Quick and Easy Dinner: 7 Recipes to Mix Up Your Week

It’s one of those days when you’re worn out and don’t have much time to make anything fancy for dinner (and let’s be honest, you’re not in the mood either). You open the cupboard hoping something will sort itself out in there. Then your eyes land on the pack of instant noodles and your hand even reaches for it, but it stops halfway, because you already had instant noodles on Sunday, and it’s only Tuesday. What you need right now is a quick and easy dinner that isn’t that little packet again.

If you recognize yourself in this scene, you’re not the only one. After a full day of work, instant noodles are what’s within reach, and plenty of moms turn to them for the same reasons. They’ve shown up at our house too, when my daughter decided she wanted to try them. The problem is when they become the plan for the week, because one 85 g pack of a popular Brazilian brand already has about 1.4 g of sodium, according to the nutrition label, almost three quarters of what the World Health Organization recommends for an adult for the whole day. And there’s very little in it to keep a child full until breakfast.

With that night in mind, I picked 7 recipes I make at home, each with a protein, a carb and, when possible, a vegetable that doesn’t slow things down. Most are ready in 30 minutes or less on the stovetop. At the end there’s a bonus for air fryer owners, but if you don’t have one, you’re not missing out, because they all work without it.

What makes a dinner quick, easy and still healthy

The Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population (in Portuguese), from Brazil’s Ministry of Health, have a rule that fits in one sentence: choose freshly made meals with real food over ready-made products. And the guidelines themselves name instant noodles as an example of an ultra-processed food to avoid.

But freshly made doesn’t have to mean a lot of work. In practice, a quick and easy dinner plate has two fixed pieces and one optional:

• A protein, like eggs, chicken, ground beef or tuna, which is what keeps a child full until the next day.
• A carb, like rice, pasta, potatoes or couscous, which gives energy and almost every kid eats without a fight.
• A vegetable, when possible, without complicating what should be simple. Corn, peas and tomatoes go straight into the pan, which saves time.

7 quick and easy dinner recipes for the week

All quantities serve a family of 4, and the times count from when you turn on the stove. If your household is bigger, like mine, just increase the protein and the carb in the same proportion.

1. Pasta with ground beef (20 minutes)

This is the most direct swap for instant noodles, because it’s still pasta, just with a real sauce and protein that keeps you going.

Ingredients: 500 g (about 1 lb) of rotini or spaghetti, 400 g (about 14 oz) of lean ground beef, 1 small onion, chopped, 2 garlic cloves, 1 carton or jar of tomato sauce (about 300 g / 10 oz), 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt.

1. Bring the pasta water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package.
2. Meanwhile, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil and add the beef, stirring until it has lost all of its pink color.
3. Add the sauce, adjust the salt and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Drain the pasta and mix everything in the pan.

Rotini holds the sauce better, so less beef is left at the bottom of the plate. And, if you can, half a grated carrot disappears into the sauce without anyone complaining.

2. Diced chicken with onions and rice (25 minutes)

Chicken is a perfect choice for a quick dinner and, cut into small cubes, it cooks in just a few minutes.

Ingredients: 500 g (about 1 lb) of diced chicken breast, 1 onion sliced into rings, 2 crushed garlic cloves, juice of half a lemon, 1 tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil, salt and 2 cups of rice (or rice left over from lunch).

1. If the rice isn’t ready, don’t worry: make a one-pan version and add the uncooked rice to cook with the chicken. Season the chicken with garlic, lemon and salt.
2. If your kids don’t like their food mixed (one of mine is picky about that sometimes), cook the rice separately while the chicken soaks up the seasoning.
3. Heat the oil well in the skillet and brown the chicken in batches, because an overcrowded pan makes the meat release water and steam instead of brown. About 8 to 10 minutes is enough.
4. Add the onion at the end and cook just until soft. One tip for that fussy little eater: if they don’t like pieces of onion, blend or grate it.

3. Brazilian corn couscous with scrambled eggs (20 minutes)

I’m from Rio Grande do Norte, in northeastern Brazil, and there, couscous with eggs for dinner is an everyday thing. When I was in college, it was literally my dinner every day. It’s cheap, filling and barely dirties any dishes.

This isn’t the North African wheat couscous: it’s made with flaked cornmeal (sold in Brazil as flocão) and steamed in a couscous pot called a cuscuzeira. Outside Brazil, you’ll usually find both in Latin American grocery stores or online.

Ingredients: 2 cups of flaked cornmeal, about 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, 6 eggs and 1 teaspoon of butter.

1. Mix the cornmeal with the salt and add the water little by little. One cup may not be enough, so keep adding until the mixture is nicely moist. Let it hydrate for 10 minutes.
2. Put it in the couscous pot and steam for about 10 minutes after the water starts boiling.
3. While the couscous steams, scramble the eggs in the butter over low heat so they stay creamy.

If you have some leftover grilling cheese or chicken from the day before, it becomes a filling and the couscous looks like a brand-new dish. Let your creativity flow.

4. Stuffed omelet in the skillet or oven (15 minutes)

An omelet is the dinner for when you forgot to take the meat out of the freezer, because there are almost always eggs at home.

Ingredients: 6 eggs, 2 tablespoons of milk, salt, 3 slices of cheese, 2 slices of ham (or a handful of shredded chicken) and 1 chopped tomato.

