The 31 most popular recipes of October 2025 once again included a mix of long-time reader favourites such as my Russian beef Stroganoff, fragrant Cambodian noodle soup, and spiced Middle Eastern style rice with dried fruit and nuts, as well as newer recipes of recent years including recipes for our spicy Calabrian sausage pasta, cherry tomato burrata salad with asparagus, pesto and dukkah, and Middle Eastern spin on Italy’s ragù Bolognese.
I love this time of the month when we look at last month’s stats and the recipes you all searched for, spent time on, and hopefully cooked last month. This collection of the 31 most popular recipes of October 2025 includes a real combination of recipes, from all-time reader faves that top these lists month after month to newer recipes of recent years.
Once again, you’ll find dishes that featured on our round-up of most popular September recipes, such as our aromatic Cambodian coconut rice noodles recipe for nom banh chok, my gently spiced yet richly flavoured beef Stroganoff, and this fragrant Middle Eastern inspired spiced rice with dried fruit and nuts.
But you’ll also find ‘newer’ recipes of recent years landing on one of these lists for the first time, including my recipe for a lamb ragù Bolognese infused with Middle Eastern flavours, our shredded chicken and corn salad with homemade salsa macha, and our cherry tomato burrata salad with crispy asparagus, basil pesto and dukkah. And if you’re looking for more inspiration, see our 30 recipes to cook in November 2025.
Now before you scroll down to our most popular recipes of October 2025, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve enjoyed our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo: you could buy a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; book a cooking class or a meal with locals on EatWith; or buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers or classic cookbooks for serious cooks.
Looking for more cooking inspiration? Our archives are brimming with many hundreds of recipes from around the world from places we’ve lived, worked, travelled, and loved. And you can save your favourite recipes in a private account by clicking on the heart on the right of any post. Now let me tell you more about the recipes readers loved in October.
Most Popular Recipes of October 2025 – Recipes Readers Cooked Last Month
These were our most popular recipes of October 2025 – the recipes that readers searched for, spent time on, and hopefully cooked in October.
Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe
Once again, one of my Russian-Ukrainian family recipes, which mum used to make regularly when I was a kid growing up in the ’70s, topped the list of most popular recipes of October 2025 on the site. It’s my classic beef Stroganoff recipe, which differs a little to my mother’s, in that it’s more richly spiced and includes an unusual ingredient.
One of our most searched-for recipes on the site, it’s one of my best Stroganoff recipes. I also have recipes for chicken Stroganoff, mushroom Stroganoff, meatball Stroganoff and pork Stroganoff. An old aristocratic Russian dish with a long history, beef Stroganoff was popularised in Soviet-era canteens before travelling the world with Russian émigrés, exiles and World War 2 refugees like my Russian-Ukrainian grandparents.
We love to serve beef Stroganoff with classic sides, such as crunchy shoestring fries or mashed potatoes, a crisp garden salad, dill pickles, and sour cream. For a proper family meal of the kind my grandmother made, serve it as part of a spread of dishes, including bowls of borscht and piroshki, a pink beet potato salad, casserole pots full of Russian pelmeni and Ukrainian vareniki, a tray of cabbage rolls, and perhaps some chicken kotleti.
Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe for a Retro Classic from a Palace Kitchen
Cambodian Nom Banh Chok Recipe
Cambodian food has such a special place in our hearts, having lived in Siem Reap since 2013, researching and writing our epic Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. So I love seeing readers searching for our Cambodian recipes and am thrilled to see this nom banh chok recipe high on the list of our most popular recipes of October 2025.
Nom banh chok, also written as nom banhchok, is both the name of the fresh daily-made rice noodles and the noodle soup itself. Nom banh chok is thought to be an ancient Khmer dish that has influenced many other noodle soup dishes around Southeast Asia, from Thailand’s khanom jeen to a Southern Vietnam Khmer dish from the Mekong Delta called bún kèn.
There are a handful of types of nom banh chok, but our traditional nom banh chok recipe for Cambodia’s beloved ‘Khmer Noodles’ will make you nom banh chok samlor proher, a popular Siem Reap breakfast of the rice noodles served with a yellow-green coconut-based fish curry, fragrant with fresh herbs, seasonal greens, edible flowers, and foraged herbs.
Authentic Nom Banh Chok Recipe for Cambodia’s Beloved Khmer Noodles
Middle Eastern Rice Recipe with Dried Fruit and Nuts
My quick and easy Middle Eastern rice recipe with spices, nuts and raisins will make you a fragrant rice dish infused with Middle Eastern spices and textured with nuts and raisins. It’s fantastic with smoky kofta kebab or the garlicky chicken called shish tawook, Middle Eastern vegetable sides, such as these spicy potatoes from Lebanon, and salads such as fatoush and tabbouleh. It’s one of our best Middle Eastern recipes.
