This collection of 30 recipes to cook in September 2025 includes many of our best spring and autumn-fall dishes – including hearty breakfast dishes, filling salads, light pastas, and barbecue and grilling dishes for outdoor eating for those who dare. So no matter where you are and whatever the weather, we’ve got dishes for you to make – whether you’re cooking around seasonal produce, holidays, or using food days as a fun excuse to cook a dish you love.
We’ve got something for everyone in this compilation of 30 recipes to cook in September 2025, no matter where you are in the world. If you’re still barbecuing and grilling in the cooler autumn-fall weather or spring has arrived where you are and you can’t wait for summer, try our Cambodian pork spare ribs with star anise, which can also be cooked indoors. It would be wonderful with these soy ginger chicken thighs and this Cambodian cucumber salad.
If you’re looking for shareable breakfasts for leisurely weekend meals, then try our Mexican red chilaquiles with fried eggs, or eggs, potatoes and chorizo breakfast skillet for our take on the classic American country skillet breakfast, or our full English breakfast recipe for a one-pan British fry-up that we love to finish in a Dutch oven shakshouka-style.
Once again, we’ve used Food Days to give you reasons to get in the kitchen, from National Dumpling Day as an excuse to cook some of our best dumpling recipes, which span from Asia to Europe, savoury to sweet, and include potstickers, pelmeni, pierogi, vareniki, wontons, and more, to National Peanut Day as a reason to make some of our best recipes with nuts for everything from satay sauces to spicy peanuts snacks, peanut butter noodles, and cashew stir-fries and more.
And remember: if you’re looking for more cooking inspiration, do dig into our recipe archives, which contain many hundreds of recipes that we’ve cooked, created and collected from around the world, from places we’ve lived, worked, travelled, and loved. Or browse our compilation of the most popular recipes of August, which were the most searched-for recipes on the site last month, the recipes where you all spent most of your time and hopefully cooked.
Now before you scroll down to our 30 recipes to cook in September 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; or 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 30 recipes to cook in September 2025.
30 Recipes to Cook in September 2025 – Our Best Spring and Autumn-Fall Dishes
These are the 30 recipes to cook in September 2025, whether you’re using seasonal produce as inspiration, a holiday or 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.
Red Chilaquiles Recipe with Fried Eggs for Mexican Chilaquiles Rojos con Huevos Fritos
Topping our list of 30 recipes to cook in September 2025 is our Mexican red chilaquiles recipe with fried eggs for chilaquiles rojos con huevos fritos, just because I keep seeing chilaquiles recipes popping up everywhere, so I thought I’d share my recipe for the popular Mexican comfort food eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Invented to make use of stale corn tortillas, it’s easy to prepare, versatile, and this version is vegetarian.
If you enjoyed our chilaquiles verdes or green chilaquiles with shredded chicken, you’ll love this, too. I first fell in love with Mexican chilaquiles – which are homemade tortilla chips, called totopos in Mexico, made from frying stale corn tortillas, which are then cooked in salsa, and served with Mexican cotija and crema – at the retro charmer Café la Blanca in Mexico City back in the mid- to late-1990s. I was completely addicted, eating them day after day!
Tip: If you can’t get hold of Mexican cotija cheese (it’s available on Amazon), use a crumbly fresh white cheese, such as a European or Danish fresh white cheese. We sometimes serve refried beans (frijoles) on the side and we also like to douse on a little hot sauce such as Tapatio or Cholula with this dish.
Red Chilaquiles Recipe with Fried Eggs for Mexican Chilaquiles Rojos con Huevos Fritos
Pork Spare Ribs with Star Anise Recipe for Aromatic Cambodian Style Ribs
One of our favourite Cambodian recipes, this pork spare ribs with star anise recipe makes a wonderfully aromatic Cambodian style of pork ribs that you can tuck into on their own, washed down with cold beers of course, or you can serve as one of a number of dishes as part of a Cambodian family feast.
We first shared this recipe for pork spare ribs with star anise as part of our series on the best Cambodian barbecue recipes, which included recipes for smoky grilled pork ribs, marinated beef skewers and grilled eggplant with stir-fried minced pork and fermented soya beans.
Star anise is one of our favourite spices and we use it a lot in cooking. There’s star anise in the Chinese five-spice in Terence’s hot cross buns recipe. He also managed to get some star anise into this negroni recipe. Star anise is also perfect with pork. You’ll find it in a lot of our favourite pork dishes, including Terence’s pan-roasted, brined and marinated pork chops, which I swear are the best pork chops in the world.
Pork Spare Ribs with Star Anise Recipe for Aromatic Cambodian Style Ribs
Smoked Salmon Pasta Recipe for Spaghetti with Smoked Salmon, Pickles, Capers and Dill
One of our best pasta recipes and our best smoked salmon pasta recipe makes spaghetti with smoked salmon, dill pickles, capers, and fresh dill. Sour cream and lemon juice make this a pasta that’s quintessentially Russian flavoured. It’s versatile – add more sour cream for a creamier texture or a dollop of caviar for a special occasion – and comes together quickly.
It’s a flavour combination you’ll also find in this Russian salmon potato salad recipe and it’s another of top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025. I always make this when we have leftover smoked salmon, especially over holidays when we usually make these devilled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar, this creamy smoked salmon dip, and these blini with smoked salmon, dill, gherkin and sour cream.
