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About This Quiz
There's no time to make a shopping list, so you grab the recipes for your impromptu dinner party and run out the door. It's not until you get to the grocery store that you realize you grabbed incomplete recipes. The first recipe only printed part of the ingredient list, and the other is smudged, making the ingredients unreadable. Now what? There's no time for Googling as you're standing in the pasta aisle, but there's plenty of time for panic. Guests will be arriving shortly, but your recipes are incomplete! Luckily, you're a pretty savvy cook, and you think you can navigate your way through the missing pieces of your recipe puzzle.
Now, let's see if you can put your chef smarts to the test in our missing ingredients quiz! Here, you'll find 40 pretty simple recipes that need one extra thing to take them from good to great. What would you add to a basic pizza dough when you already have flour, water and oil in your cart? Can you guess what's missing from a macaroni and cheese recipe that indicates only pasta and milk? Don your thinking cap (or your chef's hat) and finalize the recipes for these tasty dishes. Bon appétit and let's go!
Rice
Mashed potatoes
A traditional shepherd's pie combines meat and vegetables in a savory broth, all topped off with a healthy serving of mashed potatoes. Nobody said it was a healthful meal, but it certainly is tasty.
Macaroni
Cauliflower florets
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Chili paste
Breadcrumbs
All good meatball recipes need some bread product in them. The addition of breadcrumbs helps as a textural element and also provides a type of binding agent to help hold all the other meatball goodness together.
Yogurt
Baking powder
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Apples
Cilantro
Pickles
Butter
Of course, you can add just about anything to a grilled cheese sandwich that tickles your fancy, but you won't get that nice crispy, brown crust without a little bit of butter smeared on the outside of the sandwich.
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Corn chips
Cherry pie filling
Chocolate
Once you get that marshmallow warm and gooey, it helps to melt the chocolate bar squished in between two graham cracker pieces. Not camping out anytime soon? You can accomplish a similar s'mores experience with just your microwave!
Apples
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Bell peppers
Carrots
Kidney beans
Chili is one of those great one-pot meals that lends itself to a wide variety of ingredients. While regional variations may dictate ingredients, most versions typically have ground beef, tomatoes, beans and a variety of spices.
Peas
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Pepperoni
BBQ sauce
Broccoli
Ricotta cheese
Layers of meat, sauce, noodles and, finally, ricotta cheese, meld together to make this classic Italian fare. Most recipes also call for extra cheese for sprinkling, but in that case, the mozzarella variety.
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Edamame
Carrots
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Most traditional salsas have a tomato base to which other ingredients can be added. Think outside the box, though, and consider adding pineapple or mango to your tomato starter.
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Eggs
Even the most basic of recipes for quiche requires eggs! The beautiful thing about quiche recipes, though, is that besides the eggs, you can't pretty much throw in any ingredients of your choosing.
Ham
Buttermilk
Sour cream
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Soy sauce
Mayonnaise
In most deviled egg recipes, you scoop out the egg yolk from hardboiled eggs and mix it with amounts of mustard and mayonnaise. After you place it back in the empty egg, hit it with a dash of paprika and you're done.
Ranch dressing
Cocktail sauce
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Tahini
Cheese
The sky's the limit with hamburgers, but a true cheeseburger requires cheese. Once you've eclipsed this basic burger recipe, you can add a sunny-side-up egg, avocado, bacon, onions, tomatoes ... See where we're going here?
Avocado
Eggs
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Brown sugar
Corn nuts
Cornmeal
Cornmeal puts the "corn" in cornbread! This versatile ingredient is ground from dried corn to an almost flour-like consistency and can be used to lend a crumbly texture to homemade cornbread.
Creamed corn
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Tomatillos
Fish sauce
Tortillas
Quesadillas can have all kinds of ingredients inside, but a common pairing is chicken and cheese instead of a tortilla. Once you've stuffed it, sear it to get that cheese melty and create a crispy exterior.
Queso
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Dates
Mozzarella cheese
Almonds
Green beans almondine is a fairly simple side dish that goes great with steak or chicken. The almonds are toasted to add a deeper nutty taste to the greens. Garlic and even shallots are also nice complements.
Grenadine
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Pecans
Flour
The missing ingredient — flour — in a basic pancake recipe is the "glue" that holds all of the other ingredients together! Once you've mastered this, you can add fresh berries and whipped cream to the final product. Yum!
Sugar
Corn syrup
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Baking soda
Cinnamon
Cinnamon rolls can have a lot of add-ins (like pecans), but you need that cinnamon spice to really give the rolls a kick. Once baked, they can be topped with a homemade icing.
Pecans
Corn syrup
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Old-fashioned oats
Overnight oats need the oats! Typically, old-fashioned oats are used to create this jarred treat, which is usually created at night and left in a refrigerator overnight for the next morning. Topped with crunchy granola, it's a perfect ready-to-go breakfast.
Ritz crackers
Pancake syrup
Cottage cheese
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Sour cream
Cheese
When you think "au gratin," think cheese because that's what it's loosely interpreted to mean. In French, "au gratin" means "to grate," as in "on top" ... like cheese. Some people also call this recipe scalloped potatoes.
Buttermilk
Half and half
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Baking soda
Yeast
Yeast is in every basic pizza dough recipe, functioning as the ingredient that helps the dough to rise. Active dry yeast requires extra steps in the recipe, while instant yeast can be added to a recipe as you go.