While my Middle Eastern rice recipe is authentic in taste – there are few more quintessential Middle Eastern spice blends than the ‘seven spice’ mix known as ‘baharat’ and nuts such as pistachios and cashews – the technique I use is inauthentic. Instead of the pilaf method, I use the Asian stir-fry method to use up leftover rice.
The next day, I combine any leftover Middle Eastern spiced rice with kofta kebab meat or garlicky chicken leftovers, such as chicken shawarma, which I break up into bite-sized pieces and quickly stir-fry again. The result is a wonderful rice dish that makes an easy yet comforting meal for a filling lunch or casual dinner.
Middle Eastern Rice Recipe with Spices, Pistachios, Cashews and Raisins
Russian Beef Stew Recipe for Solyanka
This traditional Russian beef stew recipe makes solyanka, a delicious hearty stew or heavy soup that’s a little sour, a little sweet, and was a whole lot saltier back in its day. It was one of our most popular recipes of October 2025.
First mentioned in print in the 15th century, solyanka is an ancient dish made for modern times: it’s a one-pot dish that is filling and comforting. Based on my baboushka’s recipe, which I grew up eating in the 1970s and 1980s, it’s one of my favourite beef stew recipes.
Solyanka has long been thought to have been invented to use up leftovers, which explains all the bits and pieces, and why some solyanka recipes call for several kinds of meats and sausages, and ingredients such as dill pickle juice.
Traditional Russian Beef Stew Recipe for Solyanka, a Medieval Dish for Modern Times
How to Boil Eggs Perfectly Every Single Time
Not so much a recipe, but rather a guide to how to boil eggs perfectly every time, this was another of our most popular recipes for October 2025. Terence shared this guide in his 15 year old Weekend Eggs recipes series on breakfast egg dishes from around the world, which we started way back in 2010 when we launched Grantourismo.
Even if you’re not a breakfast eggs person and prefer to slurp a noodle soup or tuck into a plate of pancakes, it’s still handy to learn how to boil eggs perfectly. We use soft-boiled eggs in our creamy curried egg sandwiches and semi hard-boiled eggs in our ohn no khao swe recipe for the wonderful Burmese chicken coconut noodle soup.
Terence’s tips include everything from starting with room temperature eggs and beginning boiling the eggs in boiling water to using old eggs rather than fresh eggs. And he has lots more tips in the post. If you’re a lover of boiled eggs, we have more boiled eggs recipes here.
How to Boil Eggs Perfectly Every Time for Perfect Soft and Hard Boiled Eggs
Creamy Cauliflower and Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe
One of our most popular winter soup recipes, one of our best potato soup recipes, and one of our favourite cabbage recipes, our easy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe makes a creamy vegetable soup that’s incredibly rich and comforting and it was another of our most popular recipes of October 2025 on Grantourismo.
You could enjoyably slurp it as is on a chilly autumn or fall evening, dunking toast into the silky broth, or add texture and make it a bit fancy by sprinkling crushed croutons, fresh fragrant dill sprigs, and cracked black pepper on top.
This creamy cauliflower cabbage potato soup recipe will make you a comforting vegetable soup textured with homemade croutons that tastes so rich and creamy you’d think there was cream in it (there isn’t!) and while you could happily tuck into a bowl on the sofa in your PJs, you could also make it a bit fancy.
Cauliflower Cabbage Potato Soup Recipe for a Comforting Creamy Vegetable Soup
Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe
One of our best breakfast rice recipes, best Asian breakfast recipes, and one my favourite Cambodian recipes, this Cambodian chicken rice porridge recipe for borbor sach moan makes a Cambodian congee that I’ve been making since we first moved to Cambodia‘s Siem Reap back. If you enjoy this, you’ll also love this borbor sor with pork meatballs.
The Cambodian take on Chinese congee or jok is a classic Cambodian comfort food favourite eaten at any time these days. Cambodians tuck into big bowls of borbor for breakfast, brunch, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner (particularly if someone isn’t feeling well), and a late night supper (and hangover cure).
Called borbor sach moan in Khmer, this chicken congee is thought to be a dish of Chinese origin and part of the Cambodian-Chinese culinary heritage rather than a Khmer dish, but whatever its provenance, over many centuries it’s become a comfort food staple for all Cambodians – as well as Cambodian residents, including ourselves.
