We’ve got summer dinners on repeat over here. 

This seared salmon is done in less than 10 minutes and then covered in a chimichurri blanket. Think tons of fresh, vibrant herbs. Lots of red wine vinegar. The best olive oil you can find. Many, many cloves of garlic, minced into the tiniest chunks. And some crushed red pepper.

The flavor combo is fabulous and is one heck of a satisfying dinner. It’s not bad straight out of the fridge either. Even when it’s still cold. 

This just makes sense.

We love salmon

We love chimichurri! 

So here we are: seared, crispy edged, buttery salmon covered in a mix of briney herbs with olive oil and tons of garlic. 

It tastes super fresh, just like summer, and it is so satisfying.

I almost want to take one of these salmon filets, flake it over grilled sourdough and drizzle the chimichurri everywhere. It’s DELISH. 

Also, I love to serve it with this lemon herb parmesan potato salad that I’m going to tell you about on Wednesday! Woohoo for summer side dishes. 

I make salmon like this constantly. At least once a week – and it takes no time at all. All you need are a hot cast iron skillet, your salmon of choice, some avocado oil and spices and seasonings. 

For this recipe, I stuck with my go-to: smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Are you sick of hearing me talk about this combo yet? It’s basically all I use. 

Multiple days a week, I use that seasoning blend for chicken, fish, beef and even vegetables. And seafood, of course! It’s almost always what I put on salmon, exclusively. 

The key to getting it somewhat crisp is patting the salmon dry with a paper towel. Pat it dry, cover in seasonings, then sear in a hot skillet.

The outside gets crisp and spice-coated. The inside is so soft, buttery and flaky. 

Chimichurri is one of Eddie’s favorite condiments. He requests it constantly and will put it on anything. While I like to make it fresh as often as I can, it still tastes great after a day in the fridge. Because we’re using straight fresh herbs, I wouldn’t make it too far in advance, but the leftovers still work. 

The chimichurri is not only incredible on the salmon, but you can drizzle it over this lemony potato salad that I’m going to tell you about too. 

P.S. if you need a few other uses for chimichurri, you can make cheese fries, grilled chicken and couscous or even a steak salad.

Nothing I love more than a fresh meal that comes together in less than 20 minutes! 

Chimichurri Salmon

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Seared Salmon with Chimichurri

This chimichurri salmon is a weekly favorite of our family. It's super simple and flavorful - and comes together in no time at all. Seared, crisp salmon topped with a refreshing briney and herby garlic chimichurri. Yum!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 20 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author How Sweet Eats

Ingredients

chimichurri

• 1 cup fresh cilantro
• ⅔ cup fresh parsley
• ¼ cup fresh oregano
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ cup red wine vinegar
• ⅔ cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

salmon

• 4 salmon filets
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• kosher salt and pepper
• 1 to 2 tablespoons avocado oil

Instructions

chimichurri

• Place the cilantro, parsley and oregano on a cutting board. Use a very sharp knife to chop it up as finely as you can. I prefer this way over the food processor.
• Place the herbs in a bowl. Add the garlic, vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper and crushed red pepper. Stir together and let sit until ready to use. If you want to refrigerate this, cover it before placing in the fridge.

salmon

• Pat the salmon dry with a paper towel.
• Season all over with the salt and pepper. Do the salmon with the smoked paprika and garlic powder. Be generous with the spices!
• Heat the avocado oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add the salmon. Sear on one side until deeply golden, about 2 to 3 minutes. Gently flip and sear on the other side until the salmon is cooked through, about 3 to 4 more minutes.
• Transfer the salmon to a platter and drizzle with the chimichurri. Serve!

Super fresh!

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Summer dishes abound! 

This tortellini salad is filled with roasted red peppers, feta cheese, arugula, tortellini and diced shallots. It’s drizzled with my zesty italian dressing which has a zingy bite – it is super flavorful and so satisfying. It’s one of those dishes that you will find yourself craving over and over again!

And… I bet a bunch of your friends and fam will request it too.

My kitchen ingredients thrive during this season. Fresh, vibrant produce along with all the herbs, a bit of cheese – I’m in heaven. This is the season where I love to make different dishes to share with family and friends, meals for last minute gatherings, summer hang outs, happy hour treats and more. 

Summer meals and snacks are just the best. And here’s the thing: I would totally even consider this tortellini salad a snack. An actual SNACK. I can’t tell you how many times I grab a bowl of it from the fridge… for a snack. 

Yep. 

The thing is, I make a lot of tortellini salads that we enjoy. This copycat one from the nordstrom e-bar is incredible. My summer chicken tortellini salad is great too. And the lunchtime chickpea version is a staple for my own meals. 