Sugar
Butter
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Carrots
A lot of people choose to add things like raisins or other fruits to a carrot cake, but you still need to add the carrots! Finished with a decadent cream cheese frosting, you'll hardly know there are vegetables included.
Raisins
Pineapple
Espresso
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Caramel
Milk
Throw some milk in that recipe and you are golden! Bread pudding is a pretty simple recipe that packs an impressive punch, with an egg mixture, bread and milk to soak it all.
Pancake syrup
Water
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Sugar
Tuna
If you didn't catch that, "tuna noodle casserole" would just be "noodle casserole" if you forget the tuna! This easy one-pan dish can be thrown together quickly and inexpensively and then baked until bubbly.
Shrimp
Buttermilk
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Baking powder
Brown sugar
Salt
Chocolate chips
Well, you can't very well have chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips, now can you? Get creative and try different varieties of chocolate chips like milk, dark or white chocolate for a twist on a classic recipe.
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Garlic
Pasta
While we think "bacon" is probably the right answer no matter what the question is, the missing ingredient here is the pasta. Whether you're an elbow macaroni person or a cavatappi person, you can't really go wrong when ooey-gooey cheese is involved.
Parsley
Bacon
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Tomato sauce
Nutmeg
Celery
Traditional chicken noodle soup is a combination of chicken and noodles (obviously) and vegetables of your choice, most notably celery and carrots, all swimming in a flavorful chicken broth base.
Salami
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Water
Club soda
Almond milk
Vodka
A Bloody Mary isn't a party until you add the alcohol ... or so we've heard. Your typical Bloody Mary has vodka, along with tomato juice, horseradish for kick and hot sauce, among other spices. Serve it with ice in a glass and garnish with celery, lime, black pepper, olives or even bacon!
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Cheddar cheese
Heavy cream
Sour cream
Cream cheese
Cream cheese, whipped until smooth, is the basis of any good cheesecake, combined with extra ingredients like sugar and butter, of course. Once mixed, it all goes into a graham cracker crust. Yum!
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Mandarin oranges
Plantains
Bell peppers
You can't have fajitas without that delicious mixture of cooked onions and bell peppers. Experiment with different colors of peppers — red, orange, yellow and green — to slightly alter the taste of your final product.
Spinach
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Artichoke
Asparagus
Avocado
You can't have guacamole without avocado! In fact, you can pretty much craft good guacamole with nothing more than ripe avocados and salt. Other additions such as onion, lime and cilantro help deepen the flavor.
Edamame
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Worcestershire sauce
Puff pastry
You can make a pretty good chicken dish with just chicken and some veggies, but it's that glorious puff pastry (or pie dough ... or biscuit) crust that transforms into into an official "pie."
Baking soda
Vinegar
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Potatoes
Chickpeas
Chickpeas lend hummus its earthy, bean-like taste and its signature brownish color. But did you know chickpeas also are high in protein and provide a host of vitamins and minerals to a person's diet?
Pinto beans
Carrots
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Cream cheese
Beef tenderloin
Pepperoni
Ham
What could be better than a chicken cordon bleu with chicken, ham and melty cheese? There are many recipe variations for this treat, including casserole-based options.
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Croutons
Hot dogs
Peppers
After your sirloin has been cooked, it's time to add the peppers and onions. Cook the meat and veggies together so the flavors mingle and then add a thickened sauce for a complete dish.
Snow peas
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Tortillas
Sugar
Flour
If you're making homemade dumplings, you are going to need flour, but there are simpler ways of making dumplings, including using a baking mix or even rolls of pre-made biscuit dough.
Cornstarch
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Rice
Breadcrumbs
In a classic chicken parmesan, the chicken is breaded — typically in breadcrumbs — and then added to tomato sauce, parmesan cheese and pasta of your choice for a hearty Italian meal.
Raisins
Ravioli
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Prosciutto
Ham
Ground beef
There are many ways to make a spaghetti bolognese sauce, but one thing's for certain — you need beef! Traditional bolognese is a meat sauce served with cooked spaghetti pasta. Don't forget the cheese!
Sugar
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Chives
Butter
A good garlic bread recipe can be made with or without cheese, although we think it's better with. However, you can't spread that fantastic garlic-y spread on the bread without butter. Some oil will also do, in a pinch.
Buttermilk
Eggs
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Hot sauce
Sugar
Water
To create a batter for homemade onion rings, you'll need flour, eggs and enough water to make a type of paste to dredge the onions in. Then, drop them in a fryer until crispy.
Cottage cheese
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Cornmeal
Quinoa
Polenta
Arborio rice
The arborio rice, a short-grained, starchy version of the minute rice we all grew up with, is what makes risotto, risotto. The process of cooking it in the broth and white wine softens it, making what is essentially a more "grown-up" macaroni and cheese.
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Red wine vinegar
Breadcrumbs
Anchovies
Believe it or not, anchovies are the secret ingredient to a killer Caesar dressing. If fish make you squeamish, you can always try omitting them although it's the anchovies that pack the umami punch.
Gelatin
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Vanilla
Cream of tartar
Sugar
Sugar gives heavy whipping cream a dose of sweetness that it needs as an accompaniment to a dessert or fresh berries. You could buy pre-made whipped cream, but with it being so easy to make, why would you?
Baking soda
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You Got:
/40
