20 Recipes High on Spice (But Low on Burn)
Craving food that's full of flavor but weary of sweat-inducing, four-alarm pepper spice? Try recipes including our favorite subtly spicy ingredients: radishes, ginger, cloves, curry, and watercress. You'll find quick and easy chicken dinners, juicy burgers, jazzed-up coffee drinks, holiday-worthy layer cakes -- these recipes will warm you up from the inside out.
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Wheat Berry, Sugar Snap Pea, Radish, and Goat Cheese Salad
Creamy goat cheese and nutty wheat berries are complemented perfectly by the crunchy, clean heat in thinly sliced radish coins. Top this whole grain salad with grilled chicken, salmon, or pork to make it hearty enough for dinner.
- Start to Finish:
- 1 hr 40 mins
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Radishes with Crispy Prosciutto
With the tanginess of apple cider vinegar and savory, crunchy prosciutto, this quietly spicy radish skillet makes for a super-satisfying dinner side dish.
- Start to Finish:
- 25 mins
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Chicken with Basil Sauce and Cucumber-Radish Salad
Prove to your family (and yourself!) that 30-minute chicken dinners can be exciting. Broccoli sprouts offer a bit of heat while radishes lend pleasant peppery notes to the summery salad that accompanies the quick-cooking chicken breasts.
- Start to Finish:
- 1 hr
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Roasted Radishes with Chive Vinaigrette
Let radishes take center stage in this simple roasted vegetable recipe. Make a double batch of the chive vinaigrette and use the excess to dress salad greens to serve alongside the tender, caramelized radishes.
- Start to Finish:
- 45 mins
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Ginger Curry Chicken with Lentils and Leeks
With a one-two punch of warmth from curry powder and fresh ginger, this one-pan chicken dinner tastes more cozy and hearty than it does "ouch!" hot.
- Start to Finish:
- 1 hr 20 mins
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Ginger Soy Shrimp
A parchment packet allows the shrimp, couscous, and vegetables to soak up all of the amazing seasonings they're coated in, including sharp fresh ginger, salty soy sauce, and sweet honey.
- Start to Finish:
- 50 mins
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Hot and Spicy Braised Peanut Chicken
What makes takeout so addictive (besides the lack of dishes)? Layers of strong flavors, like the fresh ginger, red curry paste, garlic, soy sauce, and peanut butter in the sauce that coats this slow cooker chicken dinner.
- Start to Finish:
- 5 hrs 35 mins
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Ginger Carrot Cake
Along with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice, ginger is a key ingredient in pumpkin pie spice. But it can add depth to many sweet baked goods, including this citrusy carrot cake.
- Start to Finish:
- 1 hr 40 mins
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Lamb Birria with Barley and Dried Plums
Cloves amplify fruity flavors (hence they’re often included in apple and pumpkin desserts). A little bit (here, 1/8 teaspoon) goes a long way to showcase the dried plums in this hearty lamb stew.
- Start to Finish:
- 16 hrs 30 mins
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Gingerbread Madeleines
Cloves join an A-team lineup of warm accents including ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and molasses in these light and elegant cookies.
- Start to Finish:
- 2 hrs 36 mins
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Pickled Beets
You're used to seeing cloves studding your Easter ham, but how about studding a jar full of homemade pickles? We take it to the next level by using beets instead of cucumbers for a vibrant, giftable Mason jar recipe.
- Start to Finish:
- 1 hr 20 mins
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Orange-Spiced Coffee
Ground cloves, along with cinnamon and nutmeg, warm up this spiked coffee drink. Come summer, serve it over ice.
- Start to Finish:
- 25 mins
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Curried Ratatouille
Vegetables taste far from bland when they're slow-cooked with curry and ginger. Toast the spices separately for a minute before adding the peppers, onion, garlic, eggplant, and zucchini to allow the bold flavors to develop.
- Start to Finish:
- 45 mins
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Curry Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin rule of thumb: cloves with sweet; curry with savory. This creamy soup, with a base of chicken broth and canned pumpkin, is all the proof you need that the latter strategy works!
- Start to Finish:
- 50 mins
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Curried Pork Burgers
These open-face pork burgers get a double dose of curry -- it's mixed into the creamy aioli as well as the patties themselves.
- Start to Finish:
- 29 mins
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Curried Squash Muffins
Curry and crystalized ginger offer a captivating, "hmm, what could that be?!" quality to these moist muffins. Feel free to swap canned pumpkin for the mashed winter squash.
- Start to Finish:
- 50 mins
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Shrimp and Watercress Salad
Peppery watercress perks up this light yet high-protein spring salad. It takes just 15 minutes to prepare!
- Start to Finish:
- 15 mins
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Pan-Seared Pork and Fried Green Tomato Salad
Pair fresh watercress with fried foods, like these tomatoes, to cut through the richness. Just a quarter cup of the leafy greens per dinner serving makes a big, refreshing difference.
- Start to Finish:
- 30 mins
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Orange and Watercress Salad with Chicken
Tangy oranges and spicy watercress (plus a shower of crumbled feta and toasted hazelnuts!) make this low-calorie salad high in gourmet flavor.
- Start to Finish:
- 30 mins
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Pierogies with Meat Sauce
Potatoes. Pasta. Chorizo. Watercress works its assertive, vibrant magic to counterbalance the heavier comfort-food ingredients in this dinner recipe.
- Start to Finish:
- 25 mins
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Next Slideshow All-Time Favorite Italian Recipes
All-Time Favorite Italian Recipes
Calling all spaghetti-lovers and pizza purists! You're going to fall for all of our delicious Italian recipes. These traditional dishes are our favorite Italian recipes -- ones you'll want to share, hand down, and save in your recipe box. Sure, we have classics like spaghetti bolognese and baked ziti, but be sure to start with bruschetta and end with tiramisu for the complete Italian experience!Begin Slideshow »