80 Fall Weeknight Dinners That Are Full of Flavor

Fall is one of our favorite times of the year. The kids are back to school and we’re settled into our routine, Halloween is right around the corner—and we can finally buy pumpkin spice everything! On top of that, the cooler temperatures mean heartier cooking (think baked pastas and savory chicken casseroles) and lots of cozy pumpkin and apple desserts—the kinds of dishes that you can’t wait to dig into. We love to give our weeknight dinners a seasonal refresh, too. Grilled cheese sandwiches with slices of crisp apple, pork chops topped with pear compote, need we go on? One of our favorite speedy dinners though, is this chicken breast smothered in a sweet-and-savory, homemade cider sauce. Sunny uses a mixture of apple cider, Vidalia onion and tart Granny smith apples to achieve the perfect balance.

Don't watch water boil—penne gets the risotto treatment in this dish. The pasta simmers and absorbs chicken broth until tender and is finished with roasted butternut squash, sage and Parmesan.

Celebrate autumnal flavor by preparing this sweet and fragrant cranberry-sage sauce. Cut a 2-inch-deep pocket in the side of thick pork chops and spoon the sauce inside before searing the chops in your skillet.

Butternut squash lends its silky texture to this classic dish, allowing you to cut the cream and butter with no sacrifice of flavor.