The Best Quick Meals Recipes To Make Tonight
With canned beans, baby potatoes, chicken cutlets, noodles, along with a tub of Greek yogurt on the kitchen counter, dinner can take several satisfying directions at home. This Quick Meals collection features creamy garlic Parmesan chicken with chipotle chicken quesadillas besides miso-peanut ramen, chilli beef hotpot, and a cool dill-flecked tzatziki sauce for dipping or spooning in.
Reasons For These Quick Meals To Eat At Work
- Pantry Staples: Beans, various types of noodles, peanut butter, along with everyday seasonings, serve as satisfying bases for many meals. They accomplish this with the absence of requiring a lengthy specialty shopping trip.
- Fresh Vegetables: Baby potatoes, peppers, onions, cucumbers, along with dill provide color, create crunch, and improve freshness for richer chicken, beef, along with tofu dishes.
- Chicken Two Ways: Chicken cutlets, alongside sliced chicken, are prominently featured in creamy skillet dinners as well as in crisp quesadillas, thus providing two distinct and delicious methods to use a familiar protein.
- Flexible Prep: Prepare tofu and miso-peanut broth ahead, while yogurt-cucumber sauce assembles quickly when a cool accompaniment is desired.
1. Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken with Juicy Seared Cutlets
Prepare boneless, skinless chicken cutlets and keep the finished chicken skillet meal ready for quick lunches and dinners. Do not freeze cooked sauce but prepare it when you want to eat. Garlic Parmesan Chicken consists of browned chicken pieces served with a slightly thickened garlic-Parmesan sauce and parsley. The chicken is cut into four strips and seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. It is sautéed in olive oil and butter. Flour and minced garlic are sautéed in the same pan. Chicken broth or white wine is added and mixed with the chicken and flour mixture. Heavy cream is added and simmered. Freshly shredded Parmesan cheese melts more easily than shredded Parmesan cheese from a package. Both cheese options are used to create a sauce to serve with all portions. Reduce the stock by half before stirring in cream. Simmer the sauce to thicken it to your liking. One problem with this recipe is rapid boiling of the sauce, which can cause textural issues. Be careful not to overcook the chicken cutlets, as they are very thin. Serve chicken with mashed potatoes, buttered egg noodles, or rice to help absorb the sauce. Suggested side dishes include green beans, broccolini, carrots, sweet corn, and spring salads. Store leftover chicken and sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator. Reheat gently in a small saucepan.
2. Chilli Beef Hotpot with Crisp Paprika Baby Potatoes
This 85-minute chilli beef hotpot recipe makes a complete meal using ground beef, canned beans, and baby potatoes. Cooking the chilli filling for several minutes helps keep it moist. Cooking the potatoes in the oven along with the chilli filling in two stages results in slightly crisp baby potatoes. The beef base contains red pepper, white onion, garlic, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, beef broth, kidney beans, Worcestershire sauce, and other spices. Chilli powder provides spiciness. Some cooks use hot or mild chilli powder. Small potatoes are cut into paper-thin slices to stick better to the filling than regular-size potatoes. The small potatoes are not peeled to save preparation time. The liquid consistency of the chili after 15 minutes of cooking should not be too thick or the potato slices won't have enough chili liquid to bake in, but not too thin or the potato slices will become dry. Pour the chili into the pan to form a layer at the bottom before arranging the potato slices in overlapping rings over the chili liquid. The biggest mistake is cooking the chili for too long before baking, leaving too little chili liquid for the potato slices. Serve with sour cream to help cool the dish and add another sauce. Other topping options include avocado, fresh coriander or cilantro, cheese, and lime. Cool leftovers completely before storing them in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Microwaving leftover portions will keep them moister than baking them.
