Love to entertain but are a bit of a novice in the kitchen? Add hosting dinner parties [1] to your repertoire by relying on these easy, yet impressive recipes that'll fool your guests into thinking you're a killer cook.
Butternut Squash Lasagna
Lasagna, like this butternut squash version [2], is a labor of love — there's no way around the lengthier prep time — that said, it's very impressive, can serve a crowd, and is hard to mess up, even as a novice cook. For another decadent option, try wild mushroom lasagna [3].
Individual Chocolate Fudge Cakes
Bust out your measuring spoons and your slow cooker (yes, you read that right). These individual chocolate fudge cakes [4] are baked inside a slow cooker, making for one of the most hands-off, hard-to-mess-up cake recipes you'll find.
Roast Chicken With Vegetables
Roasting a whole chicken might seem daunting, but it's actually an easier technique to master than cooking chicken breasts (which are prone to overcooking). Here, chicken is set atop a bed of vegetables [5] for a complete meal.
Marcella Hazan's Iconic Tomato Sauce
Yes, it's just tomato sauce, but it's also the best tomato sauce you may ever taste. This iconic recipe [6] only requires three ingredients and is velvety and rich, and it will dress up anything from pasta to pizza.
Prosciutto-Wrapped Feta-Stuffed Dates
Like bacon-wrapped dates [7], these feta-stuffed, prosciutto-wrapped dates [8] are so much greater than the sum of their parts and are ridiculously simple to assemble.
Steamed Mussels
Steamed mussels might seem like a dish best left to restaurants, but they're shockingly simple (and fast) to make at home. Try this lime-leaf-perfumed version [9] — sub parsley or other leafy green herbs if you can't find lime leaf — or this classic Julia Child recipe [10].
Pasta Carbonara
Like many pasta recipes, carbonara is a relatively simple affair [11] and crowd-pleasing to boot. Making pasta carbonara also serves as a good cooking lesson, as having your mise en place set up is crucial to correctly executing the eggy sauce.
Post-Grill Marinated Steak
The beauty of this grilled skirt steak recipe [12] is that the meat is marinated after cooking, as it rests (an absolutely crucial step [13] that many novice cooks skip). Do be sure to follow the instructions closely, erring on the side of grilling the steak for a shorter time, as skirt steak (a thin cut) is prone to overcooking.
Chicken Picatta
Five ingredients, 20 minutes, and one pan are all you need to make this Italian classic [14].