But this one takes the cake. Or the pasta. Or the salads! 

It’s truly the best cheese tortellini salad I have ever tasted. Eddie kept calling it an antipasto tortellini salad, and it does have a similar flavor profile. 

It is just delicious!

Here’s what we’re working with:

Cheese tortellini, of course. Whatever variety you love works. 

Salami, diced up. You could also use a spicy one! I’m a baby. 

Baby arugula greens. They are peppery and perfect. 

Shallots, diced into tiny chunks! 

Roasted red peppers – quite possibly my favorite pantry ingredient. 

Feta cheese. The crumbled kind is perfect here. So tangy and creamy.  (more…)

The post The Tortellini Salad I’m Making All Summer Long. appeared first on How Sweet Eats.

Seasonal summer salads, here we are! 

This red white and berry arugula salad is a summer dream. Four different kinds of berries, a lemony goat cheese vinaigrette and pistachio clusters make up this simple dish. It’s easy and classic with a twist – and full of so much crunch and flavor!

It’s sure to be the salad of the summer. Festive, delicious and satisfying. Plus perfect for a big BBQ! Great for Memorial Day weekend, the 4th of July or any summer weeknight you want something fresh and wonderful. 

I LOVE salads just like this. I’ve shared a triple berry crunch salad before that has roasted chickpeas. And in Easy Everyday, I have another really delish berry arugula salad! The combination of the peppery arugula against the sweet berries is perfect and one we adore. 

And I even love making an easy salad like this as a starter for dinner. If there are berries involved, I can usually get my kids on board! 

This salad has so much more than just berries though. 

These pistachios clusters… oh my gosh. I want to eat these forever. 

They are inspired by the pepitas in my harvest honeycrisp salad. But I skipped the spices, made them in a skillet instead of the oven and they are so simple.

And SO crunchy! 

I mean, I could easily snack on these alone. But in a salad? Holy cow. They elevate it so much. 

And let’s talk about the dressing!

I have two similar dressings – my blue cheese vinaigrette and my smashed feta vinaigrette. This is like that, but with goat cheese. It is the best mix of creamy versus vinegar-based, because as the goat cheese warms up, it makes the dressing slightly creamy. But it’s not super thick and heavy, like a traditional creamy dressing. (more…)

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Let me tell you how I’m officially OLD.

I love these lettuce wrap burgers.

Like, LOVE THEM. Blue cheese burgers piled high with caramelized onions, drizzled with creamy honey mustard and served in lettuce wraps. Freaking delicious.

I just adore them!

A few years ago, you couldn’t have paid me to eat a burger wrapped in lettuce. 

And trust me, this is nothing about cutting out the bun or the bread. Has nothing to do with that. It’s all about the CRISP LETTUCE.

Refreshing, crisp iceberg lettuce that we all usually treat like garbage. You know? We say it tastes like stale water and is worthless in a salad.

But as a wrap? TOP NOTCH. It is supreme. 

Sure, we kind of already know this from lettuce wrap – the famous ones with the sesame chicken and all that. 

But lettuce wrap burgers are the one way I have always avoided using the lettuce… thinking it would be too messy, not sturdy enough and just not as… good? Sort of like a give me brioche or give me death situation. Nothing can beat the brioche bun. 

However, it was definitely my cheeseburger salads that started to change my mind a few years ago. Something about the crisp lettuce is part of that classic cheeseburger flavor – mixed with the cheddar and the ketchup and the mustard and oh! It’s fabulous. 

So I started making cheeseburger lettuce wraps. Dreamy. And so easy. The lettuce wraps add this cooling, refreshing bite on a hot summer day. 

Now here is why THESE burgers are the best: 

They are topped with blue cheese which gets extra melty. 

Caramelized onions, which we know make every burger better.

And a drizzle of creamy homemade honey mustard! 

All wrapped up in that cold iceberg lettuce leaf. Juicy as heck, melty with cheese, so flavorful I could scream.  (more…)

The post Lettuce Wrap Blue CheeseBurgers with Caramelized Onions. appeared first on How Sweet Eats.

More tortellini please! 

Today we’re making broccoli pesto tortellini and oh boy, I hope you love it. This broccoli pesto is made with arugula and it’s so bright and delicious! Add in some shaved parmesan, tomatoes and a hint of lemon and this tastes like sunshine is a bowl. 

It’s so filling and pretty too! 

Plus, I’m always looking for new summer side dish ideas. 

If you have a copy of Everyday Dinners, then you might recognize this pesto recipe! It’s the broccoli pesto from that book and it’s one of our favorites. 

You already know that we are a bunch of broccoli freaks, so making it into pesto is just natural. 

In the book, I share a recipe with roasted broccoli. It is fab and roasted broccoli will forever be in my top favorites list. 

