7 Super Easy Weeknight Recipes I Make All the Time
I dedicate this post about easy weeknight recipes to my beloved sister. Why? Well, about a week ago, I texted her and asked “what do you need me to write about on my blog? Food stuff? Design questions? What do you want?” You see, my sister likes to call me her “Google.” I don’t say that with any braggy undertones. I say it because I really treasure every time I get that text or FaceTime asking me ______ about almost everything (“is this a cucumber”? — it was a zucchini, for example). To me, that means she trusts me, that when she needs to know something, she turns to me almost without question.
THAT’S A LOT OF PRESSURE TO ALWAYS BE RIGHT, SISTER. But I appreciate that you have that much confidence in my knowledge of random things. One of her first post requests? Quick weeknight dinner ideas. Well, technically she asked for ideas for things she could cook in “20 minutes or less.” HA that would be a short list…but I DO believe in yummy, healthy food you can whip up on a Tuesday without dreading a 2-hour process. I love to sit down with a plate of food, glowing with pride, and proclaiming to Charles that “THIS WAS SO FAST & EASY!” If I had a show on the Food Network, maybe that’s what I’d name it.
So I started going through my archive. I plan on writing about my “process” and technique for how I outline my weekly meals and plan my groceries so I’m never left with the agonizing question “what should we eat tonight?” but for now, I plucked out recipes I turn to again and again…and again that never fail me. Things I can cook relatively quickly, particularly in my pressure cooker, that are satisfying and made without any special ingredients (well…except for one…keep reading for my recipe “secret weapon”). I’ve made all of these so many times, I’ve moved onto recipe level 2 with most, meaning my own variations, which I’ll note.
Let’s get to it, because if you don’t have time to labor over a stove on a weeknight, you probably don’t have time to read through another 500 words of my food chronicles. In fact, I’ve likely already lost you and you scrolled down to the photos anyway.
Easy 20 Minute Chicken Tacos via Gimme Delicious
My weeknight dinners are not super adventurous. I cook like the white American mom of my childhood dreams: “spaghetti night,” “taco night,” “chili night.” Dare to dream, young Arlyn, dare to dream…she says, through a thick haze of arroz con habichuelas and chuleta memories.
So yeah, I tend to have one “Mexican” dinner night, because it’s delicious, easy, and frankly, usually really inexpensive. These tacos are really fast, use chicken thighs but could easily be made with chicken breast depending on your preference (chicken thighs are almost impossible to overcook, which can be helpful when you’re tackling 12 other things at night). Don’t skip the cilantro cream sauce and try to make your own pico if you can. If you want to make this at hyperspeed, you can buy pre-made pico, but I recommend adding some fresh lime juice to it if you do.
Grilled Shrimp Foil Packets via Delish
These little foil gems are magic. I’ve made them so many times, I could construct them with my eyes closed, hands tied behind my back, using solely telekinetic powers. I’ve made them with turkey kielbasa, beef kielbasa, pork kielbasa…it’s always good. The Old Bay Seasoning is CLUTCH here, and I definitely use more than 1 tablespoon of it across four packets. Same goes with the lemon. Half a lemon for each will give you the perfect sauce. Be sure to cut your potatoes pretty small so that they cook fully in the short time it takes the shrimp to get to temperature, or do what I’ve taken to doing lately: par-boil them for 10-ish minutes before constructing your packets.
Chicken and Lentil Soup via Skinnytaste
I used to make this soup all the time but stopped because the lentils took so long to get tender due to the fact that I’ve always been too lazy to let beans and lentils soak. ENTER THE PRESSURE COOKER. Game changer folks. Now, this is what I consider a “dump all that shiz in and go live your life” recipe, which is exactly what it sounds like.
I change nothing here when I make it. On the stove, it comes out a bit thicker and creamier, as I find stew-like things a bit watery in the pressure cooker, but nothing that can’t be solved by taking the lid off at the end, letting it simmer for a few minutes and boom, you’re good! Also, I recognize that “chicken and lentil soup” sounds pretty boring but I promise this is a good one.
Cuban Picadillo via Skinnytaste
Look, I cook A LOT of recipes from the blog Skinnytaste. I found it back in 2011 when I first did Weight Watchers. Nothing she makes tastes “light” or “diet-y.” I’ll sometimes swap out leaner things for full-fat versions if I feel like it, but the recipes are good regardless. This is my go-to picadillo (in fact, I had it last night for dinner and today for lunch with white rice and sweet plantains/maduros)…with a few tweaks:
- I swap salt for Adobo if I have it (don’t be ridiculous, I’m Puerto Rican, I ALWAYS have Adobo).
- I measure cilantro with my heart (a.k.a. a fistful). And same goes for green olives. 2 tablespoons? Is there an olive ration I don’t know anything about? Use at least 1/4 cup, alright?
