spreads.
Gourmet Hot Dog Recipes for Mediterranean Inspired Healthier Hot Dogs
Smoked Trout Blini with Caviar, Crème Fraîche, Cucumber, Radish and Dill
From hot dogs to caviar. Yep, 18 July is Caviar Day. This smoked trout blini with caviar, crème fraîche, cucumber, radish and dill makes a variation on the traditional Russian blini or pancakes with smoked salmon and caviar. The blini are spread with cream cheese. Smoked trout is piled on top with a side of cucumber, radish and dill, followed by dollops of crème fraîche and caviar and more fresh dill.
There are few more quintessential Russian dishes than blini (pancakes). Smoked salmon, sour cream and caviar are traditional blini toppings and the blini recipes I’ve shared over the years feature those classic blini accompaniments – from my Russian buckwheat pancakes recipe for blini made from scratch (albeit with gherkin and radish ‘caviar’) to my easy DIY ‘train blini’ spread with store-bought mini-pancakes.
But I made a few tweaks to the festive blini brunch that I prepared for mum, who has Russian-Ukrainian heritage. These blini would also make a special New Year’s Eve appetiser or finger food. Instead of smoked salmon I used smoked trout, which is more intense, richer and fishier in flavour – which is why I opted for the gentler crème fraîche over tangier sour cream, even though I adore the stuff.
Smoked Trout Blini with Caviar, Crème Fraîche, Cucumber, Radish and Dill
Zingy Sardine Salad with Celery, Cos, Capers and Mustard Dressing Recipe
One of our best canned fish recipes, this zingy sardine salad with celery, cos lettuce, capers and mustard dressing makes a quick and easy salad that’s mostly assembled with pantry staples – a can of sardines, jars of capers, cocktail gherkins, wholegrain mustard, extra virgin olive oil, and white wine vinegar. If you have those in the kitchen cupboard, you only need to buy celery, lettuce, and fresh dill.
I started making this lively sardine salad, a quintessentially Russian-Ukrainian style salad or the kind my baboushka or mum might have made for one of our languorous Sunday family lunches that typically turned into dinner. The salad contains ingredients that have long been pantry staples in our kitchen, essential ingredients in many of my Russian family recipes.
I started making this lively sardine salad soon after returning to Australia to see my mum and discovering these fantastic canned sardines at the supermarket. I now keep a stack of tinned sardines and eat them a few times a week – partly because they’re so delicious and partly because sardines are just so good for us.
My sardine salad was one of those clean-out-the-fridge/pantry concoctions – leftover celery from ragu alla Bolognese, baby cos left from a salad, quick-pickled shallots I needed to use up, and sour cream from the batch of pelmeni and vareniki I made virtually as soon as I arrived. Then I reached into mum’s fridge and pulled out all the opened jars.
I usually make the salad exactly as pictured – because first we eat with our eyes, right? – and then I lightly toast some Turkish bread and we pile the salad on the warm buttered bread, firstly slathering on the dill-flecked sour cream that it sits on. It makes a wonderful lunch, but it would also be fantastic on the table as part of a weekend feast.
If you’re a fan of canned sardines or any canned fish, try our recipes for sardine pasta with capers and gremolata, a tuna pasta with scallions and capers and fresh herbs, my Russian mimosa salad, this fancy sardines on toast recipe and Terence’s ultimate tuna melt.
Zingy Sardine Salad with Celery, Cos, Capers and Mustard Dressing Recipe
Korean Meatballs Recipe for the Popular Korean Street Food Snack
Another of our best 31 recipes to cook in July 2025, this easy Korean meatballs recipe makes a popular Korean street food snack called goji wanja that’s sold on skewers or toothpicks as fast food, served in Korean bars and pubs as drinking food (anju), as well as cooked and eaten in the home. If you’re a lover of meatballs – more meatball recipes here! – and a fan of Korean food, you’ll love this quick and easy recipe.
It’s super versatile, too. The juicy meatballs can be finished in the sauce, making for melt-in-the-mouth meatballs. Or add a tad more sugar and reduce the sauce down to a sticky glaze to brush on the meatballs. I prefer a firmer meatball and lighter sauce drizzled on the meatballs before serving.
My recipe makes enough meatballs for a relaxed meal for two if you serve it with a salad or a feast for four if you serve the meatballs with Korean corn cheese, Korean potato salad, this refreshing Korean cucumber salad, and Korean coleslaw. Eat leftover meatballs with my spicy Korean spicy ramen noodles.
Korean Meatballs Recipe for the Popular Korean Street Food Snack
Pan Fried Asparagus on Pesto Hummus with Aromatic Dill Oil and Dukkah
My favourite kind of vegetable side dish is one that involves piling crispy, just-cooked, fresh vegetables onto a bed of potato mash, or homemade hummus or butter bean dip, and sprinkling the lot with something crunchy. If you like those sorts of veggie sides as much as I do, you’ll love this pan fried asparagus on pesto hummus with dill oil and dukkah.
