20 Great Recipes with Less Than 5 Ingredients
Want to have a delicious, top shelf dinner without all the hassle that comes with making it? Are you trying to expand your culinary skills but don’t have the budget for a million additions to your spice rack? Are you living the dorm life and don’t have the space or resources to house more than a small handful of ingredients at any given time. Well you are in luck! There are tons of fantastically mouth watering recipes that can be made with five ingredients or less. Here are some of the tastiest ones out there.
Vegetarian Green Curry
Ingredients: Tofu, potato chunks, broccoli, curry paste, coconut milk
The great thing about most of these recipes is that there’s no real secret to putting them together, and that’s certainly try with the green curry: just smash all the ingredients together, cook at a medium high temperature in a pan, and you’re pretty much set.
Top Shelf Tacos
Ingredients: Ground beef, taco seasoning, water, cheese, tortillas
Taco Tuesday is a proud tradition in my apartment. Part of the reason is because it’s dummy-proof. A little browning of the ground beef, some water and taco seasoning (or chili powder if you want to make the seasoning yourself) until it all mixes together, and you’re done.
Baked Chicken with Corn on the Cob
Ingredients: Chicken, salt, pepper, corn on the cob, butter
Comfort food at its finest. Both chicken and corn require little in the way of spice to make a delicious meal. They have so much flavor on their own, and especially when they’re combined, that you’ll feel like your back home for a cookout.
Real Easy Risotto
Ingredients: Carnaroli rice, parmesan cheese, olive oil, unsalted butter, pepper
The fancy person’s pasta, Risotto is tricky to get the right consistency. My best advice is to constantly stir while you’re cooking this recipe. That way you’ll get that perfectly fluffy texture that separates the mushy, soupy risotto from the deliciously delectable risotto.
Garden Pizza
Ingredients: Pizza dough, feta cheese, pesto, arugula, olive oil
Really any pizza is relatively simple to make, but this one is for our vegetarian friends out there (to our vegan friends, just ditch the feta cheese and get some vegan pesto to make this all yours). If you’ve got your own brick oven then you’ll be in for a treat, but even in conventional setups, this recipe really shines.
Angel-Hair Carbonara
Ingredients: Angel-hair pasta, white wine, cherry tomatoes, eggs, parmesan cheese
Pasta is a must know for any aspiring amateur chef, and this angel hair carbonara is the best of both worlds for up and comers who still want some impressively tasty meals. Surprisingly simple, this pasta dish will easily convince your friends that you have at least a little bit of Italian heritage.
Bacon Baked Ziti
Ingredients: Ziti pasta, tomatoes, basil, bacon, salt
Bacon is the gift that keeps on giving. Put it in anything and you’ll get a delicious meal. This ziti is probably the most potent way to utilize your pork.
Pan-Seared Steak
Ingredients: Strip steak, butter, salt, pepper
Steak can be somewhat intimidating: getting the right redness on the inside to compliment the perfect char on the outside can be an art form all its own. But demystified, there’s not much too it: crank the heat, pan sear the steak for about four minutes on each side, bastion some butter for a minute or two, and you’ll have a fantastic steak in less than fifteen minutes.
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients: Bell peppers, chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, pesto
A great crunch from the pepper, some heft from the chicken, and the perfect dollop of pesto is what can come out of this easy, uncomplicated stuffed pepper recipe.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients: Spaghetti, tomatoes, basil, ground beef, onion powder
Everybody’s gotta start somewhere, right? When most of us get a kitchen for ourselves, spaghetti and meatballs is usually one of the first meals we learn how to make. To step it up a bit, make your own meatballs. Try keeping it low key the first time and build it up in the future.
Breakfast Sandwich
Ingredients: Any type of bread, eggs, bacon, cheese, salt to taste
Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. Treat yourself with some delicious sustenance as you’re brewing your morning coffee. Customize the bread to your taste: ciabatta, sesame seed buns, regular old toast. Whatever you choose, you’ll have a great pick me up to start the day.
A Simple Garden Salad
Ingredients: Lettuce, lemon vinaigrette, cherry tomatoes, sesame seeds
Easy, breezy, fresh and tasty, this garden salad can make a great appetizer or a fantastic meal in its own right. Another recipe with a pretty simple construction: smash all the ingredients together in a bowl. Mix and serve. Never complicate recipes when you don’t have to.
Homemade Tomato Soup
Ingredients: Tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, salt
Comforting and calming, the best way to keep out the cold is with some nice tomato soup. But don’t reach for the Campbell’s: make your own. It’s terribly easy, take only about 10 minutes, and will give you a much warmer feeling that that microwave can every could.
Mustard Crusted Salmon
Ingredients: Salmon, sour cream, lemon juice, mustard
Want to appear like you’re a professional cook without needing any of skills? This mustard crusted salmon is the perfect smokescreen. All it takes is a little dressing up on the salmon and an oven that can reach 400 degrees. From there, you’re pretty much running your own luxury kitchen.
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients: Chicken, enchilada sauce, cheese tortillas, your choice of garnish
Maybe Taco Tuesday isn’t really your thing. No sweat, the taco has a delicious cousin that you can cook up in an easy-bake casserole. Go crazy with whatever garnishes you feel like make the best meal: olives, onions, tomatoes, avocados. It’s all going to be delicious.
Black Bean Chili
Ingredients: Ground beef, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, chili powder
Put that crock pot hiding in the back of your cabinet to good use. Brown some beef like you’re making tacos, throw all the ingredients in the pot and set to a low temperature. You can go to class, watch TV, or just enjoy as the sweet smells of chili fill up your kitchen.
Sweet Potato Soup
Ingredients: Chicken broth, sweet potatoes, evaporated milk, leeks
Is chicken broth technically vegetarian? I don’t think so, but I could be wrong. I’m sure there’s an easy substitute that my vegetarian friends will yell at me for not using (hey you guys already got a few recipes on this list already, leave me alone).
Seafood Salad
Ingredients: Shrimp, quinoa, oranges, balsamic vinaigrette, spinach
Bring the taste of the sea straight to your garden. The best part of this recipes is its versatility: substitute the shrimp for just about any seafood, from lobster to crab to anything your heart tells you to include. It all gets perfectly complimented by the fresh zest of this delicious salad.
Peanut Noodles
Ingredients: Lo mein noodles, Hoisin sauce, peanut butter, cabbage, carrots
There are a ton of Asian recipes that can be made with only a small handful of ingredients, but the peanut noodles might be the wackiest (and tastiest). Peanut butter? Really? Yes! When mixed in proper amounts, it adds an unexpected bite to regular old Lo Mein.
Nutella Souffle
Ingredients: Nutella, eggs
Reward yourself after a simple dinner with an even simpler desert. You read that right: two ingredients. The easiest recipes on this list really only requires some basic knowledge of how soufflé’s bake in order to successfully pull of. The result: a desert with no stress and even less clean up.
