Ina Garten's Best Recipes According To Fans

When it comes to Ina Garten's recipes — spoiler alert! — they're all winners. But, only a select few of The Barefoot Contessa's dishes have earned Taylor Swift-level loyalty from fans. They often rave about the perfectly crunchy texture of her toppings, the velvety mocha chocolate flavor of her icebox cakes, or the fact that her fried chicken tastes just like sandwiches from famous restaurants. 

Garten is not only a culinary whiz but the beauty of her recipes is she crafts flawless meals designed for those of us with marinara sauce permanently spattered on our kitchen ceilings. And her dishes often feature shortcuts like store-bought cookies, pre-packaged ice cream, or even frozen pie crusts. In her words, "How easy is that?" But the particular dishes included below have earned their coveted status as returning show-stoppers for a reason. 

We scrubbed every inch of the web to find authentic Garten-loving home cooks, and sourced their hands-down, no questions, go-to crowd-favorite recipes from the chef. From savory roast chicken to fluffy coconut cake to that one with the bow tie pasta and peas, it's clear big fan energy is one surefire recipe for success.

"Luscious milk chocolate ice cream enhanced with Cognac and vanilla with chunks of Oreo. How can you go wrong?" Trent Pheifer shared with Simply Recipes. The Instagram star and stone-cold fan has cooked over 1,200 of Ina Garten's creations and has a firm grasp on her tried and true favorites. Over on TikTok, one fan called it "the most perfect summer dessert."

While store-bought is fine for vanilla ice cream, when it comes to her Milk Chocolate Oreo Ice Cream recipe, Garten warns, "If you're in the mood for chocolate, you can't get the same rich, decadent chocolate flavor from store-bought ice cream that you can by making it yourself." In addition, this recipe features an egg yolk custard base for ultra creaminess, actual Oreo cookie pieces, Valrhona cocoa powder, and Cognac or brandy to mellow out the sweetness. Alcohol also keeps the ice cream scoopable in the freezer (because no one wants to go all "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" just to enjoy a pint).

And, here's an alternative option if you want to avoid possibly jamming up your ice cream machine with cookies (even though that's a delicious problem to have): You can also scoop the ice cream out of the maker once it's done churning, and then gently fold in the cookies instead. Also, maybe you arrange a few choice pieces on top, right before you freeze the dessert, like you're a boutique ice cream shop.

If you need a pasta dish stat, Ina Garten's Pesto, Pasta, and Peas recipe knocks it out of the park. Filled with tiny peas, creamy pesto, and adorable little bowties, it's another home run from our favorite cook. 

If you have half an hour, you've got this dinner on the table — including making the pesto from scratch. Although, Garten says packaged pesto is ok, too, which drops the cook time to just 10 minutes.

If you do make it from scratch while the pasta cools, you can step it up with the chef's hack on her own pesto recipe. She likes to add almost a full cup of mayonnaise (on top of the olive oil that's already in there) to thicken the texture and give the pesto the silkiest possible flavor.

As one TikToker explained, "I'm obsessed with making Ina Garten's pesto pasta salad recipe ... This is a fan-favorite at every cookout, tailgate, party, and potluck."

If shrimp and linguine sounds like a regular order for a 1930s mob boss, there may be something to it. Ina Garten's recipe for Shrimp and Linguine Fra Diavolo kicks in a crushed red pepper-spiked fra diavolo sauce (loosely translating to "among the devil"), and it's one hot dish you'll definitely want to keep in your repertoire. You know, for when Uncle Tony comes over.

This tomato-based pasta dish incorporates star ingredients like homemade arrabbiata sauce (Garten says you can also use Rao's brand), garlic, dry white wine, linguine cooked al dente, and 20 of your best-lookin' shrimp. All topped with Japanese panko breadcrumbs — or, as fan Trent Pheifer told Simply Recipes, "Double the batch of panko breadcrumbs — you'll want to put them on everything." That's probably because they're sautéed in butter and tossed with fresh parsley, salt, and pepper.

"It's a dish that was so good the first time I made it, I turned around and made it immediately again. Something that rarely happened while cooking through nearly 1,300 recipes," Pheifer added of the dish. Another TikTok fan especially loved the breadcrumb topping, posting, "Wow, this was such a good idea from Ina, and added a nice little crunch to the pasta." As if Garten would ever think of anything less than a good idea.

