Tips for Adjusting Recipes for Two
Feel like your dinners for two are on repeat? Learn how to adjust your favorite recipes for two servings and create an entirely updated dinner repertoire.
Recipes are almost always developed to yield four servings, but halving a recipe is not always about cooking with half the amount of each ingredient. Knowing how to adjust a recipe for two opens up a new world of recipes to make for dinner.
Sheet-Pan Suppers and Salads
Sheet-pan suppers and salads can almost always be halved, without adjustment. Simply halve each ingredient and follow the recipes as instructed.
Pasta Sauces
Pasta sauces can usually be halved, just save extra pasta cooking water in case things seem dry. As always, watch for your visual cues—less food in the pan often changes cook time.
Stir-Fries and Sautés
Sautés and stir-fries are a bit trickier to halve. Sometimes you need to cut cooking time—fewer veggies in the pan means faster cooking, and less liquid translates to faster reduction. Switching from a 12-inch pan to a 10-inch pan will compensate here, but if you don’t have one, just stick with the larger pan and watch the clock and/or lower the heat a bit.
Frittatas and Skillet Casseroles
Skillet casseroles and frittatas are the trickiest. Start by trading down the pan size (replace a 12-inch pan with a 10-inch) and adjust cook time. As always, watch your visual cues as the timing cues are not dependable with these modifications.
