If you’ve spent any time in a kitchen over the last decade, you know the deal with Ree Drummond. She’s the queen of the ranch, the master of the floral Dutch oven, and the woman who somehow convinced half of America that adding an extra stick of butter is basically a spiritual requirement. Honestly, keeping up with her is a full-time job.
Every year, the "Pioneer Woman" empire churns out a dizzying amount of content. But 2024 was different. We saw a shift. People weren't just looking for the heaviest comfort food imaginable; they were looking for recipes that didn't keep them trapped in the kitchen for three hours on a Tuesday.
Why the Pioneer Woman's Top Desserts & Recipes of 2024 Still Dominate Our Kitchens
The staying power of the Pioneer Woman's top desserts & recipes of 2024 comes down to one thing: reliability. You know that if Ree says a cake is going to be moist, it’s going to be moist. No guessing.
Last year, the data from Food Network and her own site showed a massive surge in "batch-able" sweets. We're talking about things you can throw in a 9x13 pan and feed a small army with. The Chocolate Sheet Cake—a recipe she’s had in her back pocket for years—saw a weirdly huge resurgence in 2024. Why? Because it's foolproof. It uses buttermilk to keep things tender, and that warm pour-over icing is basically liquid gold.
But it wasn't all just old classics.
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The Dessert Heavyweights
One of the breakout stars of 2024 was actually the Easiest-Ever Ice Cream Cake. It sounds like a cop-out, right? It’s not. It uses store-bought ice cream sandwiches as the base. Ree’s genius here is the layering—adding crushed candies, fudge sauce, and a whipped topping that makes people think you actually spent more than ten minutes on it.
Then there were the Blackberry Cheesecake Squares. These are dangerous. The crust has pecans in it for a bit of a nutty crunch, which offsets the tangy cream cheese beautifully. People were obsessed with these last summer.
- Triple Layered Confetti Cake: This was the birthday staple of the year.
- Pumpkin Rum Cake: It dominated the holiday searches. The rum glaze is what makes it.
- Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies: These are chewier than your average cookie because of the high brown sugar-to-white sugar ratio.
The Savory Side: Comfort and Convenience
On the savory front, 2024 was the year of the casserole. But not the soggy, sad ones from your childhood. We're talking high-flavor, high-protein stuff.
The Chicken Enchilada Casserole stayed at the top of the charts for a reason. Ree’s trick—which she mentions constantly—is dunking the tortillas in the sauce first. It’s messy. It’s annoying. But it’s the difference between a "good" dinner and everyone asking for thirds.
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What Most People Get Wrong About Ree's Recipes
People think her food is just "dump and bake." It's really not. If you look at her Perfect Pot Roast, which was a top-five recipe again in 2024, the secret isn't some magic ingredient. It's the "low and slow" philosophy. You cannot rush it. If you try to cook it in two hours, you’re eating shoe leather. You need those full four hours for the connective tissue to actually melt.
Honestly, the Roasted Asparagus being a top performer in 2024 surprised a lot of people. It’s so simple—olive oil, salt, pepper—but it proves that her audience is looking for balance. You can't eat Chicken Spaghetti every single night. Well, you could, but your jeans might have something to say about it.
The "Light" Shift
Surprisingly, her "Light Weeknight Dinners" series gained a lot of traction. The Citrus Salmon Skewers and Cauliflower Crust Pizza were huge. It shows that even the ranch crowd wants to feel a bit lighter. The Multi-Cooker Black Bean Soup was another winner, mostly because it's a "set it and forget it" situation that actually tastes like it has depth.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Meal
If you want to actually nail these recipes, you have to stop subbing out the fat. Ree’s recipes are balanced for a certain fat content. When you swap heavy cream for skim milk in the Perfect Potato Soup, the texture falls apart. It becomes watery and sad.
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Pro Tip: For the Chocolate Sheet Cake, make the frosting while the cake is still in the oven. You want to pour that warm icing over the hot cake the second it comes out. This creates a thin, fudgy layer between the cake and the frosting that is basically the entire point of the dish.
For the savory stuff, especially the Chicken Pot Pie, don't skip the white wine in the sauce. It provides an acidity that cuts through the heavy cream. Without it, the dish feels one-note.
Start with the Monkey Bread if you're a beginner. It’s basically impossible to mess up. Use the refrigerated biscuit dough like she suggests. There’s no shame in it.
The biggest takeaway from the Pioneer Woman's top desserts & recipes of 2024 is that comfort doesn't have to be complicated. It just has to be consistent. Pick a recipe, follow the temperature guides exactly, and don't be afraid of the salt.