14 Of The Easiest Old-School Diner Dishes To Recreate At Home

There's just something about an old-school diner — the booths that have seen better days, the waiters always ready with a hot pot of coffee, the regulars posted up on their bar stools, the sounds of food sizzling emanating from the open kitchen alongside smells that will make your stomach growl immediately. However, not everyone's lucky enough to have a reliably great diner in their neck of the woods, so when cravings strike, you're on your own.

Thankfully, while diner food can seem almost magical, able to cure whatever ails you (body or soul), a lot of it's not all that difficult to prepare. You can make many diner classics right at home. Sure, you might need to go out and grab some ingredients that you don't always have on hand (liver, anyone?), but if you make the effort, you'll find that you're well-rewarded. Here are some of the easiest recipes for old-school diner dishes.

Tuna casserole is an old-school vintage favorite, but why in the world has it been relegated to diners? This casserole is not only exceptionally tasty, but it's also very easy to make, fast enough for a weeknight, and pretty affordable, too. This recipe amps up the casserole's texture by sautéing the onion and crunchy vegetables of your choice in butter before adding them to the rest of the casserole ingredients. Then, you similarly sauté your breadcrumbs, before adding them to the casserole's top.

Recipe: Tuna casserole

If you have a hankering for beef stroganoff at home, drop that box of Hamburger Helper, because this classic retro meal couldn't be easier thanks to your handy Instant Pot. Beef and mushrooms cook until they're succulent and tender in under half an hour, barely long enough for you to cook the buttered egg noodles that you'll serve the stroganoff atop (and if you don't have any egg noodles on hand, you can always swap them out for mashed potatoes or rice).

Recipe: Beef stroganoff

Once a fine-dining menu item, Salisbury steak — named for James Salisbury, a Civil War doctor who invented the dish, branding it as a health food — is now more likely to be found as part of a TV dinner or, of course, at your local diner. Make a fine-dining-worthy Salisbury steak at home with this recipe from Jessica Formicola and her blog Savory Experiments. Opt for a fattier ground beef blend to help the steaks stick together while cooking and don't overwork your meat while forming your patties, as that can lead to a tough texture.

Recipe: Salisbury steak

Originally, the chocolate egg cream — a staple of soda fountains throughout the country — did contain raw eggs and cream, but this recipe from The Franklin Fountain in Philadelphia has been updated to the more modern take that only includes milk, seltzer, and chocolate syrup. Do note, though, that you can't use just any chocolate syrup in this recipe, if you want to achieve the characteristic frothy and creamy mouthfeel of a true chocolate egg cream. You'll specifically want U-Bet chocolate syrup, which was invented for soda fountains in the early 1900s.

Recipe: Chocolate egg cream

Liver and onions is one of those dishes you either love or hate — but if you absolutely love it, you can easily make it at home... if you're willing to get a little stinky (just open a window and turn up the hood fan). Ask your butcher to remove the odorous liver's membrane and slice it for you to cut down on prep time. From there, you'll sauté your onions, dredge and fry the liver, and make a delectable pan sauce. Serve it with a veg and starch like mashed potatoes or rice.

Recipe: Liver and onions

Scrapple has regional appeal in the Mid-Atlantic, easily found in diners around Philadelphia and New Jersey. Traditionally, it's a mix of chopped pork (including offal and scraps), cornmeal, and seasonings, shaped into a loaf and then fried in slices, but this recipe eschews the traditional offal and scraps in favor of ingredients that might be a little more palatable to modern home cooks. Two types of bacon, sausage, and ham meet grits. The result is a super-savory, meaty breakfast item that's going to pair oh-so-well with sweet pancakes or waffles and a fried egg.

Recipe: Breakfast meat scrapple

Like a more complex version of a chocolate milkshake, a chocolate malted contains something you might not already have in your pantry: malt, which provides the drink's characteristic, toasted-sweet flavor. Still, if you go out of your way to pick up both Ovaltine chocolate malt and a bottle of malt soda, making this retro beverage couldn't be simpler, requiring you to merely toss your ingredients into the blender for a few moments.

Recipe: Chocolate malted

Sure, you may already have a go-to pancake recipe, but are you able to replicate the supremely fluffy stacks of flapjacks that you'd get at a diner? If not, you may just want to give this recipe from recipe developer Kate Shungu a whirl. The yeast makes for a high-rise fluff. You will need to let the batter hang out in the fridge overnight or for at least eight hours, but if you have a little patience, you'll find actually cooking the pancakes the next morning to be fast, easy, and rewarding.

Recipe: Overnight yeasted buttermilk pancakes

Making a patty melt is just as easy as making a burger, according to chef and recipe developer Michelle McGlinn, who produced this recipe — but the results are far more impressive, thanks to the crispy-crunchy grilled sourdough bread, gooey melty cheese, expertly seasoned beef, and caramelized onions. If you have one, use a cast iron skillet to get a superior sear, and make sure to really press down on your patty melt at the end of the cooking process. You'll get all those mouthwatering flavors in every bite, without the melt falling apart.

Recipe: Simple sourdough patty melt

Unlike tuna casserole, meatloaf is classic diner fare that's managed to stick around in most home kitchens. If you feel like your meatloaf is a bit lackluster, try this take from recipe developer Kate Shungu. It swaps out your typical ground beef for turkey but then adds in bacon, too, for extra flavor and fat (if you've ever had dry turkey meatloaf, you know why this is absolutely essential). Breadcrumbs act as the binder and even more flavor comes from sautéed onions and a glaze of ketchup, brown sugar, and Dijon mustard.

Recipe: Turkey and crispy bacon meatloaf

While chicken fried steak may seem intimidating, it's easy enough to perfect at home with a little practice, especially thanks to this recipe from chef and recipe developer Keith Kamikawa. You'll pound out your steak until it's suitably thin, bread each slice, and then fry the steaks until golden brown and crispy. Afterward, you'll use the same cooking vessel to make a delicious, thick gravy, which you'll definitely want to pour all over that steak, as well as on some mashed potatoes on the side.

Recipe: Chicken fried steak

A good slice of diner cheesecake is almost as good as diner pie (or even better, depending on who you ask). While decadent and delicious, cheesecake isn't all that complicated, and this recipe requires only seven ingredients — though it is a lesson in patience. You'll make a homemade graham cracker crust first, then cook the cheesecake in two phases, for about an hour. The cheesecake chills overnight, but when your long wait is finally over, it pairs perfectly with fresh fruit.

Recipe: Grandma Malva's cheesecake

A Reuben sandwich — including this one from chef and recipe developer Michelle McGlinn — combines bold ingredients for an unmistakable flavor profile that you can easily recreate at home in less than 15 minutes. All this recipe requires is that you butter your chosen bread (go for rye or pumpernickel), and then layer on your corned beef, Swiss, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island dressing. Toast the sandwich for a few minutes on each side and you're done.

Recipe: Easy Reuben sandwich

When you're in the mood for a sandwich, and you want something that feels refreshing, but still tasty and filling, a club sandwich is an excellent go-to. This recipe blends mayonnaise with pesto for extra flavor, pairing the spread with the classic toasted white bread, lettuce, tomato, bacon, and turkey. Pair your sandwich with some potato chips and you'll think you were sitting in a booth right in your favorite diner.

Recipe: Classic club sandwich

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