20 Best Recipes to Make in October

Averie SunshinePublished: Oct 01, 2026

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🍁🍠🥕🍎🎃 My 20 Best Recipes to Make in October include warm soups, hearty sides, comforting main dishes, and some healthy entrees too. Think sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, Brussels sprouts and finish off with apple and pumpkin desserts! If you love cozy recipes that taste incredible AND make your house smell amazing, October is your month!

Butternut Squash Soup - Made with roasted butternut and acorn squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, sage, thyme, and more to create a gorgeous, creamy, fall-inspired soup that everyone LOVES! Great as a healthy main dish or a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or the holidays! Serve it in acorn squash bowls for an even more festive look!

What’s Seasonal in October

October is a month of hearty produce!

For veggies, look for squash of all kinds – butternut, acorn, kabocha, delicata, or spaghetti squash.
Sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, carrots, parsnips, and root veggies are coming in full force.
Brassicas like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale thrive and taste less bitter during the cooler autumn months.
Fruits include pears, grapes, cranberries, pomegranates, and figs are fresh.
For dessert, showcasing apples and pumpkin makes it such a cozy month!

All of these ingredients make it easy to pull together cozy and comforting weeknight dinners. Most everything is ready in under 30 minutes as a bonus! My simple fall desserts make it easy to take advantage of all the apples and (canned) pumpkin that you see everywhere!

Savory Soups & Hearty Sides

A pot of soup containing chunks of squash, white beans, spinach, tomatoes, and ground meat, with a wooden spoon scooping some out.

Butternut Squash and Sausage Soup

🍲🧡 Loaded with cubes of tender butternut squash, a bit of spice from Italian sausage, white beans, fire roasted tomatoes, and spinach to make it filling and flavorful! It’s EASY, ready in 30 minutes, and perfect for chilly weather. Hearty enough to be a meal unto its own, this soup also freezes very well so you can make a batch and freeze some for later.

A bowl of creamy pumpkin soup with a swirl of cream, accompanied by a spoon and bay leaves on a textured surface.

Easy 30-Minute Pumpkin Soup Recipe

🎃🙌🎉 Silky smooth, rich pumpkin flavor, and accidentally healthy!! Amazing depth of flavor for a FAST and EASY soup that’s hearty and comforting without being heavy!!

Two butternut squash soup halves full of roasted butternut squash soup.

Butternut Squash Soup

🧡🍂 Made with roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, sage, thyme, and more to create a gorgeous, creamy, fall inspired soup that everyone LOVES! It’s great as a healthy main dish or a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving or the holidays. Serve it in acorn squash bowls for an even more festive look!

A bowl of quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, chickpeas, dried cranberries, feta cheese, and fresh herbs on a marble surface.

Fall Quinoa Salad

🍁🍠🍂 Harvest ingredients come together in this easy side dish or healthy main. Roasted sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, cranberries, chickpeas, feta and more! A light maple syrup and apple cider vinegar vinaigrette coats everything to perfection! Extremely flexible and customizable and is great or meal prepping.

Servings: If you're only serving this, it'll serve about 4 (depending on appetites); but if you're serving this as a side salad with other things, it'll serve 6-8.

A bowl of roasted sweet potatoes seasoned with spices.

Honey-Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey-Cinnamon Dip

🍯🍠😋 You can’t go wrong with warm sweet potatoes that are soft and tender in the middle and lightly crisped and caramelized on the outside! The simple honey-cinnamon dip is and creamy, loaded with flavor!

Comforting Main Dishes

Chili and brown sugar chicken and sweet potatoes.

Chili Brown Sugar Chicken and Sweet Potatoes

🍗🍁🍠 An EASY one pan recipe that’s ready in 30 minutes and loaded with layers of flavors from the spice rub which lends all the COZY vibes! Sweet potatoes and onions caramelize alongside the chicken and it all roasts together for an impressive high protein meal with fiber and flavor!

Maple glazed being spooned over a pork chop.

Maple Glazed Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes

🍠😍🙌 juicy pork chops are smothered with a maple bourbon glaze and cinnamon-and-spiced roasted sweet potatoes on the side!

A cast-iron skillet filled with cooked chicken thighs, diced sweet potatoes, and green bell peppers, garnished with chopped parsley. A cutting board with chopped parsley and a bowl of salt are beside the skillet.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Skillet

🍗🍁🍠 An EASY one-skillet chicken dinner recipe complete with sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and onions for impressive texture and flavor! It's all seasoned with smoked paprika, oregano, rosemary, thyme, and there's a simple sauce with maple syrup and Dijon mustard that lends all the cozy fall vibes! This is COMFORT FOOD that's great for busy weeknights and chillier weather.

A bowl of roasted brussels sprouts and chicken with cranberries.

Balsamic Chicken, Brussels Sprouts, Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

The crevices of the Brussels sprouts soak up the balsamic vinegar and honey sauce beautifully and it keeps the chicken perfectly juicy and moist. It’s an easy, one-skillet meal that’s warm, comforting, and hearty while being healthy and ready in 20 minutes. I added sun-dried tomatoes and dried cranberries for chewiness and extra tart-and-tangy flavor. Pumpkin seeds add crunch. Chewy, crunchy, with the crisp-tender sprouts. You won’t have to bribe anyone to eat their Brussels sprouts when they’re prepared this way.