Cambodians have really made the classic Chinese rice porridge their own. Here in Siem Reap you’ll find anything from chicken, pork, fish, dried fish, seafood, snails, and frog legs in borbor and you’ll also see an array of condiments, from dried fish floss and pickled vegetables to the condiments we love to use: fish sauce, chilli flakes, chilli oil, and fresh fragrant herbs.
Cambodian Chicken Rice Porridge Recipe for Borbor Sach Moan, Cambodia’s Congee
Buckwheat Kasha with Bacon, Eggs and Mushrooms
Despite the rustic appearance, this is perhaps the least traditional of my Russian-Ukrainian family recipes. Although I have to confess that of all the Russian breakfasts my baboushka used to make – French toast, blini, potato cakes, and buckwheat pancakes – kasha was my least favourite breakfast as a child. The nutty flavour and strong smell put me off. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I finally became smitten with kasha.
This comforting Russian buckwheat kasha recipe with caramelised onions, bacon lardons, pan-fried mushrooms, and soft-boiled eggs makes my heartier take on my grandmother’s traditional Russian breakfast and it was another of our most popular recipes of October 2025 on Grantourismo.
The key ingredient of this savoury porridge (kasha) is buckwheat groats (grechka). While based on my Russian grandmother’s recipe, I’ve spiced things up. My baba kept things simple and sprinkled chopped hard-boiled eggs on top, whereas I use soft-boiled eggs, and garnish it with diced gherkins, loads of fresh fragrant dill, and a dollop of sour cream. If you enjoy this, try our spiced pumpkin kasha rcipe for cossack comfort food.
Comforting Russian Buckwheat Kasha Recipe with Bacon, Caramelised Onions, Mushrooms and Eggs
Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe from Calabria
I was so chuffed to see that this spicy Italian sausage pasta recipe was another one of the most popular recipes in October 2025, as it’s one of our best pasta recipes. We fell in love with this pasta dish many years ago, on one of our most memorable culinary adventures, a months-long road trip criss-crossing Calabria, Italy’s southernmost mainland region, researching and writing the first English-language Calabria travel guidebook.
It was on that Calabria trip that we fell in love with Calabrian cuisine, some of Italy’s spiciest food, courtesy of Peperoncino Calabrese or Calabrian chilli used in everything from bomba Calabrese, a spicy chilli relish, and Calabrian soppressata, a spicy salami, to Calabria’s fiery spreadable chilli pepper and pork sausage, ’nduja, which you can read more about in our guide to ’nduja and how to use it.
Traditionally, this recipe calls for ’nduja, although you’ll also find Southern Italian pastas made with Italian sausage at restaurants in Calabria, especially the mushroom capital of Camigliatello Silano, that don’t feature ’nduja, such as my mushroom and sausage pasta recipe.
These days it’s easy to buy ’nduja online and if you are a fan, see our recipes for Calabria’s version of eggs in purgatory; an easy nduja bruschetta with goat’s cheese and sweet red capsicum, which makes a perfect snack, brunch, lunch or finger food; our take on Australian chef Christine Manfield’s legendary eggplant ‘sandwich’ with ’nduja (instead of basil pesto); and our ’nduja pizza made in a Dutch oven.
Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe from Calabria in Southern Italy
Chicken Schnitzel Burger Recipe with Pickle Mayo and Bacon, Cabbage and Tomato
This chicken schnitzel burger recipe will make you our crunchy chicken schnitzel with panko breadcrumbs, parmesan and lemon zest, spread with creamy pickle mayo and topped with bacon, cabbage and tomato between soft burger buns. Served with spicy potato wedges, it is home-cooked fast food at its finest.
Terence’s chicken schnitzel burger recipe with creamy pickle mayo, bacon, cabbage and tomato has come straight from our Siem Reap test kitchen to you and it makes one of our best chicken cutlet recipes and one of our favourite take-out dishes (the burger) to eat in. When we finally bit the bullet some years ago and made chicken schnitzel for the first time in years in a bout of homesickness we were very pleasantly surprised.
Served with my amazing warm potato salad recipe with anchovies, capers, chives and celery leaves, we thought it was damn good. It was so good that Terence made it a couple more times for “testing purposes” using both shallow and deep frying.
Crispy on the outside and moist and flavourful to bite into, the chicken schnitzel and potato salad made a very hearty and yet simple dish. We were so thrilled to see it was another of our most popular October recipes.
Chicken Schnitzel Burger Recipe with Creamy Pickle Mayo, Bacon, Cabbage, Tomato
Authentic Burmese Chicken Curry Recipe
Our authentic Burmese chicken curry recipe makes a fragrant gently-spiced curry perfumed with turmeric, ginger, garlic, chilli, and lemongrass. A rich curry with a moreish tomato-based gravy and a layer of aromatic oil that’s soaked up by coconut rice, it’s meant to be served with zingy salads, such as this Burmese raw cabbage salad, Burmese potato salad and Shan tomato salad, and relish or two.
