The Surprising Ingredient That Will Make Any Casserole Sing

On any given Tuesday, a tap-tap-tap through recipe developer Caroline Chambers’ Instagram stories (@carochambers) reveals a lighthearted content ping-pong from a great pair of jeans to parenting joys to food—always good food. This August, the author and mom of three launches her second cookbook, What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking, a compilation of fuss-free recipes inspired by her popular Substack of the same name. 

As with the weekly email newsletter, which she first launched at the end of 2020, her cookbook includes meals that are as approachable as they are delicious—with some that can be pulled together in as little as “15-ish minutes.” Throughout, she includes swaps, riffs, shortcuts, and takeaways that empower the home cook to make the best use of what they’ve got on hand and to encourage them to be creative in the kitchen. “It’s my moment to teach a man to fish instead of handing a man a fish,” she says.

Part of this down-to-earth culinary education includes introducing ingredients that may not be familiar to all of her readers and demonstrating how they can be incorporated into everyday dishes. Harissa is one such condiment.

What Is Harissa? 

“Harissa is a North African chili paste that’s become mainstream in the U.S. in the last five to ten years,” says Chambers. (Find it on the condiment aisle at Publix, or at other grocers like Walmart and Trader Joe’s.) The paste traditionally includes red peppers and red chiles, along with garlic, vinegar, oil, and salt; but different brands vary in spice level “so you kind of want to take a little nibble” before being too cavalier with it, she advises. 

How To Use Harissa

Chambers often reaches for it when making soups and stews, like her Really Good Beef Stew (featured in the new cookbook and pictured below). “It just wakes the whole thing up and brings it from dull, heavy stew territory to really bright. It adds this acidity that’s so good.” But there are nearly endless ways to use it, she notes. “It’s a flavor booster that’s doing all the work for you,” says Chambers. “Add it to a stir fry, add it to your bolognese sauce to bring a little heat. Add just a tiny amount to salad dressing to pop it up a bit; add it to any meat marinade or rub. It delivers so, so much flavor with absolutely no effort.”

And lest you think that the red pepper paste isn’t suited for classic Southern recipes, Chambers, who was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has a few ideas that’ll kick that misconception to the curb. “People do shrimp and grits differently, but people who make it with that gravy that gets poured over the top… A little bit in there would be so insane,” she says. Other smart options? Brunswick stew (pictured below), biscuits and sausage gravy, and just about anything that’s served in a 9x13 pan, she says: “Any casserole that could use a kick, stir in a tiny spoonful.” 

So whether you, like Chambers' followers, feel like cooking or not, harissa is a condiment worth having handy. It might be just what your chicken tetrazzini's been missing.