Boomers Love These 12 Retro Fall Dishes

Fall has a way of bringing certain foods back into rotation, from apple-and-cinnamon favorites to cozy casseroles, hearty dinners, and holiday classics that have appeared on tables for generations. Baby boomers may have especially fond memories of these dishes, but you don't have to be a boomer to appreciate a recipe that gives comfort, particularly when the temperatures start to drop.

Whether you want to take a walk down memory lane or are looking for some new-to-you ideas for your fall menu, I rounded up a list of retro favorites that should be on your radar this season. Chances are good you've heard of many of them — they are popular for a reason — and some may have been regulars at your family's table growing up. Others might be dishes you've never tried but recognize from cookbooks, family gatherings, or a grandparent's kitchen. From nostalgic sides to filling main dishes and sweet treats, these classics offer plenty of inspiration for the months ahead, whether you're cooking for yourself, feeding your family, or hosting a holiday event.

Full of savory herbs that evoke autumnal flavors, rich, tender meat, and applesauce on the side, pork chops are a natural fit for colder months, especially for those who grew up eating them. On a boomer Facebook thread asking whether people enjoyed pork chops with applesauce as a kid, one commenter said, "My wife won't eat pork without it, no applesauce, no pork." Understood. 

Whether you've tried the classic pairing before or not, there is something appealing about the contrast between savory pork and sweet, tangy applesauce. If you want to try it for yourself, you can keep things simple with a classic seared pork chop. Still, there is plenty of room for a modern twist on this old-school favorite, so don't be afraid to experiment with brines, sauces, and seasonings. For example, an aromatic smothered pork chop recipe featuring an orange juice and brown sugar brine and a finishing sauce made with mushrooms, dried Turkish figs, and spices would pair beautifully with applesauce.

Everyone knows that chicken pot pie is not only easy to make (especially if you use a store-bought crust), but it's also deeply comforting when the weather starts to grow colder. As a result, it's another shoo-in for fall. A catch-all for leftover ingredients, it has appealed to home cooks throughout the ages, including those in the boomer generation (in fact, meat pies date back to the Roman Empire). I remember my mother making chicken pot pie whenever we needed to use up extra veggies and a quick meal was in order.

Making a full chicken pot pie is as easy as mixing vegetables, the namesake meat, and a creamy base together, topping it with crust, and baking. You can even opt to use a can of creamy condensed soup, like cream of celery or mushroom, for the base. However, if you want a more individualized approach, hand-held chicken pot pies are perfect. They may take a little extra effort, but the result is tasty, personal-sized pies that resemble empanadas and are perfect for sharing.

Pot roast is incredibly easy to make — it slowly cooks with little to no involvement for hours — making it a fantastic fall dish. It also fits into the classic baby boomer dinner collection of foods, likely because it's simple to make, feeds a crowd on a budget, and is downright tasty. Slow-cooking the roast creates an easily shreddable, melt-in-your-mouth texture that many boomers remember eating weekly growing up.

Best of all, you only need three ingredients to make an easy slow cooker pot roast: A beef roast, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and a packet of onion soup mix. Once combined in a slow cooker and cooked on low for several hours, it becomes fork-tender and delicious. If you want to take the recipe a bit further into classic boomer territory — and I recommend you do — you can also toss some potatoes and carrots into the slow cooker to create a well-rounded meal.

Of all the ways to use a can of tuna, a casserole could easily be a baby boomer's favorite. During a post-war economic boom, tuna casserole became an American staple in the 1950s and '60s when convenient meals were all the rage. Classically made with a can of tuna, a can of cream of mushroom soup, egg noodles, and maybe some veggies and cheese all baked together, it epitomized comfort food. It was certainly a favorite of my grandmother's to make, and the tradition carried down to my mom.

Since the dish is a casserole first and foremost, it's also prime for ingredient upgrades. After all, casseroles are practically a catch-all for whatever ingredients you have on hand, as long as they complement the star of the dish. If you want to spruce yours up, a Spanish Romesco-y tuna casserole featuring tomatoes, olives, capers, and cauliflower is a great place to start. It combines the familiar comfort of a classic tuna casserole with bright, briny flavors and a little Mediterranean flair.

Pumpkin spice captures the season's flavor profile, and what better way to work it into more menu items than in pumpkin butter? This sweet, warmly spiced spread puts all those familiar fall flavors in one deliciously versatile package. Its roots also tie into the long-running popularity of pumpkin pie spice. McCormick introduced its Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix in the 1930s as a shortcut for making pie, and the blend eventually became a household staple. By the 1960s, it was marketed as Pumpkin Spice, and home cooks found plenty of uses for the blend beyond pie. 

For boomers who grew up with those familiar warming spices, making homemade pumpkin spice butter meant combining cream with spices and straining the mixture through cheesecloth. Today, you can easily make your own using a store-bought spice blend, adding as much spice as you like before sweetening it with syrup or brown sugar and stirring in a touch of pumpkin puree. Spread it on your favorite bread, muffin, bagel, or dinner roll, and see how long the batch lasts. Spoiler: It won't.

Like a full pie, but arguably even better, apple dumplings were a popular treat during boomers' childhood years, making them a natural fit for a list of nostalgic fall foods. The dish has been a staple in Pennsylvania Dutch country for decades,  but its appeal certainly wasn't limited to the region. In fact, the dessert was familiar enough to inspire the title of the 1975 Disney comedy, "The Apple Dumpling Gang." 

