Cooking is arguably one of the hardest parts of the college experience, at least for me. On top of homework and real work and extracurricular activities comes one more demand on your time—and unless you’re making instant ramen or scrambled eggs, the cooking process always seems to take about twice as long as you expect. This is especially true for novice chefs, who often take far longer to do prep work and chop vegetables than the average home cook, extending the expected cook time for many recipes. There’s also the hassle of grocery shopping—especially if you don’t have easy access to a car—and cleaning the kitchen after you’re done. It’s more than understandable why many college students choose to order takeout or stay on the meal plan well into their third and fourth year rather than try and cook for themselves.
However, cooking is a life skill and far cheaper than eating out—or ordering in, or staying on the aforementioned meal plan. It’s also typically way better for you, as home cooking uses far less unhealthy fats, sugar and sodium on the whole than restaurant food does, and you can tailor the amount of any ingredient to your personal tastes and dietary needs. Even with the many challenges associated with cooking for college students, it’s worth it as long as your recipes are manageable: They should be fast, have a slim ingredient list and not require any fancy equipment. The following five recipes check all of these boxes. Plus, they’re available for free via the New York Times’ Cooking website—all Case Western Reserve University students are entitled to a free NYT subscription through the Kelvin Smith Library, which currently includes Cooking access. Information as to how to set up your free account can be found online.
Tuna Mayo Rice Bowl and Spicy Tuna Salad With Crispy Rice
This recipe is a perfect way for students to dip their toes into cooking for the first time. Barely even a recipe, for the first version all you have to do is mix canned tuna with mayonnaise, sesame oil and soy sauce and serve it over (preferably short-grain) rice. Once you master that, then you can move on to the second version and crisp the rice in oil, add sriracha and rice vinegar to the tuna mixture and top with sliced cucumbers and scallions. If you’re familiar with Logan from TikTok’s viral cucumber salads, I like to serve this dish with the recipe that skyrocketed him to fame in the place of plain sliced cucumbers. It includes many of the ingredients you’ve already used to make the tuna salad, and even if you don’t have some of the less common ones—I definitely don’t own fish sauce or MSG—I can attest that the recipe will taste just fine without them or with whatever you have on hand.
Made with rice, a can of black beans, a yellow onion and chicken stock—which can be subbed out for vegetable stock or water—this meal is as cheap as it is easy. It’s also a good source of protein and fiber, two nutrients students can struggle to fit into their diet. If you want even more protein, you can saute ground chorizo sausage before proceeding with Step 1, removing the sausage from the pan and then adding it back in when you fluff the rice at the end. The onions will taste even better when you cook them in the fat from the sausage, giving the dish a flavor boost as well.
Cauliflower Shawarma With Spicy Tahini
The ingredient list here is a little lengthy, but fear not: Most of it consists of spices, which are an investment but will last for years. I also personally forgo most of the garnishes and the pita bread, serving the shawarma over rice instead. Its tahini sauce is delicious, but as tahini can be difficult to source, there’s no shame in subbing in a spoonful of store-bought hummus instead. And the final result is way more than the sum of its parts. To quote one passionate review: “Eating it while stoned is currently the main source of joy and self-fulfillment in my life.” Enough said, I think.
Chile Crisp Fettuccine Alfredo With Spinach
Pasta is a college student staple as it’s cheap, easy to cook and will keep practically forever in the pantry. However, it can get boring pretty quickly if pasta is all you eat. Luckily, this fettuccine recipe is plenty exciting—it’s both creamy and spicy from a mixture of butter, heavy cream and chile crisp, which is a condiment consisting of hot pepper-infused oil, sesame seeds and peppercorns. The heavy cream and chile crisp is a delicious and unexpected combination, but be warned: I would halve the recipe and/or share with your roommates, as in my experience the sauce separates and doesn’t reheat very well after being in the refrigerator. If you liked that recipe and want to try another Asian-inspired pasta dish, Five-Ingredient Creamy Miso Pasta is something of a NYT Cooking celebrity, with almost 10,000 five-star ratings.
Our final recipe is a sort-of beef chili/curry meant to be served over either pita or rice. Its main seasonings are cumin and chiles, but I think these should just be a jumping-off point—the spice blend from the Cauliflower Shawarma, which includes paprika, coriander, turmeric and cayenne pepper would likely take this dish to another level, although I haven’t actually tried it myself. According to the Notes section, other reviewers have also enjoyed adding minced onion along with the beef and a can of stewed tomatoes with the liquid from the chickpeas. However, even as written this recipe is delicious and a cinch to make with just three short steps.