The Most Popular Recipes of 2026 (So Far)

Each year, Broadsheet publishes dozens of free recipes from the best new Australian cookbooks, including a few from our own. But some recipes soar higher than others, and in the first half of the year we saw the country’s best young bakers dominate the charts. Raymond Tan, Patchanida Chimkire and Emelia Jackson all released fantastic cookbooks this year, with recipes from each landing in the top 12.

Beyond baking, convenience and comfort cooking reigned supreme. There were two low-touch chicken dinners by Lucy Tweed and Elizabeth Hewson. Plus, a one-pot wonder that’s precisely what to make when life has you running around like a chicken with your head cut off and you can’t be bothered cooking at all.

Our number-one recipe, though, is one of the world’s great comfort dishes. Fittingly, it comes from one of Melbourne’s favourite Malaysian restaurants. You can find the recipe for it in the Broadsheet cookbook Home Made, featuring 80 diverse recipes for home cooking, sourced from Melbourne's best cooks, chefs and restaurants.

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Gai Wong’s Hainanese chicken rice

And our most popular recipe of the year so far is … a dish enjoyed by millions of people throughout Southeast Asia, not to mention here in Australia. Philip and Shirley Leong, of Melbourne’s Gai Wong, have shared the recipe for their restaurant’s specialty. Sure, it’s a labour of love, but that’s the whole point. “If anyone cooks HCR for you, know that you’re someone they truly love and care for”.

Clare Scrine’s one-pot rice and bean bake

This family-friendly vegetarian dinner by Brisbane food writer Clare Scrine is what to make when you can’t be bothered cooking: simply rinse the rice, toss the ingredients into a baking dish and let the oven do the heavy lifting while you whiz up a salsa verde. Scrine says you can even skip the salsa and drizzle the bake with your favourite hot sauce instead.

Kari Kapitan chicken curry

Many of the world’s most exciting cuisines were born from blending different cultures over centuries. Malaysia is a case in point. Kari kapitan, a beloved chicken curry from Penang, embodies the country’s layered history. This recipe by Aim Aris and Ahmad Salim, in their new cookbook A Day in Penang, stays true to tradition with turmeric-marinated chicken, aromatic Southeast Asian spices, and bright tamarind paste.

Elizabeth Hewson’s roast chicken with anchovy cream

Elizabeth Hewson loves roasting a butterflied chook, “not just for the faster cooking time,” she writes in Home Food, “but because it acts like a blanket, letting everything underneath soak up its juices.” Turns out you do as well. In this “one and done” recipe, the recipient of said juices is a bed of creamy butter beans, which absorb all those precious savoury drippings before they’re tossed with radicchio, or rocket, or both.

Karen Martini’s minestrone

Every home cook needs a good minestrone in their back pocket and Martini’s take is an excellent place to start. It’s built on roasted root vegetables, cannellini beans and a parmesan rind that slowly melts into the broth. Plus, this batch serves up to 10, making it ideal to feed a crowd or stock the freezer. As with all good minestrone, it only gets better the next day.

Daniella Guevara Muñoz’s market-style guacamole

Turns out we’ve been making guacamole all wrong. Forget the fork. You’re pulling out the mortar and pestle for this traditional style from Adelaide restaurateur and cookbook author Daniella Guevara Muñoz. Plus, there’s a trick involving the aromatics that unlocks way more flavour.

Raymond Tan’s (Mum’s) chicken curry

While the sweet stuff is what Tan is famous for, the savoury recipes in his debut book could be sleeper hits. This one for Malaysian chicken curry belongs to his mum, who found it hard to believe her son was giving up his corporate accounting job to teach baking full-time just a few short years ago. Tan loves eating this with rice or fried bee hoon, Hokkien rice vermicelli, “but it’s also perfect for dipping roti jala, or as a filling in curry buns”.

Vincent Lim’s Din Tai Fung fried rice

The Taiwanese dumpling giant Din Tai Fung ceased its Aussie operations last year. No wonder this recipe, by restaurateur and social media star Vincent Lim (aka The Wolf of Wok Street), was so popular – it’s as close as you’ll get to the real thing without flying to Taipei. Contrary to popular opinion, Lim says just-cooked rice, rather than day-old, is best for this.

Lucy Tweed’s chicken with salad dressing rice

Lucy Tweed’s latest book features 90 low-and-slow recipes for braises, soups and stews. This one-pan chicken wonder is a perfect example of the Sydney-based author’s fun, anything-goes style. She suggests experimenting with different rices, curry pastes, proteins and even dumplings. The chewy, sticky, crispy rice will canvas whatever’s on hand.

Emelia Jackson’s carrot and pecan cake

If you’ve got a bowl, you’ve got this earthy, nicely spiced cake by the Masterchef star and author. Walnuts in place of pecans is a subtle swap that delivers texture without risking disappointment, proving that even the classics could use a little remix from time to time. To all the walnut stans, Jackson says leave out the pecans if you prefer.

Patti Chimkire’s Japanese cotton cheesecake

Patchanida Chimkire’s latest cookbook, Mali Bakes, scored a James Beard Award nomination this year for its gorgeous design. With photogenic creations like this citrussy Japanese cake, how could it not? While the final result looks effortless, Chimkire is honest about the finesse involved. Your reward is a cake like “sunshine” – a dessert so light you’ll want to make it “again and again”.

Crème brûlée by Entrecote’s Jason Jones

After 30 years in hospitality, the restaurateur behind Melbourne’s French institution Entrecote wrote a gorgeous cookbook starring this crème brûlée, which he calls “the grand finale of any proper French dinner party”. While this recipe is deceptively simple, it rewards the patient host. Jones suggests making and chilling the custard the night before so it’s cold before the final firing.