I don’t know about you, but for our family, spring is a crazy time of year. We have all the usual music lessons and homework projects that we have throughout the year, but it’s also sports season in our house. That means that our normal schedule is suddenly in upheaval as we have to work our dinner plans around baseball games and practices.
It’s so easy to give in and run through the drive-thru or break out a box of mac-and-cheese, but we do our best to make healthy homemade family dinners as often as possible. It’s a challenge, no doubt about it. I desperately need a go-to list of quick and easy weeknight dinners that I can rely on for those busy nights, and I figure if I do, many of you do too! Since most of my favorite dinners seem to require more time than I have available on these busy weeknights, I reached out to friends online to help me compile a list of quick and easy weeknight recipes that use mostly real food ingredients.
Some of these recipes do take advantage of a convenience item here and there, but for the most part they are items that have very few ingredients and can often be found in an organic version if that’s your thing. Best of all, these recipes should come together in 30 minutes or less (or they use a slowcooker which you can prepare earlier in the day and then dig in when dinnertime rolls around). Some are just for the meat. If so, I always rely on frozen veggies or a salad to round out a quick dinner meal.
I hope this list is helpful! And be sure to link us up to your go-to easy dinners in the comments.
26 Easy Weeknight Meals + 7 Bonus (Desperate) Ideas
- Double Duty Slowcooker Dinner // Making Lemonade
- Red Quinoa Salad // Girl Gone Mom
- Quick & Easy Dinner Salads // Real The Kitchen and Beyond
- Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers // Girl Gone Mom
- Bean Burritos // Real the Kitchen and Beyond
- Crockpot Chicken Curry (serve over quinoa or a quick-cooking rice) // Musings of a Housewife
- Kielbasa Pepper Pasta // Musings of a Housewife
- Spaghetti alla Carbonara Recipe // Simply Recipes
- Chicken Caesar Salad with Grilled Romaine // Musings of a Housewife
- Ten Minute Tacos // Bear Haven Mama
- Easy Lemon Chicken // Tonya Staab
- Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches // Musings of a Housewife
- Skinny Chicken Broccoli Alfredo // Iowa Girl Eats
- Pork Lo Mein // Created By Diane
- Seared Salmon with Tzatziki Sauce // An Edible Mosaic
- Salsa Chicken + side salad / A Life In Balance
- Bacon & Mushroom Cream Sauce over Zucchini Pasta // Musings of a Housewife
- Mahi Mahi with Red Pepper Marinara + salad or steamed veggie from frozen // Musings of a Housewife
- Rosemary Baked Chicken Thighs + steamed veggie from frozen // Musings of a Housewife
- One Pot Chicken Soup // Created by Diane
- Slowcooker Mexican Lettuce Wraps // Musings of a Housewife
- Easy Baked Flounder // Tonya Staab
- Tilapia Parmesan + salad // Musings of a Housewife
- White Fish & Roasted Pepper Salad // Real the Kitchen and Beyond
- Chicken for the Week In 22 Minutes (with a slew of recipes at the end) // Created by Diane
- Creamy Orzo with Spinach // Land O’ Lakes
And for those nights you’re truly in a bind:
- Bacon & Eggs (breakfast for dinner always works!)
- Pancakes (see above)
- French Toast
- Grilled Cheese + raw veggies
- Grilled Hot Dogs (nitrate-free, of course) + raw veggies
- PB&J (hey, I’m not proud!)
- Cereal (okay, we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel, but desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures.)
If you have any easy weeknight dinner ideas for those busy school nights, please leave a link in the comments!
oh my goodness! so many yummy options! thanks
THANK YOU! I am printing this out for summer. Especially the crock pot ones 🙂
totally bookmarked this because I NEED easy dinners like yesterday!
looks like a great list of yumminess. Thanks for including some of mine 🙂
We do chicken calzone quick and easy. Use a rot. Chicken, mozzarella cheese, marina sauce, hot sauce and crumbled blue cheese.
What a great list! Thanks for including my quinoa salad and tex mex peppers 🙂
1 lb gr beef, small diced onion, 2 c cooked rice, 1 can Rotel, Velveeta cheese on top. 15 min and so easy. this is my top of stove favorite.