This classic Burmese chicken curry recipe, and this Burmese Indian style chicken curry recipe, are recipes I’ve adapted from my favourite Burmese cookbook, Mi Mi Khaing’s Cook and Entertain the Burmese Way, dating to 1978. It’s a delightful little booklet I bought in a dusty bookshop near the Strand Hotel in Yangon that is as much a historical document as it is a practical cookbook.
If you’re a lover of curries, you’re going to adore these Burmese curries. And if you do, make sure to browse some of our other Myanmar recipes, including Mi Mi Khaing’s recipe for homemade curry powder, and these recipes for Burmese street food-style fried chicken and Burmese coconut rice.
Classic Burmese Chicken Curry Recipe for an Aromatic Tomato Based Curry
Khmer Yellow Kroeung Herb and Spice Paste
This Khmer yellow kroeung recipe makes the Cambodian herb and spice paste called kroeung, which is an irreplaceable ingredient in Khmer cooking. The yellow kroeung is the foundational kroeung and the most versatile of the five main herb and spice pastes used in so many classic Cambodian dishes, especially soups such as samlor machou kroeung sach ko.
The Khmer yellow kroeung paste is the basic kroeung or freshly-pounded herb and spice paste in Cambodian cooking. The other main four pastes are the green kroeung (kroeung prâhoeur), the red kroeung (kroeung samlor kari), ‘k’tis kroeung’ (kroeung samlor k’tis), and the saraman kroeung (kroeung samlor saraman), used to make the Cambodian Saraman curry.
The yellow kroeung is used for many classic Khmer and Cambodian dishes, including fish amok (amok trei), a steamed fish curry, and soups such as samlor machou kroeung sach ko, sour beef soup with morning glory, which is why the paste is commonly called kroeung samlor machou.
The Khmer yellow paste is also used as a marinade for the popular street food snack, charcoal-grilled beef skewers, and in prahok k’tis, the ubiquitous Khmer dip made with prahok (fermented fish), minced pork, coconut milk, and pea eggplants that is eaten with crunchy vegetable crudites.
Khmer Yellow Kroeung Recipe for Kroeung Samlor Machou, Cambodia’s Essential Spice Paste
Chicken Stew Recipe for an Old Fashioned Stew
Terence believes that chicken stew is one of the dishes that every cook should master to become a better cook, and that’s as good an excuse as any to make my best chicken stew recipe. I have my grandparents and parents to thank for this stew, as well as a couple of tricks – or techniques, more correctly – from two of my favourite cuisines, Indian and Italian.
Our best chicken stew recipe will make you a deeply flavoured old fashioned 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.
If you’re a fellow stew lover, do browse our best stew recipes for recipes for the Russian beef stew called Solyanka, a Spanish rabo de toro oxtail stew, a French cassoulet, a tomato bredie, a classic Cape Town stew, a traditional Irish beef 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).
Chicken Stew Recipe for a Deeply Flavoured Old Fashioned Chicken Stew
Korean Coleslaw Recipe for a Classic Side Salad
This Korean coleslaw recipe makes a zingy Korean cabbage salad that’s next in my series of Korean small plate dishes we love – Korean street food, Korean sides called banchan, and Korean dishes served as drinking food called anju – which I’ve been sharing and has included recipes for Korean corn cheese, Korean meatballs, Korean potato salad, and Korean cucumber salad.
If you’re a lover of cabbage dishes, especially coleslaw and cabbage salads, such as my colourful coleslaw made with purple cabbage and pickled pink shallots, this Burmese raw cabbage salad, and this Japanese style cabbage and cucumber salad, you’re also going to enjoy this classic Korean cabbage salad recipe for Korean coleslaw.
We love to serve this Korean slaw as a side to Korean fried chicken – or any fried chicken for that matter! – as one of an array of banchan, Korean sides or starters for Korean barbecue dishes, with Korean-style burgers like this Japanese chicken katsu burger, or tucked into a Korean-inspired gourmet hotdog.
If you’re a fan of Korean food and have made and enjoyed our Korean recipes for Korean spicy udon noodles, Korean japchae (glass noodles), and bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice), you will love this Korean coleslaw. It’s another easy, speedy recipe.
Classic Korean Coleslaw Recipe for a Korean Cabbage Salad Side Dish
Sour Beef Soup with Morning Glory Recipe
This Cambodian sour beef soup with morning glory recipe makes a wonderful green vegetable-driven broth called samlor machou kroeung sach ko in Khmer. It’s super-easy to make, especially if you make the Khmer yellow kroeung first. Kroeung is a Cambodian herb and spice paste.