Homemade apple dumplings are essentially everything you want in a fall dessert: thick slices of apple wrapped in dough and smothered with a sauce made of melted butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Bake them until crusty, then serve with ice cream or in a bowl with milk poured over the top. Not only is the flavor of the warm treat ideal for fall enjoyment, but apples are also one of the main fruits of the season. And the best part is, while they sound like a dessert — and certainly can be — they're substantial enough to enjoy any time of day.

Nothing says warm and comforting like a hot bowl of soup, and that's exactly what you get with our next baby boomer classic: ham and bean soup. Made with a savory, herby broth, a ham hock, and either navy, cannellini, or great northern beans, it delivers the kind of cozy satisfaction that's perfect for the autumn months. Ham and bean soup, also known as Senate bean soup, has been served at the U.S. Capitol every day for more than a century, with one exception during World War II, when food shortages forced it off the menu. It's actually required to be served there, meaning this humble soup was already an American institution by the time boomers came along.

To whip up your own batch of herby ham and bean soup, sauté the veggies with a ham hock in a pot, add broth, beans, and savory herbs, and simmer for a couple of hours. Once the ham is tender, remove the hock, shred the meat, and return it to the pot before serving. Don't worry too much about the shredding step, though. After a long, gentle simmer, the ham will practically fall off the bone.

Chicken and dumplings are a Southern classic with all the flavor and charm you could want from a fall dish. It's a savory, hearty soup, filled with the kind of homemade goodness that makes you want to curl up with a bowl. No one in my family could say no to it, that's for sure. Chicken and dumplings was my great-grandmother's signature dish, and she lovingly passed the recipe down through the family. My mom still makes it today, which makes it an especially fitting addition to a list of fall dishes that bring baby boomer-era food traditions to mind. 

The star of the dish is the fluffy dumplings, but the savory broth, aromatic veggies (typically celery and carrots), and hearty chicken bring it all together. My family made the dumplings with Bisquick when time was of the essence, but you can also make them from scratch. However, if you really want to make things easy on yourself, you can also make chicken and dumplings with canned biscuits. They cook in the broth like classic dumplings and soak up just as much of the delectable flavor. When it comes to cooking shortcuts, canned biscuits are a winner in this beloved classic.

Apple cake is a sweet treat that fits right into the type of old-fashioned desserts that boomers grew up eating. As apple season is a fall event, it also fits our seasonally inspired recipe criteria. Even for me, apple cake is a nostalgic delight. The recipe was passed down from my great-grandmother to my grandmother, to my mother, and then to me, and it's the only dish I still recreate from her recipe book regularly.

If icing isn't your thing, you're in luck: apple cake is sweet enough that it doesn't need any. My family recipe for apple cake requires finely dicing or blending the apples so they fully integrate into the cake while baking. This creates drool-worthy results, but also makes it hard to know when the cake is done because toothpicks never come out clean after poking. You can simplify it, though, by making a boxed spiced apple cake and layering large chunks of apple on top of the batter once it is in the pan. Either way, the payoff will be huge in flavor and texture.

Green bean almondine isn't one of those dishes that have faded into the past. Although it's still quite popular on Thanksgiving tables today, it's far from a modern recipe. The well-known side dish is actually a classic mid-century recipe that grew in popularity in the '50s and '60s. I like to think of it as green bean casserole's more sophisticated cousin. Overflowing with bright flavors and fresh snap, it deserves attention beyond holiday gatherings.

Compared to traditional steaming, green bean almondine has better texture and flavor. The string beans are blistered, meaning they are first blanched, dipped in ice water, then quickly cooked in a pan over high heat for a crisp exterior. But the dish's craveable taste comes from adding butter, lemon, and sliced almonds. Green beans almondine is an easy recipe that is elevated enough for a holiday spread, but humble enough to serve as a side dish any night of the week.

Oh, scalloped potatoes. Cheesy, salty, creamy, garlicky, and oniony all at once, it puts many other baked dishes to shame. It was particularly popular in the 1960s, so baby boomers know it well, but it is so warming and comforting that it still maintains much of its widespread appeal today. As a baked dish, it is a no-brainer for fall, and its simplicity is just a bonus. That's likely why it gained so much traction in the '60s, too, when convenient meals were a main priority.

Several boxed versions of scalloped potatoes grace store shelves today, but scratch-made scalloped potatoes are the stuff dreams are made of, especially if you love potatoes and cheese. The most challenging part of the recipe is slicing the potatoes evenly and thinly enough to get that delectable texture (a mandolin will handle that no problem, though). After that, make the onion cream sauce, assemble the ingredients in a baking dish, and bake until it develops a beautiful golden-brown top.

Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food, and there's a reason it shows up on so many tables when the weather gets colder. It's warm, creamy, filling, and easy to customize, making it a natural addtion to fall dinners and, of course, Thanksgiving spreads. It's also one of those dishes that crosses generations. Kids love it, parents grew up eating it, and grandparents often have their own way ot making it. I can remember my mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother all making mac and cheese for the family, and there were never any complaints. While the dish certainly has fans among baby boomers, its appeal isn't limited to one generation. Some foods never go out of style, and mac and cheese is one of them.

Boxed mac and cheese fits the boomer nostalgia bill, but making it from scratch leads to the tastiest, creamiest, cheesiest results. It doesn't have to be complicated, either. In fact, you can easily make mac and cheese with just three ingredients — cheese, pasta, and milk — plus some seasonings and oil. Of course, more than one type of cheese never hurts, but even if you keep it simple, it's a recipe that is sure to win the hearts of anyone you serve it to. While often encouraged, there's no need for a modern twist, either. The classic rendition is darn near perfect as-is. Make some this fall, and you'll see what I mean.