Goof-Proof Recipes That Help You Learn to Cook

Learning to cook can be intimidating, especially when recipe developers often assume you know what obscure or complicated techniques they're referring to. If you're a budding cook wanting to test the waters, then this round-up of super simple recipes for beginners is for you.

Covering breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, these recipes all have three steps or less to leave little room for error. Eventually, as you get more comfortable in the kitchen you'll be able to switch things up and customize your culinary creations.

Eggs are one of the easiest ingredients for new cooks to work with for breakfast. They can be used in lot of different cooking techniques, but making scrambled eggs and baking a frittata are great introductory methods. Scrambled eggs will require just a few minutes over the stovetop, while a frittata can be as easy as stirring, pouring, and sticking it in the oven. If you're wanting a sweet start to your morning, pancakes are perfectly simple; just mix up your batter and get to cooking. Knowing when to flip them gets easier after the first few tries.

Don't go to the drive-thru to get your mid-day meal. Any of these beginner recipes will make a quick dish at home, or store well for lunch the next day. Recreate your takeout favorites with juicy burgers made on a griddle pan, or simple stir-fry served over a bowl of noodles or pre-cooked rice. If comfort food is your go-to, this one-pot macaroni and cheese will do the trick while saving you effort on clean up. And one of the easiest lunches to pack is a basic salad, but don't forget to jazz it up with a drizzle of homemade salad dressing. Once you realize how easy homemade salad dressing is, you'll never look at the bottled stuff again.

Dinner is a great time to get into the kitchen and learn some new skills. Roasted chicken breasts are delicious as-is, or can be sliced to add to salads, sandwiches, tacos, and more. These pair well with roasted vegetables, which are a simple side to master because they require basic knife skills and hands-off cooking. For date night-in, spaghetti is always a crowd-pleaser. It may take a while to simmer the sauce, but the majority of the cooking time is hands-off. Or when chilly weather (or worse, a cold) strikes, then stirring up a pot of chicken noodle soup is a great solution.

Adding something sweet to your repertoire will impress guests and give you confidence when it comes to the (often intimidating) art of baking. Brownies are an excellent basic batter, which you can switch up by adding ingredients like extra chocolate chips, different nut varieties, or even a swirl of peanut butter. Brownies are also forgiving, as you can always keep baking if they're under done; and even overdone brownies aren't terrible. Everyone needs to know how to bake a batch of cookies, and this chocolate chip recipe is about as easy as it gets.

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