As promised, I have finally rounded up all the reader recommendations for super fast meal ideas for family weeknight dinners.
These were a little tricky to organize as I couldn’t decide if I should categorize by cooking method (crockpot, sheet pan, etc.) or cuisine type! My hope is that this list is easy to scan and is categorized in a way that is helpful for your family meal planning!
Before we get down to the meal ideas for family dinners, I wanted to share a few tips that y’all submitted that I thought were brilliant.
Fast Dinner Tips
These aren’t necessarily recipes, but ideas that I thought were really helpful…
- Use the delay start setting for your oven
- Cook in the AM and reheat
- #1 kitchen appliance recommendation — The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer
- Order lunch special sushi rolls (store in fridge)
- Grill chicken on Sundays and use it for salads and wraps all week
- For quick chicken, Bare Nuggets were highly recommended. Can also use rotisserie chicken for many of these recipes too!
Sandwiches & Wraps
- BLTs
- Buffalo chicken (hot sauce with rotisserie chicken) wraps
- Tuna melts
- Caesar salad wraps
- Sloppy Joes
- Chicken nugget wraps
- Crockpot BBQ chicken sandwiches
- Tomato soup and grilled cheese
- Ham and cheese sliders
Breakfast for Dinner
- breakfast casseroles
- Scrambled eggs and toast
- Quiche from Fresh Market
Pastas
- Tortellini with arugula + mushrooms and chicken with pesto
- Crockpot ziti or oven-baked ziti
- Chicken spaghetti in delayed bake oven
- Costco tortellini with veggies and chicken sausage
- “clean out the fridge” chickpea pasta + Rao’s sauce + veggie
- Cauliflower gnocchi skillet with chicken sausage, spinach, Rao’s tomato sauce, top with parmesan
Meatballs
- Pesto Chicken meatballs, add pasta or put on baguette
- Meatball subs
- Costco Italian meatballs with pesto
- Slow cooker meatballs served with rolls & bagged Caesar salad
Soups/Chili
- Veggie
- Taco soup
- Air fryer ravioli & tomato soup
Quick Mexican
- Shredded chicken tacos (can make in crockpot)
- Tacos in a bag
- Chicken fajitas
- Sheet pan nachos
- Crockpot enchilada casserole
- Mexican Lasagna
- Black bean burritos
- Quesadillas/sheet pan quesadillas
- Quinoa with taco seasoning, corn, onions, black beans with chips (can also serve as a wrap)
- Pork carnitas with southwest salad
Salads
- Salad kit with baked salmon
- Chicken Caesar
- Chicken salad pitas
- Salads in a jar
Bowls
- Poke Bowls with 90 sec sticky rice, smoked salmon + spicy mayo
- Salmon rice bowls
- Greek chicken bowls
Trader Joe’s
- Trader Joe’s cowboy veggie burgers
- Trader Joe’s gyro meat pitas
- Trader Joe’s teriyaki chicken with minute rice and steamed broccoli
Other Ideas
- Turkey meatloaf
- Rotisserie Chicken for salads, wraps, or serve with veggies
- Baked teriyaki pork chops with quick steamed rice, frozen broccoli and pineapple
- Italian sausage with peppers onions, zucchini and garlic bread
- Diced chicken sausage sauteed in sesame oil + veggies + rice
- Pizza bagels
- Beef bottom roast with 2 packets onion soup mix + 2 cans cream of celery
- Kale chips (bake in oven) + chicken + fruit
- Fancy instant ramen from Whole Foods — just add some fresh veggies fresh stuff
- Hot dogs + burgers
- gyros meat from costco with couscous, cucumbers, tomatoes
- pork shoulder — cook on low heat _ use for tacos, sammies, pasta sauce all week
- Make ahead Bisquick cheeseburger pie (turkey burger)
- Cauliflower stir fry rice with chicken sauteed ahead of time
- Marinated chicken to throw on grill as soon as we’re home for salad
- Crockpot baked potatoes
