Favorite Dinner Recipes for Easy Weeknight Meals
Cooking dinner can be simple by using common ingredients and seasoning and other cooking methods that don't require special tools or time. Dishes in this article include dishes such as ziti, baked shells, chickpea curry, Korean-style bulgogi beef, chicken poke bowls, and lemon gnocchi with chicken. Other recipes are appropriate for quick, simple weeknight meals at home on busy evenings.
Why These Recipes Would Be Good Dinner Choices
- Commonly Available Ingredients: Pasta, canned chickpeas, chicken, cheese, spinach, and other seasonings make grocery shopping easy for preparing common dishes.
- No Special Equipment: These recipes rely on regular baking dishes and frying pans, with one pot. No special cooking items are required.
- Forgivable Choices: Stuffed and creamy pasta dishes, curries, and other easy one-dish meals contain ingredients and sauces that add bulk to each serving.
- Commercial products such as marinara sauce, pesto sauce, coconut tomato sauce, and Parmesan can be used to add flavor to other dishes.
1. Vegan Chickpea Curry With Creamy Coconut Tomato Sauce
This vegan Indian chickpea curry recipe made with canned chickpeas and coconut cream sauce is a good option for a weeknight dinner served to family. Seasonings such as turmeric, paprika, coriander, garam masala, and Kashmiri chili powder add flavor to a mild chickpea curry dish that takes about 40 minutes to make. The base is made with sliced onions and oil and sautéed garlic and ginger. Seasonings added to the base include cooked turmeric, paprika, ground coriander, Kashmiri chile powder, garam masala, and salt, along with chopped tomatoes. Additional ingredients in the base include vegetable broth, drained canned chickpeas, and unsweetened coconut cream mixed into the chopped tomatoes to make a thick sauce that coats a spoon. Cook the tomatoes, not time the tomatoes, and cook the tomatoes until they are soft and mushy before mixing in broth and coconut cream. Chickpeas cooked in tomato sauce for 15 minutes will have a thicker tomato sauce than chickpeas in sauce cooked for 15 minutes. Home cooks often undercook tomatoes in curry and other dishes, making the curry less tasty. Letting the curry rest for 5 minutes can help thicken the sauce. Serve this dish with basmati rice or naan. Recommended garnishes include fresh cilantro and yogurt. Other side dishes to add to this menu include vegan raita, mango chutney, Kachumber, and pickles. This recipe is intended for preparing meals in bulk. Chickpeas in this recipe are reported to hold up well after freezing.
2. Sausage Stuffed Shells with Ricotta and Marinara
Sausage-stuffed shells is a dish I prepare for six people who want a baked pasta dish. Jumbo shells are stuffed with sausage and ricotta and topped with marinara and mozzarella cheeses. Some of the mozzarella is browned (my favorite part). There is plenty of marinara to eat along with the shells. I undercook the shells to a slightly firm texture and drain them before they’re too soft to stuff. Then I bake the shells until they can be eaten with a spoon without crumbling. I grate the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses myself, store-bought cheeses don’t melt well in baked shells. Brown the sausage and onion and garlic until the sausage is fully cooked. Remove the grease from the pan before adding other ingredients to create the filling. A large-skirt pan may help the sausage crumble as it cooks. Add 1 cup of marinara sauce to the baking dish before adding other ingredients. Place the stuffed shells in a single layer. Sauce is bubbling around the edges. Cheese on the top is melted and golden. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before serving. Filling will set during that time. I suggest serving a side of crisp green salad with a tart salad dressing.
3. Simple Mac n Cheese: Creamy Comfort in Every Bite
Enjoy Simple Mac n Cheese as a meal. Cheddar cheese and milk in this dish make it ideal for dinner and other meals during the week and other times. Cheddar cheese and milk add creaminess to this dish. Simple Mac n Cheese is an easy dish to prepare and can be customized with a variety of toppings and ingredients to suit different tastes. Kids and adults enjoy this dish, and diners are likely to enjoy it.
