I’m back with a roundup of this year’s recipe disasters — and yes, there were plenty. It’s my annual “recipe disasters” post, a tradition I’ve kept for nearly a decade, and this year certainly delivered some memorable culinary missteps.
2020 has been a wild year in so many ways, and my kitchen experiments reflected that chaos. Like many of you, I spent far more time cooking than I normally would — even though cooking is basically my job — and that led to a mix of successes and spectacular flops.
Each year after Christmas I share the biggest recipe failures from the past twelve months. I had many more than what you see here, but these are the ones that really took the cake. Or, in some cases, failed to take the cake.
Case in point: a beer cheese soup that fell flat and tasted off next to sourdough pretzels. It was an odd, unpleasant combo.
I tried multiple times to make ramen mac and cheese work. Spoiler: it didn’t. Each attempt looked promising at first and then collapsed into an unappetizing mess.
These asparagus tempura bowls actually tasted good, but the appearance was… questionable. The asparagus looked odd — almost worm-like. Functionally edible, visually unappealing.
I attempted a baked cauliflower inspired by a restaurant dish. It was solid in concept but I couldn’t get the execution right. It also ended up looking downright unappetizing.
These snickers-stuffed cookie bars were a complete failure — the idea was great, the result was not. They fell apart and never came together as intended.
I even managed to mess up a garlic butter naan attempt. The recipe should have been straightforward, but the results were disappointing.
Sourdough was an ongoing struggle this year. I had so many failed loaves — I still haven’t managed a perfect one. To be fair, I stopped trying after the summer, but my starter is alive and well, so there’s hope for next year.
Many of my loaves came out flat and deflated, which was a recurring theme. A few looked like they tried, but most were disappointing.
There was also a phase of burning things — not proud of it, but it happened. A bunch of dishes ended up overcooked or charred.
Grilled bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers were a major flop. The bacon refused to cook through, the filling melted out, and everything turned into a greasy mess. They smelled incredible, at least.
A broccoli gratin turned out dry and uninspired. The texture was off and it lacked flavor — not my proudest moment.
The saddest fail of the year was my Christmas cake. A chocolate cake with white chocolate frosting that went terribly wrong — the frosting set like cement, the coconut looked awful, and the overall presentation was a mess. I genuinely think my kids could have assembled it better. It was a disappointing way to cap off a difficult year.
See recipe disasters from previous years:
2019 – 2018 – 2017 – 2016 – 2015 – 2014 – 2013 – 2012 – 2011 – 2010