These delicious, healthy, and easy dinner recipes are great for busy weeknights when you want an easy meal.
Sometimes, you want a nice hearty meal, but other nights, when you're feeling snacky or want something light and simple, these recipes are perfect.
We've got ideas for vegetarian meals, salads as main meals, and easy chicken and seafood recipes. Keep these recipes on hand when you want to whip something together quickly.
Most of these recipes can be made in under 30 minutes! There are a few recipes with a bit longer cooking times, but those can all be prepped in 20 minutes or less. So, the time is hands-off time.
Dinners Ready in 30 Minutes or Less
These recipes can all be made from start to finish in 30 minutes or less, making them great for the typically busy weeknight.
Baked Lemon Salmon Recipe
This garlic butter lemon salmon is so tasty and made with 5 simple ingredients. It's a wonderful pescatarian recipe that's easy to make on a weeknight. Pair this salmon with some brown rice and a simple salad for a complete meal.
Thai Green Curry Meatballs
If you like fresh flavors like ginger, coconut milk, and Thai curry you're going to love these meatballs over a bowl of rice. The meatballs get browned and then finished in a creamy coconut milk sauce for a perfectly Thai-flavored bowl of deliciousness.
Mediterranean Salmon Salad
Tender salmon combines with crisp Romaine lettuce, juicy tomatoes and cucumbers, and much more for a delicious Mediterranean salmon salad recipe.
Chickpea Stew Recipe
This stew is one of those recipes that takes less than 15 minutes to prep, and you can find all the ingredients at your local grocery store. It's a wonderful meal that is flavorful without a lot of cooking time. Start to finish, this meal is ready in 30 minutes.
Watermelon Poke Bowl
These watermelon poke bowls are easy and refreshing! Though not a traditional poke recipe, it's vegan and super tasty with a spicy mayo dressing for a meal that's bursting with flavor.
Coconut Crusted Tilapia
This coconut crusted tilapia recipe is richly flavorful and wonderfully spiced. You can make this recipe with any white fish fillet, but we chose tilapia because it's abundant and reasonably priced. Serve this tilapia with a bowl of leafy greens and have a delicious complete meal, ready in less than 30 minutes.
Chickpea Spinach Curry
Made with multiple spices, including the spice blend garam masala, chickpeas and tons of fresh spinach, this flavorful dish is ready in under 30 minutes. It's the perfect dinner idea for on-the-go weeknights.
Poached Sea Bass Recipe
This poached sea bass recipe will be one of your favorite seafood meals! It's full of flavor - the delicate fish, the briny olives, the aromatic wine, and the fresh herbs all combine to make this an amazing meal.
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
This Mediterranean chicken salad is everything you need in an easy, quick weeknight meal. It's full of delicious flavors - artichokes, bell peppers, white beans, chickpeas - it has everything you need for great meal in a hurry.
Sheet Pan Salmon Recipe
If you're a fan of sheet pan dinners, this one's for you. This sheet pan salmon with haricots verts and radishes and a mustardy dressing is an easy weeknight meal, ready in under 30 minutes with super easy clean up.
Savoy Cabbage Salad
This chopped savoy cabbage salad is bursting with flavor! The variety of flavors in this salad are stunning. The ginger dressing is the perfect complement to the subtle veggie flavors.
Asparagus Radish Farro Salad
This delightful spring farro salad has roasted asparagus, broccolini, and radishes. It's absolutely bursting with flavor.
Pan-Seared Halibut with Capers and Dill
This delicious pan-seared halibut is topped with a lemon butter sauce, dill, and capers. The briny, bold flavors pair incredibly well with the fish.
Teriyaki Glazed Salmon Recipe
This teriyaki salmon is a delicious way to make salmon. Teriyaki is a wonderful, tangy sauce with complex flavors that combine sweet, savory, and salty. Pan frying the salmon allows it to cook slowly so it's tender and juicy.
Dinners Ready in 20 Minutes or Less
These recipes can all be prepared in 20 minutes or less, making these meals especially helpful for late, busy nights.
Miso Ramen Recipe
This easy recipe takes less than 20 minutes from start to finish. It has layers of flavor thanks to the stock, two types of miso, and toasted sesame oil. It's a vegetarian meal as prepared, but you can add your favorite lean protein to make it a more hearty meal.
Black Bean Salad
This salad combines the flavor of black beans, bell pepper, jalapeno, and seasonings to make a crunchy and delicious salad in about 15 minutes. Top it with your favorite meat or shrimp, and it's a complete meal.
