It has been a long day and you know you still have homework, showers, bedtime, and dinner to get on the table. These Quick Easy Dinner Ideas are perfect for those weeknights when time is short and patience is thin.
(Original post date June 11, 2019 / Links and post updated Sep. 18, 2020)
When you get home after a long day of work, kids, events, and the countless other things you must do as adults do you feel like you are on an episode of “Beat Bobby Flay”?
Seriously, you look in your fridge for that nights mystery ingredient. Then you look at the clock and think I have 20 minutes to make something amazing… and your time starts… now!!
Then here you are battling the clock to get dinner on the table, get housework done, homework, baths, and the list just seem to go on and on. The only difference between the show and your real life is in the kitchen there is no one to do the dishes for you… now add that mess to your list!
So, I propose we fill the rest of this year with one dish, one pan, one sheet, quick easy dinners. Whole meals that can be whipped up and cleaned up with minimal effort and frustration.
Sounds like a joke right? Like a dream?
Well, your dreams are about to come true thanks to some amazing bloggers and their incredible recipes!! Don’t believe me check out the list below! Your one click away from the recipe of your dreams!
Quick Easy Dinner Recipes
This simple, healthy Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken and Vegetables is packed with delicious flavor and is ready in about 20 minutes.
This skillet chicken recipe is flavorful and easy to make! Using your typical skillet and only four ingredients, you’ll have a fantastic dinner!
This Greek Skillet Lasagna is packed with Greek flavors, including ground lamb, feta, and kalamata olives, for a fun and easy-to-make (and cleanup!) twist on traditional lasagna.
A little sweet heat does wonderful things for Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs with Citrus-Chipotle Glaze! A blend of citrus juices (and their zest), the smoky heat of chipotle en adobo, cumin, garlic, and olive oil make a flavorful glaze for your favorite vegetables, and of course, the chicken thighs.
This is your mother’s Chicken and Rice taken up a notch! With a slight Italian twist, this Peppers and Onions Chicken and Rice Skillet is a simple one-pan meal that is perfect for those busy weeknights.
Peruvian Chicken and Rice (Arroz Con Pollo) brings a little Peruvian soul to your table. This flavor-packed one pot meal features aji amarillo (Peruvian yellow chile), and gets its signature green tint from an entire bunch of cilantro.
A fiesta in bowl, Mexican Arroz con Camarones (Rice and Shrimp) combines Mexican flavors – cilantro, cumin, and garlic – with shrimp, rice, black beans, and veggies. Garnished with avocado, jalapeño, more cilantro, and lime wedges, it’s quick, healthy, and flavorful… A perfect one pot meal for any day of the week!
Introducing, the most *AMAZING* Skillet Lasagna recipe! Bursting with herbs, creamy ricotta, and a flavorful sauce, one bite of this will make you go weak in the knees!
Savory cheese-filled tortellini in a simple cream sauce with tomatoes, spinach, and sausage! All easily prepared in one pot!
Made with tender pieces of juicy chicken, diced ham and a creamy swiss cheese sauce, this chicken cordon bleu pasta is the perfect week night dinner – quick and easy and can be made in just one pot! Easy cooking, easy cleanup, what more can you ask for?
Sheet Pan Korean Chicken and Vegetables are a delicious and easy weeknight meal that cooks in one pan and makes crispy tender vegetables and moist sweet and garlicky chicken.
The citrusy tang of lemon paired with the earliness of dill just scream spring. Pair those flavors with a veggie loaded rice. Place it all in one dish with some cost-efficient leg quarts and you get a meal the whole family will love. Spring Chicken and Rice is just that dish!
Sheet Pan Cashew Chicken and Vegetables is spicy, sweet and full of your favorite takeout flavors with garlic, hoisin sauce and sriracha without the frying.
A sheet pan supper makes weeknight cooking a breeze. This hands-free cooking method is so simple, yet it lets you create delicious meals in just a matter of minutes. To see how I made this Sheet Pan Honey Mustard Chicken & Veggies, keep reading!
