Today we’re going to be talking about six easy dinner ideas that you can make for dinner in less than an hour when you’re stuck, and you’re not quite sure what to make. I’m also going to mention five three-course meal ideas that are easy, but a little fancier. These are good for those days when you want to do something special, but it’s still got to be economical and easy. So, here we go. Let’s start with the six ideas for when you’re stuck for dinner.
Number one is a chicken stir fry with vegetables and rice. This is easy to make – just saute a chicken breast in a pan with some coconut oil. Add a little salt and some spices like paprika, onion powder, maybe a little bit of chili powder, and some garlic. Add some soy sauce or tamari. Then take some chopped vegetables like bell peppers, broccoli, or zucchini, and cook those up. You can serve these over rice or noodles. If you want an easy shortcut, use some pre-cut, frozen vegetables, or some pre-chopped stir-fry vegetables.
Number two – build-your-own taco or tortilla night. Grab some tortillas and cook some ground beef or chicken with taco seasoning. You could add a little tomato puree to the meat, and then serve it with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, cheese, and avocado. If you want, you could add some canned beans or corn.
Number three – one-pan baked salmon with vegetables. Cook some salmon filets, starting with them skin side down in the pan, and then flipping them. Alternatively, you can cook them on a baking tray with some chopped vegetables, which shouldn’t be too hard. You want them to cook in the same amount of time as the salmon, so don’t use carrots. Things like zucchini, cherry, tomatoes, and green beans are good options.
Drizzle the tray with some olive oil, and add some lemon, salt, and pepper. As I said, you can bake it all on a tray, or you can cook it together in a pan. It helps to put a lid over the pan for a little bit to make sure the vegetables cook properly.
Number four – loaded potatoes or sweet potatoes. First, roast some whole potatoes or sweet potatoes until they’re soft. You could cut them in half lengthways and lay them on the tray with the flat side down. Add some olive oil and salt. That way, they’ll cook faster, and it’ll be easier to pile stuff on top of them. For toppings, you can use canned black beans, corn, cheese, avocado, yogurt, and sour cream, and you can even try a cheese sauce. You could put chicken with barbecue sauce on top, or feta, et cetera.
Number five – sheet pan chicken fajitas. Do these in the oven at 200. Slice the chicken so that it cooks well, or hammer it flatter. Add some sliced bell peppers and some onions, and toss it with olive oil, lime or lemon juice, and fajita seasoning. Then spread it out on your baking tray and bake it. You can have it with wraps, salsa, and sour cream.
Number six, the last one, is pasta. Cook some pasta and toss it with basil pesto, and then add vegetables. This is going to be a baked pesto pasta with hidden veggies. You can add some finely diced zucchini. It helps to pre-cook the zucchini a little bit, and then you toss it all together and bake it until it’s bubbly and golden. You can add a little bit of cream and grated mozzarella to that.
Then here are some ideas for when you want to make dinner a little fancier, but still economical and very easy to make.
These are five easy three-course meals that you can make for dinner. They’re not going to break the budget, and they’re not going to take a huge amount of time. These meals are simple enough that you can really enjoy the process of making them and enjoy them with your family, even though they’re a little bit fancy and they’re planned out carefully. So, here we go.
Number one is a Mediterranean chicken night. Start with some hummus. You can buy that at the store ready-made, or you can blend up some chickpeas. Then take some pita breads and rip them up into triangles. Add some olive oil and some salt, and crisp them up in the oven. They taste amazing! Then make some cucumber ribbons. You can slice a cucumber lengthways with a vegetable peeler, and add that to your plate for a delicious appetizer.
Then, for the main course, cook some bone-in chicken thighs. Boneless ones are much cheaper than fileted chicken thighs. Roast them with lemon juice, herbs, olive oil, salt, and et cetera. You just have to bake those in the oven, and you can add a little bit of cream at the end.
Then make some roasted potatoes. Put some salt, olive oil or butter, and rosemary on chopped potatoes. Then put them in the oven on a high temperature like 400 degrees Fahrenheit; 200 Celsius, and roast them. For a side, you can do green beans. Just steam them or stir fry them with some butter and a little bit of garlic.
For dessert, you can have very simple Greek yogurt with honey. Add a few nuts or berries sprinkled on top.
Secondly, here’s an Italian three-course meal that you can do. For your appetizer, do a caprese salad. That’s made up of tomato, buffalo mozzarella or any kind of white mozzarella, and then some basil leaves or basil pesto. Add a little bit of olive oil and balsamic to finish it off. If you’ve got big tomatoes, you can slice them and alternate them with the mozzarella and the basil. If you’ve got baby tomatoes, however, then just put them on the plate with little pieces of mozzarella and some basil leaves or basil pesto.
