85 Weeknight Dinners So Good We Need To Tell Everyone About Them (2024)

Peace out, boring dinners.

By Camille Lowder
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Say goodbye to boring weeknight dinners! With pastas, seafood dishes, vegetarian options, chicken dinners, and more, these recipes will guarantee you never have to suffer through a basic meal ever again. Best part? While we all want to have that picturesque dinner, nobody wants to work for hours at it after a long hectic day. These 85 easy weeknight dinners will have you sitting down to eat in no time flat.

Did you know you can shop for all the ingredients for these recipes with the click of a button? Look for the Shop With Instacart button and simply click, shop, and wait for your delivery to arrive. Dinner truly made easier.

If you’re more of a takeout or delivery person, no worries! Check out some of our best cooking tips, but really all you need to know is that a little salt (usually more than you think!) and a sharp kitchen knife (keep your wrist steady for even cuts!) go a long way. Get all your ingredients prepped before you begin (think meal delivery-style, but on your own), and everything will come together that much faster.

The whole “I’ll cook if you clean” thing doesn’t really work when everyone’s exhausted, so make it easy on yourselves—as you’re browsing this list, take note of all the one-pot, sheet pan, and casserole recipes. They start and end cooking in one dish (sometimes all on the stovetop!), meaning less for you to juggle in the kitchen and less cleanup. And if you want to leave your plates and silverware soaking in that pot overnight, no judgment here.

Don’t stress out over dinner, you’ve got this. For more perfect meal inspo, check out our best bite-size appetizers, our top side dishes, and our favorite easy desserts too.

1

Stuffed Peppers

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Here at Delish, we’re big fans of stuffed peppers—they're the perfect vessel for countless combinations and ingredients. While we love to experiment with countless variations, this classic recipe is hard to beat.

Get the Stuffed Peppers recipe.

2

Brown Sugar Salmon

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When it comes to 15-minute weeknight dinners, nothing is better than a simple piece of flaky, tender, savory-sweet brown sugar-glazed salmon. It takes 5 minutes to prep, 10 minutes to cook, and cleanup is an absolute breeze.

Get the Brown Sugar Salmon recipe.

3

Beef & Rice Stuffed Poblano Peppers

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Classic stuffed peppers are one of our readers’ all-time favorites, and we thought we'd done them every possible way...until now. Here, we swap the bell peppers for poblanos and update the typical stuffing by using fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotle chiles, and spices.

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4

Chicken Stir Fry

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A stir fry is our go-to weeknight dinner when we just don’t have the energy to spend a long time in the kitchen—this recipe is no exception. Make it as is, then use it as a jumping-off point to create your perfect chicken stir-fry.

Get the Chicken Stir Fry recipe.

5

Sloppy Joes

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If you're craving a reliable, nostalgic, easy (and cheap) weeknight dinner, then there’s no debate: A sloppy Joes’ night is in order. The perfect answer to, “How far can I stretch this package of ground beef?”, you only need only require a handful of simple ingredients to create this classic family dinner.

Get the Sloppy Joes recipe.

6

Taco Gnocchi Bake

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In this recipe, gnocchi gets the taco treatment for a simple weeknight meal. Along with some ground beef, black beans, and plenty of cheddar cheese, it’s a fun twist on the potato-based pasta.

Get the Taco Gnocchi Bake recipe.

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7

Pepper Steak

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Broccoli haters—if your favorite stir-fry is always ruined by the inclusion of those little trees (sorry, ), then let us introduce you to pepper steak. This tender steak stir-fry is loaded with plenty of peppers and a classic, simple sauce that brings everything together.

Get the Pepper Steak recipe.

8

Creamy Peanut-Lime Chicken With Noodles

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Who can resist rice noodles bathed in an abundance of sweet and creamy peanut sauce? Not us! In this recipe, the prep actually takes longer than the cooking, so feel free to make some elements ahead. With all them behind you, the dish comes together in a snap.

