Quick & Easy Family-Friendly Dinner Recipes
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Growing up, my mom cooked fresh, healthy and delicious dinners every single night. We were not a leftovers family, with one large slow cooker meal or casserole cooked on a Sunday that we would graze off of for half the week (in fact, I don’t think she even owned a slow cooker). I truly have no idea how she did this. She was even a stay-at-home mom with me for the first few years until I started school, and when I’m in charge of my kids at home, I can barely find a moment to go to the bathroom, much less cook a whole meal from scratch.
But I want to provide my family with healthy, home-cooked meals, and I hate ordering takeout too much. And I like cooking too – or at least, I used to when I could leisurely put together a meal with a glass of wine in my hand while listening to music, and enjoy it whenever it happened to be finished. Now it’s a rush to get it on the table by 5:30-6pm so that we can eat with the kids during the narrow window that works between daycare and bedtime. (Side note: Is it too late to go back and marry someone who loves to cook?)
I’ve been trying to come up with super easy meals to cook on weeknights – what I call “stupid easy” – those types of meals that you can make after getting home from work before your toddler has a meltdown, or while also keeping an eye on a baby, or when you’re so tired that you’re tempted to just order delivery but really would prefer a home-cooked meal and realize it would be the same amount of time to the table. Sometimes when looking for recipe ideas, I see something like Oh this is just the easiest weeknight dinner – it only has 27 ingredients and 40 steps. Uh, no. Or I find a stir fry recipe that says prep time is 8 minutes, and it takes me 8 minutes just to cut up the head of broccoli. So I – a pretty average cook who seems to be able to maintain a status quo but never get any better – have vetted these recipes and made each one myself multiple times. Check back since I’m always adding more, and feel free to comment below if you have any others to add!
Cooking Notes
First, just a few notes and tips before we get started. Note that I am an average cook. Somehow I was better in my young 20s and would go the extra length to make a nice meal just for myself. I seem to have gotten lazier with cooking as I’ve gotten older, and am certainly more time-starved now than I used to be. So I am truly a mom you can identify with when it comes to cooking – not one of these supermoms who makes gourmet, Instagram-worthy meals while also planning an entire STEM curriculum for their toddlers to do at home. I’m aiming for “good enough” meals that are healthy and not totally inedible. I’ve also started using some shortcuts to save time, since I figure an abbreviated home-cooked meal is still better than takeout. Here are a few of my cooking shortcuts to live by:
Fresh herbs are a nice-to-have. Do they add to a recipe? Of course. Are they necessary? Often not. Use your judgment depending on the recipe (e.g., fresh basil in a pasta pomodoro dish or fresh cilantro in a Mexican dish is probably worth it), but I usually either leave them out or substitute dried when I’m in a rush. I mean, who has time to take each individual leaf of tarragon off a stem and chop it up?!
Roasted vegetables can be really plain and still tasty. I’ve tried those recipes that use a spice blend or sauce or fresh garlic for roasting vegetables, and I’ve got to say – while good, I usually find that it’s not worth the extra effort. Roasted vegetables are just tasty on their own, since the roasting brings out their flavors. I toss them in a large ziplock bag with olive oil, salt and pepper (or garlic salt/pepper if I’m feeling fancy) and they’re great.
Bottled ginger is your friend. I love fresh ginger, but peeling and chopping it is a bother, and I also normally end up wasting all but the inch-long piece the recipe called for, so I’ve started buying the bottled stuff. So much easier and lasts a long time! And still gives that good gingery flavor. I’m going to try bottled garlic next.
Time-saving appliances are worth the money and space. My two favorite are the Zojirushi rice cooker (which is truly a rice cooker for dummies, and I use the “quick” setting to save time and can’t tell the difference) and the Instant Pot (best invention EVER). If you don’t have an Instant Pot yet, just buy one already and don’t even think about it. You won’t regret it. I was scared of mine at first and left it in the box for like 6 months, but once I read the instruction manual and started using it, I realized just how easy it was and that I could now never live without it. You complete me, Instant Pot. It basically allows you to just throw everything in one pot and have it ready in a fraction of the time that it would take to make on the stove or in slow cooker. And since it has multiple cooking functions, like sauté in addition to pressure, it saves time with the dishes too since you can do everything in the one pot. You can even make rice in it, but I still prefer having a separate rice cooker, because I’m frequently making rice at the same time to serve with whatever I’m cooking in the Instant Pot.
