The week's pick: Tofu Piccata, a 35-minute skillet dinner with 38 five-star ratings
Tofu Piccata takes this week's pick on 38 five-star NYT Cooking ratings in five days, a 35-minute single-skillet method, and two supermarket-size servings.
Tofu Piccata is the pick this week. NYT Cooking published the recipe on Sept. 15, 2026, and it had collected 38 reader ratings at an average of 5 out of 5 by the morning of Sept. 20. It takes 35 minutes, serves two people, and cooks in one skillet. 1
Piccata is an Italian-American way with cutlets: thin slices of chicken or veal, dredged in flour, pan-fried until the edges crisp, then finished in a sauce of lemon, butter and capers, the small pickled flower buds sold in jars near the olives. Tofu Piccata swaps the cutlet for a block of medium-firm tofu, pressed under a weighted plate until the water runs out and the block turns dense enough to hold its shape in a hot pan. A cornstarch coating does two jobs at once: it crisps the surface in the skillet and thickens the sauce built afterward in that same pan. The finished plate reads rich and bright at the same time, at a fraction of what a veal cutlet costs. 1
The first 15 minutes cost you almost nothing. The tofu drains under a cutting board or a cast-iron skillet while you measure the spices and dice a shallot. After that the dish moves fast: 2 to 3 minutes a side for the tofu, then the shallot, a couple of garlic cloves, broth cooked down by half, and cold butter whisked in until the sauce turns glossy and coats the back of a spoon. Lemon zest, lemon juice and capers go in at the end, and the tofu returns to the pan to be spooned over. 1
Why it won this week
Reader consensus decided it, and this week the field was thin at the top. Of the recipes NYT Cooking published between Sept. 14 and Sept. 17, three had collected reader ratings by Sept. 20. Tofu Piccata's 38 was more than double the next highest, and it was the quickest of the three to cook. 123
| Recipe | Source and publication date | Reader signal | Time and yield | Main work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tofu Piccata | NYT Cooking, Sept. 15, 2026 | 5 out of 5 from 38 reader ratings 1 | 35 minutes; 2 servings | Press the tofu, dredge it in seasoned cornstarch, pan-fry it, then build a lemon-caper butter sauce in the same skillet. |
| Salsa de Chorizo | NYT Cooking, Sept. 14, 2026 | 5 out of 5 from 16 reader ratings 2 | 1 hour; 6 servings | Char tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic and three chiles, cook the chorizo with onion, then simmer the two together. |
| Braised Butter Beans With Broccolini | NYT Cooking, Sept. 14, 2026 | 4 out of 5 from 14 reader ratings 3 | 55 minutes, plus overnight soaking; 4 to 6 servings | Soak dried butter beans overnight, simmer them with aromatics, and broil broccolini with lemon and grated garlic. |
| Lasagna-Vibes Zucchini Skillet | Bon Appétit, Sept. 14, 2026 | Reader ratings not disclosed 4 | 15 minutes; 4 servings | Brown ground turkey, add sliced zucchini, tomato sauce and spices, then melt ricotta and mozzarella under a lid. |
| One-Pot Creamy Brown Rice and Vegetables | NYT Cooking, Sept. 17, 2026 | No reader ratings yet 5 | 1 hour; 4 servings | Toast brown rice with garlic, steam it for 35 minutes, then pile vegetables on top for the last 10. |
| Chili Verde meal prep | r/MealPrepSunday, Sept. 19, 2026 | 355 upvotes; 27 comments; 93.8% upvote ratio 6 | 6 servings | Braise pork in salsa verde with potatoes and portion it with Mexican rice, refried beans and roasted zucchini. |
On r/MealPrepSunday, the week's highest-scoring post as of Sept. 20 was a chili verde prep: 355 upvotes, 27 comments and a 93.8% upvote ratio. It serves six portions of pork braised in salsa verde with potatoes, plated with Mexican rice, refried beans, roasted zucchini, cotija and lime at 810 calories and 49 grams of protein each. The author put the recipe in the comments. 6 Behind it, a vegan bake of rice, black beans, corn and sweet potato drew 97 upvotes, 16 comments and a 100% upvote ratio, and its author links the full written recipe. 7
Serious Eats' newest weekly update, published Sept. 18, is its most-saved list, a ranking built from how often readers save recipes already in its archive, so the week added no new Serious Eats recipe with a reader count of its own. 8
What to buy
Everything below is for two servings, and all of it comes from a standard supermarket: 1
- 1 (12-ounce) package medium-firm tofu
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt, ideally Diamond Crystal
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and divided
- 1 small shallot
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 lemon
- 1 1/2 tablespoons jarred capers
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley, optional
Medium-firm tofu is the one specification worth holding to. Firm or extra-firm blocks press drier and turn rubbery at the edges, while silken tofu will not survive the pan. Smoked paprika carries most of the flavor in the coating, so an old jar that has gone flat will show up in the finished dish. 1
The cook-through
- Press the tofu. Wrap the block in paper towels and set it on a plate or board. Weight it with something flat and heavy, a second cutting board, a cast-iron skillet, or a baking sheet under a few cookbooks, and leave it at least 15 minutes. Overnight in the refrigerator works too. 1
- Cut it into pieces. Lay the pressed block flat on a cutting board, halve it lengthwise, cut each half into thirds crosswise, then cut each of those logs into thirds.
- Dredge. Whisk the cornstarch, salt, pepper, smoked paprika and garlic powder in a large bowl. Add the tofu a few pieces at a time and toss until every piece is coated.
- Fry. Heat the olive oil and 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When the butter has melted and turned slightly foamy, add the tofu and pan-fry it until browned and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes a side. Move the pieces to a plate.
- Build the sauce. Add the shallot to the pan and cook until softened, a minute or two, then add the garlic and cook another minute or two until it browns at the edges. Pour in the broth and bring it to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until it has reduced by half, about 8 minutes. Whisk in the remaining butter until the sauce turns glossy enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, capers and parsley, and season to taste.
- Finish. Return the tofu to the pan and spoon the sauce over the top. Garnish with more parsley if you have it.
Two steps decide whether the dish works. Pressing is the first: tofu still holding its water steams in the pan and turns pale and soft, and the sauce slides off instead of clinging. The second is the reduction. The broth needs to cook down by half before the butter goes in, or the sauce arrives at the table thin and watery rather than like a light gravy. 1
Reader notes
The comment thread on the recipe is short and practical. One cook coated the whole batch at once in a medium bowl instead of dredging a few pieces at a time, and it worked. Another air-fried the coated tofu for about 20 minutes and tossed it into the finished sauce. One reader used plant butter in the sauce and reported it came out fine, which matters if you want the dish to stay dairy-free. Two readers served the tofu over fettuccine, one of them with grilled broccolini alongside. One reader looked at the butter called for across two servings, six tablespoons of it, and said so. 1
Bottom line
Cook Tofu Piccata if you want dinner for two in 35 minutes from a supermarket run, with a skillet to wash afterward and enough sauce to make the plate feel finished. It is the highest-rated of the recipes published in the past week with a public reader count, and the least demanding of the three that collected ratings. 1
References
- 1Tofu Piccata recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 2Salsa de Chorizo recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 3Braised Butter Beans With Broccolini recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 4Lasagna-Vibes Zucchini Skillet recipe
bonappetit.com
- 5One-Pot Creamy Brown Rice and Vegetables recipe
cooking.nytimes.com
- 6Meal Prep for Weight Loss: Chili Verde
reddit.com
- 7
- 8
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