The Recipes You Should Be Cooking This March (2024)

Before spring arrives, savor your last chance to enjoy the best produce of winter.

Iain Bagwell

March is a month of transition: no longer truly winter, but not quite spring until the equinox around March 20. We’re not ready to bust out the spring recipes just yet. But instead of viewing March as a drawn-out shift to spring, we see this month as your last chance to enjoy seasonal winter produce.

Mushrooms, parsnips, beets, and carrots are still having their moment. Bake a savory carrot ribbon tart for a unique and flavorful pastry, or whip up a hearty parsnip and apple soup to keep you warm until spring arrives. Winter greens are also having their last hurrah for the year. Get your fix while they’re still in season with our delicious recipes for a red quinoa bowl with swiss chard and poached egg and a vegan gombo with Napa cabbage.

This is also your last chance to taste the freshest citrus of the year. Navel oranges, in particular, are at their sweetest around this month. Try our orange desserts: decadent cinnamon rolls with orange almond icing and mini lime tarts with orange blossom cream and toasted fennel. You’ll also notice a sprinkle of tangy citrus throughout our recipe list.

Starters and Salads

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Endive with Beet Vinaigrette and Salsa Hungara

According to Ethan Speizer and Madison Gabor, both chefs at Napa’s Ashes & Diamonds winery, “In our world, a salad should be all things savory, sweet, crunchy, and salty. This salad absolutely fits that bill, with an earthy and acid-forward beet vinaigrette and a Hungarian version of the traditional Mexican salsa macha of sorts, which we dubbed ‘Salsa Hungara.’”

2 of 9Thomas J. Story

Blackened Guajillo Chile Mushroom Tacos

Rich, savory, and pleasantly chewy, these tacos hit the spot even for meat lovers.

3 of 9Iain Bagwell

Parsnip and Apple Soup

We can thank Sunset reader Louise Galen of West Hollywood for this tasty winter soup. If you’re not a fan of fruit-based soups, you could easily substitute potatoes or more parsnips for the apples with equally delicious results.

4 of 9Annabelle Breakey

Baked Eggs with Leeks and Mushrooms

Enjoy this dish hot from the oven, with crusty bread to soak up the runny yolks. For firmer yolks and whites, leave the eggs on the rimmed baking sheet for 4 to 5 minutes before serving.

5 of 9Thomas J. Story

Moroccan Carrot Salad

Israeli chef Alon Shaya of Denver’s Safta buys bunches of young carrots. “The skins are more tender,” he says. “I roast them skin-on for the added nutrients.” Rather than throw out the carrot tops, he blanches them quickly in salted water to pull out the bitterness and turns them into a pesto.

6 of 9Thomas J. Story

Mussels with Fennel Cream

This rich mussel dish is all about the broth, which is enriched with heavy cream and spiked with hard cider to brighten it up and give it backbone. The mussels will yield their briny liquor once steamed, so consider getting a baguette to sop up all the juices.

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Whipped Ricotta, Garlic, and Zesty Herb Oil Tartine

A grilled tartine topped with creamy cheese and fresh ingredients is a sure party pleaser. Make a sweet one as well to satisfy every craving.

8 of 9Thomas J. Story

California Gombo

Chef Keith Corbin of Los Angeles restaurant Alta Adams layers the flavor in this vegetable-forward vegan gombo (which is the Louisiana Creole spelling of gumbo). Red miso gives the profound broth depth, while quick-charred seasonal vegetables add crunch and color.

9 of 9Iain Bagwell

Carrot and Dal Salad

This playful nod to Indian dal (legume curry) is perfect at room temperature for a picnic or office lunch, but also great alongside roasted lamb chops for dinner. It tastes even better after a night in the fridge. Yellow split peas look especially pretty here.

Main Dishes

1 of 10Annabelle Breakey

Chicken Scaloppine with Mushrooms

Pounded thin, chicken thighs cook fast and stay moist. The lemony sauce is great with a side of asparagus.

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Carne Asada with Guacachile

This carne asada comes together with just a few ingredients and a quick sear on the grill. Can’t get to a grill? Throw these steaks onto a super-hot skillet to get the same char.

