Americans’ appetites grow for ‘grandma recipes’ that respect time and budgets

Amid pricey groceries and packed schedules, many Americans are gravitating toward simple, affordable meals rooted in tradition, connection and comfort.

From pot roasts to casseroles, “grandma-style cooking” is quietly taking over kitchens across the country. Dubbed “nonna-stalgia” online, the trend reflects a growing appetite for meals that warm the heart and home, especially in the cold winter months.

Experts told Fox News Digital the shift is a response to years of fussy food culture and constant trend-chasing.

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“When the things around us feel overwhelming, we crave comfort and reach for the things that feel familiar and simpler,” said Emmy Clinton, a Colorado-based recipe creator and founder of Entirely Emmy. 

“Grandma-style cooking represents comfort and memories that can make us feel safe and life feel a lot less complicated.”

Americans are returning to “grandma-style cooking” this winter, according to many. (iStock)

Her favorite is a pot roast. “You can find hundreds of pot roast recipes online, but they all have the same grandma logic: time, simple ingredients and ‘let it cook.’”

Others say the fading tradition of daily family dinners is helping fuel the trend. 

Dorina Lantella, an Italian American entrepreneur born in Washington, D.C., and CEO of Dorina’s Kitchen, has built her career around restoring shared tables and traditional cooking. She was inspired by the “Roseto Effect,” a phenomenon linked to Roseto, Pennsylvania.

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“People are yearning for traditional family meals and shared table experiences because we are starving for connection,” said Lantella, whose go-tos are lasagna and a simple pot of soup.

Many agree the pull is emotional. California chef Jessica Randhawa, founder of the food blog “The Forked Spoon,” said returning to family recipes helped her cope with the loss of her parents. 

Experts say the decline of daily family dinners in America has fueled renewed interest in traditional, shared meals. (iStock)

“For me, grandma-style cooking has been both a healing process after losing both my parents in the last four years, and a way to pass on family traditions, flavors and food smells to my son,” Randhawa said.

That yearning shows up clearly in the recipes resonating most right now. 

Here are five grandma-style dishes to consider this winter.

1. Chicken and dumplings

Today’s home cooks are embracing the same mindset that shaped family meals in the 1960s, said Lanie Smith, the Kansas-based creator of TheVintageCook.com. 

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“Families wanted real meals, but they also wanted time together,” she said. “They did not want to invest in 15 ingredients for a single dish or spend two hours in the kitchen after getting home from a long day at work.”

Fluffy, biscuit-like dumplings simmered in broth are a hallmark of classic American comfort cooking. (Lanie Smith/The Vintage Cook)

Smith’s recipe for chicken and dumplings calls for just a few ingredients: rotisserie chicken, Bisquick mix, milk and chicken bouillon powder. 

“It’s a hearty meal in 30 minutes,” she said.

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The dish comes together by simmering rotisserie chicken in a thickened chicken broth, then dropping spoonfuls of Bisquick-and-milk dough on top and letting them steam into fluffy, biscuit-like dumplings.

2. Chili dogs

Smith also recommends a fun take on two American classics — hot dogs and chili — that come together as an easy, inexpensive and comforting meal.

“There is a return to cooking that respects people’s time and budgets,” she said.

A six-ingredient hot dog chili puts a simple spin on an American classic. (Lanie Smith/The Vintage Cook)

Her six-ingredient hot dog chili includes inexpensive, higher-fat ground beef to create a sauce specifically for topping hot dogs. “People love it because it feels like the food they grew up with,” Smith added.

3. Cream of mushroom pork chops

Some recipes shouldn’t be reinvented, Randhawa said, such as her dad’s cream of mushroom pork chops. 

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The dish is made with pan-seared pork chops simmered in canned cream of mushroom soup and milk, just as he cooked it when he was feeding his kids on a tight budget.

“It is pure, nourishing, easy and accessible comfort food,” Randhawa said. 

Cream of mushroom pork chops rely on pantry staples such as canned soup. (Jessica Randhawa/The Forked Spoon)

She insists on using Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. 

“Using a homemade cream of mushroom soup simply will not do.”

4. Split pea soup

Also known as snert, split pea soup is a traditional Dutch dish that Randhawa’s mother grew up eating in a small Iowa community. 

After her mother died, the wholesome soup began appearing more often in Randhawa’s kitchen as part of her grieving process, she said.

Made with a leftover ham bone, vegetables and split peas, the recipe reflects the kind of practical, nourishing cooking that stretches ingredients, improves with time and is rooted in family tradition.

Hearty soups like split pea are staples of grandma-style cooking. (Jessica Randhawa/The Forked Spoon)

5. Pasta with meat sauce

Randhawa’s Grandma’s Spaghetti Sauce with Meat is a no-frills, extra-meaty sauce passed down from her grandmother to her father and now to her.

It is made by browning ground beef and Italian sausage, then simmering it with canned tomato sauce, tomato paste, onions and basic seasonings.

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“It makes me happy to know that, even though my son never met his great-grandma, he loves her recipe,” Randhawa said.