Also a salmon lover? Browse our best salmon recipes compilation. We’ve got recipes for Russian blini with smoked salmon and caviar, Cambodian salmon ‘ceviche’, smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’, fish soup with salmon, Vietnamese caramelised salmon, an easy salmon tray bake, salmon fillets with crispy skin, and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar.
Smoked Salmon Pasta Recipe for Spaghetti with Smoked Salmon, Pickles, Capers and Dill
Spiced Pan Fried Cauliflower, Chickpeas, Pistachios on Flatbread with Yogurt Sauce
If you’re a fan of Middle Eastern food, you’ll love this spiced pan fried cauliflower and chickpeas piled onto flatbread, which are warmed and spread with creamy hummus. A garlicky lemony yoghurt sauce is drizzled on top, followed by toasted pistachios, ground sumac, and a shower or young flat-leaf parsley. Eat it as a filling snack, light meal, or serve it as vegetable side, arranged like this smoky char-grilled eggplant salad or roasted cauliflower florets.
You could also serve this as part of a proper Middle Eastern feast alongside Middle Eastern mezze such as baba ganoush and muhammara, and salads such as this farmers salad, fatoush, tabbouleh, and pearl couscous salad with pomegranate and pistachios, before serving warm dishes such as kofta kebabs, spiced meatballs, shish tawook (garlicky chicken), and spiced rice with cashews.
Cauliflower lover? Try this Indian cauliflower and potato curry recipe for aloo gobi or our cauliflower, cabbage and potato soup recipe. Fan of chickpeas? Browse our best chickpea recipes. We’ve got recipes for a Moroccan chickpea soup; a North Indian Punjabi chole, a spiced chickpea curry; lots of hummus recipes, from a healthy carrot hummus to hummus with spiced beef; and a fatteh recipe with crispy pita, spiced chickpeas, and a yogurt sauce, which I liken to a Middle Eastern nachos or chilaquiles.
Spiced Pan Fried Cauliflower, Chickpeas, Pistachios on Flatbread with Yogurt Sauce
Eggs Potatoes and Chorizo Breakfast Skillet Recipe for a Twist on an American Classic
Another of our top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025, this eggs potatoes and chorizo breakfast skillet recipe makes our take on the classic American country skillet breakfast made in a cast iron skillet that’s also called a cowboy skillet breakfast or farmer’s skillet breakfast. Instead of bacon or ham, we make this hearty breakfast with spicy chorizo sausage and specifically soft Mexican-style chorizo.
We love chorizo – who doesn’t? – and we especially love the combination of chorizo, eggs and potatoes, hence this traditional Spanish potato omelette recipe with chorizo, this Basque-style ‘messy eggs’ recipe for fried eggs with chorizo and potatoes, and our breakfast taco recipe with fried eggs, chorizo and crunchy potatoes.
Like our other chorizo breakfast dishes, you want to use the soft Mexican chorizo, which has to be cooked before eating. The firm Spanish-style chorizo can also be used, but take care not to over-cook it as it tends to go hard. Monterey Jack cheese is a must, otherwise a young cheddar cheese will work. For the hot sauce, our avourites are Tapatio Salsa Picante and Cholula Original Hot Sauce.
Eggs Potatoes and Chorizo Breakfast Skillet Recipe for a Twist on an American Classic
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe for a Traditional Italian Chicken Stew with Luscious Tomato Sauce
This classic chicken cacciatore recipe makes a traditional Italian chicken stew with a luscious tomato sauce. Called pollo alla cacciatora in Italian, which translates to ‘hunter’s chicken’ – ‘pollo’ is ‘chicken’ and ‘cacciatore’ means ‘hunter’ – it’s a rustic old Italian dish typically eaten alone as a main course with crusty sourdough bread to mop up the rich sauce.
In different parts of Italy, hunter’s stew has long been made with different types of game, such as wild pheasant (fagiano alla cacciatore), wild boar (cinghiale alla cacciatore) and wild rabbit (coniglio alla cacciatore), while in Calabria it’s made with the addition of spicy Calabrian sausage and red peppers (salsiccia Calabrese al cacciatore).
In the Italian diaspora, where the first Italian-American style chicken cacciatore recipe was published in the USA in the 1920s, chicken cacciatore is typically served with pasta. We also have a recipe for an Italian-Australian spaghetti cacciatore, one of our favourite mid-week meal ideas.
Chicken Cacciatore Recipe for a Traditional Italian Chicken Stew with Luscious Tomato Sauce
Easy Authentic Hummus Recipe for a Creamy Homemade Traditional Hummus
This easy authentic hummus recipe makes a homemade traditional hummus that a Lebanese friend taught me when we lived in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates back in the 1990s. I’ve been making it ever since and it’s one of our best hummus recipes.
Hummus is a quintessential Arabic dip traditionally eaten right across the Arab world and it’s one of our favourite Middle Eastern recipes. I make this classic hummus whenever we have cravings for Arabic food or are missing the Middle East. We always keep cans of chickpeas in the cupboard for that reason.
Hummus is perfect with pita bread or our sourdough crackers. (As are these other homemade dips.) But you could also serve it as one of an array of mezze or starters, such as baba ghanouj, salads like fattoush and tabouleh, and main dishes such as shish tawook, beef kofta kebabs and spiced meatballs.
