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The Dinner Plan

The Dinner Plan

Maggie Hoffman 123 Episodes Oct 12, 2026

A weekly cooking podcast that helps listeners plan dinners with fresh inspiration from top cookbook authors. Host Maggie Hoffman and guests like Molly Baz, Melissa Clark, and J. Kenji López-Alt share practical advice on meal planning, budget shopping, and quick weeknight meals. Each episode answers common dinner dilemmas and offers free recipes via the accompanying newsletter. Ideal for anyone tired of deciding what to cook.

Episodes

What Mark Bittman Actually Makes for Dinner
What Mark Bittman Actually Makes for Dinner Oct 12, 2026 45:06 Mark Bittman's latest cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegan, isn't meant to convince you to declare yourself a 24/7 vegan. Instead, Mark explains in this episode of The Dinner Plan with Maggie Hoffman, he's trying to inspire you to cook more plant-based meals. (And trying to help you make them delicious.) "If I say to you, we're doing How to Cook Everything Grilling, everybod
How Kay Chun Plans a Week of Easy Dinners
How Kay Chun Plans a Week of Easy Dinners Oct 8, 2026 44:13 Kay Chun has created numerous recipes for the New York Times, and worked in the test kitchens at Gourmet, Bon Appétit, and Food + Wine in addition to being a restaurant chef. She's one of my go-to trusted names when I'm looking for new dinner recipes. In this episode, Kay talks about how her youth practicing tae kwon do prepared her for life in a restaurant, and shares the way she thinks a
Leah Victoria’s Meal Prep for Real Life
Leah Victoria’s Meal Prep for Real Life Oct 5, 2026 54:41 Meal prep systems can feel like an all-or-nothing commitment, but Leah Victoria thinks there’s a reasonable way to prep some dinner building blocks without committing to a full week of recipes that you cook on Sunday and get sick of by Wednesday. In Episode 132 of The Dinner Plan, Leah shares her flexible meal planning philosophy, ideas for what to make with shredded chicken, ways to use up leftov
Even Yotam Ottolenghi Gets Nervous Before a Dinner Party
Even Yotam Ottolenghi Gets Nervous Before a Dinner Party Oct 1, 2026 1:04:21 Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Simple Too, makes weeknight dinners even easier than the original book did. In this episode of The Dinner Plan, Yotam admits that he feels pressure to host the perfect dinner party, and so he’s set himself a few rules to cut down the stress of entertaining. He walks us through the whole menu he's preparing for guests tonight, and also shares his favorite no-fus
Sara Bradley’s Soup Season Tips
Sara Bradley’s Soup Season Tips Sep 28, 2026 52:02 Two-time Top Chef finalist Sara Bradley loves to play with soup recipes, and in this episode of The Dinner Plan, she shares her favorite ways to dress up squash soup, tomato soup, corn soup, and cantaloupe soup. (Yes, cantaloupe soup.) Sara also shares the story of her famed cornbread salad, the flavor-boosting ingredients that she reaches for most, and the easy dinner she makes when she really ne
Meherwan Irani’s No. 1 Best Indian Cooking Tips in the World
Meherwan Irani’s No. 1 Best Indian Cooking Tips in the World Sep 24, 2026 1:00:11 As a teenager, Meherwan Irani would sneak out to eat street food against his mother’s wishes. These days the chef of Chai Pani and Boti Walla shares the flavors of his childhood in India with guests at his restaurants, and cooks at home through the pages of his new cookbook, No. 1 Best Indian Cookbook in the World: At-Home Recipes from the Streets, Truck Stops, Villages, and Palaces of India. In t
Nik Sharma Breaks Down the Science Behind His Best Cooking Tricks
Nik Sharma Breaks Down the Science Behind His Best Cooking Tricks Sep 21, 2026 36:39 Nik Sharma wants home cooks to better understand food science; in this episode of The Dinner Plan, he shares some of the best cooking tips from his new book, Fundamentals of Flavor: 100 Recipes for the Science of Better Cooking, and why they work. If you’ve ever struggled with dry pork tenderloin, you’ll want to listen in before you try to make that quick dinner staple again. Hear about Nik’s favo
Swanky, Low-Stress Entertaining With Cortney LaCorte
Swanky, Low-Stress Entertaining With Cortney LaCorte Sep 17, 2026 48:30 Cortney LaCorte—also known as Cheese Gal—joins The Dinner Plan this week to share her best advice on how to make a cheese plate and all the ways she makes entertaining more relaxed. That includes tips on what to cook for a dinner party, the most important thing you can do for a dinner party guest, and the cleaning detail you really can skip. What to make with Boursin? Cortney's all over that. On t
For Olivia Tiedemann, Rich People Food Comes Down to the Right Moves
For Olivia Tiedemann, Rich People Food Comes Down to the Right Moves Sep 14, 2026 44:01 Olivia Tiedemann will be the first to tell you that working as a private chef isn't easy. You've gotta know what each guest likes and doesn't like, all the dietary restrictions, "who doesn't eat anchovies, who doesn't eat onions, who doesn't eat dairy. And there's 12 of them, and they're all there at one time," Olivia says. "How am I going to contort this same entree seven different ways?" But ult
Pati Jinich Cooks the Bold Flavors of the Mexican Border
Pati Jinich Cooks the Bold Flavors of the Mexican Border Sep 10, 2026 51:21 You may know Pati Jinich from her long-running series, Pati’s Mexican Table, or her previous cookbooks, but this fall you’ll be seeing a lot more of her, including her new docuseries, Panamericana, and her new cookbook, Foods of La Frontera. In this episode of The Dinner Plan, Pati chats with host Maggie Hoffman about the surprising dishes she tried while traveling along the Mexican-American borde
Carla Lalli Makes Dinner the Best Part of a Bad Day
Carla Lalli Makes Dinner the Best Part of a Bad Day Sep 7, 2026 1:00:52 When Carla Lalli separated from her ex and moved part-time into a sublet after decades of marriage, the first thing she did was make dinner. “I cooked because it gives me a sense of comfort,” Carla says in this week’s episode of The Dinner Plan. “It makes me feel like I’m in power, and it’s soothing, and it is a way to shut off other noise.” Carla shares the meals she made as she got in touch with
The High-Protein Vegetarian Dinners Grace Elkus Makes on Repeat
The High-Protein Vegetarian Dinners Grace Elkus Makes on Repeat Aug 31, 2026 49:48 The high-protein vegetarian recipes in Grace Elkus's new cookbook, Protein-Packed Vegetarian, are exactly the kind of dinners I crave, packed with flavor and easy to make, even on a busy weeknight. In this episode of The Dinner Plan, I talk to Grace about her must-have kitchen gear, how to cook tofu so it actually gets crispy, and what to do if you just haven't come around to the idea of cottage c

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