If you’ve ever wondered how restaurants get their chicken so juicy and flavorful, the secret is simple — it’s all in the brine! This easy chicken brine recipe takes just a few minutes to mix up, and it transforms your whole chicken into something truly special.

The salt and honey work together to lock in moisture while the lemon, garlic, and herbs add a beautiful depth of flavor. Once you try it, you’ll never roast chicken without brining again!

Why Brining Makes the Best Chicken

Brining helps poultry stay juicy. The salt in the brine actually changes the structure of the meat’s proteins, allowing them to absorb and hold onto more water. That means less moisture loss during cooking and a tender, succulent bite every time.

The salt also tenderizes the meat slightly, breaking down muscle fibers so the chicken cooks up more tender and evenly.

Instead of just seasoning the surface, brining also lets flavor soak deep into the meat. Every bite tastes perfectly seasoned — not bland in the center and salty on the outside.

Simple Ingredients for a Flavorful Brine

• Water: The base that helps distribute the salt and flavors evenly.
• Kosher Salt: Draws moisture in and out of the chicken, resulting in juicy, seasoned meat.
• Honey: Adds a subtle sweetness and helps with browning during roasting.
• Peppercorns: Infuse mild spice and depth into the brine.
• Lemons: Brighten the flavor and help tenderize the meat.
• Bay Leaves: Add an earthy, aromatic note.
• Parsley & Thyme: Fresh herbs that lend light, savory flavor.
• Garlic: Deepens the flavor and complements the herbs beautifully.
• Whole Chicken: The star of the show — brined to tender, juicy perfection.

Step-by-Step: How to Brine a Whole Chicken

1. Dissolve: Mix the water, salt and honey in a large pot over medium heat and stir until the salt is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let the water cool.
2. Brine: Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, then add the chicken to the brine solution and let it brine in the fridge overnight.

How Long to Brine Chicken

For best results, brine your chicken for 8–12 hours, or overnight.

Once you start brining your chicken, you’ll never go back! It’s such a simple step, but it makes all the difference — juicy, flavorful, and perfectly tender every time. Whether you’re roasting for Sunday dinner or meal prepping for the week, this chicken brine will take your cooking to the next level.

Now if you’re wondering how to cook this perfectly brined whole chicken, our go-to chicken recipe is our melt-in-your-mouth b

A 4-ingredient homemade popcorn seasoning recipe that will take the flavor of late-night snacking to the next level!

My family loves popcorn! A few years ago our friends told us that on days they don’t want to cook dinner they make protein shakes and popcorn, and we hopped right on that train! We usually stick to buttered popcorn or rosemary popcorn when it’s for dinner, but when it’s movie night our other favorites include marshmallow popcorn (Cade’s favorite), kettle corn (Carrian’s favorite) and caramel corn (the kids’ favorite!)

Caramel Popcorn Seasoning is a sweet popcorn seasoning that is easy to make and adds a delicious flavor to your homemade popcorn.  

Learning how to make flavored popcorn seasoning is super simple and it makes the perfect gift for neighbors around the holidays! Make popcorn at home today and try out my mom’s perfect caramel popcorn seasoning!

Ingredients for Homemade Caramel Popcorn Seasoning

Salt: Balances all the sugars, enhances flavor, and keeps the seasoning from being one-note sweet. It also makes the popcorn taste more snackable.

Powdered Sugar: Provides a very fine, quick-dissolving sweetness that clings easily to the popcorn. Its texture helps coat evenly without making the popcorn soggy.

Turbinado Sugar: Adds a light molasses flavor with larger crystals that give a bit of crunch. It brings a more complex sweetness than regular white sugar.

Light Brown Sugar: Contributes a deeper, caramel-like sweetness thanks to its higher molasses content. It gives warmth and a richer flavor that pairs really well with buttery popcorn.

How to Make Homemade Popcorn Seasoning

1. Blend: Add the 4 ingredients to a blender or spice grinder and blend until mixed well.

Whipped Cream Cream Cheese Frosting is a dreamy blend of rich, tangy cream cheese and light, fluffy whipped cream. Silky and smooth with just the right hint of sweetness, it’s the perfect topping for cakes, cupcakes, and fruit.

