Making dinner can be a hassle, especially when you want to make quick and easy meals that are also nutritious. Many of us turn to frozen food, ordering out, or even ramen (I love you ramen), but these foods are not particularly nutritious or cost effective. Instead of settling, check out this list of quick and easy meals that will always be there for you when you need them.
This is one of those super quick and easy meals that you can’t resist: it includes boiling water and making pesto. Do you think making pesto is hard? Don’t! You just throw everything in a blender while the pasta is cooking. This genius recipe has you putting broccoli in the blender, too, which conveniently hides the broccoli while creating an incredibly beautiful green color. Also, it means you’ll be eating fresh pesto as opposed to something that’s been preserved, which will always be better for you. Find the full recipe here.
What is a taco tomato? A genius, quick and easy meal that is nutritious and low carb. You are basically making a taco salad inside of a tomato, which is an idea I am obsessed with. The recipe calls for pork sausage, but you can easily sub turkey or veggie crumble to suit your dietary needs and preferences. Also, if you’re a person who needs carbs to keep you going, add tortilla chips or rice as a side. You can find the full recipe here.
Sweet mango and curried shrimp sound like the perfect combination if you ask me! This recipe calls for pre-made mango chutney (Stonewall Kitchen brand is recommended), so there isn’t much actual cooking involved. You pretty much just mix everything together after baking the shrimp in the oven for five minutes. This quick and easy meal omits the onions in the ingredient list: I recommend using one medium-sized white or yellow onion thinly sliced. Find the full recipe here.
If this sounds very fancy, you’ll be surprised that salmon en papillote, or salmon in parchment paper, is actually one of the finest quick and easy meals. You prepare everything by cutting parchment paper into an oval, then layering fish and vegetables, then sealing the pouch and putting it in the oven. Very little effort here, but it looks like you really outdid yourself. Pair with a salad, toast, pasta, or another grain and you’re done. Who knew you were a chef? Find the full recipe here.
Soup is one of the easiest things to make and it’s also delicious. Although the cooking time is around thirty minutes, the time you actually spend in the kitchen is minimal. Essentially, your job is to chop things, sauté them for a few minutes, dump a bunch of ingredients into a pot, and then simmer. There is nothing easier. I love vegetarian chili, and I love those little veggie crumbles they make, too, but if you really wanted to sub in some real meat, it’d be pretty easy! Find the full recipe here.
This easy dinner has protein, starch, and greens: a perfect balance! After you boil the potatoes, you just add things to a skillet one by one. The best part of this recipe, I think, is that all of the seasoning required is normal kitchen basics, so it’s likely that you’ll already have them on hand. You have to try this recipe because it will become one of your go-to quick and easy meals! Find the full recipe here.
Pasta and shrimp! Yum. I always have shrimp scampi as a backup ‘I don’t want to cook’ quick and easy meal. This awesome shrimp scampi recipe has a few extra ingredients to make it fancy, but you can easily forego the wine, parsley, chili flakes, or a combination of the three to simplify. On the other hand, you can add a veggie like zucchini, spinach, broccoli, or tomatoes to balance your dinner out a bit more. Check out the full recipe here.
If you don’t have some of these Asian ingredients on hand, you will have to pick up a few things. However, this meal takes absolutely no time to cook and you’ll probably make it more than once anyway. Also, sesame oil changes lives, and these ingredients might even introduce you to some new recipes (if you’ve never used them before). After boiling the noodles, you periodically add all the ingredients to one pan, which takes no time at all. Add a protein if you feel like you need it, or enjoy on its own for a vegetarian option. Find the full recipe here.
This soup is almost as easy as making pasta- seriously. You sauté some garlic real quick, dump everything in a pot, boil it, add the tortellini, and you’re pretty much done. All in one pot! I love soup because it’s a great, comforting way to refuel after a long day. This soup is perfect for that and will take you just twenty minutes. Add some red pepper flakes for an extra kick! Find the full recipe here.
This recipe is good over a grill, or in the oven! You could even eat them cold. These little ‘pizzas’ will take you twenty minutes, and they are a delicious, nutritious, vegetarian option for dinner. Layer your ingredients on pre-made pita bread and then grill or bake them to achieve this quick and easy delicacy. If you don’t like artichoke, add chicken, or roasted red pepper, or spinach, or really anything else you like. Find the full recipe here.
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