The week's pick: The One Tomato Sauce, a 50-minute roast that makes four or five dinners
Ottolenghi's One Tomato Sauce is the week's most-rated new recipe: 50 minutes of oven time for a sauce that carries four or five dinners and keeps a week in the fridge.
The One Tomato Sauce is the pick this week. NYT Cooking published it on Oct. 13, 2026, and by the morning of Oct. 18 it held 33 reader ratings at 5 out of 5. 1
It also drew 51 comments, the heaviest thread in the week's field. It takes 50 minutes and makes 4 servings. 1
Yotam Ottolenghi adapted it from his new cookbook, "Ottolenghi Simple Too," and the Times ran it inside an essay of his about deciding what to cook at all. 12
What one tray of it covers
Ottolenghi's own line is the argument for the recipe: the sauce travels across meals, and a batch usually becomes four or five dinners. 2
Toss it with pasta on Monday. Spoon it over grilled fish or a can of white beans on Wednesday. 2
Poach meatballs or shrimp in it over the weekend, and it has still done its job. 2
Made once, it keeps for up to a week in the fridge and longer in the freezer. 1
The grocery math is the other half of the case. Two pounds of tomatoes and two heads of garlic carry several nights, and the rest of the list is oil, vinegar and herbs. 1
How the sauce is built
The oven does most of the work. Heat it to 375 degrees, slice the tops off two heads of garlic, and lay those out on a roasting pan with the sliced tomatoes. 1
Add a few sprigs of hardy herbs, ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and a lot of pepper. 1
Tomatoes bought in October get ½ to 1 teaspoon of sugar to cover for what they lack. 1
The pan roasts for 45 to 55 minutes, stirred once or twice, until the tomatoes are soft and lightly charred. 1
Everything that finishes the sauce happens off the heat. Stir in 1½ tablespoons of sherry vinegar, then let the pan cool a little. 1
Squeeze the roasted garlic out of its skin, mash it into the oil with a fork, and tear in ¾ cup of soft herbs. 1
Why it won this week
Ratings and comments are counted separately here, and this week one recipe led on both. The numbers below were read on the morning of Oct. 18, 2026. 1
| Recipe | Source and publication date | Reader signal | Time and yield | Main work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The One Tomato Sauce | NYT Cooking, Oct. 13, 2026 | 5 out of 5 from 33 reader ratings; 51 comments 1 | 50 minutes; 4 servings | Roast tomatoes with two garlic heads, mash the garlic into the oil, add vinegar and soft herbs. |
| Feta Frittata | NYT Cooking, Oct. 13, 2026 | 5 out of 5 from 12 reader ratings; 16 comments 3 | 45 minutes; 4 to 6 servings | Wilt spinach and dill, pour in 8 eggs, bake a whole block of feta in the middle, broil the top. |
| Egg Katsu | NYT Cooking, Oct. 15, 2026 | 4 out of 5 from 12 reader ratings; 30 comments 4 | 10 minutes; 2 servings | Coat an egg in panko on a wide metal spoon, fry 2 minutes in 350-degree oil. |
| Sheet-Pan Lemon Chicken With Potatoes | NYT Cooking, Oct. 16, 2026 | No ratings yet; 2 comments 5 | 1 hour 20 minutes; 4 to 6 servings | Whisk a lemon-pepper mayonnaise, coat 2 pounds of thighs and potatoes, roast across two racks. |
| Creamy Miso Mushroom Pasta | Bon Appétit, Oct. 15, 2026 | Reader ratings not disclosed 6 | 25 minutes; 4 servings | Brown a pound of mushrooms, deglaze with white wine, finish with miso, butter and cream. |
| Weekly ingredient + meal prep and the meals I made from it | r/MealPrepSunday, Oct. 12, 2026 | 1,523 upvotes; 126 comments; 97.97% upvote ratio 7 | One prep session; a week of portions | Prep ingredients in a block, then assemble meals from them through the week. |
The frittata is the closest thing to a rival, and it comes from the same cookbook. Twelve readers rated it 5 out of 5, and 16 left comments. 3
Eight eggs, 4 ounces of spinach, a cup of chopped dill and one 6- to 8-ounce block of feta go into an 8-inch skillet. 3
The feta sits in the middle of the pan, three-quarters submerged, so each slice carries as much cheese as the person eating it wants. 3
Egg Katsu is the week's fastest idea and its second-heaviest thread. Twelve readers rated it 4 out of 5, and 30 left comments. 4
It is a fried egg: panko pressed onto a raw egg on a wide spoon, then lowered into 350-degree oil for a minute a side. 4
The recipe asks for a spoon with a bowl at least 3 by 5 inches, plus a thermometer, so it costs more attention than its 10 minutes suggest. 4
Sheet-Pan Lemon Chicken With Potatoes landed on Oct. 16 and has no ratings yet. It is the week's largest dinner, at 1 hour 20 minutes for 4 to 6 servings. 5
The lemon-pepper mayonnaise doubles as marinade and serving sauce, and the pan moves between two racks so the chicken browns while the potatoes soften. 5
Bon Appétit published two new dinners this week and discloses no reader rating on either. Creamy Miso Mushroom Pasta takes 25 minutes and 12 ounces of egg pasta. 6
Cider-Braised Sausage and Lentils runs 1 hour 5 minutes for 4 servings and asks for 1½ cups of apple cider. 8
Serious Eats put out one new standalone recipe, One-Pan Crispy Chicken Thighs With Fennel Cream Sauce, on Oct. 14. 9
Its Oct. 16 weekly list ranks the ten most-saved recipes from its own archive, and the site publishes no per-recipe engagement count. 10
On r/MealPrepSunday the week's top post was an ingredient prep with the meals built from it: 1,523 upvotes, 126 comments and a 97.97% upvote ratio. 7
A cottage-cheese lasagna and savory breakfast muffin post followed at 967 upvotes and 95 comments. 11
Lower Cal. Pad See Ew drew 475 upvotes and 48 comments in three days. 12
Upvotes, star ratings and comment counts measure different things, so each row above reads on its own scale.