- Add a packet of Sazon (this has MSG, so if you’re sensitive to it or avoid it, you can skip it. UPDATE: I’m in the process of trying to find a replacement to Goya products, and also their Sazon in general because of all the bad-for-you ingredients. I’ll report back!).
- This next swap isn’t as applicable now that I live in LA where I can’t seem to find recaito anywhere, but it’s a flavor every Caribbean Latin dish needs. If you can find it, get some! Or make some like I’m forced to do now. It’s made of cilantro, culantro (this is not a typo), onion, garlic, and aji dulce peppers. I feel like every Puerto Rican person I know has their own secret recipe for the “perfect” recaito or sofrito, and when I master my own after I plant and grow my own culantro and aji dulce, I’ll share the love, k? Pinky promise.
Instant Pot Spaghetti via Kitchn
Back to Americanized food for anyone who just had to Google “sofrito” and “Sazon.” The idea of making spaghetti in a pressure cooker is absolutely criminal to the art of Italian cooking but dangit if it isn’t comforting and easy. This is not “authentic” Italian food by any means, but the mystical force that is pasta starchiness and slurp-worthy noodles are enough to make me come back to it again and again. I do have several tweaks though. (I recognize I sound like those people in the comment section that give a recipe 5-stars but then list out every change they made, rendering the original recipe to a shell of its former self.)
- Add a crap ton of onion and garlic powder. Like, sprinkle top to bottom, then bottom to top.
- Throw in 1-2 tablespoons of fennel seeds.
- Use Rao’s sauce if you can, because it’s the absolute best store-bought sauce out there, hands down. A multitude of articles has been written about it…I don’t say this often but, you’re gonna have to trust the Internet on this one.
- Add a solid 2-3 glugs of whatever red wine you have lying around.
- Stir about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup (who am I kidding…a cup) of grated parmesan straight to the pot. Stir like a maniac to activate the starchy magic…serve with more parm.
- If you have leftover basil in the fridge, don’t be afraid to use it here. If not, dried basil works great, too.
- AND NOW FOR MY SECRET INGREDIENT: Magic Mushroom Powder (and not the psychedelic kind…the umami kind). Blogger Nom Nom Paleo sells this pre-made through Whole Foods, but she also shares her recipe to make it yourself. Trader Joe’s sells something similar. This stuff just makes the meat taste meatier, the cheese taste cheesier, the everything taste everything-er. Umami rounds out a flavor profile in a way almost nothing else can. The dish is completely fine without it, but with it, it’s something else entirely. I sprinkle in about 1-2 teaspoons when I mix in the cheese but before serving.
Detox Immune-Boosting Chicken Soup via Eat Yourself Skinny
The soup even Charles can make, folks! I can’t imagine he’ll be happy to read that I just wrote that, but essentially, it’s easy! The recipe calls for baby kale leaves, but I’ve only ever used lacinato kale (the dark, dino-skin-looking variety). It works perfectly. If you make your own stock ever, definitely use it! If not, try to find bone broth for a richer, deeper flavor.
Also, I prefer to put in the turmeric while the onion, celery and carrots are cooking, before the broth, to “activate” the spice—something I’ve learned through watching a lot of Indian recipe videos.
Mexican Street Corn Tortillas via Recipe Diaries
And finally, something vegetarian. I probably eat meat at almost every meal to avoid hearing Charles say “what? no meat?!?” What a male stereotype, huh? Kidding, he just likes chewing down on some animal tissue. #sorry
I’ve made these vegetarian as-is, but also added some rotisserie chicken with a little pre-packaged salsa verde mixed in for good measure…both ways are very good. To make this EVEN faster, buy the tostadas that come pre-fried. If you want to control the oil, follow the method in the recipe to make them in the oven.
There you have it! A peek into my weekly food non-adventures. I hate making a fuss over complicated dinners on a weeknight when I’d rather be bingeing episodes of The Babysitter’s Club reboot or some other teen-oriented show (anyone seen Love, Victor on Hulu?!?) then watching the clock tick over into 9 pm while I transform into the hangry version of myself with 20 minutes still left on the timer. Weekends…that’s another story. That’s when I pull out my cookbooks and par-tay, but I’ll save that for another post (BECAUSE I HAVE A BLOG NOW—DID YOU HEAR?—AND CAN WRITE ABOUT ANYTHING I WANT AS OFTEN AS I WANT).
Here’s where I play the part of “good blogger” and throw a question at you to answer in the comments (but really, it’s because I want to hear and learn from you, too!):
Do you have any go-to easy weeknight dinner recipes you pull out without fail? Please leave those beautiful links below so we can all add some things to our rotation!
Pin it so you don’t forget it!
I don’t have much related food content yet, but I did write about my must-have kitchen tools. If you’re interested, you can check that out here:
My 14 Can’t-Live-Without Kitchen Tools or skip right to the punchline and shop them all easily here.