10 Simple, Flavor-Packed Recipes From Rocco DiSpirito
The chef, author, and TV personality shares soul-satisfying recipes for pasta pomodoro, meatloaf, chicken jambalaya, noodle soup, fried rice, and more.
Chef Rocco DiSpirito was named an F&W Best New Chef in 1999 for his groundbreaking cooking at the legendary Union Pacific, and he's made it his mission ever since to empower home cooks with flavor-packed recipes that make them feel good from the inside out. These are a few of our favorite Rocco DiSpirito recipes for jambalaya, carnitas, meatloaf, red curry, fried rice, and more.
Coconut-Creamed Swiss Chard
Unsweetened coconut milk and refined coconut oil combine to add a creamy richness to this vegan Swiss chard side. Reducing the coconut milk deepens its flavor and lends a velvety texture that truly mimics dairy.
Red Coconut Curry with Seafood and Mixed Vegetables
Rocco DiSpirito’s formula for reinventing recipes in a lighter way — without sacrificing flavor — is reversing ratios. This curry cuts back on the coconut milk and loads up on shrimp, mussels, and cod.
Beef, Turkey, and Mushroom Meatloaf
This gluten-free meatloaf recipe calls for a mix of ground mushrooms, beef, and turkey for a moist, flavorful result.
Chicken Jambalaya
This leaner take on jambalaya features much less andouille sausage than the classic. To make up for the assertively spiced meat, DiSpirito amps up the rice with chipotle chili powder and adobo seasoning.
Flash-Fried Chicken Carnitas
Feel free to steal this trick: DiSpirito zaps seasoned chicken thigh meat in the microwave first so they spend less time in oil, and you get this irresistible salad on your plate in a flash.
Seared Salmon with Onions and Rhubarb
This is just one of the simple, perfect, seasonal dishes that earned DiSpirito a F&W Best New Chef nod in 1999.
Beet and Horseradish Tartare with Fresh Carrot Sauce
This vegetarian “tartare” of shredded raw beets develops a slightly spicy depth from the horseradish and Dijon, while creamy carrot “egg yolk” brings bright flavor to beets’ natural earthy sweetness.
Beef and Shirataki Noodle Soup
DiSpirito borrows flavors from pho and melds them with konjac yam noodles — also called shirataki or miracle noodles — for a savory, sour, spicy soup that offers new textural delights with each bite.
Veggie Pasta Pomodoro
This fresh vegetable pasta dish showcases DiSpirito's Italian cooking roots. He says, “Italians are champions of simple, classically delicious ways of using fresh tomatoes. And they should be; they’ve been cultivating them for hundreds of years. One of the many basic ways they prepare garden-fresh tomatoes is in a pomodoro sauce made with basil and garlic tossed with pasta (or in this case, spiralized vegetables).”
Bacon Fat Fried Rice
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christine Keely
DiSpirito shared on an episode of the Tinfoil Swans podcast that while he was working on his cookbook, Everyday Delicious, he found himself re-enamored with simple pleasures like chicken Parm, bodega-style chopped cheese sandwiches, and shrimp Francese, as well as this bliss-inducing dish with shrimp, bacon, and pineapple.
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