I adore dishes such as our grilled baby corn on creamy butter beans with pistachios and roasted cauliflower on hummus with crispy chickpeas. So every chance I get I’ll spread some hummus or butter bean dip onto a plate, heap some stir-fried or pan-roasted vegetables on top and shower the lot with dukkah, sesame seeds, crushed nuts, or crispy shallots.
If that’s your idea of a great vegetable side dish – or even a vegetable main course if you prefer light vegetable-driven dishes – then you’re going to love this pan fried asparagus on pesto hummus with dill oil and dukkah. And if you’re a fan of asparagus, see my recipe for asparagus, mushroom, bacon and parmesan gnocchi.
Pesto lover? Try our recipes for pesto gnocchi with homemade pesto alla Genovese, my basil pesto pasta with potatoes and beans (the pesto dish I fell for on our first trip to Genoa, but made with fusilli instead of trofie), my pesto spaghetti and meatballs with peas and broccoli, a pesto potato salad, our pesto scrambled eggs, my cherry tomato burrata salad with asparagus, basil pesto and dukkah, this broccoli pasta with a creamy broccoli pesto sauce, and my Southeast Asian pesto.
Pan Fried Asparagus on Pesto Hummus with Aromatic Dill Oil and Dukkah
Thai Mango Sticky Rice Recipe by Chef David Thompson
July 22 is Mango Day, one of my favourite food days, and we have loads of mango recipes, for everything from mango sticky rice and mango sago pudding to mango jam and mango gazpacho. But one of the best mango recipes has to be mango sticky rice, my favourite Thai sweet. It’s another of our best 31 recipes to cook in July 2025.
Along with Cambodia, I’ve been missing Thailand and the Thai capital Bangkok, especially Bangkok’s fantastic street food. I adore eating sticky rice with mango, whether it’s on Bangkok’s streets, in its old school eateries, or fancy restaurant dining rooms, and chef David Thompson’s mango sticky rice recipe from his Thai Street Food cookbook is my go-to sticky rice with mango recipe.
Another one of our best mango recipes is this mango jam. It’s so simple, and so delicious, and makes a thoughtful edible gift. One of the things I love about the boutique hotels in Siem Reap, and in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and other Southeast Asian destinations, is that they often serve delicious house-made fruit jams made with seasonal tropical fruits for breakfast.
This fantastic mango gazpacho recipe is another favourite. It makes a chilled mango soup from Spain. We’ve been eating and cooking the traditional tomato and cucumber based gazpacho in the Southern Spain style forever. But we really became smitten with less familiar interpretations of that traditional cold Spanish soup at contemporary Catalan restaurants in Barcelona and Mallorca many years ago, including this mango gazpacho.
Thai Mango Sticky Rice Recipe by Chef David Thompson and It’s Not As Intimidating As It Looks
Cambodian Green Mango Salad with Smoked Fish, Dried Prawns and Fresh Fragrant Herbs
There’s no special food day after Mango Day, so I thought I’d share another mango recipe with you. This recipe for a green mango salad with smoked fish makes Cambodia’s nhoam svay trei chhae. With cousins in neighbouring countries, it’s one of my favourite Southeast Asian salads.
The aromatic salad is full of texture and flavour, thanks to the raw fruit and vegetables, crispy smoked fish, dried shrimp, crunchy peanuts, and a classic Cambodian dressing of fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, birds eye chillies, and palm sugar. The salad is a little sour, spicy and funky, but it’s the combination of textures and aromas that really makes this salad so wonderful.
We first shared this recipe as part of a series of classic Cambodian salad recipes that have so far included Cambodia’s fantastic banana flower chicken salad, a spicy Cambodian minced pork larb, a perfumed grilled beef salad, and an addictive pork and jicama salad that is so light and tasty. And we have more Cambodian salads to come.
Green mango salads are also eaten in neighbouring Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, and you’ll find slightly different versions in each country. In Thailand, they use more chillies in their mango salads than they do here in Cambodia, where they use just enough to give the dish a little bite rather than fiery heat.
Green Mango Salad and Smoked Fish Recipe for Cambodia’s Nhoam Svay Trei Chhae
Classic Margarita Recipe for the Quintessential Mexican Cocktail
July 24 is Tequila Day, which is the perfect excuse to make a classic Margarita recipe which calls for tequila. We reckon a Margarita should be one of the first classic cocktail recipes a cocktail lover learns to make, especially if they’re a fan of all things Mexican, as we have long been.
The Margarita must be the most quintessential and most popular of cocktails in Mexico. Popular around the globe, we learnt this classic Margarita recipe on our first trip to Mexico many years ago, and we still make it, wherever we are in the world.
