20 Simple Weeknight Dinner Recipes for When You are Brief On Time
For me, on the subject of weeknight cooking, generally it’s there and generally… it’s completely not. A day within the lifetime of the previous case: Once I’m on my meal prep sport, I’m all in and absolutely ready for no matter comes my manner. Must work late? I’ve my tried and true staples stacked up within the fridge in beautifully-hued containers. A good friend needs to drop by for an impromptu get-together? There’s an additional serving of one in every of my go-to soups (and bread!) able to reheat. Once I don’t have all of it collectively (which admittedly, is extra weeks than not), frantically scrambled-together and less-than-healthy choices come into my rotation. I made a decision it was time to regroup and provides my weeknight dinners the chance to be a supply of pleasure—not stress. And that my mates, is when these simple weeknight dinner recipes got here into my life.
Featured picture by Michelle Nash.
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20 Easy Weeknight Dinner Recipes You Can Make in a Snap
While it’s true that we have to eat to survive, many people (myself included) love to use cooking as a way to unwind at the end of a long day. And while it would be ideal to have the time and space for that Monday through Friday, when the happy chaos of the week takes its toll, it’s these 20 easy and breezy, healthy and filling weeknight recipes that I can’t get enough of.
To help you get your fill and protect your weeknight peace of mind, I’m sharing the recipes that support me in making it to the weekend feeling satiated and low on the stress. Without further ado, here are the hardworking dishes that’ll have you looking forward to dinner every night of the week.
Vegan Flatbread with Roasted Carrot and Red Pepper Hummus
Why We Love It: You know it’s a good recipe when it immediately goes viral as soon as the Reel posts. Seriously—y’all couldn’t get enough of this healthy flatbread! Well, you’re in good company because I’ve been known to make it multiple times throughout the month. I’ll share a few ways I like to make it even easier.
1) Make your hummus ahead of time and store it in the fridge. Bonus: it’s such a tasty afternoon snack. 2) Always stock your fridge with flatbread or pita. Not only do they serve as the tasty base for this dish, but they’re also handy to have around if you need to round out a meal. 3) Prep whatever veggies you want to top your flatbread with ahead of time. I personally love corn chopped off the cob, shallots pickled in advance, and a few handfuls of arugula. Just be sure to chop your avocado at the last minute—you don’t want it turning brown.
Hero Ingredient: Once again, it’s the hummus that seals the deal on this easy weeknight dinner recipe.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Why We Love It: When I first heard that Camille was developing a recipe for five-ingredient chicken fajitas, I was counting down the days until it was released on the site. And then I learned that the entire thing could be made on a sheet pan. Absolute genius. Make this your go-to when you need something quick, easy, and that’ll have the whole family asking for seconds.
Hero Ingredient: A mixed variety of peppers is the easiest way to work color and flavor into this simple dish.
Green Sauce Pasta
Why We Love It: If you’re looking for more ways to get your greens in 2023, this simple, five-ingredient pasta recipe is it. Spinach, asparagus, and peas all get jazzed up thanks to the addition of parmesan and a squeeze of lemon. Drop the green smoothie and pick up this easy weeknight dinner.
Hero Ingredient: A handful of chopped basil is the secret to getting this pasta to taste unbelievably fresh.
Spring Rice Salad
Why We Love It: This salad’s so good, our food editor admitted to eating it for a week straight. That, dear readers, is the key to using up your leftovers. Make something so tasty that you’ll crave it for every meal afterward. This rice salad has crunch, it has color, and it packs plenty of satiating protein and healthy fats. In other words, it’s perfection.
Hero Ingredient: Toasting the cumin seeds in ghee transforms your rice with the most delicious pop of flavor.
Green Goddess Pasta Salad
Why We Love It: Green Goddess salads were everywhere in 2022 and we’re happily inviting them along for this year’s dinnertime adventures. The all-green color palette is not only stunning but clues you into the fact that you’re getting all the nutrient-dense goodness your dinner deserves. Trust me, this is not your run-of-the-mill pasta salad.
