Listed below are our prime 10 hottest recipes of 2021

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A second year of global pandemic meant even more time in the kitchen. In 2021, the Chronicle published dozens of recipes, and readers took full advantage of the collection.

Checking out the top 10 most popular recipes on HoustonChronicle.com will give you a glimpse into what you cooked. It’s a varied round-up that includes home cooking, healthy meals, and desserts. Unsurprisingly, Chicken is very present among the top hits. A burger and mac and cheese make the expected appearances, and a few cakes provide those with a sweet tooth.

Here are the recipes you’ve cooked the most this year, down to the most popular of them all.

Feeling Matters columnist Marci Sharif recreated one of her favorite recipes: Lean Lemon Turkey from My Fit Foods.

Marci Sharif

My Fit Foods was a point of contact for the family of Feeling Matters columnist Marci Sharif. When it closed a few years ago, she reinvented the recipe for lean lemon turkey, with asparagus and various spices and herbs.

Recipe: Lean Lemon Turkey

Diner Cake, a yellow cake with chocolate icing, is the best-selling cake in the Dessert Gallery.

Diner Cake, a yellow cake with chocolate icing, is the best-selling cake in the Dessert Gallery.

Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Photographer

The Dessert Gallery in Upper Kirby is a Houston favorite for good reason. When you’re up for a run, why not try the yellow chocolate-iced cake, the bakery’s bestseller.

Recipe: Dessert Gallery’s Diner Cake

cabbage soup

cabbage soup

Marci Sharif / Contributed

Feeling Matters columnist Marci Sharif made this immune boosting soup that she learned from her Filipino mother-in-law when her 3-year-old got COVID. It’s great if you’re just sniffing too.

Recipe: Recipe: Chicken Nilaga or “Cabbage Soup”

Macaroni and cheese

Macaroni and cheese from “Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ” by Rodney Scott and Lolis Eric Elie.

Jerrelle Guy / Jerrelle Guy

That year, Charleston, SC-based grill icon Rodney Scott published his first cookbook, Rodney Scott’s World of BBQ: Recipes & Perspectives From the Legendary Pitmaster. He shared a few recipes with the Chronicle, including this one for decadent mac and cheese.

Recipe: Rodney Scott’s Macaroni and Cheese

Filipino Chicken Adobo is made from coconut milk, vinegar, and chicken thighs

Filipino Chicken Adobo is made with coconut milk, vinegar, and chicken legs from America’s Test Kitchen “The Chicken Bible”.

America’s Test Kitchen, Senior Staff Photographer / America’s Test Kitchen

What these top 10 are like, it seems like many Chronicle readers could use a copy of “The Chicken Bible,” a cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen. Hence this recipe comes from. The chicken legs are marinated in soy sauce and then braised in a mixture of coconut milk and apple cider vinegar.

Recipe: Filipino Chicken Adobo

Recipe: sheet pan with soy-ginger-salmon and broccoli

Recipe: sheet pan with soy-ginger-salmon and broccoli

Pam Fullenweider / Courtesy

Pan frying is the easiest way to get a delicious, healthy meal to the table quickly. This version adds a little spice to salmon fillets and broccoli with Sriracha, complemented by sweet maple syrup, aromatic ginger and umami sesame.

Recipe: Sheet Pan Soy Ginger Salmon and Broccoli

Pasta salad dressing

Pasta salad dressing

Marci Sharif

Interestingly, one salad dressing recipe has made it to the top of the list this year. But it won’t come as a surprise when you add it to your refrigerator staple directory. This simple dressing is very versatile – put it on pasta or any type of cereal, add a salty component such as cheese or olives and voilà.

Recipe: Pasta salad dressing

Homemade butter chicken by cook Anita Jaisinghani

Homemade butter chicken by cook Anita Jaisinghani

James Lenhart / Contributor

Anita Jaisinghani, Pondicheri owner and Chronicle cooking columnist, knows her way around Indian food. Fortunately for readers, she shared the recipe for her restaurant’s legendary butter chicken.

Recipe: How to Make Pondicheri’s Butter Chicken at Home

Chicken in a Pot with Lemon and Orzo from “Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories” by Nigella Lawson.

Chicken in a Pot with Lemon and Orzo from “Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes, and Stories” by Nigella Lawson.

Jonathan Lovekin / Jonathan Lovekin

Orzo, the tiny pasta that melts in your mouth, is celebrating a comeback. Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson takes advantage of this in this recipe, in which a whole chicken is cooked in a Dutch oven with orzo, lemon, garlic, carrots and leek.

Recipe: Chicken in a pot with lemon and orzo

Carrot and pecan cake with a classic cream cheese frosting from

Carrot and pecan cake with classic cream cheese frosting from “Dessert Person” by Claire Saffitz.

Alex Lau / Alex Lau

Drum roll … The most popular recipe of the year 2021 is this wonderful cake by Bon Appétit employee Claire Saffitz from her book “Dessert Person”. Everything from the layered cream cheese frosting to adding pecans to the carrot cake probably enjoyed our readers.

Recipe: Carrot and pecan cake