Easy Authentic Hummus Recipe for a Creamy Homemade Traditional Hummus
Cambodian Cucumber Salad Recipe for Nhoam Trasak, a Fantastic Year Round Salad
Another of our best 30 recipes to cook in September 2025, our Cambodian cucumber salad recipe for nhoam trasak makes a fantastic filling salad that you can eat year-round. One of our best cucumber salad recipes, it’s traditionally shared in Cambodia, where, like most salads, it’s eaten family-style with rice and an array of other dishes. But you can easily serve this as a satisfying single-bowl meal for lunch or dinner.
Cambodian love their salads, which explains why we’ve got so many Cambodian salad recipes amongst our many Cambodian recipes – everything from a classic banana flower chicken salad and pork and jicama salad to a Cambodian pork larb and a green papaya salad.
Tip: when you’re using dried shrimp, always soak it a little first, then when you’re ready to combine your salad, dry it off thoroughly, and pound it in your mortar and pestle. If you’ve not used a mortar and pestle before, we have a few tips.
Cambodian Cucumber Salad Recipe for Nhoam Trasak, a Fantastic Year Round Salad
Perfect Crispy Chicken Skins Recipe with Spicy Chicken Mince Recipe
This crispy chicken skins with spicy chicken mince recipe makes a fantastic starter for a Southeast Asian themed dinner party. When the chicken skins firm up in the oven, they form a perfect ‘crisp’ and an excellent vehicle for this classic minced dip found in Cambodia and Thailand.
These crunchy chicken skins are a fantastic vehicle for dips and are ideal for finger food if you’re entertaining. The spicy minced dip on these crispy chicken skins is inspired by the Cambodian dip natang, which also has a cousin in Thailand called khao tang na tang, which are spicy pork mince dips served with rice crackers.
Natang is normally made with minced pork, but like a good larb, the Southeast Asian minced meat salad found in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, you can make natang with chicken mince. You could easily replace the pork with chicken mince in this Cambodian pork larb.
These crunchy chicken skins also make an elegant amuse bouche or appetiser if you’re making a multi-course menu for a dinner party. When Terence was testing these tasty morsels, he often served them as a late afternoon snack or pre-dinner nibble, much to my delight.
Perfect Crispy Chicken Skins Recipe with Spicy Chicken Mince Recipe
Spaghetti Pangrattato Recipe for Pasta with Zesty Crunchy Breadcrumbs
Our spaghetti pangrattato recipe makes pasta with crunchy breadcrumbs, lemon zest, flat leaf parsley, and grated Parmesan. This deliciously simple pasta is quick and easy to make and has loads of flavour and texture courtesy of the Italian pangrattato. The pasta is crispy, fresh, zesty, and packed with umami. Serve with lemon slices or wedges to squeeze over the pasta.
If you’ve made our pangrattato recipe for the Southern Italian garnish made from stale bread and breadcrumbs, then this is what you need to do with it: make this super simple spaghetti pangrattato recipe with the Italian crunchy breadcrumbs, lemon zest, flat leaf parsley, and grated Parmesan condiment.
If you’re looking for more quick and easy pasta recipes, see my canned tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, this asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi recipe, creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi recipe, my penne Bolognese recipe for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, and this cherry tomato feta pasta recipe.
Spaghetti Pangrattato Recipe for Pasta with Zesty Crunchy Breadcrumbs
Hot Cross Buns Recipe with a Spicy Fruity Southeast Asian Twist
Traditionally eaten on Good Friday to mark the end of Lent, hot cross buns are now sold in supermarkets as early as Christmas here in Australia, and continue being sold throughout the year. So it should be no surprise that 11 September is Hot Cross Bun Day. I’ll take it as an excuse to make Terence’s hot cross buns recipe, which makes a delightful dough that’s rich, spicy and fruity.
Terence has been baking these hot cross buns in our Cambodian kitchen for many years now, giving them a Southeast Asian twist with gentle hints of spice and candied tropical fruits, yet still keeping the traditional texture. Instead of adding allspice to the dough mix, Terence uses five-spice and dried ground cardamom for its camphor and lemony notes.
An English or Australian hot cross buns recipe would call for dried fruit, such as currants and orange peel, but Terence uses raisins, which are easier to get in Cambodia than currants, and adds candied ginger and tamarind, which are very local. You should be able to find both at an Asian grocery store or Asian supermarket. But if you can’t, experiment with other candied or dried fruits you can source.
Hot Cross Buns Recipe for Easter with a Spicy Fruity Southeast Asian Twist
Full English Breakfast Recipe for a One-Pan British Fry-Up to Share
Our full English breakfast recipe makes a one-pan British fry-up to share. If famished you could certainly try tackling this on your own, but it will easily feed two or four people depending how hungry you all are. Our take on the classic English fry-up is finished in a Dutch oven shakshuka-style. The north African shakshouka, also written as chakchouka, was our inspiration for the presentation.
Also called a classic English breakfast, traditional English breakfast, British fry-up, and English fry-up, this very British breakfast consists of a plate that’s abundant with baked beans, fried eggs, bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, sausages, and black pudding. It’s a comforting and filling breakfast. (It’s also a fantastic hangover cure.)
Our full English breakfast recipe calls for each of the elements to be fried up or grilled, but it comes together in a Dutch oven and is presented shakshuka-style then served at the table with plenty of toast and, if you like, sides of fried potatoes, bubble and squeak, and fried bread. It’s another of top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025.