A full 180 from brownies, Ina Garten's Charlie Bird's Farro Salad bursts with bright flavor, while using the lightest of ingredients. The original salad first appeared on the menu at New York's Charlie Bird restaurant, and was then published in the New York Times. Ina tasted the dish when it was made by a friend, and knew she had to recreate it herself. "It's absolutely fantastic," she told The National Post. And we agree.

Featuring pearled farro that's been simmered in apple cider, the salad also incorporates fresh cherry tomatoes, radishes, parsley, mint, arugula, and pistachios. A drizzle of lemony vinaigrette helps boost that fresh flavor. Of course, a generous dusting of shaved Parmesan doesn't hurt the situation either.

"Farro is by far my favorite grain and this is my favorite salad in all of Ina's repertoire," Trent Pheifer shared with Simply Recipes. "I love bringing it to potlucks as it holds up relatively well and is a hearty, healthy vegetarian-friendly dish." A Reddit fan posted, "Ina Garten's Charlie Bird salad is my fave salad discovery ... different and delicious." One of her five-star recipe reviewers also noted, "Excellent! Phenomenal symphony of flavors (sweet, salty, bitter, sour) with [a] touch of umami! Thank you! Will be making this again (and again)!"

What's better than regular chicken thighs? Ina Garten's Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce, that's what. This is how basic chicken gets a chef's kiss in 45 minutes or less. Better yet, it's so much easier than it looks. As one Food Network reviewer shared, "I cooked while watching TV in the other room and didn't have to miss Final Jeopardy!" 

To make her dish, Garten elevates bone-in chicken thighs (with the skin on, for all the flavor) into an irresistible stunner with sautéed onions, dry white wine, crème fraîche, Dijon mustard, whole-grain mustard, and a final sprinkle of fresh parsley. Fans serve it over just about anything, including jasmine rice, egg noodles, cauliflower rice, and potatoes. 

Trent Pheifer told Simply Recipes that it's "hands down the Ina recipe I make most often. It's such a simple, yet delicious dish that even a cooking novice can pull off and feel like a chef! You'll be licking the plate." A new convert over on Reddit posted, "I typically don't like (or never had good) bone-in chicken, but this really was excellent. Definitely going to become a regular addition to our dinner rotation." And another commenter noted, "The chicken was seasoned perfectly and the sauce was rich, creamy, and luxurious. The mustard packed a flavor punch that chicken needs."

Ever heard of Shake Shack by any chance? Well, lucky for fans of the chain's fried chicken sandwich, Ina Garten does the trendy Chicken Shack even better than the original. Allow us to introduce you to Garten's Fried Chicken Sandwich recipe. That is, if you haven't already printed it out, framed it, and hung it over your mantle because it's seriously that good.

The Shake Shack version is Garten's go-to fast food sandwich, so she can be trusted to do it justice — and then some. "She gave a fantastic Shake Shack Chicken Sandwich recipe and holy heck it was amazing," posted one Reddit fan. Several others were also shocked at how spot-on the fried chicken, buttermilk herb mayo, dill pickle, Bibb lettuce, and potato bun combo really tasted. The secret apparently is in letting the chicken get its beauty rest in an herbed buttermilk marinade for at least eight hours.

"This will likely be my last meal on Earth," Trent Pheifer confessed to Simply Recipes. Another person shared on Food Network, "My family thought I ordered chicken out!" 

You know Ina Garten wouldn't leave us hanging out to dry when it comes to cocktails. But, instead of crafting flaming liquor floats, egg whites, or complicated tinctures and infusions, Ina keeps it simple with her own take on a classic — a Cosmopolitan recipe. Featuring vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice, and lime, there's so many reasons to raise a glass to this drink.

Once a symbol of high society in 1980s New York City, the cosmopolitan cocktail was later immortalized by Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and The City." And now, we can slug vodka and cranberry juice out of a camping mug while wearing our stretchy pants and scrolling Amazon. 

"It's nice and tart, just the way a 'true' cosmo should be," one Food Network reviewer wrote. "Oftentimes cosmos are just heavy with cranberry juice, but not this one." 

Garten famously made the most gigantic version of this cocktail over on Instagram in 2020, delighting all of us with her ridiculously oversized martini glass and signature sense of humor. "I'm still making this classic recipe," wrote one fan, with another commenting to Garten, "This is why you are THE QUEEN!!"