One pan dinners are my favorite during the week. This lemon pepper tilapia sheet pan dinner is not only quick and easy to prepare, but also a cinch to clean up. It is also naturally low carb so if you are on a low carb diet or just avoiding carbs in general, this sheet pan dinner recipe is a great option!
Oven Roasted Potatoes & Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner - Easy Dinner Idea
Do you need a simple weeknight dinner idea? This Oven Roasted Potatoes & Sausage Sheet Pan Dinner is a complete meal all in one pan.
This skillet vegetable pie has a creamy vegetarian filling topped with puff pastry circles and drizzled with an incredible garlic parsley butter. It’s easy winter comfort food.
These One Pan Parmesan Pork Chops with Asparagus are full of cheesy flavor and on the table in less than 30 minutes. A delicious easy weeknight dinner the whole family will love!
Spicy, tangy, with a sweet twist is what you will get with this Chili lime pork loin with roasted stir fry veggies and coconut rice. A sheet pan dish that takes less than 10 minutes to prep is perfect for busy week nights.
An easy low carb Chicken Parmesan recipe with crispy low carb breading that stays on! It's the best cheesy keto Chicken Parmesan ever, made in one pan with simple ingredients.
A BBQ sheet pan chicken and veggies meal with meat full of flavor, plus sweet potatoes that are perfectly soft with a slight crisp to them, and green beans cooked to perfection.
Sheet pan pork chops are a relatively easy dinner to make. The sheet pan dinner recipe is extremely versatile. If you cannot find the potatoes listed, use quarter red potatoes instead. If you don’t like broccoli, try fresh cut green beans or asparagus. Choose potatoes and vegetables that your family likes to have a nice, balanced meal.
One Pan Mediterranean Chicken with olives, capers, red onion, red pepper and grape tomatoes in a fresh lemon orange honey sauce. A hearty, easy meal!
Quick and easy baked salmon with sweet mustard glaze, Tenderstem® and potatoes! This healthy recipe is perfect for a mid-week dinner, and takes less than an hour to prepare.
Harissa Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner… an easy and flavorful chicken dinner that cooks hands-free in 20 minutes! Chicken tenders coated in the most delicious harissa sauce, with garlic, herbs and spices, sweet bell peppers, and baby potatoes… all topped off with a cooling Greek yogurt, lemon wedges, sliced olives, and capers if you’d like. This North African-inspired dish is a nice flavor-infused change to the typical sheet pan chicken dinner.
When you’re looking for a healthy low-carb (or keto) meal packed full of flavor this cast iron chicken will be the perfect recipe idea. I’m not sure what the actual secret is as to why food taste so great when cooked in cast iron skillets but I like it a lot!
A simple, super flavorful, one skillet keto Portuguese style chicken dish that is low in carbs, paleo, and Whole30Ⓡ.
Coated in caramelized, tangy lemon sauce with a hint of salt from the capers this sheet pan chicken piccata brings all your favorite elements of this restaurant staple, but is on the table in under 45 minutes.
Discover how to make this easy Hawaiian Steak Sheet Pan Dinner that’s cooked perfectly every time! Great for meal prep and busy weeknights!
Quick one-pan meals are amazing. Wash everything off, put it all together, and bake until ready. That is the kind of dinner that every busy family needs! This sheet pan gnocchi is no different.
Simplify dinnertime with this 30-minute Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta made in just one skillet!
"This 30 minute meal is perfect for those busy weeknights. Loaded with veggies and gnocchi coated in a herby chicken sauce and served with a juicy and crispy skin chicken all made in one pan making clean up a breeze!"
Thank you to all the bloggers who submitted recipes and participated in the Quick Easy Dinner Ideasround-up and a special thank you for letting me use their photos to make this round-up that much yummier!!
Recommended Kitchen Gadgets
When it comes to making quick and easy dinners the trick is to have the right gadgets. Using the wrong size pot or pan can create an unnecessary mess and hassle.
These are a few of the simple items that will make your life easier during those busy weeknights.
More Simple Weeknight Recipes
Weeknight cooking doesn’t have to be a chore or something to dread. This list of recipe will give you recipes to keep your family happy all year long.
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