Full English Breakfast Recipe for a One-Pan British Fry-Up to Share
Mexican Street Corn in a Cup Recipe for Esquites or Elote en Vaso
Our Mexican street corn in a cup recipe for Mexico’s esquites or elote en vaso, which means ‘corn in a cup’, makes a Mexican street food snack or antojitos, meaning ‘little cravings’, that we became addicted to on our first trip to Mexico many years ago. Like most Mexican food, it’s absolutely delicious. It’s also super easy to make.
Esquites or elote en vaso consists of steaming hot corn kernels with Mexican crema, cotija cheese, lime juice, and ancho chilli powder that’s sold in a takeaway cup. It comes with a spoon and you stir it all up and the first time you try it on the streets of Mexico City or Merida or Oaxaca, like a slap to the face – or a whack to a piñata – you realise what’s been missing in your life.
Our Mexican street corn in a cup recipe is quick to come together, particularly if you made our Mexican street corn on the cob recipe and have some corn cobs leftover. If you didn’t, grilled corn cobs are easy to do. If corn is not in season where you live, you could use a quality frozen corn brand or even tinned corn kernels. Like peas, corn doesn’t lose its flavour from being frozen or canned. If you made our Mexican street corn salad recipe, this esquites recipe is a cinch.
Fan of Mexican food and Tex-Mex? Also see our recipes for authentic Mexican guacamole, a sopa de tortilla (tortilla soup) that we learnt to make in San Miguel de Allende, tacos al pastor based on the version we fell in love with in Mexico City, Terence’s easy red tomato salsa, chili con carne, quesadillas, and my ultimate nachos, along with recipes for classic margaritas and micheladas.
Mexican Street Corn in a Cup Recipe for Esquites or Elote en Vaso
Our Best Chocolate Recipes for International Chocolate Day
It’s International Chocolate Day on 13 September so I thought I’d share our most popular chocolate recipe and stories, this Catalan ‘afternoon chocolate delight’ recipe and this post: ‘Is There Anything Better than Chocolate? Melted Chocolate!‘, on the tradition of drinking ‘melted chocolate’ or hot chocolate in Barcelona. We shared the posts when we were in the city for two weeks way back in 2010 during the yearlong global grand tour that launched Grantourismo.
“When you think of Barcelona, after Gaudi, Picasso, the Ramblas, and cava, you probably think of chocolate – or xocolata as it is called in Catalan,” I wrote at the time. “It is so beloved by Barcelona’s locals that they even have a museum dedicated to chocolate, the Museo de La Xocolata, and Barcelona’s most beloved beverage (after cava) is hot drinking chocolate.”
Naturally, my Barcelona ‘take-homes’ suggestion was chocolate. I shared tips to where to buy Barcelona’s best artisanal chocolate. Xocoa was my favourite producer of wild bean-to-bar chocolate I tasted during my research. And as for that chocolate recipe shared by one of Barcelona’s best chefs, Jordi Artal, it’s for a traditional Catalan after-school treat his grandmother made for him, which he called ‘afternoon chocolate delight‘: bread, chocolate, olive oil, salt – or pa, xocolata, oli i sal in Catalan.
Is There Anything Better than Chocolate? Melted Chocolate in Barcelona
Cambodian Spicy Roasted Peanuts Recipe for National Peanut Day
So it turns out that 13 September is quite the Food Day, as it’s also National Peanut Day. We have loads of recipes with peanuts and other nuts, for sauces, snacks, salads, sides, noodles, stir-fries, braises, curries, and more. We’ve got recipes for Southeast Asian style roasted peanuts to nibble on, peanut sauces to douse on salads, skewers and noodles, and Middle Eastern breakfasts, salads, and sides sprinkled with pistachios, cashews and almonds.
But I wanted to share our Cambodian spicy roasted peanuts recipe with chilli, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. When you go out to a good bar in Cambodia, especially in Siem Reap, you’ll probably be served two or three small dishes of nibbles with your drinks – typically, crispy purple taro and orange sweet potato chips, crunchy banana chips, and spicy roasted peanuts.
These deliciously-addictive roasted peanuts are aromatic, spicy, salty, and sweet: Cambodia in a nutshell! I begged Terence to make these at home for years, so when he finally got around to it, we sampled a handful of packets of the Cambodian spicy roasted peanuts sold at Siem Reap’s local markets. I have to confess: I now prefer Terence’s to the ones they serve in bars. I also love this Vietnamese roasted peanuts recipe for a popular Hanoi drinking snack.
Cambodian Spicy Roasted Peanuts Recipe with Chilli, Kaffir Lime Leaves and Lemongrass
Our Best Pickles Recipes for ‘Snack a Pickle Day’
As 13 September is ‘Snack a Pickle Day’, I’m sharing our best pickles recipes. They include a range of recipes for homemade pickles – from escabeche or mixed vegetable pickles to pickled jalapeños. They’re refrigerator pickles or quick pickles, which are faster to prepare, must be kept in the fridge, yet are still incredibly delicious.
The most popular pickle recipe on our site is my Russian-Ukrainian style dill pickles that are just like the homemade gherkins my grandparents made. (They’re brilliant with fish and chips and fried chicken or finely sliced on burgers.) Another popular pickles recipe is this easy quick pickled red cabbage recipe for piquant purple pickles to pep up any meal. (Just for fun, try saying that three times as fast as you can!) As are these Mexican quick pickled onions.