Come sunset, whether we were in our apartment rental in Mexico City or our cute casita in San Miguel de Allende, I would reach for the tequila, Triple Sec and limes and mix us some classic Margaritas. Back ‘home’, nostalgic for those evenings sipping Margaritas overlooking the Zocalo, I’d make us Margaritas and the memories would flow.
Classic Margarita Recipe – How to Make the Quintessential Mexican Cocktail
Caprese Salad Recipe for an Italian Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella and Basil Salad
Well, 25 July is Wine and Cheese Day, and there are few better combinations than glasses of crisp white wine with the mozzarella cheese-based Caprese salad. If you love Italian food and the classic Caprese salad starter from Italy‘s Capri and Campania region made with big juicy beefsteak tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella, which traditionally comes as larger balls of rich creamy fresh mozzarella, you’ll love our Caprese salad recipe.
This is one of my favourite recipes with tomatoes and one of our best recipes with cheese. It has just a couple of tweaks: we use vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, which are sweeter, and bocconcini, which are smaller balls of buffalo mozzarella. Better for feeding a crowd and a better side if serving with a main – although traditionally insalata Caprese is an appetiser, so don’t tell your Italian friends!
My tweaks came about from my current circumstances. I’ve been cooking the food my mum has loved over the years to help her recollect fond memories we share, including an Italy trip, which was part of a larger European journey after Dad died. I’ve been making Mum so many Italian pastas (her favourite food!), I wanted to make her a Caprese salad as a starter. But the larger tomatoes I’ve been buying have had no flavour, and the couple of tubs of buffalo mozzarella I bought were bad.
After finding some bocconcini that was fresh and creamy, and beautiful vine-ripened cherry tomatoes that smelt so good, as if just-picked, and were incredibly sweet and luscious, I made this salad. Then I realised that it worked far better as a salad to share (especially if you were feeding a crowd), as well as a side to a main. Let me know what you think of this Caprese salad in miniature.
Caprese Salad Recipe for an Italian Tomato, Buffalo Mozzarella and Basil Salad
Singapore Laksa Recipe for the Spicy Coconut Curry Noodle Soup
It’s World Tofu Day on 26 July, so I thought I’d share one of our favourite recipes with tofu. This Singapore laksa recipe is the rich coconut milk-laced version of this Southeast Asian classic noodle soup dish and it includes puffy tofu pieces that soak up the creamy spiced broth.
Terence has been making this Singapore laksa recipe since we first started slurping the spicy coconut curry noodle soup in Australia in Sydney’s Chinatown in the mid 1980s. It served as an early after-work dinner before our evening uni classes, while enjoying a Singapore laksa became a Saturday morning ritual before shopping Paddy’s markets. It’s one of our best Asian street food recipes.
A great laksa is not made starting from a jar of paste, a great laksa starts with curry paste made from scratch in a mortar and pestle. One important note for the curry paste is to make sure you cook it out. You want it to go much darker, to almost a deep red colour to maximise the flavour.
Singapore Laksa Recipe for the Spicy Coconut Curry Noodle Soup
Best Irish Stew Recipe for a Deeply Flavoured Traditional Irish Beef Stew
This is the best Irish stew recipe for a deeply flavoured classic Irish stew with a rich gravy thanks to an easy roux – and half a bottle of Shiraz. Dishes don’t get more Irish than this hearty traditional Irish stew, considered by many to be Ireland’s national dish. This is one of our best stew recipes and one of our best Irish recipes.
While Terence is the one with Irish ancestry in this little family and Irish stews were part of his mother’s repertoire, I take on Irish stew duties as I grew up eating and later cooking Russian stews and old-fashioned Australian stews, and I have to confess to having a thing about stews. Have you made my Russian beef stew?
If you’re also a stew lover, you’re going to adore this Irish stew recipe, arguably Ireland’s national dish. It makes an incredibly rich Irish stew that’s deeply flavoured thanks to slow-cooking, half a bottle of Shiraz and an easy roux – melted butter and flour whisked with the stew juices to create a flavourful gravy that’s stirred into the stew. A roux is an essential component of a classic Irish stew, and indeed many stews.
If you’re a fellow stew lover, do browse our best stew recipes for recipes for this old-fashioned chicken stew, a Spanish rabo de toro oxtail stew, a French cassoulet, a tomato bredie, a classic Cape Town stew, an Irish beef and Guinness stew with dumplings, the Hungarian stew porkolt (often confused goulash), a Cambodian pork stew with star anise and ginger, and my chorizo, cabbage and three bean stew (a spicy take on kapusniak).
