Seasonal Cooking

Cook With the Seasons

One of my favorite ways to decide what to cook is to look at what's in season! Seasonal cooking gives me a starting point. Instead of always asking, What am I going to make this week?, I can look at the fruits and vegetables showing up at the grocery store or farmers market and start experimenting from there. Here you'll find my seasonal recipes, ingredient inspiration, cooking ideas, and produce guides to help you do the same.

Why I Love Cooking Seasonally

As a chef, I'm always learning, and ingredients are some of my favorite teachers. A tomato at the height of summer makes me want to cook differently than a butternut squash in the fall. Spring herbs and vegetables inspire something completely different from the citrus, greens, and hearty produce I reach for during winter.

That's what I enjoy about seasonal cooking. It keeps the kitchen interesting. It also encourages you to experiment with ingredients you may normally walk right past at the grocery store. You don't have to completely change the way you cook. Sometimes it's as simple as swapping one vegetable for another, trying a fruit you haven't purchased before, or building dinner around something that looks especially good that week. And because growing seasons vary depending on where you live, think of my seasonal guides as a starting point rather than a strict calendar.

Seasonal Produce Guides

Not sure what's in season? I've created a guide for every season to help you plan your grocery list, discover ingredients, and find new ways to use seasonal produce.

Winter Seasonal Produce

Winter brings plenty of citrus, hearty greens, root vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, and other ingredients that work beautifully in warming meals.

Explore the Winter Seasonal Produce Guide

Spring Seasonal Produce

Spring is when I start looking forward to fresh greens, herbs, tender vegetables, berries, and lighter dishes after months of heartier cooking.

Explore the Spring Seasonal Produce Guide

Summer Seasonal Produce

Summer gives us an incredible variety of colorful fruits and vegetables. It's a great time for tomatoes, peppers, corn, berries, melons, stone fruit, and recipes that don't require spending all day in the kitchen.

Explore the Summer Seasonal Produce Guide

Fall Seasonal Produce

Fall is when my cooking naturally starts shifting toward squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, hearty greens, and the ingredients that eventually lead us into holiday cooking.

Explore the Fall Seasonal Produce Guide

You Don't Have to Start With a Recipe

One thing I want you to learn from Just Maika Cooking is that you don't always need a recipe before you start shopping. Sometimes you can start with an ingredient.

See something interesting at the farmers market? Bring it home and learn about it.

Notice that a vegetable you've been buying suddenly looks better or costs less? Find out what's in season and what you can do with it.

That's how I approach cooking: explore the ingredient, experiment with how to prepare it, and taste what happens! And the more comfortable you become doing that, the easier it becomes to look at what's already in your refrigerator and turn it into a meal.

Explore Seasonal Recipes

Below you'll find recipes and cooking ideas for different times of the year. Some celebrate produce at its seasonal peak, while others simply fit the way we tend to cook as the seasons change. Use them for inspiration, make substitutions based on what's available where you live, and don't be afraid to experiment.

And if you try something, go back to the recipe post and leave a comment and rating! A little goes a long way! Tell me what you made, what you changed, or what you learned along the way. Your experience might be exactly what another home cook needs when they're deciding what to make. Explore the seasonal recipes below and find something new to cook. Explore. Experiment. Taste.