25 Super Customizable and Adaptable Recipes

Lots of factors get in the way of preparing a recipe by the book: ingredients that are difficult to locate, picky eaters, limited supply at grocery stores, and pantries that aren’t as well-stocked as you thought. That’s why one of the most important skills you can learn in the kitchen is adaptability. Rather than sending you off on a quest for substitutions, however, we’ve rounded up a number of recipes that allow, and even encourage, improvising. Because let’s face it—when you’re trying to get food on the table, it’s not always about the details. As long as you know basic cooking skills, you can switch around, substitute, and even omit certain ingredients in these recipes. And who knows? An adaptation on one of these dishes might just become your new go-to meal.