In addition to the funkiness of the fish sauce and prahok (fermented fish paste), a feature of these sour soups is, naturally, their sourness. If you like tang, add the tamarind juice, the souring agent for this soup. In Cambodia, locals use the seeds of krasaing or wood apple as an alternative, but you might have a hard time tracking the fruit down if you live outside Southeast Asia.
If you don’t love sour, leave the tamarind juice out. It’s delicious either way. If you enjoy this, also try these recipes for a Cambodian pork, pineapple and coconut milk soup-cum-stew and the Khmer ‘outside the pot’ soup.
Sour Beef Soup with Morning Glory Recipe for Samlor Machou Kroeung Sach Ko
Chinese American Crispy Egg Foo Young with Gravy Recipe
This egg foo young with gravy recipe makes the Chinese American restaurant specialty of crispy omelettes doused in gravy and sprinkled with scallions, sesame seeds and bean sprouts. Served with steamed rice, the fantastic and filling omelette can be eaten for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner and is just as delicious as the Cantonese original.
The original Cantonese-style egg foo young, also called Cantonese fu yong dan or fuyong dan, is a delightfully crispy omelette filled with pork, spring onions and bean sprouts, with provenance in Southern China dating back to the 18th century Ching Dynasty. It was another of our most popular recipes of October 2025.
Now if you love a good omelette, try our recipes for two classic omelettes, ourThai omelette recipe, my Russian sour cream omelette with broccoli and bacon, Terence’s luxurious Southeast Asian crab omelette, or our herby Cambodian sa’om omelette, or just browse our collection of best omelette recipes.
Egg Foo Young with Gravy Recipe for the Chinese American Crispy Omelettes
Cambodian Fried Rice Recipe for Bai Cha
This Cambodian fried rice recipe makes the best Cambodian bai cha (fried rice), a lighter version of the popular Chinese stir-fry rice dish. Thanks to many centuries of Chinese trade and migration, Chinese fried rice is found across Southeast Asia. In Cambodia, there are many variations, bai char being the most ubiquitous.
Bai cha (also written as bai tcha, bai char, bai chaa, bay cha) or fried rice – ‘bai’ is rice and ‘cha’ is to stir-fry – is the most popular Chinese-style fried rice in Cambodia. It’s distinguished by two quintessential breakfast ingredients, sausage and eggs, and Siem Reap sausage in particular, the local take on lap cheong, the Cantonese name for a smoked, sweetened, red Chinese sausage.
There seems to be as many Cambodian fried rice recipes as there are versions of Chinese-style fried rice across Southeast Asia. Bai cha is the most common fried rice cooked in local homes and sold at street food stalls and simple local eateries. Try it and you’ll know why!
Cambodian Fried Spring Rolls Recipe for Crispy Deep-Fried Egg Rolls
Our Cambodian fried spring rolls recipe makes a traditional crispy deep-fried spring roll – or egg roll, as our American readers call them – of the kind you’ll find sold in markets and street food stalls as a snack and served in restaurants as an appetiser here in Cambodia. We also have a tangy Cambodian fried spring roll dipping sauce recipe that you can make to serve with them.
Easy to make, once you get the hang of the rolling technique, these Cambodian fried spring rolls are a classic, but by all means can be adapted to your taste. While the origin of the spring roll is Chinese, and in Cambodia specifically its provenance is the Chinese-Cambodian community, these fried spring rolls are eaten by everyone these days. When you taste them you’ll realise why!
I use a simple crinkle-blade hand grater, which will give you a texture that’s somewhere in between a standard grater and julienning. They are hugely popular here in Southeast Asia and cost about a dollar at local markets. You could also use a mandolin with a crinkle-ripple blade.
Cambodian Fried Spring Rolls Recipe for Crispy Deep-Fried Egg Rolls
Green Papaya Salad Recipe for Khmer Bok Lahong
This green papaya salad recipe makes Cambodia’s Bok Lahong or Nhoam Lahong, a fragrant, crunchy salad that’s a little funky, spicy, sour, salty, and a tad sweet. Typically eaten as a late afternoon snack, this bespoke Cambodian salad is made to order, and has cousins in Laos (Tum Som), Thailand (Som Tam), and Vietnam (Gỏi Đủ Đủ).
One of Cambodia’s favourite salads, it’s a fresh, aromatic, crunchy salad that is a little funky, a little spicy, a little sour, a little salty, and a little sweet. It’s a well-balanced salad and this is arguably what sets it apart from its bolder cousins in Laos (where pounded salads are called Tum Som), Thailand (Som Tam), and Vietnam (Gỏi Đủ Đủ), which are, respectively, a lot funkier, more fiery, and more fragrant.