3. Miso Peanut Ramen Bowls with Crispy Teriyaki Tofu
Prepare and refrigerate or freeze battered and fried tofu and miso-peanut broth ahead of time. Prepare other ramen toppings to serve fresh. Ramen includes smooth, flavorful noodles, chewy and crunchy tofu, cool cucumber slices, and sweet broth. Red curry paste, white miso, peanut butter, soy sauce, and brown sugar, blended into a paste, are added to coconut milk and broth. Coconut milk is creamy. White miso and peanut butter add savory and lightly sweet flavors to the broth. Crumbled and shredded tofu is cooked in teriyaki sauce and garlic for added flavor. The tofu is fully cooked when the strips are toasted and crispy but still chewy from the teriyaki sauce. The broth should be fully cooked but not scalding hot. Precooking the noodles keeps the sauce from becoming thick and syrupy. A short simmering of the noodles allows them to absorb more of the sauce. Portion the noodles and ladle broth over them. Distribute tofu, cucumber, cilantro or green onions, and chili crisp among the bowls. For a simpler noodle bowl meal, serve only tofu with creamy noodles. Keep the fresh toppings separate during prep to preserve their freshness when served in the bowls.
4. Authentic Chicken Quesadillas with Smoky Chipotle Dip
These chicken quesadillas can be prepared in 25 minutes and are a simple skillet dish featuring thinly sliced seasoned chicken and peppers and onions. Monterey Jack cheese melts around the smoky chipotle filling, and chipotle Greek yogurt sauce is a condiment. The tortillas are crunchy on the outside and steaming hot and cheesy on the inside. Chili powder, garlic powder, cumin, and half as much salt as called for season the chicken, which is cooked in a skillet. Sautéed red bell peppers and white onions in the same skillet are cooked with garlic for a few minutes. Cilantro and chopped canned chipotle peppers and adobo sauce are added to the chicken. Shredded fresh Monterey Jack cheese and flour tortillas used for soft tacos are ingredients and toppings in quesadillas. Shredding your own cheese helps it melt better than store-bought shredded cheese. Cook quesadillas on medium-low heat with added ingredients. Fully cooked quesadillas will be crispy and golden brown after cooking for three to four minutes on each side. Melted cheese acts as an adhesive to hold the two sides of a quesadilla together. A common cooking error is cooking quesadillas at too high a heat, causing them to brown before the cheese melts. Allow quesadillas to sit for two minutes before cutting into thirds to prevent fillings from falling out. Serve with extras like fresh chopped cilantro and chipotle Greek yogurt sauce. Potato wedges are a good addition to a Mexican meal or tray served with other Mexican dishes, including guacamole, roasted jalapeño salsa, pico de gallo, bean salad, grilled corn and avocado salad, and green salad. This recipe can be used for main dishes and sides as well as appetizers.
5. 10-Minute Tzatziki Sauce with Creamy Greek Yogurt and Fresh Dill
Brining diced cucumbers reduces their moisture content to help keep tzatziki from being too watery. This 10-minute tzatziki recipe makes a refreshing dip with lemon juice, garlic, dill, and small pieces of cucumber. Plain Greek yogurt is an ingredient in the sauce for richness. English cucumbers are crisp and have fewer seeds than other types of cucumbers. Lemon juice and zest are ingredients in the sauce that add sour flavor. Chopped garlic adds strong flavor to the sauce. Chopped dill adds the characteristic herb flavor of tzatziki sauce. Olive oil and kosher salt and pepper add other flavors to the sauce. Nonfat Greek yogurt can be substituted to create a lighter sauce. Full-fat Greek yogurt can be substituted to create a richer sauce. The cucumber should be drained and salted for several minutes and then patted dry before mixing with other ingredients. The finished sauce should have chunks of cucumber and dill evenly distributed and a thick, creamy consistency. Incorrect preparation of the cucumber often leads to a thinner sauce. Season with additional dill and black pepper and, if desired, olive oil. Serve cold with pita chips, naan bread, or other raw vegetables. Other uses include a topping or ingredient in salads, chicken dishes, Greek meatballs, sandwiches, and falafel. The recipe notes other possible ahead-of-time preparations.