Ingredients for Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting

You only need 5 ingredients to make this easy whip cream frosting with cream cheese. Here is what you’ll need:

• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Cream Cheese
• Powdered Sugar
• Salt
• Vanilla Extract

The measurements for each ingredient can be found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

How to Make Whip Cream Cream Cheese Frosting

Want the creamiest, fluffiest frosting ever? Whip up whipped cream, beat cream cheese until smooth and add a little powdered sugar to sweeten things up. This Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting is the lightest, and most delicious frosting ever! Here are the steps in a little more details:

1. Beat: Add the whipping cream to a mixing bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.
2. Combine: In a separate bowl, add the cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla and mix until well combined and smooth.
3. Fold: Add the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and fold in until well combined.

The recipe card at the end of the post contains all the information you need to make this recipe. The photos below show each step of the recipe.

Can This Frosting Be Colored?

Yes absolutely! We prefer to use food coloring gel for the best color. Adding food dye to the frosting makes it perfect for any festive occasion…holidays, baby showers, Superbowl parties, graduations, etc.

How to Use This Frosting

Whip cream and cream cheese frosting goes great on op of cupcakes and cakes of course. It also make a delicious dip for fruit. There’s no reason to stop there either! Use it on cheesecake or pie too! It’s so creamy with a slight tanginess, perfect for just about any dessert!

Storage Tips

Unused frosting should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to 5 days. When you are ready to use it again, you’ll want to let it sit at room temperature for few minutes so it will become spreadable again.

This quick and easy recipe for whip cream and cream cheese frosting is the perfect addition to your favorite cakes and cupcakes. With just a

Balancing salty and sweet flavors perfectly, this Easy Teriyaki Sauce belongs in every kitchen. And, when I say it’s easy, I mean it. You can whisk this sauce together in less time than it takes to find your takeout menus.

Easy Teriyaki Sauce

Have you ever noticed how some sauces just make a meal? I mean, it’s the same chicken and rice, the same vegetables, the same everything. But, change the sauce and everything is completely different. That’s exactly how this easy teriyaki sauce feels, to me.

There’s something I find delightful in making truly simple food, especially when the result is way beyond what you would expect. Put it on chicken, beef, pork, salmon, or even a vegetarian plate, and it will keep you coming back for one more bite.

Teriyaki Sauce

I can’t remember the first time I tried teriyaki sauce. But, it certainly wasn’t at home. My mom did the best she could, but cooking was not one of her strengths.

I am overwhelmed by gratitude for how tirelessly she worked to keep all of us fed and healthy on a shoestring budget. But, I have to admit, there is not a lot of fondness in my heart for the foods we ate.

So, as an adult, I have fallen in love with experiencing other cuisines as they are meant to be. Authentic teriyaki sauce, homemade salsa, spicy chicken curry, incredible pastas, the list goes on. I just love going to restaurants and seeing something on the menu that I have never tried before. I revel in those moments when you discover a new dish that makes your heart sing.

And, now that I am more proficient in the kitchen, I have learned that one of the great joys in life is to make those meals for the people I love. So, finding a recipe like this online, that let me cook a restaurant quality meal in the comfort of my own kitchen? Bring it on.

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If you’re like me, you probably enjoyed a classic taco salad more than once in your childhood. It’s a staple for many family and potluck events and has been for years. And if you ate taco salad in the 70s, 80s, or 90s, it was likely made with Catalina salad dressing.

Ranch dressing may have taken over in popularity for many salad lovers (and pizza lovers, vegetable lovers, chip lovers, you get my point), but Catalina still has a place in the fridge for many of us. That said, the homemade Catalina dressing I love today is a far cry from the grocery store versions I recall.

Catalina Dressing

Catalina is fresh, bold, tangy, and sweet, (though a lot less sweet than commercial versions!) with plenty of zesty flavors to keep things interesting. At this point in my life, I could write an ode to homemade salad dressings.

I love how easy they are to make, and the fact you can adjust the flavors so easily to your tastes transforms every day dishes into something extra special. Want a little heat? Add a pinch of cayenne. Or for a bit of smoky flavor, try a dash of smoked paprika instead of the plain variety.

There’s nothing at all complicated about making most salad dressings, nothing at all. You just combine everything in a jar, seal it tightly with a lid, and give it a shake. For dressings (like this one and classic balsamic vinaigrette), I like to use the blender to emulsify the dressing. That way, it won’t separate as quickly and doesn’t require as much shaking when you’re ready to use it.

I used this batch of Catalina dressing in an old-school taco salad, and wow, was this ever nostalgic. Crunchy crisp lettuce, seasoned ground beef, shredded cheese, tomatoes, and crunchy tortilla chips, all tossed with this zesty red dressing. There’s just something about Catalina dressing that ties all those flavors together perfectly.

The taco salads I recall from childhood were usually made with plain tortilla chips, tossed whole