Hero Ingredient: Nutritional yeast gives your dressing a delicious hit of plant-based cheesiness. It’s a crucial ingredient that even non-vegans will appreciate.
Sweet Potato Falafel Veggie Burgers
Why We Love It: As a kid, I remember always looking forward to burger night. And while I’ve since ditched my weekly red meat habit, these sweet potato burgers definitely satisfy the craving. The flavor is next-level thanks to the ultimate spice trifecta of cumin, coriander seeds, and red chili powder. And when summer comes, these burgers deserve a permanent spot on your grill.
Hero Ingredient: Panko breadcrumbs not only hold these burgers together, but they also add a nice little texture player that’s definitely appreciated.
Miso Tomato Pasta
Why We Love It: I’m adding a resolution to my 2023 intentions: this year, I’m making (and eating!) more 30-minute pasta recipes. This dish, definitely included. Jammy tomatoes roast together with caramelized garlic for a pop of flavor that’s totally crave-worthy. And don’t even get me started on the choice to use bucatini here—the hollow noodles hold the buttery, miso-infused sauce beautifully.
Hero Ingredient: Speaking of miso. It adds the perfect punch of umami to this simpler-than-it-seems dinner.
Vegan Chorizo Tacos
Why We Love It: Your Tuesday Taco Night tastebuds will never be the same after trying this recipe. Chorizo tacos are one delicious thing, but vegan chorizo tacos? Something totally else. Brought to you by the tacos from everyone’s favorite Austin-based health food haven, The Well, these bundles of scrumptious pleasure are (spoiler!) even anti-inflammatory. Your physique, thoughts, and schedule will thanks.
Hero Ingredient: Nothing offers you the tender, spicy chunk of chorizo (minus the meat) fairly like chickpeas.
Wholesome Flatbread Pizza with Eggplant and Ricotta
Why We Love It: Based mostly on the variety of flatbread dishes I’ve on this listing, I hope you’re catching onto the theme of my favourite simple weeknight dinner recipes. That is pizza, completely remodeled. Ricotta creates a creamy-tangy base that helps the candy and caramelized veggies to perfection.
Hero Ingredient: Whether or not you toast them or have them already candied, walnuts are the star of this tasty present.
Spinach Artichoke Tarts
Why We Love It: Your favourite dip, however make it an entire meal. This recipe completely transforms the favored celebration snack right into a dinner that’s excessive on fiber and taste. It’s tacky, only a contact spicy, and is a scrumptious automobile for getting your every day dose of greens. These tarts are mild, however filling—precisely what I’m craving as we begin to transition into spring.
Hero Ingredient: Only a teaspoon of Dijon mustard offers sufficient of a peppery punch to steadiness out the richness of the cheese.
Pesto Gnocchi Skillet Bake
Why We Love It: In my e-book, something that mixes cheese with pesto and gnocchi’s pillowy softness is an ideal recipe. This dish completes my standards to perfection. It’s comforting whereas additionally being filled with taste. Make this for the fam mid-week and be ready for a standing ovation.
Hero Ingredient: Home made pesto works completely superb, however if you happen to actually need to step issues up, this vegan model couldn’t be simpler.
Sizzling Honey Glazed Salmon With Coconut Crunch
Why We Love It: Tons of taste and vitamin, multi function cozy bowl. Whereas I’d think about myself a salmon connoisseur, this was a combo of textures and components that I’d by no means even considered. Now, it’s absolutely solidified as my all-time favourite salmon dish. This recipe helps the salmon with an entire lot of goodness. Home made scorching honey, a simple coconut crunch, fluffy rice, and everybody’s favourite: honey-glazed candy potatoes. Double this one—you’ll be wanting leftovers.
Hero Ingredient: Two-ingredient scorching honey is my new favourite condiment. I plan to drizzle it on all the pieces with reckless abandon.