But this one uses blanched broccoli – which is embarrassingly easy – allowing it to be bright green and beautiful! There’s also no bitterness, which can sometimes happen from broccoli that has been a little over-roasted.

I am very familiar with this because I like to roast the heck out of my vegetables. It’s my biggest downfall! Char them all please. 

Oh, and the other thing. 

We also love cheese tortellini. Who doesn’t?! It cooks in minutes, tastes amazing and is so satisfying. I love that it can work as a side or a main dish. 

The good news is that you can use any variety of tortellini here, making it super customizable to your dinner. (more…)

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Nothing screams summer is coming like a bright bruschetta topping!

This salmon is seasoned and seared, then drizzled with balsamic glaze and topped with all the garlic, tomatoes and basil you could wish for.

Tastes like sunshine is on the way. 

It’s also fresh. Flavorful. Light and really satisfying at the same time! 

Could I BE any more excited about a dinner that comes together in 20 minutes? I really can’t. Especially when it “seems” fancy and feels elevated in your own kitchen. Sometimes I forget that meals like that exist. Ones that feel special and make the meal memorable, but end up taking mere minutes to prepare! 

I must start keeping a running list on my phone of those easy ones. 

Here’s the thing: I could eat a version of seared salmon every single day. I love it.

The way it is so buttery and melts in your mouth? Perfection. I prefer searing it over roasting any day of the week because the outside crust is fantastic.

I also love the glaze that forms in the pan. 

One of the reasons I make a dish like this so often is because it takes no time at all. Minimal effort too! As long as you don’t mind chopping tomatoes and mincing some garlic.

I don’t – and I find it almost mindful and therapeutic. Plus, the fragrant basil and garlic makes me so happy. It’s nostalgic and summer foods are the best. 

P.S. the bread. The bread! 

This most amazing cheesy garlic bread on the side… It’s fantastic. I don’t mean to gatekeep it but it definitely deserves its own recipe spot. I will tell you about it later this week or next! 

This salmon can be served with any grain, rice or pasta. You could make my bruschetta pasta salad too – just knock out all the chopping of the tomatoes and garlic in one night! You can also serve it alongside some grilled vegetables or my baked cheesy rice. 

Or roasted asparagus with lemon! The crisp, springy spears are only made better served with it.  (more…)

The post Bruschetta Balsamic Salmon. appeared first on How Sweet Eats.

We’re making an easy Monday meal today!

This is one of those meals that my kids go wild for. Crispy lemony chicken, creamy spaghetti and a ton of fresh herbs. It’s light but comforting at the same time. It’s easy to make and easy to love! 

And I almost want to tell you to double the chicken because it’s incredible. Little crisp lemon chicken bites. Sometimes I take one and dip it in dill sauce. 

Mind blown deliciousness. 

I don’t even know how to describe it… 

These lemon chicken bites are SO good – they are perfect on their own. Or thrown over rice or any other kind of grain. Also incredible in a wrap or on top of a salad. They don’t even look that special but they are tender and juicy and cook fast. 

And they are super easy to make! I chop up chicken breasts, season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and add a sprinkle of cornstarch. Oh and some fresh lemon zest of course. It’s a dream!

Then, I crisp them up in a skillet and it takes mere minutes. Ridiculously easy, I tell you. They make the kitchen smell wonderful. The kids come in and want to steal a piece before the meal is even ready.

While the chicken is cooking, I boil some spaghetti. I like to use the same pan I cook the chicken in, so once it’s finished, I transfer it out. I throw the cooked pasta in, add some starchy pasta water, just a drop of cream, lots of fresh herbs and more lemon zest.

Oh! And parmesan. How could I ever forget?!

The spaghetti is similar to the lemon spaghetti with roasted chickpeas in Easy Everyday. That meal is such a staple for us – it’s so easy, the textures are great and it’s very satisfying. We make it all the time, so I’m always looking for a way to add more excitement or make it taste different! 

Yes, I even change up my own recipes. All the time, in fact!  (more…)

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Here’s an embarrassingly easy meal for you today! 

These baked cheeseburger quesadillas are so highly requested in our house. The cripiest tortillas, cheeseburger filling with sharp cheddar, topped with refreshing romaine, juicy tomatoes and the tangiest pickled onions. All finished with a drizzle of house sauce!

This is such an easy weeknight meal, a great happy hour snack, a fun late night treat or even something you can share for an easy lunch!

This is a cheater sort of recipe. I’ve already shared with you how I make crispy baked cheeseburger tacos and cheeseburger tostadas. The combo is just so good!

It’s something I make often for the kids. Eddie also loves the cheeseburger flavor. And it feels a little lighter than eating an actual cheeseburger. 