What to buy
The quantities below make 4 servings. 1
- 2 pounds tomatoes
- 2 heads garlic
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
- A few sprigs of hardy fresh herbs, such as oregano, thyme or rosemary
- ½ to 1 teaspoon sugar, optional
- 1½ tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
- ¾ cup fragrant soft herbs, such as basil, mint or tarragon
- 12 ounces fusilli lunghi or another long pasta
- Grated Parmesan, optional
- Fine sea salt and black pepper
The hardy herbs in the list are the sprigged ones the recipe roasts: oregano, thyme or rosemary. Soft herbs are basil, mint or tarragon, and they go in raw at the end. 1
Fusilli lunghi is the long corkscrew, and its grooves hold tomato. Spaghetti works here, and so does a short shape if that is what the shelf has. 1
The recipe takes sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, and either one works. The vinegar goes in once the pan leaves the oven. 1
The sugar covers tomatoes that are past their prime. Half a teaspoon is the floor and one teaspoon the ceiling. 1
The cook-through
- Heat the oven. Set it to 375 degrees. 1
- Build the pan. Cut the top ½ inch off both garlic heads. Put them in a roasting pan or on a rimmed sheet pan with the tomatoes in a single layer, the hardy herbs, the oil, the sugar if using, 1¾ teaspoons salt and a lot of pepper. 1
- Roast it. 45 to 55 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are soft and lightly charred. Add the vinegar, then let the pan cool a little. 1
- Finish the sauce. Pull out the herb sprigs and their stalks. Squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins, mash them into the oil with a fork, tear in the soft herbs and mix. 1
- Serve it. Toss with 12 ounces of fusilli lunghi cooked al dente, then grate Parmesan over the top. 1
Two details decide the result. The tomatoes need a single layer, so use the widest pan you own; a crowded pan steams them. 1
The soft herbs go in after the pan leaves the oven, which keeps them green and sharp. 1
Notes and substitutions
Any fresh tomato works. Cherry tomatoes get halved instead of sliced, and the roasting time holds. 1
Bring the pasta water to a boil when the tomatoes are halfway done, and the sauce and the noodles finish together. 1
The leftovers are the point of the recipe:
- Pasta. 12 ounces of fusilli lunghi, cooked al dente and tossed in the pan. 1
- Grilled fish or white beans. Spoon the sauce over either one, warm or at room temperature. 2
- Poached meatballs. Simmer them in the sauce on the stove. 2
- Shrimp. Same method, shorter time in the pan. 2
With pasta, the recipe's own nutrition analysis puts a serving at 847 calories and 51 grams of fat, most of it from the olive oil. 1
Bottom line
Cook this if you want one shop to cover several dinners and you have 50 minutes that are mostly oven time. It takes the pick on the week's highest rating count and its heaviest comment thread. 1
If you want a whole dinner from one pan instead, Feta Frittata is the week's other 5-out-of-5 recipe, and it takes 45 minutes for 4 to 6 servings. 3
If you are feeding a family tonight, Sheet-Pan Lemon Chicken With Potatoes is the larger one. 5
If the goal is a fridge of portions, the community posts still lead, and this week's top one built a week of meals from a single ingredient prep. 7
References
- 1The One Tomato Sauce recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 2Yotam Ottolenghi Runs Out of Dinner Ideas, Too. Here's What He Makes.
cooking.nytimes.com
- 3Feta Frittata recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 4Egg Katsu recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 5Sheet-Pan Lemon Chicken With Potatoes recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 6Creamy Miso Mushroom Pasta recipe
bonappetit.com
- 7
- 8Cider-Braised Sausage and Lentils recipe
bonappetit.com
- 9One-Pan Crispy Chicken Thighs With Fennel Cream Sauce
seriouseats.com
- 10
- 11
- 12Lower Cal. Pad See Ew
reddit.com
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