The Complete One Pot Cookbook: 400 Complete Meals for Your Skillet, Dutch Oven, Sheet Pan, Roasting Pan, Instant Pot®, Slow Cooker, and More

by America's Test Kitchen (Editor)

The only one-pot cookbook you'll ever need! Simplify dinner and eat well with hundreds of meals that take full advantage of your favorite pans.

Join the one-pot movement with The Complete One Pot Cookbook. From sheet-pan suppers to no-boil pastas, millions of home cooks want the ease of hands-off meals made using a single vessel. These flavorful recipes represent years of the test kitchen's best strategies for successful single-pan cooking, from staggering cooking times so everything finishes at once to developing an arsenal of no-cook sauces and sides.

We flip the lid on several one-pot cooking assumptions; first, that it's always slow. Half of the 400+ recipes can be made in 45 minutes or less. Next, that the recipes serve an army: We paid attention to smaller family sizes by adding scaled-down variations serving two throughout the book. And we made some of the all-time best recipes more flexible with choose-your-own pan options such as Classic Chicken Soup that can be made in a Dutch oven, slow cooker, or pressure cooker. Finally, we realized that decluttering dinner didn't stop with using just one pot but also meant limiting the number of bowls.

Today's one-pot recipes are more varied than ever. Skip takeout with Sheet Pan Pizza. Make date-night Classic Arroz Con Pollo for Two in a saucepan. Cook for a crowd using a roasting-pan "Walk-Away" Roast Chicken with Potatoes. Set and forget Slow Cooker Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Raisin-Almond Couscous, or get dinner on the table fast using an Instant Pot to make Cod with Warm Tabbouleh Salad. This assortment includes more than just dinner. Simplify breakfast with Sheet Pan Breakfast Sandwiches, or make one-bowl (or no-bowl!) Peach Cobbler or Classic Bread Pudding in your Dutch oven.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Reference, Food, Adult

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 3, 2020

About the author

America's Test Kitchen, based in a brand new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. facility with over 15,000 sq. ft. of test kitchens and studio space, in Boston's Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Over 50 full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, and publisher of more than one dozen cookbooks each year, America's Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. America's Test Kitchen the television show launched in 2001, and the company added a second television program, Cook's Country, in 2008.

Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!

Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.

Reviews

[Heather Adores Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

This cookbook consists of 400 recipes in the following categories: soups, stews and chilis, chicken, beef, pork and lamb, seafood, vegetarian, pasta and noodles and desserts and with these one pot options: dutch oven, saucepan, slow cooker, instant pot, skillet, sheet pan, casserole dish and roasting pan.

What I liked:
~ each category has a list of recipes broken down by which pot or pan to use and with a corresponding page number.
~ notes from the test kitchen, which comprised of storage ways, safe handling and ingredient spotlights.
~ there is one recipe within each category that has 3 different ways to make it, and with make it your way substitution ideas.
~ why this recipe works is included on just about every recipe that states why a certain ingredient was picked or why a certain pot was used or possible substitutions, etc.
~typically the recipes are for 4 servings, but some have a variation for 2 or even crowds of 10-12.

I hate when recipes call for weird ingredients I have never heard or would buy: bulgar, wheat berries, baharat and wondra flour to name a few.

Here's what I could see myself making one day ~ doesn't mean I will though:
~ Classic Beef Stew in a dutch oven
~ Vegetable and Chickpea Stew minus baharat since I don't know what that is and I'm not buying it
~ Crunchy Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops with Glazed Winter Squash minus the squash
~ Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
~ Chocolate Lava Cake ~ I've always wanted to make one of these and it doesn't seem too difficult
~ Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake ~ maybe will do this one in the fall if I remember

Other notable things:
~ total time to make it is included in each recipe
~ there are pictures, but not one for each recipe, which was a great idea since this book already feels heavy, so that would add too many pages
~ nutritional facts are located towards the end and not included with each recipe
~ instructions are thoroughly detailed


Update 4/28/24:
Was giving this a peruse to see if I wanted to make something new this week instead of the same ole same ole and noticed that the page formatting could be a little better. Some recipes start on one page and end on the next. If I’m knee deep in flour and up to my elbow in garlic butter, that I might or might not be repeatedly test tasting, I don’t want to be worrying about flipping the pages. Nothing caught my eye to make, so guess it’ll be chicken, pork, burgers and pasta again this week.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great cook book!

I usually like when cook books have a picture of each recipe and while this book has pictures of some recipes it doesn't have them all. There are also so many recipes! The book is broken down by dishes - chicken, beef, desserts, etc. and within those chapters by how to cook - with a skillet, casserole dish, pressure cooker, etc. It's very interesting.

