Quick and Easy 5-Ingredient Suppers

Recipe: Potato-Crusted Pizza

You can give your pizza crust some unexpected crunch when you begin with a base of seasoned shredded potato rounds. Yes, that's right, rather than the traditional dough, this makes an amazing, kid-friendly crust that is delicious and delightful. What's even better is that you can start with a package of premade rounds, meaning that this quick-fix supper can go from freezer to table in what seems like no time at all. Top these with tomatoes, fresh basil, and a pizza cheese blend, and you'll be ready to grab a slice and savor every bite! And with only five ingredients, it's easy to always have what you need on hand.

Recipe: Cast-Iron Cowboy Steak

There's no need to giddy-up and go when you can have the great tastes of the ranch right around your own family dinner table. There's a special secret to getting great flavor to your favorite cut of meat. And, even better, this is the best way to cook a thick, juicy bone-in steak restaurant-style without smoking up the house. Use your grill to heat the cast-iron skillet; the skillet surface area promotes a more assertive flavor and better sear than grill grates. This will yield a sizzling-hot steak with the proper steak house crust. Season it with butter, herbs, and garlic for a perfect, melt-in-your-mouth flavor.

Recipe: Glazed Pork with Fresh Plums

Pork tenderloins are simple to cook in the oven and come out tender and juicy. In this recipe, plums, pork, and onions come together to make a flavorful weeknight dish. The red onions bring just a little bit of bite, while the plums add just enough sugar to try to keep it at bay. Let the loins stand for ten minutes when they emerge from the oven and they'll be cooked to perfection. Finally, you'll savor the sweet-yet-tart bite you get from the balsamic vinegar stirred into the drippings, then thickened and poured over the tenderloins in a delicious glaze.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Fettuccine

If ever there was a way to combine the pleasures of Southern food with the comforts of Italian cooking Sweet Potato Fettucine is it. This clever technique for transforming sweet potatoes into "fettuccine" was inspired by a prize-winning recipe from the North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission, and comes together in just 35 minutes. Start with a large, long sweet potato and a mandoline to create pasta-like strips. Then cook the strips until they have the same consistency as pasta—but to your delight, this cooking is done in butter. They'll come out 'al dente', which means 'to the tooth', or still having some firmness when you take a bite.

Recipe: Top-Shelf Chicken Under a Brick

The "top-shelf" in this recipe speaks to the crispy skin, superior flavor, and juiciness of the bird. After you have your first bite, you'll be calling this recipe top-notch. It also refers to a novel new technique: cooking your potatoes in the heavy cast-iron skillet that's used as a weight on the chicken. The weight presses the chicken flat against the grill grates, cutting the cooking time in half. Plus you'll be cooking your side dish at the same time. You'll marvel at the look of the chicken when it comes off the grates, but the flavor will be even more sensational.

Recipe: Grilled Steaks Balsamico

A marinade of fig preserves and balsamic vinaigrette adds great flavor to steaks. Marinate them overnight, cook them on the grill in less than 20 minutes, and serve them with a premade garlic-herb cheese sauce for an amazing weeknight meal. The sugars in the fig preserves and the vinaigrette caramelize just a little bit, adding a combination smoky-sweetness to the beef, giving it an incredible, rich flavor. With a side of melted buttery garlic-and-herb spreadable cheese, this dish is a bold, rich delight. Take a slice of this steak and dip it in the cheese sauce—the taste is a mouthwatering delight.

Recipe: Chicken Parmesan Pizza

This quick-and-easy take on an Italian dinner classic begins with frozen garlic bread. Pull out that bread from your freezer and transform it into a pizza that kids and adults alike will love. Crisp it up in the oven, then top the bread with deli-fried chicken strips, pizza sauce, cheese, and basil. Or, use any leftover meat on hand, such as chopped chicken breasts or Italian sausage. You can also have a quick-fix side salad with some romaine lettuce, cracked pepper, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Top it with your favorite Caesar dressing and your simple Italian dinner is ready to go.

Watch: Quick-Fix 5-Ingredient Pizza

Recipe: Turkey Scaloppine

Weeknight meals can't get much easier than this. Simply dredge turkey or chicken cutlets in a flour mixture, and cook it for a few minutes until done. Serve this with a white wine reduction that will bring the right combination of subtle sweetness and deep, earthy undertones. The extra secret to this recipe is a little Cajun seasoning that adds just a touch of heat to the scaloppine. Complete the meal with a just-as-easy side—sautéed zucchini. This meal is simply Southern—meaning that it is fried goodness—but the turkey keeps it lean, meaning that you can keep it on your dinner table.

Recipe: Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken

This dish may taste like you spent all day in the kitchen, but a cup of sun-dried tomato vinaigrette with roasted red peppers is all you'll need to flavor this meal! What's even better is that you can easily purchase the dressing premade. Basting the chicken every fifteen minutes as it bakes means the flavors from the peppers and tomatoes are roasted deep into the meat, meaning that you'll be able to savor them in every bite. Add extra flavor with fresh basil and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

Recipe: Corned Beef with Marmalade-Mustard Glaze

Brushing this precooked corned beef with a mixture of marmalade and mustard means that you're bringing the sweet and the heat. This is a great make-ahead meal, which means you can keep your weeknight dinner planning simple. If you cook the corned beef brisket the day before, you'll make your meal prep a cinch. All you'll have to do is brush the brisket with the marmalade-mustard glaze and bake it for an easy supper. Then, add in some cooked cabbage—it makes the perfect side dish. Slice it thin for sandwiches if you have any left over.

