15 Easy Dinner Recipes for Busy Weeknights at Home
Weeknight dinner has to be three things at once: fast, filling, and made from ingredients you actually have. The easy dinner recipes below are the ones real home cooks lean on: one pan wonders, pasta nights, and family favorites that land on the table in about 30 minutes with very little washing up. There are 15 easy dinner recipes here, each with a short ingredient list and a method you can follow without measuring everything to the gram.
Easy Dinner Recipes from One Pan
1. One Pan Chicken and Rice
About 35 minutes. Brown 4 seasoned chicken thighs in an oven safe pan, set them aside, then toast 1 cup of rice in the drippings with a chopped onion and 2 garlic cloves. Add 2 cups of chicken stock, nestle the chicken back in, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Rest 5 minutes before serving. Everything cooks in one pan, and the rice soaks up all the flavor.
2. Sheet Pan Sausage and Vegetables
About 30 minutes. Chop 4 sausages, 2 potatoes, 2 peppers, and 1 red onion into chunks, toss with olive oil, salt, and a teaspoon of smoked paprika, and spread on a large tray. Roast at 220 C for 25 to 30 minutes, turning once. Serve as it is or with crusty bread. Of all the easy dinner recipes here, this one asks the least of the cook.
3. Garlic Butter Shrimp with Rice
About 15 minutes. Melt butter with 3 sliced garlic cloves, add 300 g of peeled shrimp, and cook 2 minutes per side until pink. Squeeze over half a lemon, scatter with parsley, and serve over rice you cooked while the shrimp rested. It feels like a restaurant plate and takes less time than boiling the kettle twice.
4. Skillet Chicken Fajitas
About 25 minutes. Slice 2 chicken breasts, 2 peppers, and 1 onion into strips. Sear the chicken with a teaspoon each of cumin and paprika, add the vegetables until soft at the edges, and finish with lime juice. Warm tortillas, set out sour cream and grated cheese, and let everyone build their own at the table; it is one of those easy dinner recipes that doubles as the evening’s entertainment.
5. One Pan Gnocchi with Tomato and Spinach
About 20 minutes. Simmer a 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes with a garlic clove and a pinch of chili flakes, add a 500 g pack of gnocchi straight into the sauce, and cook 3 minutes until they float. Stir through two handfuls of spinach and torn mozzarella. No separate pot of water, no draining, and the sauce clings to every piece.
Pasta Night: Easy Dinner Recipes Everyone Loves
6. Spaghetti Bolognese
About 30 minutes. Brown 500 g of beef mince with an onion, add 2 garlic cloves, a 400 g tin of tomatoes, a tablespoon of tomato paste, and a teaspoon of dried oregano. Simmer 20 minutes while the spaghetti cooks. A splash of the pasta water loosens the sauce. It is the most requested of these easy dinner recipes in most houses, mine included.
7. Creamy Tomato Pasta
About 20 minutes. Cook 300 g of penne. Meanwhile soften garlic in olive oil, add a 400 g tin of tomatoes and simmer 10 minutes, then stir in 100 ml of cream and a handful of grated parmesan. Toss the pasta through with basil if you have it. The sauce tastes slow cooked, and nobody needs to know it was not.
8. Chicken Alfredo Pasta
About 25 minutes. Sear sliced chicken breast until golden, then make the sauce in the same pan: butter, a garlic clove, 200 ml of cream, and 50 g of parmesan, simmered until it coats a spoon. Toss with fettuccine and the chicken, plus plenty of black pepper. Rich, simple, and very forgiving if the pasta waits a few minutes.
9. Tuna Pasta Bake
About 30 minutes. Cook 300 g of pasta shapes, mix with 2 drained tins of tuna, a tin of sweetcorn, and a jar of tomato sauce thinned with a splash of milk. Tip into a dish, cover with grated cheese, and bake at 200 C for 15 minutes until bubbling. A store cupboard hero for the nights the fridge is nearly empty.
10. Stovetop Mac and Cheese
About 20 minutes. Cook 300 g of macaroni in salted water and save a mug of it. In the same pot melt butter, stir in a tablespoon of flour, then 300 ml of milk until smooth. Add 150 g of grated cheddar off the heat, stir until melted, and fold the pasta back in with a splash of its water. Comfort in one pot.
Family Favorite Easy Dinner Recipes
11. Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry
About 20 minutes, plus rice. Stir fry 400 g of beef strips in a hot pan and set aside. Cook a bag of stir fry vegetables in the same pan, then return the beef with 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, a teaspoon of honey, and grated ginger. Serve over rice. The sauce is the whole secret here, and it takes thirty seconds to mix.
12. Egg Fried Rice
About 15 minutes. This is the clean out the fridge entry in these easy dinner recipes: fry 3 beaten eggs in a wide pan, set aside, then stir fry 3 cups of cold cooked rice with frozen peas, sweetcorn, and chopped spring onions. Add soy sauce, fold the egg back in ribbons, and serve with chili sauce for the adults.
13. Lemon Baked Salmon
About 20 minutes. Put 4 salmon fillets on a lined tray, top each with a lemon slice, a knob of butter, and dill or parsley. Bake at 200 C for 12 to 15 minutes. Serve with boiled new potatoes and green beans. It is the lightest of these easy dinner recipes and the one that makes the cook look most skilled.
14. Beef Tacos
About 20 minutes. Brown 500 g of beef mince with a packet of taco seasoning or your own mix of cumin, paprika, and chili. Warm the taco shells, and set out shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, grated cheese, and sour cream. Taco night works because the cook makes one pan of filling and the table does the rest of the work.
15. Vegetable Curry with Rice
About 30 minutes. Soften an onion, add 2 tablespoons of curry paste, a 400 g tin of chickpeas, a tin of chopped tomatoes, and a tin of coconut milk. Simmer 15 minutes, add spinach at the end, and serve over rice with a squeeze of lime. It is naturally meat free, freezes well, and tastes even better the next day.
How to Make Weeknight Dinners Easier
Keep a running list of five of these easy dinner recipes on the fridge and shop for them once a week; deciding is the hard part, not cooking. Double the rice whenever you cook it, because tomorrow’s fried rice is then half made. And for the nights when even 15 minutes is too much, my charcuterie board design turns cheese, meats, and fruit into a no cook dinner nobody complains about.
Easy Dinner Recipes Cheat Sheet
- Fastest: garlic butter shrimp (3), egg fried rice (12)
- Least washing up: sheet pan sausage (2), one pan gnocchi (5)
- Kid approved: mac and cheese (10), tacos (14), bolognese (6)
- Store cupboard only: tuna pasta bake (9), vegetable curry (15)
- Feels fancy, cooks easy: salmon (13), chicken alfredo (8)
Save these easy dinner recipes to Pinterest before your next grocery run, and start with the one pan chicken and rice; it converts people. And when dinner goes this well, dessert should be just as simple: my christmas dessert recipes include several that take under 30 minutes.
