Southern Recipes

Is there really anything more satisfying to bite into than a piece of fried chicken? Deep fried or oven fried, bone-in or boneless, here we share our favorite recipes for the classic dish.

Celebrate Kentucky's great tradition with classic Southern snacks, delectable Derby pies, and plenty of mint juleps.

When musician John Legend visited Martha Stewart, he shared this recipe for his favorite Southern comfort food. Learn how to make the singer's delicious, creamy macaroni and cheese at home.

Ask your fishmonger to clean soft-shell crabs for you so you can cook the seasonal delights to crisp perfection. Keep in mind that the crustaceans should be cooked no more than six hours after purchase. 

The recipe for these extra-large biscuits comes from Virginia Willis, the author of "Secrets of the Southern Table." A phrase her grandfather once used, the name indicates that it's a biscuit as big as a cat's head. Each one is golden brown and slightly crisp on the outside, with a light, airy interior.

This classic southern cake can be over-the-top sweet. Enter coconut sugar, a sweetener from the sap of the coconut tree's flower buds. While it has no coconut flavor, it does bring a caramelized, almost savory complexity to baked goods. It's perfect in a cake that's plenty sweet (as well as moist), thanks to the fresh banana and pineapple. This recipe appears in our cookbook, "A New Way to Bake" (Clarkson Potter).

This recipe is based on the famous Key lime pie from Joe's Stone Crab restaurant in Miami Beach. If you can't find Key limes, use regular fresh lime juice.

Layer pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and cucumber, both of which provide crisp, cool counterpoints to the rich meat.

This great whiskey sour recipe is courtesy of Martha's TV Kitchen, and makes for the perfect addition to cocktail hour.

Fresh hot biscuits slathered with butter, topped with a spoonful of jam, and served alongside fluffy scrambled eggs and a salty pork product are the epitome of a cozy breakfast (or dinner).

These decadent bars are inspired by Hello Dollies, a popular Southern dessert.

This recipe for red rice is featured in chef Emily Meggett's cookbook, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking ($36.80, bookshop.org). She says you can swap the sausage for chicken or shrimp, but don't skip the salt pork. "It gives it a whole lot of taste."