Delightfully zesty refrigerator pickles add zing, tang and crunch to potato salads (or any salads), tartare sauce, or your sandwiches and hot dogs. They’re the perfect topping for Mexican dishes such as tacos, tostadas and nachos and Tex-Mex favourites such as chilli con carne and burritos. Whether you use these quick pickles as a side, garnish or condiment, they’re very versatile and you can easily adapt the flavours to your palate.
Our Best Pickles Recipes for Easy Delicious Refrigerator Pickles and Quick Pickles
Aromatic Lemon Pasta Recipe for Pasta al Limone from Southern Italy
It’s National Linguine Day on 15 September, which is as good enough a reason as any to make this lemon pasta recipe with linguine for pasta al limone from Southern Italy. It makes a quick and easy pasta where the linguine and sauce come together in a single pot. The result is a sauce that’s aromatic, citrusy and rich thanks to the combo of lemon zest, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, starchy cooking water, and butter. A shower of flat-leaf parsley adds freshness.
It’s one of my favourite pasta recipes. Lemons just make everything taste better. There are few ingredients that enliven a dish like a lemon. First, there’s the sunny yellow colour that sparks joy; then, the intoxicating perfume of the fragrant fruit; and lastly, the citrusy flavour that brightens any dish. After, your taste buds awoken, everything tastes more delicious. Nobody knows this more than a Southern Italian from ‘the land of the midday sun’. And the land of limoncello!
If you’re a fan of citrus and a Mediterranean food lover you’ll love this lemon pasta. It’s another of our top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025. For more quick and easy pasta recipes, see our recipes for a creamy tomato pasta sauce with gnocchi, penne Bolognese recipe for a ‘cheat’s Bol’, this asparagus, mushrooms and bacon gnocchi, our spaghetti pangrattato, this cherry tomato feta pasta, my bacon and mushroom pasta, this canned tuna pasta with scallions, capers and fresh herbs, and my fusilli with creamy pumpkin pasta sauce.
Aromatic Lemon Pasta Recipe for Pasta al Limone from Southern Italy
Authentic Mexican Guacamole Recipe Like A Mexican Abuela Would Make
It’s National Guacamole Day on 16 September, so if avocados are in season where you are make this authentic Mexican guacamole recipe for a genuine Mexican guacamole of the kind a Mexican abuela (grandma) makes – the kind that’s made table-side at good restaurants in Mexico. It’s all about the creamy luscious texture, bright green colour and full flavour of perfectly ripe avocados.
Our authentic Mexican guacamole recipe is one of the best things to make with a mortar and pestle. Preferably a Mexican mortar and pestle called a molcajete, according to chef Martha Ortiz of Dulce Patria in Mexico City. (She told us it was essential!). I’ve been making this genuine Mexican guacamole for well over 30 years, since we tasted our first proper Mexican guacamole in Mexico City on our inaugural trip to Mexico in the mid-Nineties.
It’s super easy to make and best served just with a bowl of fresh tortilla chips and washed down with micheladas or classic margaritas. But you can also top your nachos or big old bowl of chili con carne with a few spoons of this wonderful avocado dip. Kick off a Mexican feast with this guacamole and our easy red tomato salsa, followed by bowls of tortilla soup and plates of tacos al pastor, char-grilled corn on the cobs, a grilled corn salad, and quesadillas.
Authentic Mexican Guacamole Recipe Like A Mexican Abuela Would Make
Katsudon Recipe for a Japanese Pork Cutlet and Egg Rice Bowl
Katsudon is a donburi, a rice bowl meal, and Terence’s katsudon recipe makes a crunchy tonkatsu, a Japanese pork cutlet, cooked in eggs and spring onions, served atop a bowl of rice and sprinkled with slices of scallions. Like our oyakodon recipe, this recipe for katsudon makes an incredibly delicious rice bowl meal that’s comforting and filling.
Katsudon is eaten out at specialised restaurants, as well as cooked at home and eaten for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. It’s completely addictive, so don’t be surprised if you polish it off in one sitting, though you’d be better off saving some for leftovers, according to me (speaking from experience!).
Some restaurants top katsudon with extras such as finely sliced ginger, an egg yolk, some Japanese chilli powder, or a big squeeze of Japanese mayonnaise, but we find that there’s a good balance of flavour in this katsudon dish as is. This is another of our top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025. And if you enjoy this, you’ll find more rice bowl recipes here.
Katsudon Recipe for a Japanese Pork Cutlet and Egg Rice Bowl for Weekend Eggs
Spicy Fried Chicken Burger Recipe with Southern Fried Chicken and Tangy Mayo
It’s National Cheeseburger Day on 18 September and while we don’t have a classic cheeseburger recipe, this spicy fried chicken sandwich* recipe, which makes a classic fried chicken sandwich or fried chicken burger if you prefer (*I prefer) that’s made with Australian chef Morgy McGlone’s famously fiery Belles Hot Chicken, crunchy lettuce, tangy mayonnaise, and melty American cheese.