Recipe: Almond-Crusted Tilapia

If you need a quick weeknight dinner, gently cooking fish in a skillet on the stovetop is one of the simplest ways to go. The almond coating on this tilapia gives it a great nutty-flavored crunch, and extra toasted almonds sprinkled on top truly bring these flavors to the fore. Ready in less than 10 minutes, this recipe will become a go-to weeknight meal your family will love. If you prefer a fish other than tilapia, catfish, orange roughy, or flounder can work equally as well. Whichever you choose, it will be simple to bring this healthier version of a Southern fish fry to your weeknight dinner table.

Recipe: Jalapeño-Basil Pork Chops

This recipe's great flavor and impressive appearance will fool everyone. The secret is a jar of jalapeño pepper jelly. Mixed with white wine and fresh basil, the pepper jelly makes a wonderful marinade and sauce for grilled pork chops. You only need to marinate the chops in the pepper jelly mixture for 30 minutes and they are ready to grill, so you can have these ready to go for a quick-fix supper. If you want to bring even more heat, you can top them with a little more pepper jelly when they hit your plate. If you prefer chicken to pork, this marinade works equally as well with skinned and boned chicken breasts.

Recipe: Crunchy Pan-Fried Chicken

You may think that fried chicken is not worth the effort, but this recipe will have you ready to get it on the dinner table. Skip the grease and mess of traditional fried chicken and try this pan-fried version. It uses very little oil but still gives you chicken with a delicious crunch. Cornmeal and breadcrumbs make the breading extra crispy. Serve with a quick salad and mashed potatoes for a complete weeknight meal. This recipe also tastes delicious on chicken thighs or pork chops, so break out your frying pan and get those crispy Southern delights on your dinner plate.

Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

What could make pork better than more pork? That is the idea with this recipe. And, since everything does taste better with bacon, all you have to do to prepare this crowd-pleaser is sprinkle a pork tenderloin with a little steak seasoning, wrap it with a few strips of bacon, and stick it in the oven. It's that easy! Crisp up the bacon under the broiler before you take the tenderloin out, and you'll be rewarded with crunch and with perfectly roasted meat in every bite.

Recipe: Crispy Oven-Fried Catfish

Few dishes could be more Southern, or more delicious, than fried catfish. But you may be hesitant to make it at home because of the cleanup. Avoid the mess of frying fish by oven-frying it instead. The batter for this catfish is something unexpected—cornflakes add the crunchy coating while reducing the grease of traditional fried fish. The real richness of this catfish comes from soaking it in buttermilk first, though, then giving it a little spice with some Creole seasoning. Half- an-hour later, you'll be pulling your catfish out of the oven—it's a lot simpler than reeling them in at the lake.

Recipe: Asian Pork Chops

Getting the beautiful and subtle flavors of Asian cuisine doesn't mean you have to spend hours in the kitchen or have a cabinet full of spices and sauces. This simple recipe shows you how to get your favorite flavors in a simple weeknight supper. Hoisin sauce and sweet chili sauce give these pork chops their Asian flare. Just marinate the pork chops for two to for hour and they'll be rich with these saucy, spicy flavors. Then, put them on the grill where they will sear to smoky delights. Brush on some extra marinade right before you serve these and you will have the perfect quick-and-easy dinner.

Recipe: Baked Curry-Glazed Chicken

Curries are known for their distinctive tastes and flavors, and making the perfect curry requires a deft hand and attention to the subtleties of its flavors. This recipe —described by one online reviewer as "deceptively simple and amazingly good"—brings all the delights of these tastes to the table. And, although simple, this chicken dish is packed with flavor. Individual chicken pieces are hand-dipped in a curry sauce made of honey, butter, yellow mustard, and curry powder, then covered in any remaining sauce. After around an hour of roasting, what emerges is a spicy, tender, and juicy delight. If you prefer chicken thighs, or chicken breasts, to a whole chicken, you can substitute either—the flavor will be just as sensational.

Recipe: Jerk Turkey Tenderloin with Raspberry-Chipotle Sauce

Jerk seasoning is a well-known Caribbean spice blend that adds its own distinctive jolt of flavor to any meal. People usually associate the seasoning with chicken, but it is just as delicious on turkey—like in this recipe with turkey tenderloins. Jerk seasoning will give the tenderloins a little heat, which gets enhanced while they cook on the grill. Once they're basted with the raspberry-chipotle sauce, it is as if an extra melody of sweet heat has been poured on. Fresh and hot off the grill, these tenderloins will be juicy thanks to this marinade, but if you’d like to add a little more you can serve any remaining sauce on the side.

Recipe: Dijon Pork Loin

Entertaining doesn't have to be complicated—but with this recipe your guests may have the impression that it is. This Dijon Pork Loin recipe is impressive enough for company but easy enough for your busiest day. Rub a simple spice mixture of steak seasoning, flour, butter, and mustard over a pork loin roast, cook it for a little over an hour, slice it, and serve. It will hit the table looking and tasting restaurant quality, but it will be so easy to prepare you'll feel like it was delivered by room service.

Recipe: Lexington-Style Grilled Chicken

Distinctive regional methods of preparing barbecue and making sauce are a tradition in the South, and opinions about the best ways to do each are many and varied. Some prefer vinegary, some prefer sweet, but almost everyone agrees that what makes a barbecue is what you put on it. The sauce used in Lexington-style barbecue inspired this spicy-hot vinegar marinade made with cider vinegar, dark brown sugar, and dried crushed red pepper. The best advice is to grab a plate and fill it with this delicious Lexington-Style Grilled Chicken, and leave the decisions regarding the best style of barbecue to your taste buds.