21 Easy Weeknight Dinners to Make in 30 Minutes or Less
These quick pastas, soups, sandwiches, and entrées make for easy weeknight meals.
Jordan Provost / Food Styling by Thu Buser
With these recipes for quick dinners that can be made in 30 minutes or less, you'll redefine fast food at home. Don't get us wrong, cooking an elaborate meal is great, but on most nights, cooking a fast, delicious meal is just as impressive. To help you make a great meal in no time, we have compiled some of the best quick weeknight dinners, from Easy Chicken Fajitas to Honey-Mustard-Glazed Salmon Steaks. Read on for recipes that will help you get dinner on the table in minutes.
One-Pot White Wine Pasta with Mushrooms and Leeks
This creamy, savory one-pot pasta dish comes together without the need to boil the pasta separately. Savory sautéed mushrooms and gently sweet leeks combine with cream, lemon juice, and white wine to create the rich sauce. Feel free to switch up the flavor by adding tarragon instead of dill.
Orzo and Chickpeas with Turmeric-Ginger Broth
Coconut milk and fresh lime juice are natural flavor partners to ginger and turmeric; here they come together to form a restorative tea-based broth that’s delicious studded with chickpeas and pasta.
Spicy Sausage Pasta with Tomatoes and Squash
Added thinly sliced squash just minutes before serving means it melts into the pasta without losing its shape and texture. Use a mandoline to achieve extra-thin slices
Brussels Sprouts Baba Ghanoush
After a whirl in the food processor, brussels sprouts and tahini come together to form a creamy dip. Serve it topped with more roasted brussels sprouts, hazelnuts, and warm pita, for dipping.
Pork Chops with Sherry Pan Sauce and Ras Al Hanout
Dry sherry lends an oxidized, nutty complexity to this pan sauce. Sweetened with fresh orange juice and dried fruit, it's perfect with pork chops or seared duck breasts. The technique here relies on rendering fat from the meat, setting it aside, and using that fat to bloom beautifully complex ras al hanout in the pan, before deglazing it with sherry to incorporate every bit of flavor into the final sauce.
Grilled Cheese with Corn and Calabrian Chile
Chef Nancy Silverton's upgraded grilled cheese is filled with a charred sweet corn-studded blend of nutty English cheddar, sharp caciocavallo, and just enough mayonnaise to bind it all together. Thick slices of sourdough get a beautifully buttery, golden crust in a cast iron skillet, while Calabrian chile sneaks in with just the right amount of heat.
Pasta Carbonara
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Shell Royster
The ultimate version of the iconic, decadent pasta with a rich, eggy sauce and bits of salty, crispy pork, this Spaghetti Carbonara promises finely tuned ratios and a fully dialed-in method.
Broccoli and Potato Soup
The bright green broccoli florets floating on top of this hearty soup make it especially eye-catching, but it's the broccoli stems that do the real work. They're cooked with the potatoes and then pureed to form a creamy base. A final sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese gives the soup an extra savory touch.
Cha Kroeung (Khmer Chicken Stir-Fry)
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Julian Hensarling / Prop Styling by Shell Royster
Cha Kroeung is a Cambodian chicken stir-fry full of salty, tangy, and slightly spicy flavors. It gets its flavor from kroeung, a Cambodian lemongrass paste.
Pasta with Sausage, Basil, and Mustard
Diana Chistruga
In matching spicy sausage with a creamy mustard sauce and fragrant basil, British cookbook author Nigel Slater created a quick pasta supper with warm, mildly spicy flavors. It's perfect for a cool fall or winter evening.
Easy Chicken Fajitas
Cara Cormack
Fajitas are a great option for a family or large group of friends. Set up the components on a buffet, so everyone can pick and choose the toppings they want. If you like, feel free to swap in pork loin for the chicken.
Shrimp Scampi with Garlicky Miso Butter
Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
This garlicky pasta includes a touch of miso added to the white wine base for extra-briny depth. There's no searing the shrimp or other fuss: They cook to a lovely, delicate state in just a couple of minutes.
Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
Jordan Provost / Food Styling by Thu Buser
Sweet-spicy Italian sausage and bitter broccoli rabe are amplified by a lot of garlic, a handful of grated or shaved Parmesan, and a healthy pinch of crushed red pepper flakes — all in 25 minutes.
Ground Beef Bulgogi Sloppy Joes with Fiery Napa Slaw
Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
Ground beef gets the Korean barbecue flavor treatment with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, sesame oil, and a hint of gochujang so it becomes saucy, sweet, and salty in this amped-up version of the American classic.
Spring Onion and Salami Sheet-Pan Pizza
When making sheet-pan pizza, bring the dough to room temperature before shaping it. This ensures the gluten is relaxed and the dough doesn’t shrink away from the pan edges.
Patty Melts with Charred Scallion-Chipotle Mayo
Classic versions of the patty melt often include caramelized onions, but those take time, so here cookbook author Molly Stevens leans on quick-charred scallions instead. Chipotle-spiked mayonnaise adds an extra dose of lushness and a punch of smoky heat. For the cheese, semi-soft cheeses like Oaxaca or Monterey Jack add a satisfying tang, but any good melting cheese works — Cheddar or Swiss are perfectly delicious stand-ins.
Weeknight Skillet Chili
Christopher Testani / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
Mexican chorizo, fire-roasted tomatoes, and chipotles add bold, smoky flavor to this weeknight-friendly beef chili recipe.
Miso-Red Bean Patties
Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Rishon Hanners / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen
These tender bean patties would be perfect in sliders with a sriracha mayo, on a salad with creamy herb dressing, or atop a grain bowl with zucchini and crema.
Filipino New Orleans BBQ Shrimp
Frederick Hardy II / Food Styling by Melissa Gray / Prop Styling by Christina Brockman
Classic New Orleans barbecue shrimp are not grilled or barbecued, but sauteed in a spiced butter sauce. This version comes from Filipino Cajun chef Cristina Quakenbush, who remains true to the dish’s origins by using Abita Beer and Creole seasoning, and gives it a spin by adding soy sauce, calamansi juice, ginger, and banana ketchup.
Honey-Mustard-Glazed Salmon Steaks
Any time a novice cook asks Jamie Bissonnette for a simple recipe, he gives them this soy-honey-mustard sauce. It’s delicious on the salmon here, but he also recommends spreading it on chicken wings or pork chops before grilling them.
Wild Mushroom and Red Wine Risotto
The creamy, red wine-tinged rice gets adorned with mixed wild mushrooms and shallot sautéed in butter. Freshly grated Parmesan brings even more umami goodness to the dish.
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