7 Easy And Delicious Meals For College Students
So you’re looking for some easy recipes that you can make in your dorm, well look no further. We’ve got some delicious recipes and suggestions for you.
1. Vegetable Jambalaya
The First of our easy recipes is for a somewhat non-traditional variant of the southern classic, Jambalaya. This recipe can be made on a tight budget, and relies on basic ingredients. While this recipe is vegetarian, you may add any kind of meat you want. This recipe makes 6 servings, so it can keep you fed for almost a solid week.
- Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil or butter
- 1 Medium-sized Onion, Chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 small green chile, finely chopped
- 2 large tomatoes, chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 3/4 cup Long-grain rice.
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth
- salt and pepper
- Directions
- Place a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat, and add the oil. After the oil heats up, add the onion, bell pepper, and celery, then cook for 5 minutes, until translucent but not brown.
- Add the garlic, green chile, tomatoes, garlic powder, cayenne, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, soy sauce, and bay leaves. Cook for about one minute.
- Add the rice and slowly pour in the broth. Lower the heat to medium and let cook for 20-25 minutes, until the rice absorbs all the liquid. If you want to add meat or protein, add it to the rice after 15 minutes.
- sample and add spices to taste.
2. Roast Chicken
A whole roast chicken can keep you fed for a solid week, has few ingredients, and is one of quintessential easy recipes. Even the bones and leftover giblets can be used in separate recipes, so making a chicken is worth the money. Roasted chicken can be used for a variety of other easy recipes like sandwiches, broth, salads, or tacos.
- Ingredients.
- 1 whole chicken, about 4 pounds.
- 1 tablespoon butter, Melted
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 lemon.
- Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Remove the giblets from inside the chicken and cut off the neck. You can use them later. Rub the entire chicken with the melted butter, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Smash the garlic with the side of a knife, remove the peel, and slice the lemon in half. stuff the garlic and lemon into the chicken’s body cavity.
- Place the chicken in a roasting pan or ovenproof skillet. Transfer chicken to the oven and cook for one hour. If you have a meat thermometer, use it to check the chicken’s temperature is at 165 degrees F.
- Let the chicken cool for 10 minutes before carving and eating.
3. Spicy Green Beans
Moving away from easy recipes focused on meals and onto snacks and sides, we have Spicy Green Beans. This particular recipe uses an asian chili paste called sambal oelek. This paste is generally pretty available and a useful tool in any cook’s repertoire. These green beans go great with a variety of sides including eggs and rice.
- Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil.
- 8 ounces green beans, trimmed and chopped into bite-sized pieces.
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sambal oelek
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Directions:
- Place a frying pan over medium heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the beans and let them cook for about 1 minute.
- Mix the garlic, soy sauce, sambal oelek, and lemon juice in a bowl to make a sauce.
- After one minute, the beans should be a bright green color. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the pan, and cook for 2 more minutes, until the water is mostly gone.
- Pour the sauce into the pan and toss gently to coat the beans. Cook until fragrant and the sauce is mostly gone, another 2 minutes. To check if the beans are cooked, poke them with a fork, they’re ready if the fork pierces easily.
- Add additional soy or chili sauce to taste.
4. Mexican Street Corn
This Corn is another of our easy recipes focused on snacking. It’s a pretty simple one, using spices to amplify the flavor of grilled or broiled corn. It’s quick, easy, and great if you have an outdoor grill. You can use whatever type of chili powder you want, depending on how spicy you want your corn.
- Ingredients.
- 4 Ears of Corn
- 4 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup grated cotija, queso blanco, feta, Romano, or Parmesan cheese.
- A dusting of chile powder.
- 1 lime, sliced into wedges.
- Directions.
- Turn your oven’s broiler to high.
- remove the silk and husks from the corn, but leave the stems on so you can hold them.
- Place the corn on a baking sheet and broil for 2-3 minutes, rotate, and repeat until the corn is brown on all sides, no longer than 10 minutes.
- Quickly remove from the oven, and spread 1 tablespoon of mayo over each corn, making sure each kernel is lightly coated. Then sprinkle cheese so that it will stick to the corn.
- Sprinkle chili powder over the corn, but not too heavily.
- Squeeze lime juice over the corn and serve hot.
5. Fast Tomato Sauce
Moving our easy recipes over to sauces, this simple tomato sauce recipe can be made in 5 minutes. It’s also a large batch, and can last you for a good long while. Tomato sauce has a multitude of uses and is an absolute classic.
- Ingredients.
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
- 1 teaspoon chili flakes
- 2 28-ounce cans of tomatoes, crushed or diced.
- zest of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper, to taste.
- Directions
- Add the olive oil to a saucepan over medium heat.
- Sauté the garlic until it smells good and becomes translucent, around 1 minute. Ad the chili flakes and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the tomatoes, mix, and cook until warmed through.
- add the lemon zest, then the salt and pepper.
6. Tomato Soup
Next up on our list of easy recipes, it’s soup time. Tomato soup is a tasty and simple dish, and pairs well with a wide variety of other dishes, including grilled cheese.
- Ingredients.
- 1 tablespoon butter.
- 2 medium onions, chopped.
- 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped.
- 2 28-ounce cans of pureed tomatoes. You can puree the tomatoes yourself, or buy them pre-blended.
- 6 Cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- salt and pepper, to taste.
- Directions.
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions, stir them to coat, then place a lid on the pot and leave it for 5 minutes. Then take the lid off and stir the onions. Add garlic and cover again for 2 minutes until the onions go soft and start to brown.
- Add the pureed tomatoes and broth to the pot and stir, make sure to scrape any sticky onions off the sides and bottom of the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then turn it down to a low simmer for 10 minutes.
- Taste, then add salt, pepper, and basil. After the soup has cooled, use a blender to make the mixture smooth.
7. Grilled Cheese.
The last of our easy recipes is the other half of the tomato soup and sandwich power couple. Grilled cheese is pretty easy to make, but its an insanely versatile recipe, and you can add pretty much anything you want to them, like ham, pickles, tomatoes, anything.
- Ingredients.
- Softened Butter, for the bread.
- 10 slices bread.
- Dijon Mustard.
- 2 1/2 cups grated cheese.
- Directions.
- Spread the butter on one side of each slice of bread, all the way to the edges.
- Flip over 5 of the slices, buttered side down, and top with mustard and roughly 1/2 a cup of cheese each. Top each of the cheese-covered slices with another slice of bread, buttered side facing up.
- Place a pan on medium heat for about a minute, lowering the temperature if needed. Place as many sandwiches as you can fit, probably no more than three so you can flip them.
- Fry the sandwiches for about 2 minutes, pressing gently on the tops of each for more even cooking. Flip the sandwiches and repeat.
- Once the sandwiches are golden brown and the cheese is melted in the middle, serve.