Stupid Easy Dinners
In this section are the dinners that are SO easy that you literally have no excuse not to make them as long as you have the fridge stocked with the right ingredients. These are my favorite things to make since I can whip them together in time, even when I forget to think about it before 5pm.
Asian Meat with Rice & Salad
Buy any Asian-marinated meat (or marinate your own if you’re feeling motivated). I used to love the marinated pork strips from FreshDirect, and now that we’ve moved away from NYC, we buy a teriyaki-marinated steak from our local grocery store. Cook according to directions (in NYC we used to do everything in a pan and now we grill most meats). Buy Asian salad kit and toss. Make coconut rice if you’re feeling fancy, or white rice if you can’t be bothered. Serve together and wow your family in 5 minutes.
Coconut rice recipe: I make this one in the rice cooker. Put 2 cups jasmine rice, 1 cup full-fat coconut milk, 1/2 tsp salt, and 2-3 Tbsp shredded coconut into a rice cooker, and top off with enough water to make 2 cups of rice.
I also make a similar dish with shrimp using a dry Asian rub and sautéing in a pan.
Tex Mex Chicken (IP*)
Follow this recipe by Skinnytaste but put it in your Instant Pot instead and hit the “poultry” setting. When it’s done, do a quick release, add the cheese, and cook on the slow cooker setting for 5 minutes. Voilà. My husband said “this is really good” (the highest compliment) and my toddler actually asked for thirds of this one, so it’s a keeper! I first made it served over rice but have since learned that it’s better as tacos in soft corn tortillas (with a little sliced avocado).
Asian Salmon with Soba Noodles
A friend’s husband made this for us once at a dinner party and it was sooo good. He’s the kind of cook who’s like, Oh yeah you just throw these things together and marinade and bake and that’s it! I’m the kind of cook who needs an actual recipe to follow, so I found this one by Damn Delicious and follow the marinade part. To make it “stupid easy” use bottle ginger and garlic (or just add dried to the marinade) and omit the scallions. The rest is just pantry stuff that you mix together. You can even marinade the salmon the night before so you just pop it in the oven 20 minutes before you want to serve dinner. Make double the marinade recipe and set half aside for the soba noodle salad. Then boil up some soba noodles, add some pre-washed baby spinach, and toss with the dressing.
Pork Loin with Roasted Veggies & Rice
This is another of my FreshDirect shortcuts – I buy the “Montreal Seasoned Pork Tenderloin” and follow the directions on the package (often needing to add a few extra minutes of cook time; all made easier by this awesome new instant digital meat thermometer I just bought). And if you can’t find a marinated pork loin in your local grocery store, it is probably just the same as buying a good spice mix and rubbing it on the meat. I like to serve it with a mix of brown rice and wild rice (I use half and half, throw it in the rice cooker, and hit the “quick” setting) and roasted [insert favorite vegetable here]. It’s so good and feels like a gourmet meal (as if we needed an excuse to crack open a bottle of Pinot).
Baked Chicken with Brussels Sprouts, Sweet Potatoes & Apples
I just discovered this recipe and it is a keeper! I literally never knew that boneless skinless chicken breasts could be this juicy and tender. I didn’t have any fresh rosemary since I got the idea to make a “fall dish” at 4pm on a Wednesday and didn’t have time to go back to the store, but it worked with dried too (they stay a little twig-like so I brushed them off before serving to the kids and would try with fresh next time, but they were fine for me and my husband). I was expecting this to come out a bit bland with mushy veggies and dry chicken, and it was such a surprise that everything cooked perfectly. I did add some bacon on top of the chicken and veggies, as the recipe says you can do, and maybe that helped to keep the chicken moist. I also left out the onion, because even though I like onions, sometimes I find the flavor overpowers a dish like this and I definitely preferred it without. I sliced the chicken to serve it next to the veggie mix. My 3.5yo actually ate some of the Brussels sprouts for the first time ever and said she liked them, and my 1yo was obsessed with the sweet potatoes. I had put out some crackers with Boursin while I was getting everything ready and that complimented the dish nicely, along with the Seghesio zin my husband & I enjoyed. This was so good that I would even make it for company. It’s also my kind of recipe from start to finish – little prep work and very fast, relaxing since you just pop everything in the oven and then wait, and few dishes to clean up since it’s a one-pan meal.
