Fan Favorites: The 10 Most Popular Recipes of 2011

2011 was been a great year for me. I have to admit that I’m a little sad to see it end.

I posted less frequently in 2011 than I did in 2010, but I made sure that those posts were the very best of the best. People seemed to appreciate that. Even though I didn’t post as often, the number of people visiting Healthy. Delicious. skyrocketed – with a 165% increase in visitors and a 145% increase in pageviews. That might not mean anything to you, but to me it’s huge. Thank you to new and old friends alike.

Here are the top ten healthy recipes (most-viewed recipes) that I posted in 2011. Maybe it was one of these recipes that brought you here. Maybe it was another one. Either way, Here’s to a happy and healthy 2012!

#10 Soft & Fudgy Chocolate Pea-Nut Butter Cookies

#9 Beef and Zucchini Burgers

It makes me laugh – both of these recipes have a healthy ingredient hidden inside to make them lighter (dry peas in the cookies, zucchini in the burgers). I’m pretty sure they were the only two recipes using that technique that I posted all year.  Both are delicious though – and I was actually thinking about whipping up another batch of those cookies just the other day.

#8 Cucumber Basil Spritzers

#7 Ground Chicken and Eggplant Lettuce Wraps

It didn’t surprise me at all to find these cucumber-basil spritzers were one of my most popular posts this year since they’re also one of my personal favorites. I’m looking forward to summer just so I can make them again. That post also contains a short recap of the weekend I spent at Eat, Write, Retreat. In 2011, I skipped the “big” blog conferences in favor of more intimate get-togethers like EWR and the Big Summer Potluck. It was a great decision – I left both with new friends and new perspectives. I look forward to attending more events like these in 2012!

The Ground Chicken and Eggplant wraps were part of a series of eggplant recipes that I did for General Mills and their blog, Tablespoon.  From doing several projects for General Mills (with some more on their way!) to joining ShopRite’s team of bloggers and attending the NYC Wine and Food Festival, to being a spokesblogger for Marzetti Simply Dressed, 2011 was a great year for me when it came to freelancing and building relationships with brands.

#6 Orange, Vanilla Bean & Cinnamon Pound Cake

#5 Baked Apple Cider Donuts

#4 Honey Bourbon Pulled Chicken in the Crockpot

#3 Apple Cider Vinegar Braised Chicken Thighs

Again, it doesn’t surprise me to see that these four recipes made the list. The flavor of the orange-vanilla-cinnamon pound cake was amazing, and yogurt in the batter has a dual purpose – it reduces the fat and makes the cake super moist.

The Honey-Bourbon Chicken is one of the easiest things in the world to make – just throw the ingredients into the pot and let it do it’s thing. It’s so delicious though, you’d have a hard time convincing anyone that’s all there was to it!

The Braised Chicken Thighs take a little more work, but they’re absolutely amazing and are one of the recipes that got me eating chicken on a more regular basis again. I’ve also used the braise-then-broil technique in a few other recipes since then – it’s a great compromise between crisp skinned roasts and falling-off-the-bone braises. 

#2 Beef and Bean Chili with Pickled Onions

#1 Jalapeño Popper Mac and Cheese

These were the top two recipes of 2011 and with very good reason. The chili is one of our absolute favorite – Shawn asks me to make it all the time. I had actually lamented its lack of popularity earlier in the year, but once Fall rolled around it became on of my most popular recipes ever. The combination of the tart pickled onions against the smokey, meaty stew is unbelievable. If you have a chili recipe that you can’t part with, at least try pairing it with the onions – they’re such a nice touch.

And the good old Jalapeño Popper Mac and Cheese. What can I say? It’s amazing. And by far my most popular recipe – thanks to StumbleUpon, this recipe got more views in one hour than most of my others get in a week! Bake it for a crispy crust or just serve it straight out of the pan. If I didn’t know better, I would say that this recipe was the reason I gained 20 pounds this year (really, it’s because I eat pizza about once a week. that really needs to stop in 2012!).