I like to use ground turkey or beef, sharp cheddar, lots of lettuce, tomatoes, pickled onions and of course – how sweet eats house sauce. 

The house sauce is my everything. I make this almost once a week. It’s like my version of chick fil-a sauce and it’s delicious. Super creamy, a little tangy. You can dip basically anything in it. Or drizzle it on anything from burgers to bowls to potatoes to pizza and more.

It’s super versatile and makes the meal feel ever more special! 

The baked quesadilla is my go-to today, and here’s why: it is SO easy to feed a crowd. You can make multiple large quesadillas at once, as opposed to making just one at a time in a skillet.

There is no sketchy flipping – the fillings will not fall out when you gently flip. (more…)

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This is how I like to do breakfast for dinner.

This broccoli cheddar frittata souffle is so perfect when you want a cheesy egg bake for breakfast, lunch or dinner. You can make it ahead of time, enjoy it warm or cold and it tastes absolutely amazing.

I know that I just told you last week how I find different ways to make broccoli for my family. We all love it and it’s easily our number one vegetable. So here’s another! 

Melty cheese, baked eggs and chopped broccoli with all the flavor in the world. It’s such a huge hit over here.

I really wanted to get this to you in time for Easter but with the release of Easy Everyday, I got behind! Before I knew it, the holiday had passed and I didn’t get to share this recipe that we adore.

But!

The good news is that I don’t even make this for holidays! I truly make it for dinner. Or the occasional brunch.

See, this is by far my favorite way to make a frittata. And it’s pretty much the only way I make them now! There is also a new one in Easy Everyday, just FYI. 

The souffle element is so easy and doesn’t take much time at all. You seperate the eggs, whip the whites and then fold the whites into the egg filling.

It’s simpler and once you’ve done it once, it’s ridiculously easy. 

So easy, in fact, that unless I’m incredibly pressed for time, it’s the only way I make a frittata. 

It adds so much – the texture is cloudlike. It’s soft and perfectly chewy. The frittata rises higher and doesn’t fall too much, which is excellent for feeding hungry kids. It reminds me more of a quiche even though it doesn’t have a crust.

This is how it comes together:

I start the broccoli in the skillet so it can soften a little bit. Just a bit! 

Then, I separate the eggs. The yolks go into one large bowl and I add the cheese and herbs.

In a smaller bowl, I whip the whites with a hand mixer until peaks form.

Then, I fold the whites into the yolk mixture gently but thoroughly. Make sure you’re only folding and it’s all incorporated! 

Next, I pour it in the buttery pan with the broccoli. Cook it for a few minutes. Top with more cheese. Then transfer it to the oven where it rises like magic!

Finally, when it comes out of the oven I throw on some arugula or microgreens. Deeeeelish.  (more…)

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I’m unlocking the secret to one of our favorite meals. 

These chicken tacos are going to become a staple in your menu! They have so much texture, flavor and they are reqeusted over and over again in our house. Simple, crispy, satisfying and customizable.

The perfect recipe!

I’ve shared a recipe before that uses this same cheesy tortilla method: my crispy cheesy breakfast tacos. And they are INCREDIBLE. As in, just writing this out means that I need to make them tomorrow or I won’t be able to stop thinking about them. 

I even like them for dinner, but we love breakfast for dinner. It’s a go-to. 

Here’s the thing though. I make these crazy chicken tacos… my weeknight chicken tacos… and I have for YEARS. It’s an embarrassingly easy recipe, where you make chicken thighs and then shred them in your stand mixer with a ton of seasonings. And then, boom. Chicken tacos. 

It’s an odd way to make the taco filling but it works. It works so well that you’re usually shocked and surprised at how good they are.

So months ago I started thinking… what if I combined them? What if I made the chicken taco filling but used the method for the cheese crispy taco shells?

Um, I must have had a moment of brilliance!

Because these are incredible. 

They are simple. Chicken, some taco seasonings, a quick pico. 

All stuffed in a tortilla that is fried in a skillet with melted cheese. It wears a crispy cheese jacket, if you will. 

When I tell you that the whole family is obsessed with this for dinner, I mean it. These tacos are such a crowd pleaser.

Now they are a little high maintenance, because each tortilla has to be crisped up with some melty cheese. But!

I have a way around that. If you have an electric griddle or a large griddle pan, this is the key. That is what I use to make pancakes, so it’s in rotation often. If you use one of these, you can make four tortillas at a time for the tacos. Which makes it so much easier to serve when everyone is around the table. 

The best part is that you can truly stuff anything in these cheesy flour shells. They are super versatile, so delicious and very easy to make. Warm and cozy and cheese too!  (more…)

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