Are you struggling to get dinner on the table during the week? Look no further than this list of the best quick dinners I make when I’m crunched for time on weeknights.
Are you enjoying the extra light we are getting in the evenings now? Me too! The only downside I find that comes with the extra daylight (and the warming temperatures) is that my family is spending more time outside after school. How is that a downside, you ask? It’s not really, but it does put an even bigger crunch on dinner. If we are outside playing and enjoying the Spring weather, I’m not starting dinner. Which means that by the time we do come inside and I do get started on dinner, my kids are hangry and getting food in them has become an emergency.
This crunch on weeknight dinner used to stress me out, until I realized that I had a bunch of quick dinners in my back pocket that are perfect for exactly this scenario. My best quick dinners are easy to make, require minimal prep, and are delicious to eat. If you need some quick dinners to save your weeknight dinnertime, this list is for you!
Best Quick Dinners
Sandwiches
Don’t discount sandwiches as great quick dinners. They don’t have to be stuck in lunch-land!
Grilled cheese
Ah, the classic grilled cheese! This is absolutely my go-to emergency dinner, and it’s probably yours too. It’s super satisfying and everyone loves it, especially when paired with a bowl of tomato soup. And it’s crazy quick too! If you want to lean on grilled cheese often but you don’t want to get bored, just mix up the fillings! Add some tomato or bacon (or both!), make it a pizza grilled cheese with mozzarella and pepperoni, or make it fancy with brie and pears or apples. With all this variety available, it’s not a stretch to add grilled cheese to your list of quick dinners every week!
Wraps
Sometimes my kids refuse to eat a simple cold cut sandwich, but if I put the same ingredients in a wrap, they’re all in. I don’t really understand why, but I’m not devoting a ton of time into figuring it out. You can keep it simple with turkey, cheese, and veggies or wrap up whatever leftovers you might have in your fridge to refresh something your kids refused to eat the night before. Nine times out of 10, they’ll eat it in a wrap. Wraps for the win!
Chicken sandwiches
I love a good chicken sandwich. The jury’s still out on the chicken sandwich with my kids (especially my chicken-hating son), but my husband and I love them so I still sneak them in for a quick dinner every once in a while. My favorite way to eat a chicken sandwich at home is to grill some thin chicken breasts and pile chopped Romaine lettuce, Caesar dressing, and Parmesan cheese on top for a handheld chicken Caesar salad. It’s perfect!
Sliders
We have recently become obsessed with sliders at my house. We eat all different varieties of sliders, and they’re all easy and delicious. That’s why they absolutely make my list of the best quick dinners I make on busy weeknights. Some of our favorites include cheeseburger sliders, pizza sliders (skip the roasted garlic to make them fast), and buffalo chicken sliders. You can’t go wrong with sliders.
Hamburgers
Even if you make the hamburger patties yourself, hamburgers are still an easy, quick dinner perfect for the weeknight crunch. Pick your ground meat of choice, season the meat however you prefer, and add whatever toppings float your boat. Round out the meal with some freezer fries – we really like the green bean fries for an extra veggie.
Pizza
Pizza isn’t just for Friday nights! You can have all the flavors of pizza in lots of different forms any night of the week. And the best part is that everyone loves pizza. If you don’t have pizza-ish recipes on your list of the best quick dinners, you’re missing out!
Homemade pizza
Let’s start with the O.G. Homemade pizza is easy to make, y’all. I like to make homemade dough when I have time, but that’s not on a weeknight. A dough ball from the grocery store is perfectly acceptable for weeknight homemade pizza. Add sauce, cheese, and your family’s favorite toppings. Then cook your pizza in the oven or on the grill (my favorite method!) and serve with a bagged salad to turn a simple pizza into one of the best quick dinners you can make.
Tortilla pizza
If you don’t want to mess with rolling out dough (which I completely understand), consider individual tortilla pizzas for dinner! Grab a burrito size tortilla, spread the sauce, cheese, and toppings, and pop into 425°F oven for about 10 minutes. Although you can obviously top these tortilla pizzas however you like, our favorite topping for tortilla pizzas has got to be pepperoni chickpeas. Thank you, How Sweet Eats, for the recipe!
Pizza bagels
Another way to get around the whole dough rolling job of making pizza is to make homemade pizza bagels! Who among us didn’t grow up eating the frozen kind? It was a millennial childhood staple. Although the frozen pizza bagels are nostalgic, homemade pizza bagels are actually delicious! We tend to keep our pizza bagel toppings pretty basic – cheese or pepperoni, but go wild! One of my favorite things about this quick dinner is that it turns into a great lunchbox option for the kids the next day!
Tex Mex
Some of the best quick dinners I have in my repertoire fall into the Tex Mex category. We probably do one of these dinners every week. Everyone loves them and they take minutes to make!
