Macaroni Salad is an easy and inexpensive classic for potlucks, summer BBQs, or an easy side dish for dinner.
Mayonnaise
Tuna Cakes are a quick, easy, and inexpensive meal option for hot summer days. Delicious, filling, and endlessly versatile!
Pesto mozzarella roll ups combine melty mozzarella cheese and flavorful basil pesto rolled up in a flour tortilla then baked to perfection!
Chicken, broccoli, onion, and a creamy pesto dressing make this quick salad a delicious new lunchtime staple!
This quick and easy egg salad is perfect for busy days or whenever you need a fast, inexpensive, delicious, and filling meal!
These super simple Bacon Ranch Turkey Burgers are the BEST homemade burgers around. Simple ingredients with TONS of flavor!
If you think a salad can’t fill you up, think again. This awesomely crunchy and flavorful Kale and Chicken Salad is chock full of juicy chicken breast, almonds, celery, and lots of fiberlicious kale...
I’m kind of obsessed with chicken salad lately. It’s easy to prepare, super filling, and the perfect cold meal during these hot summer months. I especially love this chicken salad with apples because it’s...
Earlier this week I made a big batch of sunny and fresh Cumin Lime Coleslaw, but I didn’t intend to just eat coleslaw all week. So, I used the coleslaw as a topping for...
People take their potato salad very seriously here in the south. I learned that quickly after moving to southern Louisiana twenty years ago (omg, how has it been that long??). I was never a...
I love quick fixes because I am busy and if something takes me more than 15-30 minutes to prepare, chances are I’m not going to do it, especially if it’s not my day off....
This creamy, cheesy hot corn dip will be the star of the show at your next party, gathering, or BBQ. Easy to double for larger crowds!
These bright and zesty Tacos feature Tajín seasoned shrimp and a simple slaw dressed with a homemade avocado dressing.
When you just want enough deviled eggs for one or two people, make these fast and easy small batch deviled eggs!
I used to really hate coleslaw until I made my own homemade coleslaw. It’s so fresh, crunchy, and creamy, and not at all gloppy or heavy like the storebought stuff. AND you can make it...
Add some extra umami heat to your lunch with this simple and tasty gochujang tuna salad.
I used to hate chicken wings. But, OMG, I think I'm officially a convert. These crispy, oven-baked honey mustard wings are so seriously delicious that I've craved them every day since I first made...
Simple homemade sauces (or glazes) are your secret weapon in the kitchen. They’re the easiest way to turn a boring piece of meat into something really mouthwatering and amazing. Case in point: Honey Mustard...
With so many people going back to work but without the luxury of being able to use their break room microwaves or refrigerators, classic cold lunches like tuna salad are making a comeback! So...
Super flavorful Homemade Black Bean Burgers are as easy as combining black beans together with a slew of flavorful ingredients, like garlic, red onion, cumin, cilantro, and sriracha. A little egg and breadcrumbs help...
This Spinach Artichoke Grilled Cheese is totally indulgent. It’s like your favorite restaurant appetizer turned into a meal (because you were going to eat that spinach artichoke dip as your meal anyway, right?). I’ve...
Earlier this week I made some amazing steak fries and I needed a dipping sauce for them that was equally as epic. Plain old ketchup was just not going to do, so I made...
Taco bowls, burrito bowls, whatever you want to call them! I went with taco bowls this time because of the homemade taco seasoning used on the roasted cauliflower, plus the fresh toppings like tomatoes...
I’m all about quick stir fry dinners because they’re easy, you can work a LOT of vegetables into them, and they’re just plain delicious. My newest creation, Crunchy Chicken Ramen Stir Fry, is kind...
I never knew I was a coleslaw person until I made it myself. I had eaten it plenty of times at restaurants, never once having been impressed, and always wondering what the appeal was....
If you haven’t noticed, I make this Easy Homemade Vinaigrette with a lot of my salad recipes. It’s pretty much my go-to when I’m not making a lemon tahini dressing. But anyway, it’s so...
I’m moving forward full speed ahead with indulging my autumn obsession, despite the fact that it’s still 95 degrees outside. A good compromise between the crushing heat and my desire for all things fall...
A few months ago I made a batch of Honey Mustard Sauce and I literally could not stop dipping broccoli florets into it, so I knew right away that I just needed to make a...
I love taking advantage of all the fresh produce in summer and all the color and texture it brings to my plate! This week I played around with eggplant, which has a unique almost...
Off the record, I call this one “poor man’s Caprese salad” because it’s based on Caprese salad, but with all the budget swaps I’ve made, I don’t think I can get away with calling...
I bet you’ve never had a spicy chicken sandwich with yogurt in it before! Sounds weird, but stick with me. I love using basic pantry staples in fun new ways, so I created these...
I’ve never really been a ranch dressing person. And definitely not one of those “ranch dressing on everything” people. But then, last January while I was doing my Vegetarian Challenge, I got hooked. I...
While I was rummaging through my fridge for sauces to dunk my homemade baked chicken nuggets in, I realized the one sauce I really wanted was one that I didn’t have—Honey Mustard Sauce. Luckily,...
It’s almost grilling season!! I kind of want to make weekend grilling a thing at my house this year, so I’m testing some recipes. I already have some fun burger recipes on the site,...
One of the best parts about recipe testing is that when you stumble onto something good you have a great excuse to make it over and over again while you tweak the details. I’ve...
My interest in canned salmon has recently been reignited, so I decided to start playing around with it again. I figured a good salmon burger would be a great place to start, but I...