Athenian Shrimp
This was one of my mom’s regulars when I was growing up, and I hated it at the time. I would roll my eyes and say “Athenian shrimp again?" (which seems laughable now; I should have been like, “Wow, Athenian shrimp again!”). I think I just didn’t like feta at the time, so the whole thing had too strong of a flavor for me. But now I love it and especially love how easy this meal is. My toddler isn’t crazy about feta yet either, so I normally give her a deconstructed version of this meal, setting some plain shrimp aside and giving her some small pieces of feta to try, along with something else easy like cucumbers and hummus. The recipe is super easy and only requires one pan: (1) chop up one medium-sized onion and sauté it 2-3 minutes; (2) add 2 cloves minced garlic and sauté 1 minute; (3) remove from heat; (4) in the same pan, sauté 1 lb shrimp until cooked through (small-medium size shrimp, or large shrimp cut up into pieces); (5) add 1 can diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, and 1/2 cup crumbled feta. Mix in chopped fresh parsley (not totally necessary, but a nice touch). Serve over cooked white rice.
Homemade Pizza
As opposed to Athenian Shrimp, my favorite meal growing up that my mom made was always her homemade pizza. She would make the dough from scratch and exclaim how easy it was. I buy it frozen from FreshDirect and am very happy to pay the extra couple bucks for that convenience. With the dough already made, the rest is so easy and quick, and I feel so much better after eating it than I do with delivery pizza (maybe because I always consume at least 3 slices, but who can say). I used to get creative with my homemade pizzas, but now I just stick to the basics and it comes out good every time and is a lot easier than having to think too hard about the ingredients/combos or slicing up too many different types of toppings. My favorites are sliced red and green peppers, sliced white onion, sliced mushrooms, pepperoni, or some combo of those. My toddler is currently requesting plain, so hers is extra easy. When I’m making it for the whole family, I put two frozen doughs in the fridge the night before and let them sit at room temperature for an hour before I’m ready to make dinner. Then I lay down two pieces of plastic wrap on the counter, sprinkle with flour, and roll out the dough. A trick my mom taught me is to start rolling it, let it sit for 5 minutes, and then it’s much easier to roll out thin. I sprinkle cornmeal on a metal baking pan (you don’t need a fancy pizza stone) and pre-bake the crust for 6 minutes at 475. Then take out of the oven, add pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, toppings du jour, and bake for another 12 minutes or until the crust is starting to brown and the cheese is bubbling. Done! Slice it up with a pizza cutter and enjoy.
Rigatoni with Sausages & Peppers
This is a recipe that I morphed together from two different recipes and it’s awesome. Cook 1 lb rigatoni in lightly salted water until al dente. Cook 1 lb sweet Italian sausage (casings removed) in olive oil over medium-high heat until cooked through; remove with slotted spoon. Cook 1 red bell pepper (or yellow), 1 sweet onion, and 3 cloves garlic with 1 tsp Italian seasoning in same pot over medium heat until soft (~10 minutes). Add sausage back in, along with 1/2 bottle tomato sauce, and heat until warm. Mix in some shredded Parmesan cheese. Top with grated Parmesan and crushed red pepper (optional).
Pesto Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes & Green Beans
This is a recipe of my own invention and it’s great for a vegetarian night. Or you can add chicken if you prefer. My favorite kind of pasta to use with it is orecchiette. Buy some good pesto sauce (yes, you can make it and it’s delicious, but who has the time for that these days) and those adorable tiny mozzarella balls, quartered. I buy green beans that are already washed and trimmed and cut them into about 1-inch pieces (or sometimes I just use the tiny frozen ones from Trader Joe’s). And then grape tomatoes, halved.
Roast the tomatoes, tossed with olive oil and S&P, at 350 for 15 minutes. (This step is really very easy and the tomatoes come out amazing, but to save time and a pan, you could just sauté the tomatoes in the pot you used to cook the pasta before tossing everything together.) Cook the pasta according to the directions, and during the last 3 minutes add the green beans. Ideally you would remove the green beans separately and dunk them in a bowl of ice water for a perfectly blanched bean, but I often skip this step and just run the whole strainer of pasta and green beans under cold water. Return to the pan and stir in the pesto, fold in the tomatoes gently, and add the mozzarella. Done!
Simple Beef Chili
I was looking for an easy family-friendly chili recipe and found it. It was a hit, including with my toddler who finished her bowl! I only had 1 lb of beef but kept the other ingredients the same at first, minus the cayenne. It was still too spicy for my 3yo, so I added a cup of water and a can of diced tomatoes to dilute it, and it was perfect – still enough flavor and only mild spice. I didn’t have the masa harina so I just left it out and didn’t know the difference. Also didn’t have kidney beans so I used black beans. Topped with shredded cheddar, avocado, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips and lime wedges. And made mini corn muffins to go with it. Super easy recipe and I actually only simmered it for about 30 min instead of the full hour.