The main course for that Italian comfort night can be something like spaghetti carbona. That’s very easy to make if you’ve got good quality pasta. The whiter the pasta, the better the quality, and the better the flavor. You just need eggs, parmesan, and bacon. Cook up the pasta, and then add the eggs and Parmesan at the end. Cook the bacon separately, and add that as well. It’s delicious! If you find it’s not quite coming together properly, you can add a tiny bit of cream, but apparently that’s not the proper way to make it. According to my son, you have to use egg, but I like the flavor of adding some cream at the end, and it gives you a little bit more sauce. It’s up to you.
The dessert is affogato. Buy some good vanilla ice cream, or make some – our favorite recipe combines condensed milk and cream with a bit of vanilla and salt. Then add a shot of espresso, or just pour a bit of instant coffee – or decaf coffee if it’s the evening – over the top.
Number three – steakhouse style. Start with some creamy cauliflower soup. Cauliflower soup is really easy to make. Just buy some cauliflower and break it up in a pot, and then add some beef or chicken broth and a bit of salt. You can add some leeks or an onion, and then cook it. It takes about half an hour to soften, or maybe a bit longer sometimes. Then you blend it, and add a little cheese and cream at the end. If you don’t eat dairy, then just leave those out and make sure it’s seasoned nicely.
For your main, you can pan-sear a thin steak like a minute steak. Add a bit of garlic butter to it. With it, you can do either mashed potatoes or “crashed” potatoes – when you bake them whole, smash them with a potato masher, and then add feta cheese, oregano, salt, parmesan, and anything you feel like on top. Then stick them back in the oven for a few minutes. You could also have peas with this meal.
Then for dessert, you can have chocolate mousse. You can easily buy it at the store, and you can add whipped cream on top if you like. And that’s a great three-course meal that allows you to relax, enjoy the food, and be part of it with your family. Make the table a little fancy, slow down, and enjoy it together.
Number four is a cozy country dinner. Start with butternut or carrot and ginger soup. To make butternut soup, just add some diced butternut, a little bit of potato or sweet potato, and a little bit of beef or chicken broth. Add some salt and cook it, and then blend it at the end.
Then for your main course, do a roast chicken or chicken pieces like drumsticks. With that you can have gravy, some garlic mashed potatoes, and some peas.
For dessert, you can make a warm apple crumble with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Apple crumble is really easy to make. You can use pie apples in a can, and for the crumble, you use a combination of oats, flour, sugar, and a bit of butter to give it a crumbly texture. It’s easy to use a food processor to mix that up. Crumble it on top, and then bake it for a little bit. Of course, the pie apples need a sauce, so you’ll need an actual recipe for this. Go ahead and look one up.
Number five is a French inspired bistro meal. I’m going to put some recipes below for this one. A good appetizer is baguette slices. You can crisp them up if you like, or just have them as they are. Add some cheese, maybe a few different kinds of cheese, and eat them with some grapes.
Then for the main, you can do a mustard chicken with herbed potatoes. The mustard chicken is cooked in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce – I’ll leave a recipe below for you. For the potatoes, you just use baby potatoes and add some herbs. Again, the recipe’s there below. It’s nice to add a simple green salad with a lemon vinaigrette to this meal. That recipe’s also down below.
For the dessert, you can have simple vanilla custard. Just grab some vanilla custard from the store or make up your own. It’s very easy, but it feels elegant. The way you serve it – try putting it in small dishes – will add to its appeal, but it’s really easy.
So, there you go. Those are five quick meals of three courses that you can have with your family to make it a little more elegant than usual. It’ll be more interesting, but not take too much work or too much money. I hope you’re inspired to do some good cooking!
Tender Mustard Chicken cooked in a Creamy Dijon Mustard Sauce
Ingredients:
- 2 bone-in chicken thighs
- Salt & pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil or butter
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- ½ cup cream
- ½ cup chicken broth (or water + bouillon)
- fresh thyme or parsley
How to make it:
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken on both sides (about 3–4 min per side). Remove and set aside.
- In the same pan, sauté the onion until soft.
- Stir in Dijon mustard and chicken broth, then add the cream. Simmer for a few minutes.
- Return chicken to the pan and cook until done (internal temp 165°F / 74°C), letting the sauce thicken.
- Sprinkle with fresh herbs if desired.
Side: Simple Herbed Potatoes
Ingredients:
- 4 small potatoes, cubed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt, pepper
- Oregano and Thyme
How to make it:
- Boil or steam potatoes until just tender.
- In a skillet, toss potatoes with olive oil, herbs, salt, and pepper.
- Sauté until golden and crisp on the edges.
Salad: Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
Ingredients:
- Mixed dark baby greens or butter lettuce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar)
- Salt & pepper
How to make it:
- Whisk together oil, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
- Toss with greens right before serving.