Get the Creamy Peanut-Lime Chicken With Noodles recipe.

9

Enchilada Casserole

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This casserole has all of the flavors of chicken enchiladas (with a few worthwhile additions), but eliminates the most tedious part of making them: all that rolling! In this recipe, you just layer all your components in a casserole dish, bake until melty and saucy, add your desired toppings, and serve.

Get the Enchilada Casserole recipe.

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10

Chicken & Broccoli

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This fast and easy one-pot chicken and broccoli recipe is coated in a sweet and savory sauce with plenty of ginger and garlic for a weeknight dinner that beats take-out. This dish comes together in 20 minutes with minimal prep work too. Win win!

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11

Shrimp Tacos

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Shrimp tacos are easy, fast, and the perfect canvas for showcasing all the best parts of the handheld favorite. Pan-seared shrimp get seasoned with homemade taco seasoning and drizzled with lime juice, then piled into a charred corn tortilla with crisp cabbage slaw and topped with jalapeno-garlic crema (a game changer).

Get the Shrimp Tacos recipe.

12

One-Pan Coconut-Lime Chicken

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If our creamy Tuscan chicken is a mainstay at your house, this recipe is going to be just the thing to shake up your weeknight dinner routine. We paired quick-cooking chicken cutlets with a spicy-sweet coconut milk sauce that’s out-of-this-world tasty.

Get the One-Pan Coconut-Lime Chicken recipe.

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13

Grilled Cod With Romesco Sauce

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Inspiration for this recipe comes from the Catalan province of Tarragona in Spain. Nutty, smoky romesco sauce was originally created to serve alongside the region’s abundant seafood, so it goes together with this grilled cod like peanut butter goes with jelly but, you know, fancier.

Get the Grilled Cod With Romesco Sauce recipe.

14

Sesame Tofu & Broccoli

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In this vegetarian version of a Chinese-American favorite, oven-baked tofu gets tossed in a savory, sweet, and slightly spicy sauce along with crisp-tender broccoli, then topped with toasty sesame seeds and scallions. Mmm.

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15

Sloppy Joe Casserole

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Being on Team Casserole doesn’t stop us from appreciating the iconic sloppy Joe sandwich, it just gives us more ways to celebrate the combination of ground beef and tangy sauce. More than just delicious, this casserole is flexible, freezable, and ready to serve on a busy weeknight for dinner.

Get the Sloppy Joe Casserole recipe.

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16

Orange Chicken

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If you just can't get enough of the classic Panda Express dish, this copycat recipe will be a game-changer. Ready in under an hour with all of the same sweet and savory flavors you love, staying in for weeknight dinner has never been easier.

Get the Orange Chicken recipe.

17

Homemade Mac & Cheese

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In our book, the perfect recipe has to nail three things: be extra creamy, plenty cheesy, and paired with a golden, crunchy topping. This tried-and-true recipe aces all of these requirements (and more!) with flying colors, so put that blue box back on the shelf.

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18

Salmon & Potato Skillet

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While the potatoes here cook, the salmon takes a quick bath in an easy marinade that will double as cooking fat in this simple dish. In just 45 minutes, you’ll have a delicious and filling meal that can be customized every time you make it.

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19

French Bread Pizza

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We've all been there: You're craving homemade pizza, but you want it fast—no time to deal with rolling out finicky pizza dough. The solution? Grab a loaf of French bread, and get ready for the pizza hack of a lifetime.

Get the French Bread Pizza recipe.

20

Pad Thai

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Pad Thai always a must-order, which is why it’s especially disappointing to get a lackluster one. Your days of too-sweet sauce, gummy noodles, or overcooked protein are over. With just a few special ingredients, you can make this subtly sweet, tangy, nutty, and salty Thai dish, right at home, exactly how you like it.

Get the Pad Thai recipe.

85 Weeknight Dinners So Good We Need To Tell Everyone About Them (2024)
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