A cast-iron skillet filled with a cooked mixture of ground meat, diced sweet potatoes, and green beans, with a wooden spoon resting inside. Lime wedges and eggs are shown on the side.

Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet

🍠🍳 The perfect hearty breakfast, brunch or breakfast-for-dinner! Topped with eggs, you'll add additional protein to this naturally gluten-free, satisfying and comforting skillet! This hash is made with just a handful of ingredients and the recipe is very flexible.

Healthier Mains

A bowl filled with roasted vegetables and chickpeas, with a spoon drizzling sauce over the top.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Chickpea Buddha Bowl

🍠 🥦 is a big bowl-full of goodness just like Buddha! 😉 The bowls are fast, EASY, high fiber, full of texture in every bite, naturally vegan and gluten-free! If you need a HEALTHY recipe that tastes like comfort food, this is it! Great for meal prep because everything keeps so well.

A pot of hearty chicken and potato stew garnished with fresh herbs.

Coconut Lime Chicken and Sweet Potato Curry

🥥🍠😋 An EASY, one-skillet curry that’s ready in 20 minutes and tastes BETTER than a restaurant! Juicy chicken and tender sweet potatoes simmer in a lime-scented coconut milk sauce that tastes AMAZING! Healthy comfort food!

A wooden bowl containing seasoned ground meat, roasted sweet potatoes, diced avocado, cottage cheese, and sliced jalapeño, arranged in sections.

Sweet Potato Beef Bowl with Cottage Cheese

🍠🥑🍯 Viral Sweet Potato Beef Bowl with Cottage Cheese, Hot Honey, and Avocado is a social media sensation! Ride the high protein + high fiber train with this QUICK and EASY beef bowl recipe! Featuring taco-seasoned ground beef, roasted sweet potatoes, savory-seasoned cottage cheese and topped with optional avocado, jalapeños, hot honey, and red pepper flakes!

A skillet filled with a cooked mixture of ground meat, diced butternut squash, zucchini, mushrooms, and herbs on a white surface.

Asian Fusion Ground Chicken Stir Fry

Asian-Inspired Ground Chicken Stir Fry 🧡🌿 is here to deliver big flavor, lean protein, and healthy fiber! There's so much texture from zucchini and squash while white miso, ginger, and coconut aminos give Asian-fusion vibes! Made in one skillet, ready in 30 minutes, and uses flexible ingredients so you can mix-and-match based on what you have on hand and enjoy.

A pot of chickpea and spinach curry served with flatbread.

Sweet Potato Chickpea Coconut Curry

🍠🌿🧡 An EASY one-skillet curry that’s ready in 30 minutes and is layered with so many fabulous flavors! HEALTHY comfort food that's accidentally vegetarian, gluten-free, high fiber, and tastes AMAZING! Great for meal prep because it tastes even better the next couple of days.

Apple and Pumpkin Delights

Crustless Apple Pie - Sometimes called Swedish apple pie, this EASY recipe for apple pie without a traditional pie crust is a FAST, foolproof, no-mixer recipe! It's loaded with cinnamon-spiced apples in every bite, dense, chewy, hearty, and is next level when topped with ice cream and salted caramel sauce!

Crustless Apple Pie

🍎🍏🍁 Sometimes called Swedish apple pie, this EASY recipe for apple pie without a traditional pie crust is the easiest apple pie you'll ever make! FAST, foolproof, no-mixer recipe that's loaded with cinnamon-spiced apples in every bite. Dense, chewy, hearty, and is next-level when topped with ice cream and salted caramel sauce!

A white bowl filled with chunky applesauce sits on a wooden slab, with plates, a napkin, and cinnamon sticks visible around it.

Stovetop Applesauce

🍎🍏 So EASY to make in 30 minutes on the stovetop in one pot! Use any kind of apples and you can keep it chunkier or blend it smoother. Once you try homemade applesauce, you won't go back to store bought! Recipe makes about 4 cups, or about 8 servings using 1/2 cups as a serving size.

Sliced apples on a tray topped with chocolate drizzle and chopped nuts, with whole and sliced apples visible nearby.

Caramel Apple Nachos

🍎🍏🍫 Move over classic caramel apples because these easy-to-eat sliced apples are generously drizzled with both caramel sauce AND melted chocolate! Optionally sprinkle with peanuts, walnuts, toffee bits, or mini marshmallow bits! No baking, no dipping, no waiting, and the perfect way to jazz up sliced apples in under 10 minutes!

Recipe is easy to scale up or down. I plan on about 1/2 of a large apple per person. So 3 apples = 6 servings but it's very flexible.

A tray of freshly baked cinnamon rolls with icing.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Casserole

🎃🤎 An EASY fall breakfast or brunch where every bite tastes like the soft, gooey center of a cinnamon roll. Pumpkin adds cozy seasonal flavor, while plenty of icing makes it rich and indulgent. It’s a crowd pleasing recipe that’s perfect for fall mornings, holidays, or weekend brunch!

A rectangular carrot cake topped with cream cheese frosting, caramel drizzle, chopped nuts, and mini chocolate chips.

Pumpkin Caramel Poke Cake

🎃🧡🍁 So EASY and the BEST PUMPKIN CAKE ever! Two kinds of caramel sauce, toffee bits, chocolate chips, whipped topping and plenty of rich pumpkin spice flavor in this total WINNER you must make! People rave about the cake and it tastes so much more complicated than it really is!

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