Pretty Easy Dinners
These are the recipes that take a little more effort to complete and a little more prep work than simply “throw it in a pot/bowl/pan and you’re’ done,” but are still pretty quick and easy.
Beef Soup (IP)
My husband calls this one “fancy SpaghettiOs” – I never ate those as a kid, and I have a feeling this soup is FAR superior; but hey if that makes dinner seem more fun, we’ll go with it. This is the Beef, Tomato and Acini di Pepe Soup recipe by Skinnytaste. It requires just a little bit of prep in the form of chopping and then sautéing in the Instant Pot, but it’s really easy and has become a family favorite.
My husband is not a soup eater, whereas I could eat soup for days on end in the winter, so to find a recipe that he will eat and actually enjoy is a small triumph. This is also the recipe that caused my toddler to declare, “I like soup!” So it’s in regular rotation during the colder months in our household. I use whatever small pasta I can find readily – ditalini or just elbows.
Orange Prawns
This recipe is technically called “Garlic-Honey Prawns” but since orange is the dominating flavor, I’m calling them what I’ll remember. I wasn’t sure what all the hype was about Chrissy Teigen’s recipes until I tried this one. Wow is it good. My husband also isn’t crazy about shrimp (shrimp and soup, COME ON) but really likes this one. My toddler, on the other hand, LOVES shrimp for whatever reason, and actually licked her plate the first time I made this.
As much as I like fresh ginger, I use bottled when I’m saving time. You could probably even use fresh bottled orange juice instead of juicing your own oranges (I just thought of that and am totally doing it next time – FreshDirect sells a great one). The rest is very simple. Buy the shrimp that are already “cleaned” for you, and then I just take the tails off before cooking to make them easier for everyone to eat. I also omitted the hot red pepper, so my toddler didn’t reject the whole recipe, but sprinkled some over my dish afterward since I love spicy. Serve over brown rice made in the rice cooker and it’s done! If you have the time, it’s also nice to serve it with something green – last time I just did frozen shelled edamame (which my toddler also now loves, for whatever reason), or I’ve done sautéed broccoli or snow peas in the past.
Chicken Stir Fry
Chicken stir fry is always a favorite in our house. I’ve tried a few different recipes and really like this one by Averie Cooks. I will call her bluff that it takes 5 minutes to prep (it takes me that long just to cut up the chicken breast), but it’s still pretty quick and easy. I usually skip the green onion at the end to save a little time. Serve over jasmine rice made in the rice cooker
Butter Chicken (IP)
This is another Damn Delicious recipe (love her stuff) that’s pretty easy and very tasty if you like Indian flavors. To help keep it simple, use bottled ginger and skip the fresh cilantro. You can also leave out the cayenne to keep it toddler-friendly if they’re not into spicy foods yet. Serve over basmati rice made in the rice cooker, and store-bought naan heated up in the toaster oven.
Butter Lemon Salmon
This is actually a Keto recipe that I tried when my husband was doing the diet, and it was so good that I put it into our rotation. I mean, what’s not good with a bunch of butter and lemon (still tastes wholesome and feels healthy, though). I skip the part at the end where you boil more butter, because there is already plenty of butter left in the baking dish and I don’t feel it’s necessary. Serve with these roasted green beans (I buy the washed and snipped ones from FreshDirect so I can just dump the bag out onto the sheet pan, and roast at 400 with 5 extra minutes of cooking time, so it can go in with the salmon) and this lemon rice using brown basmati rice (everything dumped in the rice cooker, of course). My husband kept saying “wow” as he ate the rice – normally I just make plain rice and might serve it with a wedge of lemon with a dish like this, but adding the broth, spices and lemon zest was so good that it was worth the minimal extra effort.
Turkey Mushroom Bolognese (IP)
I followed this recipe to a T (minus the fresh parsley, which no one missed, and adding an extra can of tomato sauce). It has some prep work in the form of chopping veggies, but it was pretty fast and easy. Once all the chopping is done, there are a couple sauté steps in the Instant Pot, and then you just set the pressure cooking and make the pasta while you wait. I used high protein spaghetti and served it with grated parmesan. My toddler ate her whole bowl, licked it, and then asked for more. That means she ate all the veggies hidden in the sauce too (carrots, celery, onion, mushrooms) – WIN!!
*IP = Instant Pot. Just buy it already.