Best Irish Stew Recipe for a Deeply Flavoured Traditional Irish Beef Stew
Char Siu Pork Recipe for Chinese Barbecue Pork
Another of our best 31 recipes to cook in July 2025, this char siu pork recipe is dead easy to make. Sweet and sticky on the outside, tender and juicy within, this Chinese barbecue pork recipe is also very versatile. You can eat it with steamed rice and Chinese greens and use leftovers in everything from fried rice to banh mi.
When we lived in my hometown of Sydney years ago, we loved going to Chinatown on the weekend. After we’d finished our shopping, there was always fluffy pork buns, crispy Chinese roast ducks, and luridly coloured char siu pork to take home. Terence has made pork buns and roast duck over the years and they’re time-consuming and technical. This char siu pork, on the other hand, is dead easy to make, fills your kitchen with amazing aromas, and is very versatile.
You can savour slices of char siu with a little hoisin sauce and rice, mix it in some fried rice, make some Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches with it, put char siu in an omelette, make a char siu burger, use it for another Vietnamese speciality, cao lầu, or mix it in some Hokkien Noodles. We have a compilation of our best char siu pork recipes here.
Classic Lasagne alla Bolognese Recipe from Emilia Romagna for the Best Lasagne Recipe Ever
Nobody ever needs an excuse to make homemade lasagne. It’s unbeatable. But 29 July is World Lasagne Day, so there you go. Terence’s classic lasagne alla Bolognese recipe from Bologna in the Emilia Romagna region of Northern Italy is the best lasagne recipe ever, one of our best pasta recipes, and it’s another of our best 31 recipes to cook in July 2025.
Rich and comforting, this classic lasagne Bolognese begins with a great Bolognese ragù that’s layered between flat pasta sheets and besciamella, IItaly’s béchamel sauce, and Parmigiano Reggiano. It’s a very traditional lasagne in the style that you’ll find in Bologna. That means thinner sheets of pasta, a sparing use of besciamella, no mozzarella, and a flavour profile that’s more savoury than sweet.
Just a short drive from the Italian Lakes and its wonderful gastronomy, grand hotels and gorgeous gardens and villas, Emilia Romagna is a paradise for foodies and wine lovers. Home to Italian specialties such as Parmigiano Reggiano (parmesan cheese), Prosciutto di Parma (Parma ham) and balsamic vinegar from Modena, along with so many wonderful Northern Italian wine varietals, the region is Italy’s gastronomic heart, and Bologna is its capital.
With the wintery weather frigid here and in much of the southern hemisphere, it’s one of the most warming and comforting of comfort food dishes and perfect for an icy winter’s day. It’s also one of the dishes that every cook should master to become a better cook, so if you haven’t made homemade lasagne before, now’s your chance.
Classic Lasagne alla Bolognese Recipe from Emilia Romagna – Best Lasagne Recipe Ever
Best Avocado Recipes for Guacamole, Avocado Smoothies, Smashed Avo and More
It’s Avocado Day on 31 July, so I thought I’d end the month with this round-up of our best avocado recipes, which include authentic guacamole, avocado smoothies, smashed avocado on toast, creamy avocado pasta, and more if you’re preparing for the ‘avolanche’. If you’re not, avocados could help beat the blues and reduce blood pressure. They not only taste good but avocados are good for you.
Some of my favourite avocado recipes include this authentic Mexican guacamole recipe, which makes a genuine guacamole of the kind your Mexican grandma might make if you have one. It has a creamy luscious texture, bright green colour and full flavour of perfectly ripe avocados. I’ve been making it for over 30 years, since we tasted our first proper guacamole in Mexico City on our inaugural trip to Mexico in the Nineties.
We also have a recipe for a classic Australian mashed avocado toast with poached eggs, for one of Australia’s most quintessential Aussie café breakfast dishes at home – ‘smashed avo on toast’. Just add a side of generously buttered sourdough toast, a jar of Vegemite, a tumbler of freshly squeezed orange juice (‘OJ’), and good coffee. There has to be really good coffee.
Or try our completely addictive breakfast nachos recipe with fried egg, avocado, escabeche, chilli and spicy salsa makes a cheesy nachos topped with homemade Mexican escabeche or mixed vegetable pickles, vegetarian bean chilli, spicy tomato salsa, avocado slices, and sour cream.
It makes a fun, filling weekend brunch if you’re in need of comfort food – or a hangover cure. If you’ve made our ultimate nachos recipe, then you’re going to love our breakfast nachos recipe, which is a recipe from our Weekend Eggs series. And if you’ve made our vegetarian bean chilli, our jalapeno pickles or Mexican escabeche or mixed vegetable pickles, then this breakfast nachos gives you a great excuse to use them – along with Terence’s easy tomato salsa, or chilli con carne if you prefer meat with your chilli.
Recipes with Avocado – Guacamole, Avocado Smoothies, Smashed Avo and More
Please do let us know if you make any of our 31 recipes to cook in July 2025 as we’d love to know how they turn out for you.