The recipes are interesting! The pictures make my mouth water and while some of the recipes are time intensive this is a great book for those learning to cook and already established chefs. There's a good variety and helpful guides for each recipe.

Overall a great find!

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice assortment of meals that includes the cuisines of many cultures. Detailed cooking instructions and there's also making sides, spice mixes, etc. There's a fair amount of vegetarian and vegan recipes and the serving sizes range from 2 to 8. I saw a good handful recipes to try, I may wind up buying it.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of nice pictures but even though there are 400 "one pot" recipes....they still look labor intensive. Didn't copy not one of them.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a large variety of recipes. Don't let "One Pot" make you think these are simple. Difficulty varies though the book.

[Jbussen · Rating 3 out of 5]

1st off I really like the concept. I have a nice recipe for a 1 sheet pan chicken w/zucchini. And so I was interested in this book. Some of these are quite labor intensive. I want EZ = 1 Pan or Pot or whateverZ, doesn't make it easy. And If I use 5 mixing bowls, is it still "one"? I guess I can overlook that. My mind hits auto ignore when recipes call for weird ingredients I have never heard or would buy: bulgar, wheat berries, baharat and wondra flour = I don't think so.

Not my review but copied from another on GR. Just personal notes for when I review what cookbook to re-borrow from Library.

~ each category has a list of recipes broken down by which pot or pan to use and with a corresponding page number.
~ notes from the test kitchen, which comprised of storage ways, safe handling and ingredient spotlights.
~ there is one recipe within each category that has 3 different ways to make it, and with make it your way substitution ideas.
~ why this recipe works is included on just about every recipe that states why a certain ingredient was picked or why a certain pot was used or possible substitutions, etc.
~typically, the recipes are for 4 servings, but some have a variation for 2 or even crowds of 10-12.

Here's what I could see myself making one day ~ doesn't mean I will though:
~ Classic Beef Stew in a dutch oven
~ Vegetable and Chickpea Stew minus baharat since I don't know what that is and I'm not buying it
~ Crunchy Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops with Glazed Winter Squash minus the squash
~ Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
~ Chocolate Lava Cake ~ I've always wanted to make one of these and it doesn't seem too difficult
~ Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake ~ maybe will do this one in the fall if I remember

Other notable things:
~ total time to make it is included in each recipe
~ there are pictures, but not one for each recipe, which was a great idea since this book already feels heavy, so that would add too many pages
~ nutritional facts are located towards the end and not included with each recipe
~ instructions are thoroughly detailed

[Julie Ounanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, so many recipes. What I do like about the Cookbook is there are recipes for say 6-8 people and then a recipe for 2 people which makes it easier than having to try to cut it down yourself. A lot of good ideas and a lot of good help on How to cook And other good information I don't like to try new recipes that have too many ingredients. But I was able to find a few that I would like to try. And yes I did read through all the information and each recipe.

[Beate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but it is way too text heavy for me (more pictures please). When I mainly want to cook with an Instant pot it is also frustrating that the majority of the recipes seem to be made for Skillets and pans, which isn't quite what I expected.

My main takeaway is which coconut milk to buy, and I also liked other Test kitchen highlights.

[Mesembryanthemum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Only a few recipes sounded good to me.

Also, the formatting of this ebook (via Libby) was terrible. Words and numbers ran together, page breaks were in nonsensical places, and the contents in each section didn't match the actual order of the recipes. When will cookbook publishers learn that ebook formatting matters?

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful variety?

There are so many interesting and yummy recipes in here. The selection is diverse, the recipes themselves are very straight forward with easy to follow instructions. This is a great book to have on hand in print form, I’m ordering it now and feel it will be heavily relied upon. The possible variation listed for each recipe make it an even better find

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess the thing I need to remember is that "One Pot" does not necessarily mean easier/faster. I wish there were more slow cooker and instant pot options, and also that the slow cooker recipes did not require previous cooking prep before becoming a one pot meal.

[Jennifer Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm excited about this one! I like almost everything the ATK does. I love that they include multiple ways to cook one pot wonders--the only thing missing is the air fryer. I can see myself mixing some f the mains and sides that are suggested together--overall I am planning to try many of these.

[Karen Dulek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never used a dutch oven before

There are so many recipes that I am excited to try. Reading through the recipes tells me this will be perfect for a small household and not too difficult.

[Aasinathena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my so many recipes to do!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. They tried too hard to force recipes to fit.