We first shared this recipe as part of a series on classic Cambodian salad recipes, which included an addictive Cambodian minced pork larb, an aromatic grilled beef salad, and, some of my favourites right now, a light and tasty pork and jicama salad, a wonderful Cambodian banana flower chicken salad, and a green mango and smoked fish salad.
Cambodian Green Papaya Salad Recipe for Cambodia’s Bok Lahong
Roast Broccoli Recipe with Zucchini, Green Beans and Sesame Seeds
If you’re a lover of broccoli, you need to make my broccoli soup with cheddar, potato, crispy bacon and crunchy croutons, which I’m completely addicted to, but you should also enjoy this easy roast broccoli recipe. Broccoli, zucchini and green beans are quickly roasted on high heat in seasoned extra virgin olive oil, piled onto a creamy butter bean spread, and showered with sesame seeds. I also like to sprinkle on some chilli flakes.
We love to serve this with succulent braised chicken with olives and capers and a salad, such as this radish cucumber salad with feta, rucola and fresh herbs or sides of roasted cauliflower on hummus with crispy chickpeas and pickled shallots, and either Hassleback potatoes or creamy mashed potatoes.
This roast broccoli recipe is nothing if not versatile and if you’re reluctant to go East-West and prefer more European flavours, use ground paprika instead of chilli flakes, skip the sesame seeds, and sprinkle the vegetables with crispy bacon, toasted breadcrumbs or homemade croutons, and even a little grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
Roasted Broccoli Recipe with Zucchini, Green Beans and Sesame Seeds
Penne Pasta with Fried Potatoes, Sausage and Peppers Recipe
This penne pasta with sausage, potatoes and peppers recipe makes a hearty pasta that incorporates the Spanish ‘poor man’s potatoes’, a rustic home-style dish of fried potatoes, sausage, bell peppers (capsicums), and onions fried in extra virgin olive oil and garlic, seasoned with salt and pepper, and sprinkled with fresh flat-leaf parsley and grated Parmigiano Reggiano.
If you made my recipe for ‘poor man’s potatoes’ – a traditional dish from Southern Spain, and one of those dishes that make even better leftovers – and you enjoyed that, you’re going to love this soul-nourishing pasta dish. It’s one of our best pasta recipes and one of our best recipes with potatoes. It was another of our most popular recipes of October 2025.
We shared this dish as part of a series of easy pasta recipes, which included recipes for canned tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi, a creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi, my cherry tomato feta pasta recipe, a canned sardine pasta with gremolata and pangrattato, mac and cheese with caramelised shallots and crispy bacon, and bacon and mushroom pasta.
Hearty Penne Pasta with Sausage, Potatoes and Peppers Recipe
This Classic Russian Garden Salad Goes on the Table for Every Russian Meal
My classic Russian garden salad recipe makes a simple green salad that my Russian-Ukrainian grandmother served with every family meal when I was growing up in Sydney. As simple as the salad sounds, it was the perfect companion to heartier dishes she served, such as Russian cabbage rolls, borscht, beetroot and potato salad, and vareniki and pelmeni (Russian dumplings).
My baboushka’s garden salad was exceptional, because most of the ingredients were just picked from papa’s backyard vegetable garden. Baba and papa had a market garden in Seven Hills when they were younger, and papa grew vegetables in their backyard at Blacktown. Papa’s tomatoes were the sweetest I’ve ever tasted, his radishes the zestiest, and his cucumbers the crunchiest.
Those three ingredients there – tomato, cucumber and radish – comprised Papa’s breakfast each day, along with a slice of Russian black rye bread, a boiled egg, maybe some pickled herring, a sneaky shot of his homemade vodka, and always a knob of garlic for good health.
This Classic Russian Garden Salad Goes on the Table for Every Russian Meal
Egg Drop Soup Recipe for Egg Flower Soup Like Your Favourite Chinese Restaurant Makes
This egg drop soup recipe makes an egg flower soup just like your favourite Chinese restaurant does – a velvety yellow soup so dense with creamy egg wisps that it’s almost like a liquid omelette. Slender slices of shiitake mushrooms ensure it isn’t! A drizzle of sesame oil, pinch of white pepper and sprinkle of spring onions complete this comforting broth.
Egg drop soup is often referred to as a Chinese-American dish, like chop suey and General Tso’s chicken (although that’s actually from Taiwan), however, egg drop soup is found all over China, both in restaurants and cooked at home, and there are probably as many variations as there are cities in China.
