Easy Meals to Get Started on Cooking

40 Super-Simple Dinner Recipes for New Cooks

SaveComments

We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.

Many if not most of us are cooking a lot more these days, as we quit our dining-out habits cold turkey and self-isolate at home. Cooking three meals a day is a small change for some cooks, but for others, it's huge and intimidating and, quite possibly, adding to the stress and anxiety you already feel. We get it. But we also want to cheer you on, as you attempt new things and put your heart and mind to work feeding yourself and your family.

So we've rounded up 40 of our favorite recipes for absolute beginners (and for cooks who just want an easy button tonight). This is a treasure trove of recipes that are actually, truly, we swear! so easy, but incredibly satisfying and delicious too.

These Four Categories of Recipes Are What We All Want Right Now

Yes, we all want easy and simple recipes, but what does that mean?

1. Recipes with a short ingredient list: Sometimes five ingredients, or even three, are all you need.
2. Recipes that only need one pan: Recipes that call for minimal cookware, like sheet pan suppers and one-pot pastas, are usually easy to cook but also easy to clean up.
3. Recipes with a short cook time: Recipes with just a few steps and a short cook time are not going to involve a lot of prep work. Period.
4. Recipes with a smart shortcut. At Kitchn, we love a good shortcut — like using a bottle of salad dressing as a sauce or leaning on pre-shredded veggies to make dinner easier and faster.

Dinner Recipes with Really Tiny Ingredient Lists

It's honestly amazing what you can do with three ingredients, especially when you lean on grocery-store heroes, like frozen gnocchi, hummus, and salad dressing. (Our ingredient counts do not include salt, pepper, or olive oil, which we consider to be essential building blocks for any recipe.) And, because pancakes for dinner are 100% acceptable right now (and always), we've also included the simplest, easiest pancake recipe of all time. It calls for just two ingredients: bananas and eggs.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman/Kitchn; Food Stylist: Pearl Jones/Kitchn

Tomato Soup with Stuffed Gnocchi and Spinach

Boxed or canned soup gets heftier with the addition of pasta. So easy! The stuffed gnocchi here is a frozen product from Trader Joe's, but any plain gnocchi (frozen or shelf-stable) can be substituted.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman/Kitchn; Food Stylist: Pearl Jones/Kitchn

2-Ingredient Banana Pancakes

Sometimes you just need pancakes for dinner, and these simple and ingenious pancakes let you use up overripe bananas and are super satisfying.

Dinner Recipes that Only Make You Wash One Pan

These recipes cook in just one pot or pan with their sauces and sometimes a vegetable or two. Our favorite: the one that calls for a pack of chicken sausage, gnocchi, and cherry tomatoes. Sounds easy, right? That's because it is.

Red Lentil Soup

This red lentil soup is a perennial favorite because it is very easy, and because it is such a good make-ahead recipe. (It tastes better and better every day. If it tastes bland to you, add more salt and acid.)

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Stylist: Cyd McDowell

French Onion Soup One-Pot Pasta

This one-post pasta is so ingenious; you caramelize onions low and slow, and then add broth and pasta and it all cooks in just one pot.

Credit: Christine Han; Food Styling: Pearl Jones

Tomato Tortellini Soup

Another soup + pasta combo, but here you make the soup yourself, with an easy recipe that starts with canned tomatoes.

Dinner Recipes That Take Truly (We Swear!) 20 Minutes or Less

Consider these recipes, including a garlic-butter shrimp skillet that takes just five minutes (really), your reminder that a really good dinner does not have to mean a long time in the kitchen.

15-Minute Tomato Chickpeas and Orzo

An absolute wow of a recipe, this is the most pantry-friendly yet impressive dinner we know. Tomato sauce, orzo, chickpeas, and somehow it looks so beautiful.

5-Minute Garlic Butter Shrimp

Need a quick date night recipe? Look no further. Thaw some frozen shrimp and cook in this foolproof recipe with lemon and butter. Just add pasta.

Dinner Recipes Made in the Blessed Slow Cooker

Slow cooker dump dinners are perhaps the easiest meals around. If you're not yet acquainted with these miracle meals, they're exactly what they sound like. All the ingredients (of which there are usually few) are dropped in the slow cooker, with very little to no upfront prep required. They cook for several hours up to all day, with no attention needed.

Slow Cooker Baked Ziti

Yes you can make baked ziti in your slow cooker! (This one only needs four ingredients.)

Dinner Recipes Made on One Magic Sheet Pan

We love sheet pan dinners so, so, so much. Just throw your chicken and veggies on a sheet pan, blitz it in the oven until browned, and ta-da, dinner.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Jesse Szewczyk

Mixed Mushroom Sheet Pan Gnocchi

In case you haven't gotten the picture, we really love gnocchi; they're so satisfying. And roasting them is brilliant; you don't have to boil or cook them before throwing on a sheet pan.

Credit: Joe Lingeman/Kitchn; Food Stylist: CC Buckley/Kitchn

Dinner Recipes that (Mostly) Use the Pantry

Even when it feels like there's nothing to eat (spoiler: there is, always), pantry ingredients are the silent stars capable of pulling off dinner. Turn a can of flaked salmon into protein-packed patties or that bag of black beans into a slow-simmered chili.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Guess what? The "roasted tomato" here is actually roasted canned tomatoes, which is a genius way to punch up your canned tomatoes.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

Spaghetti with enough garlic to send a vampire offstage, this is the ultimate pantry pasta.

Marinated White Beans

A simple way to punch up canned white beans for a light dinner (and great make-ahead lunch).

Dinner Recipes with Extra-Smart Shortcuts

At Kitchn, we think shortcuts are smart. They help us get dinner on the table faster and with less effort. These recipes show off our favorite shortcuts.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman/Kitchn; Food Stylist: CC Buckley/Kitchn

Rotisserie Chicken Tacos

Headed out to the grocery for a precious stock-up? Grab a rotisserie chicken and make these tacos.

Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Jesse Szewczyk

Egg Roll Skillet

One of our favorite shortcuts helps make this skillet easy: bagged coleslaw mix.

What are your favorite easy recipes getting you through?

Kelli Foster

Senior Contributing Food Editor

Kelli is a Senior Contributing Food Editor for Kitchn. She's a graduate of the French Culinary Institute and author of the cookbooks, Plant-Based Buddha Bowls , The Probiotic Kitchen , Buddha Bowls , and Everyday Freekeh Meals . She lives in New Jersey.

Follow Kelli

gregoryhatereast57.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.thekitchn.com/simple-recipes-for-new-cooks-23017308

Share this post