Easy Fast Meals To Make For Dinner

Need to find dinner recipes for tonight…fast? Try these easy dinner ideas that are tasty, healthy, and made in 5 to 30 minutes.

The question we get asked most often is, “What are your favorite easy dinner ideas?”We get it: there are 101 things to do and adding cooking can be stressful, especially on weeknights.But making healthy recipes doesn’t have to take all day! The best easy dinner ideas balancebig flavorandquick cooking methods. As cookbook authors and recipe experts, we’re sharing our top easy dinner ideas you can make in between 5 minutes to30 minutes, listed in order of speed. In many cases, making one of these simple dinner ideas is even faster than takeout!

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The recipes below include recipes for a variety of diets, including vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, pescatarian, and chicken recipes. Want recipes by type? Try our top 50 Healthy Dinner Ideas, 30 Minute Meals, 40 Vegetarian Dinner Recipes, 30 Vegan Dinner Recipes, 30 Gluten-Free Dinner Recipes, and more.

Quick Healthy Dinner Ideas (30 Minutes Or Less)

Here's the very definition of easy dinner recipes: 5 Minute Tacos! Can dinner really be made in 5 minutes? Yes, dinner will materialize before your eyes! These tacos are filled with taco-spiced scrambled eggs, which take on a meaty texture and flavor in a flash. Top them with salsa fresca, red onion slivers, cilantro & hot sauce, and prepare to be amazed.

Hello and welcome to the best healthy easy dinner around: the Hummus Bowl! At it’s base, this simple concept requires no cooking at all: layer a dollop of hummus with crunchy veggies and serve with pita wedges. It’s easily customizable and you can make it super basic or fancier with easy additions of ingredients.

Shrimp are one of the simplest paths to a fast and easy dinner, and this recipe makes them taste irresistible in minutes. Try this Cajun Shrimp! Toss these babies with a little Cajun seasoning and sauté them up in a skillet. The flavor is so savory, garlicky and irresistible, you’ll hardly believe the prep time: it takes only 5 minutes to put together! Pair it with a quick veggie side or salad and you’ve got dinner.

Quick Family Dinners For Busy Nights

If there’s easy dinner recipe we lean on time and time again, it’s the mighty quesadilla. This Mexican and Tex Mex recipe is genius in its simplicity, from the golden tortilla outsides to its melty, gooey interior. This easy quesadilla makes a crispy, deliciously seasoned tortilla melt every time.

Who doesn’t love a good grilled cheese sandwich? Here’s one with a glamorous twist: the avocado grilled cheese. Simply adding an avocado and tomato to a standard grilled cheese makes it fit for serving to company! Although it’s a simple dish, grilled cheese can be gussied up as much or as little as you like.

There’s nothing we love more than a great artisan pizza, with the perfect supple charred crust and gooey toppings. But of course, there’s not time for that every day. Here’s a great shortcut to pizza night: Pita Pizzas! This recipe uses pita bread to stand in as the crust of a personal pizza. It’s the trick to a quick and easy meal, and it’s especially a hit with kids.

Minutes Or Less Recipes That Make For The Easiest Dinner Ever

Next up in our fast and easy dinner recipes: garlic shrimp! The shrimp come out impossibly juicy with the best garlic flavor. The best part? It takes under 10 minutes to make. Yep, that’s pretty unheard of in dinnertime territory. Serve with pasta or couscous and a salad for a speedy meal. Also try Cilantro Lime Shrimp.

Here's a throw-together easy dinner recipe: Mediterranean Tuna Salad! Combine canned tuna with crunchy vegetables, feta cheese, olive oil and a punch of Dijon mustard for the most flavorful salad to hit your plate! Serve it with crackers as an easy lunch, or over greens for a quick dinner with pita bread and olives.

What’s better than the classic combination of tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil? Not much, in our opinion. So try this summery delight: the Caprese sandwich! This riff on the classic Italian salad from Capri layers the classic ingredients as a sandwich filling, with an irresistibly creamy, pesto aioli that adds a pop of savory brightness to each bite.

Healthy

Easy Dinner Ideas Your Whole Family Will Love

Every now and then a recipe comes along that knocks our socks off. And so it was with this Honey Garlic Shrimp recipe! There’s nothing like the sweet savory combination of honey garlic glaze and juicy shrimp. The best part? It takes 10 minutes to make. This one is hits all the comforting, satisfying dinner notes with a lightning fast prep speed.

For fast and easy meals, it’s smoked salmon to the rescue! This flavor-packed protein requires no cooking at all, which makes it ideal for quick lunches and dinners. When you just don’t have time to think, try this Smoked Salmon Sandwich! The bold flavors don’t give away it’s secrets: it takes less than 10 minutes to whip up.