In China, the broth is generally thinner than the Chinese-Australian and Chinese-American restaurant egg drop soups, which are thickened with a corn starch slurry while the egg can vary from fine wispy strands that can look almost flower-like to thicker ribbons to a flat egg ‘sheet’. If you enjoy this, we’ve got more Chinese recipes, everything from fried rice recipes to Chinese egg recipes.
Egg Drop Soup Recipe for Egg Flower Soup Like Your Favourite Chinese Restaurant Makes
Russian Borscht Recipe for the Hearty Home-Cooked Soup of my Childhood
This Russian borscht recipe makes the hearty home-cooked soup of my childhood that my Russian-Ukrainian baboushka used to make, which has its provenance in Ukraine, but is cooked all over Russia, the former Soviet states, and parts of Eastern Europe.
My family’s beetroot-driven vegetable soup is served with sour cream and dill and is a filling meal in itself. We’d eat it for lunch or dinner the first night, typically with piroshki (hand pies), then for breakfast the next day.
It would also get served as a starter before a weekend family feast, along this beet potato salad, Olivier potato salad, a classic garden salad, Russian pelmeni, varenyki (mashed potato with caramelised onion filled dumplings), stuffed cabbage rolls, and chicken kotleti (pan fried meat patties).
Russian Borscht Recipe for the Hearty Home-Cooked Soup of my Childhood
Spicy Shredded Chicken and Corn Salad with Mexican Salsa Macha Dressing
Our shredded chicken and corn salad recipe with salsa macha dressing will make you a gently spiced salad, partly inspired by Mexican esquites or street corn in a cup. Shredded poached chicken is combined with sweet corn kernels, diced cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and avocado, doused in salsa macha, and sprinkled with Mexican cotija or crumbly white cheese and fresh coriander.
If you made our classic homemade salsa macha recipe – or you have a jar of your favourite salsa macha in the fridge – and you love a good shredded chicken salad, then please try our shredded chicken and corn salad recipe with salsa macha dressing. It’s deliciously addictive and it’s another one of our most popular recipes of October 2025.
If you’ve enjoyed our other shredded chicken salad recipes, which are some of our most popular chicken breast recipes and some of the most searched-for chicken recipes on our site – my favourites are this bang bang chicken salad recipe, Vietnamese chicken salad recipe and Lao shredded chicken salad recipe – you’re going to love this salad, too.
Spicy Shredded Chicken and Corn Salad with Salsa Macha Dressing
Russian-Ukrainian Potato Vareniki Recipe for Mash and Caramelised Onion Filled Dumplings
This traditional potato vareniki recipe makes half-moon dumplings filled with mashed potato and caramelised onion that are eaten with sour cream and fresh dill. Boiled the first time they’re cooked, and tossed in plenty of butter, vareniki are fantastic fried the next day.
My Odessa-born Russian-Ukrainian baboushka made a big batch of these, along with meat-filled pelmeni for our shared family meals. Especially for the feasts for Orthodox Christmas and Easter, and the seemingly never-ending Sunday lunches that turned into dinners.
As a child, it was my responsibility to set the dining table and carry the dishes from the kitchen to dining room – everything from baboushka’s dumplings to stuffed cabbage rolls, beetroot potato salad and classic garden salad, and Russian kotleti and piroshki – and I have to confess that I set the casserole pot filled to the brim with the potato vareniki as close to my place setting as possible.
Potato Vareniki Recipe for Mash and Caramelised Onion Filled Dumplings
Scrambled Eggs with Arabic Sausage and Za’atar Toast Recipe
This scrambled eggs with Arabic sausage and za’atar toast recipe gives a Middle Eastern twist to classic scrambled eggs. Za’atar is a wonderful herb and spice mix that’s very popular in the Middle East. There are many variations of za’atar, but the typical za’atar blend includes thyme, sumac and roasted sesame seeds.
You can buy za’atar croissants for breakfast and enjoy manaeesh bi za’atar, a type of flatbread ‘pizza’ with a za’atar topping as a snack or late night meal. Za’atar is a popular ingredient used on many dishes, eaten any time of the day so it made sense to serve za’atar on toast with eggs.
Terence made these Arabic-inspired eggs in the kitchen of our Palm villa rental in Dubai, perhaps Dubai’s most quintessential digs, it was the first recipe in our Weekend Eggs series of breakfast eggs dishes from around the world that launched Grantourismo.
Scrambled Eggs with Arabic Sausage and Za’atar Toast Recipe from Dubai
Sourdough Pizza Recipe For a No Knead Long Fermented Pizza Dough Full of Flavour
When you’re developing your own sourdough starter to make sourdough bread the first time, you find yourself wondering what to do with the starter that you discard when you feed your starter. Terence’s favourite solution – sourdough pizza.