Here’s a little quickie for you today from week 1 of my 31 Day Vegetarian Challenge! These creamy and spicy Sriracha Chickpea Salad Wraps are super fast and easy to make, perfect for cold...
Om-nom-nom! That’s the sound of me devouring these sweet, savory, indulgent, and super easy Pineapple Pork Hawaiian Burgers. Seriously, this is the type of meal that makes you unconsciously make noises of glee while you’re...
OMG you guys… This Curried Tofu Salad is SO GOOD and SO PERFECT for summer. So good, in fact, that I made twice in a row because after after it was gone, I still...
I’ve been experimenting with tofu a lot lately because it’s an incredibly inexpensive, and now quite readily available source of protein (okay, and also because it also happens to be the #1 searched word...
Yeah, Double Spinach Artichoke Dip because if I’m going to eat something this rich and creamy I’m going to make sure I eat a pound of spinach while I’m at it. 😂 Most people have...
Pimento cheese purists step aside. This Sriracha Pimento Cheese Spread will not make you happy. But it makes me happy, and that is the number one criteria for my recipes. And if you’re the...
I was definitely slow to get on the curry bandwagon. In fact, I distinctly remember not liking curry spices for the first 20 years of my life. Luckily, people grow and change over time...
I’ve learned a lot over the past eight years of cooking and my palate has definitely become more refined, so today I’m using that new knowledge to give one of the first recipes I...
If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my story the other day where I was trying to figure out what to do with a pound of ground beef that I had...
I had half a pound of frozen shrimp (30/40 count) in my freezer leftover from making Blackened Shrimp Pasta, so I decided to try Blackened Shrimp a new way—Blacked Shrimp Tacos! Because tacos are always...
Yes, this cabbage is burned. But we’ll just call it “blackened cabbage” because it sounds nicer, good? No matter what you call it, I promise it is deeeeeeelicious. Let me just give you a...
Y’all know I’m obsessed with eggs. You may also know about my undying love for sriracha (I don’t care if it’s been over done, I still love it!!). So it’s only natural that I make...
I’m all about the “sensible splurge” or letting yourself have a little fun once in a while to help prevent a deprivation induced breakdown. It’s like cheat day on your diet, but with your...
I know, I know, two cabbage recipes in a row? While I’m sure some of you are delighted, some might be totally “over” cabbage. But I’m all about reducing waste over here, so I...
A few weeks ago my friend Jenni sent me a link to this recipe for Tzatziki Pasta Salad with the comment that, “it isn’t too Budget Bytes friendly (too many splurgy ingredients), but it’s really...
I have a serious case of salad envy. Every day my Instagram feed is flooded with gorgeous photos of amazing salads overloaded with mouth-watering ingredients. That type of food is hard to create when...
I loooove me some broccoli. When it’s cooked, anyway. For some reason the flavor of raw broccoli has always rubbed me the wrong way. BUT I know raw broccoli is super healthy, so I try to...
Oh how I love my dark leafy greens! When I saw that lacinato kale was on sale at Whole Foods again this week, I had to indulge. I used the “sale kale” (haha) to...
Confession time: I’ve been spending way too much on sushi lately. So, I decided to revisit one of my very first Budget Bytes recipes from way back in 2010, Sushi Bowls. For most people, making sushi at...
I’m still on a vegetable binge, wanting to eat every vegetable in sight. More specifically, I want cold, crunchy, crispy vegetables. A light summer slaw sounded like the perfect fix. This awesome Apple Cabbage...
I have this sneaking suspicion that a week from now a lot of people will have a ton of hard boiled eggs on their hands and no idea what to do with them. While...
So I made this awesome Blackened Tilapia a while back, but didn’t use all the seasoning. The leftover seasoning had been sitting on my counter in a little Ziploc container staring at me ever...
Hindsight is 20/20. As I sat there hungrily devouring one of these BBQ Bean Sliders, beans were falling out of the bun and BBQ sauce was getting all over my hands and face. That’s when...
STOP. THE. PRESSES. I’m sure I was getting some pretty weird looks in the lunchroom today because I was audibly moaning between every bite of my Chipotle Sweet Potato Burger and staring at it...
I was really craving some chicken salad this week, so I set out to find a new twist on the old classic. I knew I wanted cranberries, so I took quick inventory of my...
It’s crisp, it’s crunchy, it has an amazing, tangy, homemade dressing, and it goes perfectly along side your lentil tacos ;D Honestly, this recipe started out with me craving a crunchy salad, but it...
As much as I love eggs, I never make egg salad. I guess it just always seemed a little too heavy, ooey, and gooey. This egg salad, on the other hand, is light, fresh,...
One of my wonderful readers recently asked for more fish recipes. I fully intended on doing cod or some other type of fish that I had never cooked before, but when I got to...
I’m not gonna lie, anything breaded is better fried than baked but I felt like being good today so I baked these honey mustard chicken strips. If you give them a shallow fry in...
I’m calling this “tartar-like sauce” because I don’t really know what it is. Well, it’s the sauce listed with this recipe but changed a whole bunch to fit what I have in my refrigerator...
The weather has been getting warmer and the days have been absolutely gorgeous. We’ve been doing a lot of grilling and cooking out lately which puts me in the mood for cold pasta salads...
This recipe is a hybrid recipe from both Whole Foods Market and Epicurious. I like this version of potato salad because it tastes much lighter due to the use of sour cream in the...