Easy Oven Baked Shrimp Recipe
If you're looking for an easy but succulent shrimp recipe, you're going to love this easy weeknight dinner. The shrimp is cooked in both butter and olive oil, giving it great flavor. And with only 16 minutes to make, start to finish, you'll want this dish in your regular rotation.
Udon Noodle Soup with Mushrooms and Bok Choy
Udon noodle soup is a wonderful, cozy meal made with the best ingredients. It's perfect for a night when you want a warm, brothy bowl that's fast.
Cherry Tomato Pasta
This delicious pasta is a family favorite with loads of flavor. The burst of tomatoes are like little pockets of joy in each bite. The parmesan cheese and fresh herbs tie the dish together, making this pasta a great option for dinner tonight!
Ground Pork Stir Fry
Ground pork stir fry is so savory, and the combination of aromatics with the stir fry sauce - made up of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and chili oil - is very satisfying. The whole family will love this meal.
Grilled Cod in Foil
Grilled cod in foil is topped with a lemon butter sauce that pairs perfectly with the mild flavor of the cod. Cooking this delicious dinner on the grill and inside foil is an easy way to get out of heavy kitchen clean up at the end of the night.
Crispy Baked Haddock
Delicious crispy baked haddock is a tasty meal that's ready in minutes! The panko and parmesan crust on this fish is perfection.
Blackened Tilapia
This spicy blackened tilapia recipe is ready in minutes! The seasoning and sautéing of this dish combine to make a delicious, tender fish.
Shrimp Summer Rolls
These tasty shrimp summer rolls are made with crunchy cucumber, rice vermicelli noodles, and lots of fresh herbs. They're paired with the best peanut sauce that includes a nice serving of sesame seeds. The rolls are fun to make and absolutely delicious.
Chickpea Salad with Cucumber
This easy chickpea cucumber and feta salad is ready in about 15 minutes! It's a great light meal for two, or pair it with an easy main dish meal on this list, and it's a side salad for four.
Dinners With Less Than 20 Minutes of Prep Time
Some of these recipes have a bit longer cooking time, but they made the list because it's mostly hands-off time. These recipes can all be prepped in less than 20 minutes, with most only needing about 10 minutes of hands-on time.
Thai Fish Curry
If you like Thai food and a little bit of heat, you're going to love this veggie-heavy recipe. It's ready in about 40 minutes but only needs 15 minutes of hands-on time. You'll love the bold and fresh flavors!
Roasted Tomato Soup
This delicious roasted tomato soup with basil and garlic is deeply flavorful. It's relatively simple to make and doesn't require much hands-on time (about 8 minutes!). It's the perfect spring soup on a cool evening.
Ground Turkey Chili
Ground turkey chili takes a bit of time to simmer together but only requires 10 minutes of prep time. It's one of the best easy dinner ideas when the weather is cool. The chili is cooked in a Dutch oven, but if you want to prep it in the morning, you can add it to a slow cooker to cook all day.
Roasted Acorn Squash Soup
Creamy acorn squash soup combines roasted acorn squash, onions, garlic, apple, spices, and herbs for a wonderfully hearty winter squash soup. With only 10 minutes of prep time, this simple recipe will give you a delicious meal with minimal effort.
Grilled Halibut
This halibut is perfectly grilled with a lovely citrus butter flavor that's hard to resist. Grilled fish has a mouthwatering flavor, and it's easy to make! If you love white fish recipes, you'll love this grilled halibut.
Turkish Chicken Kabobs
Chicken is marinated in yogurt and a rich spice blend in this recipe. Then it's grilled till they are succulent and lightly charred. These kabobs make a simple but fantastic main course with little prep time.
Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
These stuffed portobello mushrooms have so much flavor. Stuffed with onion, garlic, leeks, and spinach sauteed in olive oil and topped with mozzarella cheese and Panko breadcrumbs, the entire family will love this veggie-forward meal.
Zucchini Noodles with Marinara
Zucchini spaghetti with zoodles and a delicious marinara sauce is a bright, fresh low carb meal! It's easy to make spiralized zucchini noodles and they taste great. The homemade marinara sauce is made with basic ingredients and these zoodles are a great way to enjoy pasta without the carbs.
Lemon Chicken Rice Soup
This lemon chicken rice soup recipe is perfect for when you want a cozy bowl of warm and hearty soup. While this soup is on the thicker side due to the rice and chicken, it's brightened up with the freshness of the lemon juice, leeks, carrots, and celery.
Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs
These lemon pepper chicken thighs are a zesty and delicious weeknight meal. They're juicy and flavorful while still being really easy to make. You only need 5 minutes of prep time, making this an extra easy meal.