Creamy Vegan Pasta with Tomatoes and Basil
Why We Love It: A creamy vegan sauce that’s simply nearly as good as its dairy-laden counterparts? You higher imagine it. This recipe is straightforward however elegant, making it an ideal decide for a random Monday night or the at-home date night time you’ve been planning for weeks.
Hero Ingredient: Different naming possibility for this recipe: walnuts, a love story. Learn the recipe to see what I imply.
Toasted Tandoori Spice Chickpea Grain Bowl
Why We Love It: Don’t you adore it when your dinner captures all the great thing about the rainbow? These bowls offer you tons of fiber and protein and are completely vegetarian (vegan if you happen to swap out the halloumi for tofu and ghee for coconut oil). So not solely are they a breeze to tug collectively on the eleventh hour when starvation turns hangry, however they’re additionally match for nearly any dietary want.
Hero Ingredient: Tandoori spice ties all the colourful parts of this bowl collectively.
Miso-Glazed Salmon
Why We Love It: We’re fairly obsessed with having a number of servings of salmon spaced all through the week. The fish is delish, packs loads of protein, and helps your targets for glowing pores and skin. Pair salmon with the standard Japanese flavors of miso, mirin, soy sauce, and ginger, and you’ve got your self a phenomenal dinner that takes solely about 20 minutes to make.
Hero Ingredient: A topping of toasted sesame seeds is simply the crunch this salmon wants.
Pesto Pasta Primavera
Why We Love It: Springtime serenity, on a plate. Pasta with peas and asparagus is at all times the dish I crave throughout this time of yr when winter begins to make manner for spring and the skies change from grey to cheery blue. Garlic, lemon zest, and goat cheese are at all times certain to lift my spirits.
Hero Ingredient: Choosing any number of quick pasta (penne, fusilli, Gemelli, and casarecce all work) offers you the proper complement to this pasta’s love of sunshine, contemporary taste.
Crispy Roasted Candy Potatoes with Yogurt, Herbs, and Every little thing Spice
Why We Love It: Every little thing Spice and… all the pieces good (that’s how the saying goes, proper?). I might need my idioms confused, however on the subject of this recipe, it doesn’t matter. I’m laser-focused on the crispy-creamy steadiness these candy potatoes boast.
Hero Ingredient: Toppings are completely as much as you, however Greek yogurt? A non-negotiable. You’ll be able to swap in a vegan different if you happen to’re making this dish dairy-free.
Gradual Baked Citrus Salmon With Fennel & Herbs
Why We Love It: It’s unimaginable to not embrace Camille’s go-to salmon in a roundup of the tastiest simple weeknight dinner recipes. This tackle the protein makes use of a slow-roasting methodology, which means that whereas it could take somewhat longer within the oven than broiling would, it’s nearly all hands-off and offers you essentially the most tender salmon you’ve ever tried.
Hero Ingredient: Fennel brings a licorice-like, anise taste to the celebration that’s undeniably good.
Coconut Curry Purple Lentil Soup
Why We Love It: Name me loopy, however I absolutely imagine {that a} bowl brimming with lentil soup is at all times able to curing what ails you. This interpretation takes a creamy, curry-fied spin on the basic, packing your dinner not solely with tons of taste however carrots and kale as properly. As a result of we should always at all times have the ability to get our every day vitamin via scrumptious meals.
Hero Ingredient: A can of full-fat coconut milk offers this soup majorly satisfying smoothness.
Wholesome Combine & Match Grain Bowls
Why We Love It: This meal is all about colour, selection, and wonderful comfort. Plus, a single bowl packs so many veggies (any combo of your favorites), that you simply gained’t even must prep a salad alongside. Really a one-and-done dish.
Hero Ingredient: As a result of that is extra of a template than a strict recipe, we’ll go together with the strategy right here. These bowls make scrumptious and environment friendly use of leftovers. You’ll want to incorporate a mix-and-match bowl night time into your weeknight meal planning—it’ll prevent stress and assist you to in the reduction of on meals waste.
This submit was initially revealed on February 21, 2022, and has since been up to date.