If you’re a fan of the Aussie chef’s take on Nashville-style Southern fried chicken, you’ll love this spicy fried chicken burger (or spicy fried chicken sandwich, as Terence prefers). When we have cravings for fast food we’ll make home-cooked fast food, which is far healthier, far more affordable, and lots of fun to make, especially if we’re recreating some of our favourite fast food at home, and some of our best burger recipes.
We love to pile crispy shoestring fries on the side but you could also serve these spicy fried chicken burgers with crunchy hand-cut fries or spicy potato wedges. And if you have leftover spicy fried chicken, make my fried chicken fried rice. It’s addictively delicious!
Spicy Fried Chicken Sandwich Recipe with Southern Fried Chicken and Tangy Mayo
Cambodian Recipes to Cook from Fragrant Salads to Fish Amok
In Cambodia, the Pchum Ben holiday takes place from 21-23 September this year. In fact that official 3-day national holiday is the culmination of two weeks of preparation, ceremonies and rituals associated with the 15-day ancestors festival or ‘hungry ghosts’ festival, when Cambodians make merit and bless dead spirits.
As food is central to Pchum Ben, it’s a fantastic excuse to cook some of our many Cambodian recipes. ‘Pchum Ben’ means ‘rice-ball gathering’ (‘pchum’ means ‘gathering’ and ‘ben’ is ‘rice-ball’) and Cambodian Buddhists collect rice balls during the 14 days leading up to the 15th day, which is the actual ‘Pchum Ben’ or ‘ancestors day’, and the first day of the 3-day national holiday. One of the rituals of the festival is ‘rice-ball throwing’ (bay ben).
In this collection of Cambodian recipes, which we’ve been collecting, cooking, and testing since 2013, we have recipes for everything from the Cambodian herb and spice pastes called kroeungs that form the basis of so many Khmer dishes to Cambodian street food favourites, Cambodian salads, traditional Khmer soups and stews, Cambodian barbecue dishes, Cambodian-Chinese stir-fry dishes, Cambodia’s famous steamed fish amok, along with Cambodian desserts.
Cambodian Recipes to Learn to Cook from Fragrant Salads to Fish Amok
Cambodian Banana Coconut Tapioca Pudding Recipe with Sesame and Star Anise
Apparently the International Banana Festival dates back to the 1800s and while the dates have changed over the years, this year it falls on 21 September. Banana pudding is a popular festival celebratory dish apparently, so why not make this banana coconut tapioca pudding recipe for Cambodia’s chek ktis. It’s one of my favourite Asian dessert recipes.
This sweet and creamy aromatic dessert of stewed banana in coconut milk and tapioca pearls is perfumed with star anise. Garnish with grated coconut, add a drizzle of coconut cream, and sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving. It’s sweet Cambodia in a bowl and it’s sublime. And it’s another of our top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025.
A tip: while this recipe calls for tapioca pearls, you could use sago pearls if they’re easier to find, as they are here in Cambodia. While sago and tapioca come from different sources, most people can’t tell them apart, and they’re used interchangeably by many cooks here in Southeast Asia.
Cambodian Banana Coconut Tapioca Pudding Recipe with Sesame and Star Anise
Easy Weeknight Family Dinners – Recipes for No Fuss Comfort Food Dishes
In the USA, 22 September is ‘National Family Day, A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Kids’. When I was growing up here in Australia we ate dinner as a family every night of the week, unless it was school holidays (when we’d probably be eating together at a picnic table by the beach in a caravan park or camping ground), or on weekends or over the festive season (when we often ate dinner with the grandparents and extended family). It makes me sad to think there’s a need to have a holiday to encourage families to eat together.
If you’re looking for recipes, browse this collection of recipes for easy weeknight family dinners, which make dishes that are no-fuss, foolproof and comforting, such as our Vietnamese meatball noodle bowls, below, a gently-spiced white bean chilli, and my chicken Stroganoff. While these dishes aren’t always fast to cook, they’re easy to make, will reward with deep flavours and comfort, and they’re dishes that make fantastic leftovers.
If you’ve made all these dishes, browse our recipes for easy weeknight meals we put on repeat for more mid-week dinner ideas. They’re the weeknight dinner recipes Terence and I have on rotation when we’re busy, and include some of our favourite dishes: Terence’s crunchy Japanese tonkatsu, his Thai pad kra pao, a Burmese chicken curry, a Sichuan-inspired bang bang chicken salad we developed together, and Terence’s Tex-Mex style chilli con carne.
Easy Weeknight Family Dinners – Recipes for No Fuss Comfort Food Dishes
Korean Fried Chicken Recipe for Crispy Fried Chicken in a Spicy Sauce
One of our best Korean recipes, this Korean fried chicken recipe will make you crispy fried chicken that’s brushed in a special spicy Korean fried chicken sauce. The chicken skin soaks the sauce right up so you’ve got fried chicken with a super flavourful skin. While no longer crunchy, it’s incredibly delicious. And it tastes even better re-heated the next day.
One of the key components of this Korean fried chicken recipe is the Korean fried chicken sauce. The secret to this spicy sauce is the Korean fermented hot chilli paste known as gochujang – and there is no substitute. To make this Korean fried chicken sauce, we combine the gochujang with honey, fresh garlic and ginger, soy sauce (Japanese soy sauce is preferred for its depth), rice vinegar, and sesame oil.