3 of 10Iain Bagwell

Savory Carrot Ribbon Tart

With its tangle of bright carrot strips and bits of spicy chorizo, this beautiful tart makes an exciting appetizer or even a light main dish. An all-butter puff pastry, such as Dufour, gives especially flavorful and flaky results, but it’s delicious made with any kind of puff pastry.

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Tortelli di Radicchio with Brown Butter and Hazelnuts

Chef Kelly Mariani of Sonoma winery Scribe says this pasta “feels like a hug on a cool day. The creamy radicchio filling is delicious with the nuttiness of brown butter and hazelnuts.” She suggests using a scale for the best results with the pasta.

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Poached Orange-Fennel Salmon with Dill Crème

Kristen Murray, pastry chef and owner of Maurice restaurant in Portland, learned the easy technique of oven-poaching fish in a foil pouch from her grandmother. (You’ll need wide, heavy-duty foil.) The salmon works beautifully made a day ahead and served at room temperature. For a bit of green, top with fennel fronds, carrot tops, or chervil.

6 of 10Annabelle Breakey

Pomegranate Molasses-Glazed Chicken and Carrots

Pomegranate molasses, a staple ingredient in the Eastern Mediterranean, gives this one-pot dish a delectable tang.

7 of 10Annabelle Breakey

Mushroom and Fresh Herb Lasagna

For this intensely mushroomy lasagna, brawny portabellas and shiitakes cook down until their flavors are concentrated. Then they’re layered with a creamy, velvety sauce and sheets of no-boil pasta, which are thinner than regular dried pasta.

8 of 10Iain Bagwell

Red Quinoa Bowl with Swiss Chard and Poached Egg

Technically a seed (so no gluten), quinoa is touted as a superfood for its high fiber and protein. The runny yolk of a poached egg creates a little sauce on top.

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Honey Lime Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Citrus Salsa

Try pairing this bright citrus salsa with chicken or fish as well as pork.

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Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp and Green Garlic

Light, lively green garlic and a little cream make this a perfect winter-into-spring pasta dish. The thin noodles soak up the sauce fast, so serve it immediately.

Desserts

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Derby Pie

We found the perfect recipe for Pi Day on March 14. “This pie is famous in our household,” gushes L.A.’s Queen Street Raw Bar & Grill chef Ari Kolender. “My grandmother used to airmail it to me when I first moved to California and has been making it so long, she couldn’t (or wouldn’t) tell you where she got the recipe. I’m led to believe that she invented it!“

2 of 6Iain Bagwell

Butternut Squash Spice Cake

Watch out, carrot cake. An intriguing mix of spices, plus coconut sugar for subtle sweetness, put this butternut squash cake over the top. (And did we mention the bourbon?)

3 of 6Erin Kunkel

Chocolate Lace Sandwich Cookies

“I call these the ‘backache’ cookies because I always make a double batch, sitting hunched over at the table,” says Fran Pepoon of Roseville, California. She has been baking these chocolate cookies, which have a subtle hit of orange and vanilla, every Christmas for 30 years, adapting them over time from a recipe given to her by a friend.

4 of 6Thomas J. Story

Dutch Oven Cinnamon Rolls with Orange Almond Icing

At aSunsettrip along the Umpqua River in Oregon, Jen Stevenson wowed the group with these fragrant rolls, which we’ve adapted from a recipe in her book with Marnie Hanel,The Campout Cookbook(Artisan, 2018).

5 of 6Erin Kunkel

Lime Tartlets with Orange Blossom Cream and Toasted Fennel

Emily Rosenberg, a pastry sous chef at the Four Seasons Maui at Wailea, added toasted fennel seeds to give the tart a subtle crunch. You may have leftover dough, but you can use it to make cookies. You’ll have leftover lime curd too. It’s delicious with ice cream or spooned into biscuits or onto pancakes, and it lasts a month in the fridge.

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Beeswax Cream with Stone Fruit and Almond

This dessert fromSeattle restaurant Tomois honeyed and ethereal thanks to beeswax steeped in cream that is then aerated into a delicate foam. It’s an excellent topping for a stone-fruit compote on an almond tart base. To make the beeswax cream, you’ll need a whipped cream charger, such as an iSi Gourmet Whip, the go-to brand for chefs.

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