Summer is hot dogs and ice pops, shaggy dinners at dusk, the melting mixture of energy and malaise that gives the season its shape. But that’s not fall. Fall is crisp. Fall is orderly. There’s no malaise and no melt. Those anything-goes August dinners give way to meal plans sketched out on Sunday and empty lunchboxes waiting to be filled.

I’m guessing the last thing you want to do is figure out those meal plans (and don’t even get me started on those lunchboxes). Maybe you even want to reboot your cooking altogether? Let me help you.

I write a newsletter for New York Times Cooking called Five Weeknight Dishes, and last September, I created a list of 100 dinner recipes for you to try. Now I’m back with a whole new list for you to make in the months ahead, in honor of the back-to-school energy that rolls off Labor Day weekend and propels you through the months ahead. (And, to keep that momentum going, and to answer the eternal question of “what should I make for dinner?,” we’re also starting a new newsletter, Dinner Tonight. Starting Sept. 16, it’ll send a fast, easy recipe to your inbox every Monday through Thursday around 4:30 p.m. Eastern. Sign up here.)

The list below is brimming with jammy eggs, chile crisp, citrus and feta. There are smooth sauces, crisp edges and caramelized crusts. There are many, many ways to chicken. But the thing all of these recipes have in common — aside from their fast cook times and streamlined approaches to ingredients — is that they are all delicious.

CHICKEN | PASTA, NOODLES & RICE
FISH | BEEF | VEGGIES

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Chicken