Serve this Korean fried chicken with crispy Korean coleslaw, a Korean potato salad, classic Korean cucumber salad, and/or Korean corn cheese. If you’re cooking up a Korean food feast for a gathering of friends, you could also serve these Korean meatballs, spicy Korean kimchi fried rice and japchae, stir-fried glass noodles with vegetables.
If you enjoy this, try our Japanese fried chicken recipe, which, while not spicy, is super-crunchy. And do check out our collection of best fried chicken recipes if you’re looking for recipes for a casual weekend get-together or a game day gathering. Fried chicken is fantastic for feeding a crowd, as you can fry up a big batch, it’s fantastic hot or cold, and you can serve it with a big bowl of potato salad, a basket or soft bread rolls, and garlic mayo.
Korean Fried Chicken Recipe for Crispy Fried Chicken in a Spicy Sauce
Authentic Moroccan Chickpea Soup Recipe Straight from a Marrakech Kitchen
Another of our top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025, this authentic Moroccan chickpea soup recipe is one that Terence has been making exactly the same way as he learnt to make it from Jamila, our Moroccan cook at our Marrakech riad way back in 2010 on the year-long grand tour of the world that launched Grantourismo and our mission to inspire you all to travel more locally, more slowly and more experientially.
Learning about the local cuisine and produce of places we settled into, shopping local markets, and learning how to cook local food was a key part of that quest, as it’s been in the many years since. During our two weeks in Morocco, we settled into a handsome Marrakech riad called Dar Rocmarra off the atmospheric market street, Rue Bab Doukkala, and did a weekend getaway to Essaouira where we stayed in another charming riad, Dar Lazuli, with a petite kitchen.
In both Marrakech and Essaouira, I cooked some of the dishes I learnt to make from Jamila, including this Moroccan chickpea soup, this classic lamb tagine with prunes and almonds, and I made North African chakchouka for breakfast. Moroccan food was one of the reasons we had wanted to return to Morocco – and we’d return again in a heartbeat. Oh, and if you enjoy this soup, also try my Moroccan harrira recipe for a comforting lentil soup.
Authentic Moroccan Chickpea Soup Recipe Straight from a Marrakech Kitchen
Chilli Con Carne and Cheese Quesadillas Recipe for Quesadilla Day
So 25 September is National Quesadilla Day and we just so happen to have a chilli con carne and cheese quesadillas recipe and it could not be simpler. Especially if you’ve done all the hard work making the chilli con carne and, hopefully, our red tomato salsa recipe. These quesadillas make a fantastic, quick, and super-easy brunch, lunch or a casual dinner.
These chilli con carne and cheese quesadillas are also fantastic as part of a full Mexican food feast if you’re hosting a casual gathering. You could start the meal with a sopa de tortilla (tortilla soup) then fill the table with a spread of dishes of Mexican guacamole, platters of tacos al pastor and our ultimate nachos, char-grilled corn on the cobs, and a big bowl of this grilled corn salad.
If you’re feeding a crowd, don’t forget to mix some pitchers of classic margaritas and micheladas. If you’re making these these cheese and chili con carne quesadillas for brunch, then you might want to skip the cocktails, and stick to the micheladas.
Chili Con Carne and Cheese Quesadillas Recipe for a Quick and Easy Mexican Meal
Best Dumpling Recipes for Potstickers, Pelmeni, Pierogi, Vareniki and Wontons
It’s National Dumpling Day on 26 September, which you could use as an excuse to cook some of our best dumpling recipes, which span from Asia to Europe, savoury to sweet. They include potstickers, pelmeni, pierogi, vareniki, wontons, and more.
It’s hard to beat homemade dumplings, as you can season the fillings as you like and serve them with your favourite condiments. We’ve got recipes for the crunchy potstickers we ate in China, Terence’s wonderful Sichuan style wontons with Sichuan red chilli oil, the rustic pork and chive dumplings we enjoy in Cambodia.
My Russian-Ukrainian family’s dumpling recipes include savoury Russian minced meat pelmeni and potato mash and caramelised onion vareniki, a Siberian pelmeni soup, this cabbage dumplings recipe, which has a braised cabbage filling, a pan fried dumplings recipe for boiled Russian and Ukrainian pelmeni and vareniki leftovers, and my Ukrainian sweet varenyky recipe with summer berries and sour cream. We also have a recipe for the Polish pierogi I learnt to make from a chef in Krakow.
Best Dumpling Recipes for Potstickers, Pelmeni, Pierogi, Vareniki and Wontons
Egg Foo Young Recipe for the Original Cantonese Style Crispy Omelette Fu Yong Dan
This egg foo young recipe makes the original Cantonese style egg foo young – or egg foo yung and egg fu yung in English and fu yong dan or fuyong dan in Cantonese – a deliciously crispy omelette traditionally filled with char siu pork, spring onions and bean sprouts, that originated in Southern China in the 18th century during the Ching Dynasty. It’s one of our best Asian omelette recipes.
Just to be clear, this egg foo young recipe or fuyong dan recipe does not make the make the Chinese-American egg foo young which is a popular Chinese restaurant takeout dish of crispy pancake-like omelettes drizzled in gravy, which we also enjoy. But as we live in Southeast Asia, we tend to make the Chinese version more often.
We shared this egg foo young recipe or Cantonese fu yong dan recipe as part of our Weekend Eggs series on recipes for quintessential breakfast eggs dishes around the world, which we launched with Grantourismo way back in 2010. Although it has to be said that egg foo young can be eaten at any time, for breakfast, lunch or dinner or snacks in between. This is another of our top 30 recipes to cook in September 2025.