As Terence isn’t baking commercially, he doesn’t need a giant jar of starter as he only makes sourdough bread every second day. Although he’s not actually throwing out all that much starter, it still bugs us, so now he takes the non-bake day excess sourdough starter and makes pizza dough with it.
We’ve been making pizza for a couple of dozen years – one of our favourite memories is making wood-fired pizza in an oven built into the wall of our conical roofed white trullo in the countryside of Alberobello in Puglia in Southern Italy – but I have to say that this sourdough pizza recipe makes one of the most flavourful pizzas we’ve ever made. It was another one of our most popular recipes of October 2025.
Sourdough Pizza Recipe For a No Knead Long Fermented Pizza Dough Full of Flavour
Shredded Chicken Tacos Recipe with Avocado, Vegan Chilli and Mexican Pickles
These easy shredded chicken tacos with avocado, vegan chilli, Mexican pickled onions and pickled cabbage makes a fantastic filling lunch or light dinner that’s a cinch to make and can be assembled quickly. It’s another one of our most popular recipes of October 2025.
You’ll love this recipe if you’re like us and often have a container of poached chicken breasts or shredded chicken in our fridge. Terence makes perfect poached chicken, which we use for our Mexican chicken tinga tacos, and he uses for his shredded chicken breakfast burritos.
While we often have some of Terence’s chilli con carne leftovers in the fridge, which we use to make quesadillas or my ultimate nachos (with sides of guacamole and red tomato salsa), I also love this with my vegetarian chilli – which is a vegan chilli if you skip the sour cream and cream.
Shredded Chicken Tacos Recipe with Avocado, Vegan Chilli and Mexican Pickles
Cherry Tomato Burrata Salad with Asparagus, Basil Pesto and Dukkah
Tomato and white cheese is one of those wonderfully perfect flavour combinations that appear in so many fantastic tomato salads around the world – from a traditional Greek salad of tomatoes with feta to a classic Italian Caprese salad with tomatoes and mozzarella. If you’re also a fan of that ingredient pairing, you’ll love this tomato burrata salad recipe.
My recipe calls for asparagus spears, which, like the cherry tomatoes, are quickly pan fried in olive oil, or extra virgin olive oil for even more flavour, to add crunch and fresh flavour. I spoon on dollops of basil pesto (homemade or store-bought), drizzle on good extra virgin olive oil (or this classic vinaigrette), and sprinkle on some dukkah, that Middle Eastern nut, seed and spice condiment, for more crunch and flavour.
If you’re a tomato lover, we have lots more recipes with tomatoes here – made with beef tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and more – from my best tomato salad recipe for a Mediterranean style cherry tomato salad with olives, anchovies and capers and this Shan tomato salad with crispy fried shallots and coriander to this Thai fried egg salad with tomatoes, and simple Cypriot tomato salad, a cousin of the classic Greek salad.
Cherry Tomato Burrata Salad with Asparagus, Basil Pesto and Dukkah
Lamb Ragu Recipe with Middle Eastern Spices, Pine Nuts, Dill and Mint
I love Terence’s authentic ragù alla Bolognese. Made to a traditional recipe from Bologna in Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy, it’s rich and flavourful. Terence uses the same ragù in his lasagne alla Bolognese. I’m also fond of Matt Preston’s comforting Italian-Australian spaghetti Bolognese, which reminds me of the ‘spag Bol’ mum made when I was growing up in Sydney in the 1970s. And I really like my speedy cheat’s Bolognese, which I make when I’m tired and time-poor.
But sometimes we just crave something different, right? And when you’re cooking for a pasta-addicted person happy to eat pasta every day and night of the week, as I have been since I’ve been in Australia, there are only so many times you can make the same dishes – even when you adore them. And that’s how this lamb ragù recipe for a Middle Eastern Bolognese came about – and how it became one of my favourite pasta recipes.
If you’re a fan of Arabic food, you’ll love my Middle Eastern spin on Italy’s ragù Bolognese, which I’ve infused with the flavours of the Middle East – a region Terence and I lived, worked, travelled, and wrote on for almost a decade. I’ve spiced up my quick and easy ragù Bolognese with the classic Arabic ‘sabaa baharat’ or seven spice blend, and used quintessential ingredients from the region in the dish, including pine nuts and fresh mint and dill.
Lamb Ragu Recipe with Middle Eastern Spices, Pine Nuts, Dill and Mint
Please let us know in the comments below if you make any of the recipes in this collection of our most popular recipes of October 2025 on Grantourismo, as we’d love to hear how they turn out for you.