Tacos
Ain’t no shame in making inauthentic tacos. Sure, we all love real Mexican tacos, but they take time and effort to make well. For busy weeknights when you need quick dinners, making a simple seasoned, saucy meat mixture and stuffing it in taco shells (either hard or soft) works just fine. Top with lettuce, cheese, salsa, and whatever you like to make a quick dinner that everyone will gobble up!
Quesadillas
Another great, easy Tex Mex-style dinner that’s lightning fast to prepare is a quesadilla. Stuff a tortilla full of whatever you have in your fridge, add too much cheese, and brown in a skillet. Then dunk your creation in salsa and call it a dinner. The kids will crow with delight!
Nachos
My kids absolutely love when I make nachos for dinner. They get such a kick out of eating chips for dinner! I love to eat nachos too, but I might love to make them more. I usually pile a bunch of tortilla chips on a sheet pan, then top with whatever leftover meat I have in my fridge (or rotisserie chicken meat I’ve shredded) or a can of drained and rinsed beans (or both meat and beans!) and cheese, and throw them in the oven to melt the cheese. Then top with whatever your family likes best. We all like salsa, but we’re split about whether we prefer sour cream or guacamole. I’m a guac girl, myself.
Pasta
Pasta is the G.O.A.T. of quick dinners. We all know to keep stuff on hand for emergency pasta dinners. Even if it’s just a box of dried pasta and a jar of marinara sauce. It works. Every time. If you want to add more pasta dishes to your list of best quick dinners, here are a few we love in our house.
Tortellini/Ravioli
If you want to kick up your pasta and jarred sauce dinner a notch, swap the spaghetti out for a filled pasta, tortellini or ravioli. It’s a super simple swap but it somehow makes your pasta dinner feel more intentional.
Cottage cheese cacio e pepe
My absolute favorite pasta is cacio e pepe. Luckily, I can have it almost any time because Gina from Skinnytaste created an easy weeknight version of cacio e pepe that uses cottage cheese! It has all the classic flavors of cacio e pepe with the benefit of adding extra protein and being easy to pull together in just a few minutes. This one is a winner!
Miscellaneous
Just because I couldn’t fit these quick dinners into a specific category doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk about them. These are winner, winner, super quick dinners!
Breakfast for dinner
I love breakfast for dinner! When I was a single lady, I ate it at least once a week. We don’t have it as often now that I have more mouths to feed, but I pull it out as a super quick weeknight dinner every once in a while. My go-to breakfast for dinner choices are usually bacon and eggs, French toast, and breakfast sandwiches. You can whip these up and get them on the table quickly for a fun twist on dinner!
Sheet pan meal
A sheet pan meal saves the day often in my house. It is so incredibly customizable, you can make a variation that is sure to please even the pickiest eaters. I stick to a formula of meat, potato, and vegetable mixed together with a bit of olive oil, a glug of maple syrup, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Throw the mixture on a sheet pan and roast at 425°F for 30ish minutes. My favorite variation uses sliced turkey kielbasa, cubed sweet potatoes, and broccoli florets.
Pork tenderloin
An often-overlooked entry on the list of best quick dinners is the humble pork tenderloin. It’s such an underrated cut of meat, but it cooks quickly, takes a marinade like a dream, and turns out tender and juicy when grilled. This honey garlic grilled pork tenderloin is our particular family favorite.
Salads
Especially when the weather gets warm, I love nothing more than a salad with a whole bunch of stuff on it for a quick dinner. I toss together a bunch of veggies, grill some meat (usually steak or chicken), and dress with whatever is tickling my toes that day. A big ole hearty salad makes a great quick weeknight dinner!
Another super common occurrence at the dinner table in our house is a bagged salad with chicken nuggets on top. We usually go the Caesar salad route, but we occasionally opt for my kids’ favorite pizza bagged salad from Trader Joe’s. It’s a satisfying dinner that requires basically zero time or effort.
Jacket potatoes
You can stuff just about anything in a baked potato and have yourself a quick, easy, and delicious meal. Leftover chili and cheese with a dollop of sour cream is delicious. Broccoli and cheddar is also delicious. And don’t discount the traditional British jacket potato stuffed with baked beans – it’s delicious too! So many options, so many quick dinners!
Frittata
A frittata is basically a quiche without the crust. When you’re trying to make a quick dinner, ditch the crust and opt for a frittata. Whisk some eggs, milk, cheese, and whatever else you want to toss into your frittata together, dump it in a pie plate, and bake. Serve with a side salad and you’ve got a kid-approved meal ready without much effort at all! Seriously, this white pizza frittata is one of my son’s top five favorite things to ear for dinner. Your kids might like it too!
Hot dogs
Repeat after me: You are not a bad mom if you serve your kids hot dogs for dinner. They are one of the best quick dinners we have, moms. Just do me a favor and at least cook them on a skillet or grill pan if you’re cooking them inside. Boiled hot dogs are not appetizing.
Other posts
Want more dinnertime inspiration? I hope these posts are just as helpful:
Feeling a little less stressed about getting dinner on the table? I sure hope so! What meals land on your list of best quick dinners? Share down below or over on Instagram @sarainseason.