4. Easy Beef Bulgogi with Paper-Thin Ribeye and Caramelized Marinade
Ribeye steak cut into thin slices works well for beef bulgogi because of its tenderness, thinly sliced steak is less likely to dry out when cooked. Beef bulgogi is a Korean dish prepared with a soy and sesame oil marinade and sautéed onions, carrots, and green onions. Most of the liquid should be cooked off before serving. The beef is coated with white sugar and marinated with sesame oil, soy sauce, water, garlic, sesame seeds, pepper, and salt. Coating and marinating the beef helps it absorb the marinade's flavors. Yellow onion and carrot and green onion sticks cut on the diagonal are added at the end of cooking and only partially cooked with the beef to keep their texture. Preheat a cast-iron pan or other pan and avocado oil. Quickly stir-fry marinated beef on high in the pan. Reduce the heat to medium. A good indicator that your pan is preheated is if the marinade reduces by 80 percent or more before adding vegetables. The two biggest reasons bulgogi may turn out soggy are not preheating the pan and adding too many ingredients to the pan at once, which produce steam instead of caramelization during cooking. Serve cooked beef with steamed white rice and sesame and green onion toppings. Other Korean dishes, such as kimchi, cucumber salad, spinach, and sautéed zucchini, may be served as complements to the meal.
5. One-Pot Creamy Pesto Pasta with Tagliatelle and Cherry Tomatoes
Use this recipe for a weeknight meal. One-Pot Creamy Pesto Pasta includes tagliatelle, cherry tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and basil in a one-pot dish. Oat cream and green pesto make a creamy sauce for the pasta. Start by adding the pasta nests to a large skillet. Add tomato to one side of the nests and spinach and basil to the other. Add sliced garlic, green pesto, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, oat cream, and vegetable broth to the skillet with the pasta. Vegetable broth will cook into the pasta. Tomato juices will cook into the sauce. Spinach will wilt into the pasta. Cover the pasta pan over medium heat and stir often to keep it from sticking to the pan. The pasta is ready when the tagliatelle is cooked to al dente and the sauce thickens enough to coat the tagliatelle when stirred. Typical cooking errors are not using enough sauce and not stirring the pasta; more stock may be needed. Pasta dishes can be served hot with chili flakes or vegan parmesan options and sides like a green salad or garlic bread. Pasta dishes should be eaten within a few days to prevent thickening. A little oat milk or vegetable stock added when reheating can help make pasta dishes more creamy again.
6. Hawaiian Chicken Poke Bowl with Sticky Chicken, Pineapple, and Spicy Mayo
Choose boneless, skinless, trimmed chicken thighs to make a dish with tender chicken and a thick sauce made from marinade ingredients such as pineapple and soy sauce. Other dishes to consider include a Hawaiian-inspired chicken poke bowl with chicken and other toppings, such as pineapple, avocado, steamed rice, vegetables, and spicy mayo. The chicken sauce has soy sauce, maple syrup, Shaoxing wine, tomato paste, pineapple juice, sriracha, and toasted sesame oil. Maple syrup is used to sweeten and glaze the chicken sauce. Pineapple juice helps pineapple flavor the chicken. Jasmine rice or sushi rice provides a soft, sticky texture to the appetizer with edamame, carrot, cucumber, red onion, avocado, and spring onion garnishes. Cook diced chicken thighs in a shallow pan that allows enough space for the chicken to brown, not steam. Lifted chicken pieces should be completely browned. The sauce served with the chicken should be thick and cling to the chicken pieces. The most frequent error in making this recipe is overfilling the pan, resulting in insufficient browning and caramelization of the sauce. For service, reheat the rice, if needed, and add chicken and vegetables. Add spicy mayo. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the chicken as directed. To prepare in advance, refrigerate cooked rice, chicken, and sliced vegetables in sealed containers. Prepare the avocado at the time of service to avoid browning.
7. Lemon Chicken Gnocchi with Creamy Parmesan Sauce
Lemon Chicken Gnocchi is an easy weeknight meal combining pan-seared chicken cutlets and store-bought dry gnocchi in one skillet. Serve with spinach and a Parmesan sauce mixed with lemon juice. Lemon Chicken Gnocchi is a hearty and delicious meal. Chicken breasts are sliced into four cutlets and seasoned with garlic and lemon pepper. Chicken is cooked in a pan with olive oil and butter. After removing the chicken from the pan, garlic, chicken broth, and fresh lemon juice are added to the pan to deglaze it. Heavily processed cream products, raw gnocchi, fresh Parmesan cheese, and baby spinach are added to the pan. A shelf-stable gnocchi product was used in this one-dish recipe. As the gnocchi cooks, starch from the gnochi and sauce thickens the sauce to coat the gnochi; the spinach will be partially cooked after removing the dish from the heat. Many cooks overcook the gnochi and sauce, which may thicken further as the dish cools; broth or other liquid can be added to reduce thickness if needed. Add shredded Parmesan cheese and raw spinach to the pan. Put the chicken and other juices from the plate back in the pan. Top the chicken cutlets with sauce. Pan drippings left on the bottom of the pan will enhance the sauce when added to the pan with broth and lemon juice.
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