EASY Weeknight Dinners

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

1. Double Duty Slowcooker Dinner // Making Lemonade
2. Red Quinoa Salad // Girl Gone Mom
3. Quick & Easy Dinner Salads // Real The Kitchen and Beyond
4. Tex Mex Stuffed Peppers // Girl Gone Mom
5. Bean Burritos // Real the Kitchen and Beyond
6. Crockpot Chicken Curry (serve over quinoa or a quick-cooking rice) // Musings of a Housewife
7. Kielbasa Pepper Pasta // Musings of a Housewife
8. Spaghetti alla Carbonara Recipe // Simply Recipes
9. Chicken Caesar Salad with Grilled Romaine // Musings of a Housewife
10. Ten Minute Tacos // Bear Haven Mama
11. Easy Lemon Chicken // Tonya Staab
12. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches // Musings of a Housewife
13. Skinny Chicken Broccoli Alfredo // Iowa Girl Eats
14. Pork Lo Mein // Created By Diane
15. Seared Salmon with Tzatziki Sauce // An Edible Mosaic
16. Salsa Chicken + side salad / A Life In Balance
17. Bacon & Mushroom Cream Sauce over Zucchini Pasta // Musings of a Housewife
18. Mahi Mahi with Red Pepper Marinara + salad or steamed veggie from frozen // Musings of a Housewife
19. Rosemary Baked Chicken Thighs + steamed veggie from frozen // Musings of a Housewife
20. One Pot Chicken Soup // Created by Diane
21. Slowcooker Mexican Lettuce Wraps // Musings of a Housewife
22. Easy Baked Flounder // Tonya Staab
23. Tilapia Parmesan + salad // Musings of a Housewife
24. White Fish & Roasted Pepper Salad // Real the Kitchen and Beyond
25. Chicken for the Week In 22 Minutes (with a slew of recipes at the end) // Created by Diane
26. 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!