1. Beat the eggs with the milk and salt just until combined.
2. Pour into a greased nonstick skillet over low heat, cover, and spread the filling on top.
3. When the surface sets, fold it in half and serve with rice or bread.

To serve everyone at once, pour the same mixture into a greased baking dish and bake at 180 °C (350 °F) for about 20 minutes. It takes a little longer, but you’re free while the oven does the work.

5. Rice with tuna and corn (20 minutes)

This one comes almost entirely from the pantry, so it saves the week when grocery shopping got pushed back. In our post on non-perishable foods, you’ll find more options to keep in the pantry for those tight days.

Ingredients: 2 cups of rice, 4 cups of hot water, 1 can of tuna in water (170 g / 6 oz), drained, 1 can of corn, drained, 1 small onion, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and salt.

1. Sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil, add the rice and the hot water and adjust the salt.
2. When there’s only a little water left, stir in the tuna and corn, cover and let it finish cooking.
3. If you’re using rice that was already cooked, just sauté everything together for 5 minutes.

Tuna in water has less fat than tuna in oil. I also use the same idea with spaghetti instead of rice, for a change. The kids love it.

6. Mashed potatoes with ground beef (30 minutes)

Mashed potatoes are one of those dishes kids usually accept right away, and the ground beef can be the same as in recipe 1.

Ingredients: 1 kg (about 2.2 lb) of potatoes, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon of butter, salt and 400 g (about 14 oz) of ground beef sautéed with onion, garlic and 1 chopped tomato.

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes, which cook in about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the beef, if you need to make it from scratch. Drain the potatoes, mash them while still hot and mix in the milk and butter.
3. Serve the beef on top of the mash or on the side, however each person prefers.

7. Air fryer bonus: chicken thighs with potatoes (35 to 40 minutes)

If you have an air fryer, put everything in the basket and forget about it for half an hour. If you don’t, do exactly the same in the oven, just with a little more time.

Ingredients: 6 skinless chicken thighs, 4 medium potatoes cut into wedges, 2 crushed garlic cloves, juice of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika, mustard (optional) and salt.

1. Season the chicken with garlic, mustard (if you have it), lemon, paprika and salt. If you can, do this in the morning and keep it in the fridge.
2. Cut the potatoes and use the chicken seasoning for them too. Don’t add more salt, or they’ll be too salty.
3. In the air fryer: 200 °C (400 °F) for 25 to 30 minutes, turning halfway. The potatoes go in the basket at the same time if they fit, or afterwards, for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. In the oven: 220 °C (425 °F) for 40 to 45 minutes on a baking sheet, turning halfway.

Timing varies from one air fryer model to another, so treat these numbers as a starting point. Before serving, cut into a thigh near the bone: there should be no pink. If you have a kitchen thermometer, chicken is safe once it reaches 74 °C (165 °F) inside, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

How to rotate the recipes through the week

With all seven in hand, the trick to not cooking from scratch every night is letting one recipe get a head start on the next. Notice that Monday’s beef comes back on Tuesday, and Wednesday’s rice comes back on Thursday:

Quick dinner without the stress: what to prep ahead

What slows dinner down is almost never the cooking, but the start: peeling, chopping, remembering to thaw. That’s why about 20 minutes on Sunday makes the whole week lighter.

• Cooked ground beef in portions. Cook it all at once and freeze it in dinner-sized containers, so it goes straight into the sauce or onto the mash.
• Cooked rice. A bigger pot on Sunday covers two nights, and cooked rice can go in the freezer too.
• Chicken already cut and seasoned. Stored in the fridge, it goes into the skillet the next day without you having to take out the cutting board.
• Chopped onion and garlic in a container. It seems silly, but they show up in almost every recipe on this list.

When your child turns up their nose at dinner

Some days the recipe is spot on and someone still looks at the plate suspiciously.

Serve the components separately on the plate, with the rice on one side, the protein on the other and the vegetable in a corner, because many kids reject the mix, not the food. Another thing that helps is bringing them over to the stove: cracking the eggs for the omelet or mashing the potatoes makes kids come to the table wanting to taste what they made themselves.

And when you introduce something new, put it next to something they already like, in a small amount and without pressure. If today they only eat the pasta and leave the carrot, that’s fine, because tomorrow is another chance.

Still have questions?

Are instant noodles bad for kids?

One pack every now and then isn’t a disaster. The Brazilian Dietary Guidelines classify instant noodles as ultra-processed and recommend avoiding them, and what really matters is how often. If they do show up, using only part of the seasoning packet already cuts the salt in the dish.

What’s the quickest dinner on the list?

The skillet omelet, in about 15 minutes. With cooked rice in the fridge, the rice with tuna and corn ties with it.

Is a dinner with just carbs and protein, no vegetables, okay?

For a busy night, it’s fine. The Brazilian Dietary Guidelines look at variety over the day and the week, so if vegetables were part of lunch or a snack, dinner can be simpler.

To wrap up

A quick and easy dinner needs a protein, a carb and, when possible, a vegetable. With these seven recipes rotating through the week and a little prep done on Sunday, instant noodles go back to being the exception.

Informational content. It does not replace advice from a dietitian or pediatrician.