Best of 2020 Reader’s Choice Award Winners

Thank you SO much to all of you who voted in my 10^th annual Reader’s Choice Awards (can you believe I have been blogging for 10 years??)! Your participation means so much to me and I love seeing which recipes were your favorite. My blog always gets new readers in January and it’s so helpful to be able to point them to this post as a starting place for my “greatest hits” of the previous year, so I really appreciate you taking the time to give input and share your thoughts. In case you missed it, you can look at past reader favorites (which are all still popular recipes today!) by checking out the 2019 winners, 2018 winners, 2017 winners, 2016 winners, 2015 winners, 2014 winners, 2013 winners, 2012 winners and 2011 winners.

Whether or not you voted, I really, genuinely want to thank YOU. Whether it’s your first time visiting my blog or you’ve been cooking along with me since the beginning, thank you so much for being here. I can’t express how important you truly are to me, but trust me, it’s a lot. Thank you for reading my posts and for cooking my recipes. Thank you for asking questions, leaving comments and giving your feedback. Thank you for sharing my site with friends, posting pictures of what you’ve made on Instagram, pinning the recipes you want to try and sharing my posts on Facebook. Thanks for emailing me your stories and ideas and for sharing your successes. You motivate and inspire me so much and I’m genuinely thrilled that you’re here. I am so grateful for you.

I literally can’t believe it has been TEN YEARS since I started Emily Bites on Christmas Eve 2010. I was on Weight Watchers and had just recently started cooking more and I was so excited to discover how delicious and fun creating lightened up meals could be. I couldn’t wait to share my findings, but I never imagined so many of you would find my site and cook along with me. This site is now such a huge and important part of my life and who I am that it’s hard to remember what life was like before Emily Bites! This blog is my passion and your presence here makes it possible for me to keep living my dream. Again, thank you!

Last year I wrote that I was so excited for 2020, and that…didn’t turn out so well. Let’s face it, 2020 was the pits. I wish I could give you all a hug. We could all use one. I’m cautiously optimistic that 2021 will be better (it has to be, right?) but I don’t want to jinx it, so let’s just celebrate that 2020 is coming to a close. I’m looking forward to kicking off the new year with some fresh new recipes, but it’s also really fun for me to look back on how far my site has come. For the past few years I have recapped some readership, social media and posting stats, mostly for me to look back on. While I certainly don’t blog for the numbers, it’s fun to check in every year and see how much we’ve grown. Here we go again: Ten years. 716 posts. 78 million blog pageviews. 162,000 of you follow me on Facebook. 226,000 of you are my Instagram friends (my favorite!). 112,000 of you follow me on Pinterest. 32,000 of you subscribe to my recipes by email (if you haven’t done this yet, subscribing by email is a great way to make sure you don’t miss a recipe!).

I can’t say this enough: It overwhelms me that so many of you out there read my blog, make my recipes and give me such great feedback, encouragement and inspiration. THANK YOU!! If you don’t already and you want to follow my site on social, here are the links: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Email Club.

Without further ado, on to the Reader’s Choice Award Winners! The results are below and for each category I’ve pictured the winner and then listed the runner up along with my own vote (which didn’t count in the standings, I’m just listing it for fun).

1. Best Breakfast Recipe: Sheet Pan Blueberry Pancakes (by a landslide, you loved this one!)

Runner Up: Crustless Spinach and Feta Quiche

Emily’s Pick: I agree with you all, sheet pan pancakes are the BEST! My family makes these at least once a month, sometimes with different toppings. My two-year-old even requests these!

2. Best Muffin Recipe: Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins

Runner Up: Chocolate Raspberry Muffins

Emily’s Pick: I like both of these, but I think the Carrot Muffins are actually my favorite here!

3. Best Appetizer Recipe: Apricot Brie Tartlets

Runner Up: Spinach Balls

Emily’s Pick: Agreed. I love those fruits, cheesy tartlets!

4. Best Handheld Recipe: Easy Chicken Tacos

Runner Up: Greek Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki Sauce

Emily’s Pick: I am definitely going with the Greek Turkey Burgers. This just reminds me I need to make those again soon! So good.

5. Best Meaty Main Course Recipe: Sheet Pan Meatloaves with Roasted Potatoes and Green Beans

Runner Up: Korean-Inspired Ground Turkey

Emily’s Pick: MEATLOAF WITH GRAVY!! If you’ve read a lot of my site, you may know that I LOVE gravy, so this pick is pretty easy for me. When there’s gravy, I choose gravy. I will say, I was shocked that the Korean-Inspired Ground Turkey didn’t win, because I see you all making it and gushing about it on Instagram! It’s hard to beat an all-in-one, easy sheet pan meal though.

6. Best Chicken Recipe: Apple and Brie Stuffed Chicken

Runner Up: TIE between Blackened Chicken Bites and Chicken Lo Mein

Emily’s Pick: The Apple and Brie Stuffed Chicken is such a deserving winner, it’s absolutely delicious. I think my pick would probably have to tie with Blackened Chicken Bites though, because it’s my go-to quick and easy dinner for nights that I didn’t really plan ahead, so we have it a lot (LOL).

7. Best One-Pot Meal Recipe: Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing

Runner Up: One-Pot Cajun Chicken and Sausage Pasta

Emily’s Pick: This is such a tough category! I love all the one-pot meals! I was not surprised to see the Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing win, because even though I just posted it last month, y’all have been making it like crazy! I do love a comfort food meal with minimal effort on my part, so I get you. I am torn between that one, the Turkey Veggie Spaghetti, and the Creamy Tomato Pasta. Oh, and maybe the Chili Mac? I am sitting out this category.

8. Best Vegetarian Recipe: Broccoli Cheddar Stuffed Potatoes

Runner Up: Vegetable Fried Rice

Emily’s Pick: Yeah, I’m a sucker for cheese sauce smothering a potato. Agree!

9. Best Side Dish Recipe: Caprese Salad

Runner Up: Creamy Corn with Bacon and Jalapenos

Emily’s Pick: Caprese Salad is definitely a summer favorite, but I have to give a shout out to the Stovetop Green Beans with Almonds because I make that all the time year-round.

10. Best Dessert Recipe: Blueberry Cheesecake Mini Tarts

Runner Up: Baked Peaches with Crisp Topping

Emily’s Pick: This was actually a tie and I played tie-breaker! Cheesecake is my favorite dessert and I could eat these Blueberry Cheesecake Mini Tarts every day and be a happy lady.

Thank you so much again for reading my blog, cooking my recipes and encouraging and inspiring me with your comments. I wish you all a happy and healthy 2021 and I hope you’ll stay tuned for more lightened up comfort food recipes in the new year. Stay safe out there!