Egg Foo Young Recipe for the Original Cantonese Style Crispy Omelette Fu Yong Dan
German Potato Salad Recipe for a Warm Potato Salad with Bacon, Celery and Scallions
You’re going to love this German potato salad recipe if you’re a lover or potato salads, especially warm potato salads, such as my Mediterranean-style warm potato salad recipe with capers, anchovies, chives, and celery leaves, and you enjoyed that. It’s another of our best 30 recipes to cook in September 2025.
Like that warm Mediterranean potato salad, this warm German potato salad is a perfect side to chicken schnitzel (or even our chicken schnitzel burger), to meatballs, particularly these German meatballs, and roast chicken, sausages, any barbecued meats, and it’s also fantastic with a side of coleslaw.
Our German potato salad recipe makes a warm potato salad that’s also called a hot German potato salad, because if you time it right by following our instructions and tips to the letter, it’s definitely possible to deliver a hot potato salad to the table. While that’s definitely appealing in the chilly months of autumn and winter, in the warmer months of spring and scorching summer, you will want to serve this potato salad warm or at room temperature.
German Potato Salad Recipe for a Warm Potato Salad with Bacon, Celery and Scallions
Soy Ginger Chicken Recipe for Sticky, Flavourful, Succulent Chicken Thighs
One of our best chicken thigh recipes, Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese leafy greens or a crunchy salad, such as this Asian coleslaw. The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour.
This recipe for soy ginger chicken is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal that looks a bit fancy. Terence can often be found in our Siem Reap kitchen sliding a container of marinated chicken into the fridge and turning the sizzling thighs in the pan, the aromas wafting through the apartment. It’s a light meal, too, that’s perfectly satisfying served simply with a salad or steamed rice.
It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe. You can cook these thighs in a pan on the stovetop, although it’s a great dish to cook at a barbecue for guests who refrain from eating red meat as it’s easily as delicious as a juicy steak.
A couple of food safety tips: do not use the marinade once you have started grilling the chicken; don’t use it to make a sauce or reduction. And always use a good digital kitchen thermometer to check that your chicken is cooked through and reaches an internal temperature of 74°C (165°F).
Soy Ginger Chicken Recipe for Sticky, Flavourful, Succulent Chicken Thighs
Vietnamese Coffee Guide – How to Make Coffee With Egg, Yogurt and Coconut
September 29 is National Coffee Day it seems and some of the best coffee beverages are found in Vietnam, so we thought we’d share this guide to making traditional Vietnamese coffees. Although it must be said that the creamy, heady, drip filter brew is not only the traditional local coffee of Vietnam, it’s also made in Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Coffee snobs who prefer Arabica beans will probably turn up their noses at these traditional coffees made with roasted robusta beans. But these Vietnamese coffees made with condensed milk, egg, yogurt, or coconut cream are some of the most deliciously comforting coffees you can make in your own kitchen if you can’t get to Hanoi, Saigon or Dalat, Vietnam’s coffee capital.
Despite the proliferation of third wave cafes with counters that look like chemistry labs, and baristas crafting specialty coffees from single origin fair-trade beans, and bottling their own cold brews, in Southeast Asia, it’s traditional coffee that’s sipped alongside a bowl of noodle soup in local markets and rustic eateries. Whereas lattes and cappuccinos are lingered over in contemporary cafes and bought to take away from roadside coffee carts, a traditional coffee is how most locals kickstart their day.
Vietnamese Coffee Guide – How to Make Coffee With Egg, Yogurt and Coconut
Vietnamese Clay Pot Caramelised Fish Recipe with Salmon, Turmeric, Dill, Peanuts
We thought we’d stick with Vietnam for the final recipe of our 30 recipes to cook in September 2025. This easy Vietnamese caramelised fish recipe with fresh turmeric, fragrant dill and peanuts comes together quickly. Called ‘Vietnamese clay pot fish with fresh dill’ at Hoi An’s Red Bridge Cooking School where we first learnt to make it, the dish tastes like a combination of two Vietnamese specialties, chả cá lã vọng from the North and cá kho tộ from the South.
Our dish is adapted from that Vietnamese clay pot fish recipe that we learnt to cook at the Red Bridge Cooking School when we lived in Hoi An in Central Vietnam way back in 2013. I’ve given this caramelised fish recipe just a few small tweaks but it’s still essentially the same dish. We make it with salmon, because I absolutely adore it, and I bet you do, too, and we use fish pieces rather than fillets as they work better if you’re planning to serve this with rice or noodles.
Also a salmon lover? Browse our best salmon recipes for recipes for Russian blini with smoked salmon and caviar, a twist on that: buckwheat pancakes with smoked salmon and ‘caviar’ of gherkin and radish, creamy smoked salmon dip, elegant devilled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar, Cambodian salmon ‘ceviche’, smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’, fish soup with salmon, Russian salmon potato salad, smoked salmon pasta with capers and dill pickles, an easy salmon tray bake, salmon fillets with crispy skin, and scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar.
Vietnamese Clay Pot Caramelised Fish Recipe with Salmon, Turmeric, Dill, Peanuts
Please do let us know if you make any of our 30 recipes to cook in September 2025 as we’d love to know how they turn out for you.