Some pasta recipes stand a head above the rest, and this is one of them. Try this cheese tortellini in creamy marinara sauce! In just 15 minutes, you’ve got a pasta skillet that’s a literal

Top 100 Easy Dinner Recipes

flavor. The fresh basil-infused marinara sauce is perfectly complimented with pillows of tangy goat cheese. (In fact, it’s like this baked goat cheese dip made into a main dish.)

Want a good retro-style fast dinner? Try this classic tuna melt: it’s the stuff dreams are made of! Between crusty bread is sandwiched a creamy, savory mess of tuna and crunchy veggies so perfectly seasoned that you won’t be able to stop taking bites.

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Satisfying and works for nearly every diet. That’s right, the good old Burrito Bowl! We can thank Chipotle for its widespread popularity, but it really is a killer idea. Throw rice, veggies, and burrito fillings in a bowl and call it meal! You can make this one 15 minutes (really: we timed ourselves).

Super Easy Dinner Recipes For A Family With Kids

Looking for a fast dinner recipe? Try this Blackened Tilapia! This Cajun technique for cooking seafood and meat makes it taste restaurant-style in minutes, ideal for fast and easy meals. Blackened seasoning has savory intrigue and makes a crispy darkened crust on the outside of the fish.

Shrimp, butter, garlic, lemon, and white wine: what could be better? Yes, it’s the Italian American shrimp scampi, a classic that’s been stealing hearts and minds for decades. This version is pretty stellar: juicy, garlicky shrimp swimming in a rich, tangy butter sauce. Sop it up with crusty bread, or pour it over pasta: either way, it’s divine.

Looking for a fun way to mix up dinner? Try this salmon bites recipe! Salmon is tasty in a fillet and all, but have you ever tried slicing it into pieces before cooking? It makes perfectly seasoned bites that are simple to eat and perfect for serving with rice or over a salad.

Easy Dinner Recipes For The Family Cheap Dinner Ideas

. That’s right, no need to grab your pan and spatula. Try this Smoked Salmon Salad! It’s healthy, fresh, and 100% cook free. Imagine: savory smoked salmon, fresh greens, fluffy goat cheese dollops and a tangy shallot vinaigrette. It’s ideal for a summer meal al fresco or fast lunch: and it comes together in 15 minutes flat.

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In need of lunch ideas? Try this easy veggie wrap recipe! Veggie wraps can be bland and boring, but this one is anything but. Fill a tortilla with savory chickpea salad, colorful veggies, and a tasty spread, and you’ve got a lunch that will make everyone jealous! Here’s how to build a veggie wrap that’s full of flavor.

Here’s a classic dish that impresses every time: chicken piccata! Tender, golden-brown chicken cutlets are bathed in a vibrant lemon-butter sauce with pops of briny capers. This classic Italian American dish has captured hearts and stomachs around the world, and it’s a huge favorite over here. Don’t be intimidated by its fancy name; this chicken piccata recipe is surprisingly simple to make at home!

Easy Meals To Make At Home (ideas & Recipes)

Here’s one of those “back pocket” recipes to bookmark for when you’re short on time: Garlic Butter Noodles! This easy pasta uses mostly pantry ingredients and is quick and simple to whip up in just 20 minutes. Take a bite from this pile of warm, buttery pasta and it’s pure bliss! This one works for both kids and adults: it’s both sophisticated and elegant yet at the same time buttery and savory.

You can tell by the shine on that creamy sauce that this one’s a good one. Welcome to one of our favorite ways to eat chicken: this Garlic Chicken recipe! The tender, juicy chicken breasts are coated in garlic powder, onion powder and smoked paprika, then cooked and smothered in a garlic cream sauce! Dinnertime win.

Here's an easy dinner recipe that sounds fancy: Cacio e Pepe! There’s something intoxicating about this shallow bowl of steaming pasta covered in salty, creamy sauce, black pepper and fluffy bits of Pecorino Cheese. This famous Roman pasta that’s blown up in world-wide popularity.

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Best Easy Dinner Ideas

Here’s an easy dinner idea for when you’re not sure what to cook: Chickpea Tacos! This plant based recipe does heavy lifting with a short cook time and big flavors. Garbanzo beans make a flavorful filling coated in cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika, and lime.

It’s simple, it’s elegant, but it tastes like something you’d order at a restaurant: Sheet Pan Salmon and Asparagus! Roasting it up on a sheet pan with lemon slices and fresh herbs adds effortless flavor that feels