Even if you’re short on time you can still sit down to a comforting home-cooked dinner any night of the week. The key is choosing the right recipe. To help you get started, we gathered our best easy dinner ideas in one place. These simple but satisfying easy dinner recipes don’t require much advance prep or a long cooking time, so you’ll be sitting down to eat before you know it. Choose from Southern favorites like Chicken Fried Steak, Smothered Chicken, and Salmon Croquettes. Or try something new like Tempura Shrimp Tacos, Spaghetti with Sausage and Peppers, Barbecue Pork Quesadillas, or Mediterranean Turkey Cutlets and Pasta. In the mood for something light and healthy? Try our parchment-wrapped Lemon-Dill Tilapia or Lemon Pork Chops with Quinoa Salad. We also have several creative pork tenderloin recipes including Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin and Sage-and-Pecan Pork Tenderloin Cutlets. Whatever you choose, you’re sure to find a new favorite weeknight dinner.
Pan-Grilled Chicken with Fresh Plum Salsa
Recipe: Pan-Grilled Chicken with Fresh Plum Salsa
A mix of sweet and heat on these chicken cutlets is sure to get your family's taste buds ready for dinner. Add a side of steamed vegetables for a complete meal.
Cornmeal Cakes with Smoked Chicken and Coleslaw
Recipe: Cornmeal Cakes with Smoked Chicken and Coleslaw
Dinner will be on the table in a flash with this delicious recipe. Pick up coleslaw, smoked chicken, and sauce from your favorite barbecue joint.
Lemon Pork Chops with Quinoa Salad
Recipe: Lemon Pork Chops with Quinoa Salad
Your family and guests will love these flavorful pork chops with a crunchy almond topping. It’s simple to make and highly flavorful. Lemons, sugar snap peas, and garlic make it perfect for summer, and the spices make a chop so flavorful that you won’t even need to marinate it prior to cooking. If you plan on serving it alongside a salad, double the vinaigrette recipe and use it to compliment the flavors found in the pork, quinoa, and snap beans. For perfectly fluffy quinoa, make sure that after simmering it, you let it stand, covered, to steam. After 10 minutes, fluff it with a fork.
Spaghetti With Sausage and Peppers
Recipe: Spaghetti With Sausage and Peppers
Mix together spaghetti with sausage and peppers for a quick Italian meal that's sure to please the entire family.
Beach Shrimp
Recipe: Beach Shrimp
Serve with toasty French bread to sop up the sauce. To bake this when you are on vacation at the beach, purchase a large disposable roasting pan for easy cleanup.
Cooking Video: What's for Supper? Beach Shrimp
Tempura Shrimp Tacos
Recipe: Tempura Shrimp Tacos
Make coleslaw up to 24 hours in advance to jump-start this recipe.
Chicken Scaloppine With Spinach and Linguine
Recipe: Chicken Scaloppine With Spinach and Linguine
Looking for an easy dinner-party dish? Try Chicken Scaloppine With Spinach and Linguine. For fast assembly, measure out and prep ingredients before guests arrive.
Lemon-Dill Tilapia
Recipe: Lemon-Dill Tilapia
Tilapia gets a twist with lemon and dill. Aluminum foil can be substituted for parchment paper.
Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
Everything's better with bacon, and this pork tenderloin recipe is no exception! Go ahead and season the other tenderloin in the package with your favorite spice blend. Wrap and freeze to jump-start another meal.
Basic Salmon Croquettes
Recipes: Basic Salmon Croquettes
No buttermilk on hand? Make your own by combining 1 cup milk with 1 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice. The results are the same.
Chicken-fried Steak
Recipe: Chicken-fried Steak
Make this iconic Southern chicken-fried steak recipe and savor every bite of this simple and delicious dish. Serve with green beans, mashed potatoes, and plenty of gravy.
Shrimp-Pesto Pizza
Recipe: Shrimp-Pesto Pizza
Pizza dough from your grocery store, local wholesaler, or favorite pizza restaurant speeds up prep time for summery pizza. Sauté shrimp with onions and red bell pepper for a flavorful complement to pesto. Cut kitchen time by substituting jarred pesto and peeled shrimp.
Mediterranean Turkey Cutlets and Pasta
Recipe: Mediterranean Turkey Cutlets and Pasta
Cooked quickly in a skillet, Greek-seasoned turkey cutlets are the perfect accompaniment to fettuccine with sautéed red onion, tomatoes and olives. Feel free to substitute your favorite canned tomato blend.
Barbecued Pork Quesadillas
Recipe: Barbecued Pork Quesadillas
This six-ingredient recipe is the perfect weeknight comfort food. For an easy side, melt a few tablespoons of butter with minced garlic and a dash of chili powder in a microwave-safe bowl; pour over boiled or grilled corn on the cob.
Grilled Basil-and-Garlic Pork Chops
Sage-and-Pecan Pork Tenderloin Cutlets
Recipe: Sage-and-Pecan Pork Tenderloin Cutlets
Instead of smothering your pork cutlets with heavy gravy, try this sweet and tangy blackberry reduction sauce. Bread pork tenderloin slices in a crunchy mixture of chopped pecans, breadcrumbs and sage then sear until golden brown. The contrast of the sweet berry sauce and earthy sage is a flavor combination you will want to taste again and again.
Snappy Smothered Chicken
Recipe: Snappy Smothered Chicken
A speedy dinner is as close as your grocery store's deli. Take advantage of this delectable dish to feed your hungry brood.
Cooking Video: Rotisserie Chicken Tips
Pan-Seared Trout With Italian-Style Salsa
Recipe: Pan-Seared Trout With Italian-Style Salsa
The Italian-Style Salsa can be made a day ahead or whipped together in just 10 minutes; the fish itself needs only four minutes per batch.
Hamburger Steak With Sweet Onion-Mushroom Gravy
Recipe: Hamburger Steak With Sweet Onion-Mushroom Gravy
This ground beef recipe helps you make the most of your busy weeknights. You can make the patties ahead, then simply thaw them in the fridge overnight before using. You’ll love how the gravy keeps these moist and tender, while the onion adds just the right hint of sweetness and the garlic adds that little bit of spice. Mushrooms make this burger even richer, and sop up that gravy to make your burger even better. We love ground round for this burger. So get your skillet ready to brown this burger and cover it in sweet onion-mushroom gravy. You’ll love how good this burger tastes.
Almond-Crusted Tilapia
Recipe: Almond-Crusted Tilapia
If you don't have a skillet large enough to hold all the fillets without overlapping, we recommend cooking them in batches. You can substitute catfish, flounder, or orange roughy for tilapia.
Grilled Triggerfish with Potato Salad
Recipe: Grilled Triggerfish with Potato Salad
Freshness counts with a recipe this elemental. We recommend meaty, just-caught triggerfish, but any firm-fleshed fillets will work—just adjust the cooking time depending on the thickness.
Country Ham Carbonara
Recipe: Country Ham Carbonara
Hearty, not heavy, is key in this Italian dish. Serve immediately for the best flavor.
Chicken Fried Rice
Recipe: Chicken Fried Rice
Instead of getting takeout, make this easy at-home version complete with scrambled eggs.
Beef Kabobs with Broccoli Slaw and Peanut Sauce
Recipe: Beef Kabobs with Broccoli Slaw and Peanut Sauce
We tested with tri-tip and rib-eye steak, but use your favorite cut.
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