Best Recipes of 2024: Reader’s Choice Award Winners

Hello friends! Thank you so much to all of you who voted in my 14^th annual Reader’s Choice Awards! Your votes mean 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 still popular recipes today – tasty food never goes out of style!) by checking out the 2023 winners, 2022 winners, 2021 winners, 2020 winners, 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 2010, thank you so much for being here. 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 started Emily Bites back on Christmas Eve of 2010, so somehow I have now been blogging recipes for fourteen years! 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 for me before Emily Bites. This blog is my passion and now my job and your presence here makes it possible for me to keep living my dream. Again, thank you!

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, 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 unless I needed to break a tie, I’m just listing it for fun).

1. Best Breakfast Recipe: Bacon and Corn Quiche

Runner Up: Goat Cheese Prosciutto Quiche

Emily’s Pick: I have to agree with the Bacon and Corn Quiche. Anything with bacon is a hit for me, and the sweet corn is a great pairing!

2. Best Baked Goods Recipe: Apple Bread

Runner Up: Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

Emily’s Pick: I also love apple anything, so I will go with the crowd and say Apple Bread as well!

3. Best Appetizer Recipe: Spinach Artichoke Tartlets

Runner Up: Taco Dip Bites

Emily’s Pick: I’m going with the Olive Tapenade Goat Cheese Crostini in this category! I love everything about those. Toasty bread, creamy goat cheese, rich, salty tapenade…it’s all great.

4. Best Side Dish Recipe: Garlic Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

Runner Up: Zucchini Corn Fritters

Emily’s Pick: All the sides in this category are super tasty, it’s hard to pick! The Zucchini Corn Fritters are probably my favorite though.

5. Best Lunch Recipe: Deviled Egg Macaroni Salad

Runner Up: Apple Farro Salad

Emily’s Pick: I have to agree with the masses, the Deviled Egg Macaroni Salad won by a landslide in this category!

6. Best Handheld Recipe: Crispy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Runner Up: Barbecue Chicken Pizza Braid

Emily’s Pick: This category was difficult for me to pick just one! I love crispy chicken sandwiches and my air fryer, so I’d definitely choose either the Chicken Caesar Sandwiches or the Pickle-Brined Chicken Sandwiches.

7. Best Chicken Recipe: Herb and Cheese Chicken Fritters

Runner Up: Mushroom and Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken

Emily’s Pick: Oh my goodness, I’m glad I don’t actually have to vote in this category, because I love all these recipes. If I had to narrow it down to two, I guess it would be the Blacked Chicken with Avocado Corn Topping and the Herb and Cheese Chicken Fritters, but this is an impossible category for me!

8. Best Pasta Recipe: Easy Skillet Lasagna

Runner Up: One-Pot Taco Pasta

Emily’s Pick: Ahhhh, all of these are good too! I am going to go for the One-Pot Creamy Beefy Tomato Pasta. I love a creamy pasta dish with only one pot to wash!

9. Best Comfort Food Meal: Spicy Korean Meatballs

Runner Up: Louisiana Meatloaf with Cajun Gravy

Emily’s Pick: I have to pick the Louisiana Meatloaf with Cajun Gravy, because we make that recipe all the time. My family loves it, so it’s in our regular dinner rotation. Plus, anything with gravy is automatically my favorite!

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 2025 and I hope you’ll stay tuned for more lightened up comfort food recipes in the new year!