What Easy Recipes Can I Make in a Vacation Rental?
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I travel a lot, which means navigating more Airbnb kitchens than I care to admit. Half of the time, I arrive to discover that the tools I’d counted on to execute my vacation menu are nowhere to be found. I’m not talking fancy equipment like meat thermometers or mandolins, but basics like cheese graters and whisks. Sometimes there’s only a single sheet pan! What are vacation rental-proof recipes I can always count on executing even when the kitchen is woefully stocked? —OOO
If you’ll humor me, I’d like to start with a story about toilet paper. Several years ago, my friends and I rented a beach house for a weekend. While packing for the getaway, I checked the rental’s check-in protocol, only to learn that toilet paper was not provided. It was BYO. BYOTP.
Clearly I am still not over this. Of course everyone has their own expectation about what is need to have versus nice to have in a rental. But toilet paper feels like a universal need, does it not? In the words of Taro Gomi, one of my favorite children’s book authors, everyone poops!
Cooking is more complicated. As you aptly note, there is a “fancy” category of kitchen equipment, plus everyday “basics.” But what those basics are varies vastly from household to household. And on vacation, a lot of people avoid cooking altogether, so these cabinets and pantries are notoriously understocked.
After being burned one too many times—shitty table salt, scratched nonstick pans, no oil of any kind—I adopted a defensive approach. To a rental, I have brought: a giant cutting board; a rimmed sheet pan; a stack of kitchen towels; three types of knives (chef’s, serrated, paring); a 13" skillet; a digital scale; a Microplane; two types of salt (Diamond Crystal and Maldon); two types of oil (olive and canola); once even a rice cooker.
I share all this not to embarrass myself—I’m embarrassed—but to prove a point. Which is: Don’t be like me. There is a generous middle ground between playing rental-kitchen roulette and packing up everything but the kitchen sink. You just have to pack smartly and pick the right recipes. Let’s.
A reasonable packing list
I polled my coworkers on what they pack for a rental kitchen and let me just say I am not the only one who brings a scale! But also…you don’t have to. These are what I’d consider bring-your-own necessities if you plan to cook:
- Kosher salt
- Extra-virgin olive oil and/or neutral oil
- 1 chef’s knife
- 1 cutting board
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 (preferably fish) spatula
- 1 multipurpose skillet, such as stainless steel or carbon steel
- 1 rimmed half sheet pan
- 1 roll tinfoil
- 1 instant-read thermometer, if you’re cooking meat
Forgiving recipes
Our goal is a recipe that 1) makes your friends go “ooh!” 2) does not result in a sink-full of dishes, and 3) will not fall apart if the kitchen is curiously missing a certain tool. We can do it.
Crispy Gnocchi Caprese. A gorgeous lunch or dinner from cookbook author Alexis deBoschnek. Most of the ingredients just happen to be shelf-stable (including the namesake gnocchi), things you can throw in the car and not worry about for the drive. If your rental doesn’t have a nonstick pan as the recipe calls for—please don’t use it if it’s beat up—you can bake the oiled gnocchi on a sheet pan or even in a stainless steel skillet at 400° until golden and crackly. If you don’t want to bring two herbs (fair), pick one; or swap in baby arugula if the rest of the bag could turn into another meal.
Sheet-Pan Shawarma-Spiced Chicken. No one will complain about this ultra-savory, just-charred-enough chicken, bundled in warm pita. What I love about this recipe is you toss the meat under the broiler, then work on the other elements in the meantime. Even better: Delegate. Have someone whip up the garlicky yogurt sauce, someone else slice the tomatoes, someone else cut the cucumbers. It’s easy to divvy up the tasks and fun to assemble your own sandwich—a perfect meal for a group.
Giant No-Flip Blueberry Pancake. It’s an idyllic scene, waking up to the aroma of strong coffee, fluffy pancakes coming off the griddle, kids scurrying around and definitely not screaming, sunlight pours through a cracked-open window. But: If you’ve been the person flipping pancakes to order, it’s less fun. This recipe solves that. I like to measure and mix the dry ingredients in advance, then pack them in a container to make things easy-breezy day-of.
Make-ahead recipes
Perhaps cheating but: The most rental-proof recipe is the one you don’t make in your rental kitchen at all. You make it before you hit the road and have it waiting in the fridge after a day of lake-splashing, mountain-climbing, blueberry-picking, whatever it is you are up to. Good candidates:
White Chicken Chili. Who doesn’t like a big pot of chili? I’d argue it gets even better after hanging out in the fridge for a couple days. Bring it in quart containers, plus a hodgepodge of no- or low-prep toppings—tortilla chips, cilantro you pluck by hand, an avocado and a lime, maybe some Greek yogurt, pre-grated cheese never hurt anyone, etc. Everyone’s happy.
Just-Keeps-Getting-Better Lentil Salad. The title says it all. With ruffly kale, hunks of feta, and almonds for crunch, this salad is full of big flavors and fun textures. One reader calls it “the most delicious salad you'll ever have.” Assemble in advance, then make it your Vacation Mission to track down a cute bakery and some fancy cheese, and purchase some provisions to round out the meal.
Cornbread Breakfast Casserole. For a low-key morning, our most popular recipe of 2025. Far easier than a quiche or omelets for a crowd (I would never), it hinges on a box of corn muffin mix. You can bake it days ahead and the mix-ins are malleable. Pickled jalapeños could be roasted red peppers. Almost any cheese would work. Bacon could be swapped out for another pre-cooked protein like sausage or tempeh.
