the top 10 most popular recipes of 2018

hi! hello! what's up! it's been about a year since i launched this food blog, and *damn* i have learned a lot. to celebrate, i wanted to pull together the top 10 recipes readers loved! The common threads seem to be that y'all like food made quickly in an Instant Pot or an Air Fryer, baking projects, healthy-ish hacks, and making pretty food, fast.

10. Al-pastor inspired carnitas, made in an Instant Pot

These carnitas play on al-pastor flavors with the use of pineapple and sweet-spicy chipotle. You can eat it in a taco, on top of a pile of lettuce in a quasi taco salad, in a burrito, or with eggs. They're spicy! But delish!

9. Instant Pot Short Rib Bolognese

Someone on Reddit said this recipe "disappointed them" with its suggestion of using marinara sauce as a hack -- IT'S A HACK, PEOPLE, USE REGULAR MARZANO TOMATOES IF YOU WANT -- but I honestly make this recipe once a month, and my 2 year old niece licked her plate clean when my dad made this recipe for her. So what do ornery Redditors know?!

8. 5 Minute Chili Oil Noodles

This recipe comes together SO fast and tastes SO good. It's probably the MSG in the chili oil but who cares - it tastes amazing.

7. Good-for-You Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Another Instant Pot recipe! You guys like fast cooking?! This is a sweet potato puree that isn't baby food esque at all, I promise. Very healthy and filling.

6. Jelly Doughnuts, a la General Porpoise

These yeasted brioche donuts are a capital P project. They take a minute to make, and you might have to go out and track down fresh yeast. BUT they are SOOOOOOOO GOOOD.

5. Black Sesame Marble Cheesecake

I think people liked this recipe because it's so pretty? Also who doesn't love cheesecake! I'm still here for this recipe, which is one the first I did. I should probably re-shoot it, tbh

4. Garlic Herb French Fries

People are going bananas for this homemade garlic herb fries recipe still to this day. They taste amazing; I don't blame yall.

3. Barbuto Kale Salad

This recipe is my best and most successful attempt to copy the kale salad at Barbuto in New York City. The trick is to use a food processor!

2. How to turn a boxed cake mix into a fancy layer cake

Y'all seem to like easy ways to make pretty food! It turns out that a fancy naked cake is fairly easy to make, since you're just making a cake and then doing a crumb coat. Holla!

Number 1: PB2 Cookies!

This recipe was a total fluke! I honestly was just tinkering with baking with PB2, and Bryan and his family seemed to like this recipe so I published it. Thank the gods I did!