I feel I have deja vu when I ask myself “what should I make for dinner?” When I’m too tired to cook I tend to just have a mental block and come up with zero ideas, so I made a list that I’m sharing with you today: when you’re almost too tired to cook, here are 5 quick dinner ideas!
- Ramen, ramen, ramen! My two favorite ramen recipes are this 5 ingredient ramen with a fried egg (it continues a popular recipe on my site and in my cookbook) and this 5 ingredient beef and pepper ramen. Both dishes take all of 15 minutes to make and are incredibly delicious for a quick dinner, if you can boil a pot of water, you are pretty much set to go – bonus for getting out a little frying pan and topping the ramen with an egg!
- Quick salad recipes. This turkey taco salad takes 15 minutes to make, the chips crumbled on top are the best part (and included in the post is a list of 27 salads – so bring on the greens)! This crispy chicken and arugula salad is super good, and this yogurt lemon chicken and feta salad is probably one of my top made salads of all time. Another fave salad is one that involves rotisserie chicken (recipe at the bottom of this post) where all you do is cut the chicken and make an yummy garlic butter sauce/dressing to go over the chicken and lettuce. And this spinach salad with soft boiled eggs-bacon-and a mustard vinaigrette, it’s so good and so easy (in fact, I’m made it earlier this week and make it for guests all the time, it always gets rave reviews!)
- Pasta, especially the ‘fresh’ kind is great for a quick dinner (fresh pasta can be found in the refrigerated section usually next to the cheese at you local grocery store.) When we were on vacation with my parents last year I made this 4-ingredient dinner with tortellini, chicken sausage, and pesto and continue to make it to this day. It’s just sooo good and so easy with the end result being a great dinner. I’ve also made this carbonara with fresh pasta – sooo yummy and super quick! This 5 ingredient healthy pasta is perfect for a quick meal. If I have a little extra time I make this chicken feta tomato pasta that is always such a huge hit.
- Sandwiches – sandwiches are great for quick dinners. You could go the whole cold cuts and cheese route which takes all of 3 minutes like in this DIY sandwich bar, or, you could make egg salad sandwiches with bacon! While we’re talking about sandwiches…burgers count as a sandwich, right? These Mexican turkey burgers take 13 minutes to make, I even timed it lol, so that’s perfect for a quick dinner. Or these 5 ingredient chorizo sandwiches are super good.
- Pizza – while you may not have fail proof whole wheat pizza dough in your freezer all ready to go, a premade pizza crust and some awesome toppings are all it takes to make an incredible dinner. I always like keeping a pizza crust in the freezer (like for when I make this 5 ingredient jalapeno enchilada pizza.) This 5 ingredient prosciutto pizza is super easy and comes together in a flash (please excuse the old pictures, the recipe is from over three years ago, but it’s such a good one, we still make it all the time in our house.) The best part is that it doesn’t use red sauce, so if you ever don’t have any in your house, no worries, you can always use olive oil with some crushed garlic and it makes for an awesome ‘sauceless’ pizza! I also love making this corn and zucchini salad that can also be used as a pizza topping, but my hubby likes super simple pepperoni pizza which can be made in 15 minutes (both are sauceless, basically I use what I have in the house and make awesome pizzas!)
What do you make for dinner when you’re short on time but still want a home-made meal?
Other recipes you might enjoy:
- 3 15-Minute Vegetarian Burger Dinner Recipes
- 5 Ingredient Healthy Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken and Quinoa
- One Pot Sausage and Rice Casserole
Little Cooking Tips says
Just as we mentioned the hardship of finding balance between working days and eating healthy in the previous post with Andie’s cookbook, here comes your next post to offer a solution: 5 quick dinner ideas for tired people!:)
First of all, a huge THANK YOU for introducing Ramen to us. It’s the absolute quick dinner and lacks nothing in flavor. Plus, the combinations with spices and veggies are endless!
Of course all the rest ideas are great as well. The only thing we don’t use anymore (or use very rare) is cured meats, since they’re indeed not good for one’s health (hot dogs included). So, we make a lot of sandwiches with egg salad (like you suggested), tuna, and leftover chicken/turkey instead:)
Thank you for another fantastic post dear, Pinned ASAP!
xoxoxo
Sweetphi says
That makes me SO HAPPY to hear that I introduced you to Ramen – it’s such a great dish!! As I type this comment, I’m having lunch (egg salad sandwich 😉 ) So I thought that was so fitting that you mentioned you like that kind of sandwich too.
Sarah says
Love this post! I’ve been feeling so lazy lately so this is motivation that I do not need to order chinese take-out every night of the week (month..)
Sweetphi says
Haha, I’m right there with you – when I feel lazy and don’t feel like cooking I have zero ideas – it’s like my brain freezes, so having a little list helps me come up with something easy for dinner 🙂
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
Ramen is always my go-to when I can’t really be bothered to cook. The good thing about it, is that there is so much that you can do to jazz it up, so it doesn’t really taste like a lazy meal.
Sweetphi says
I’m so happy to hear I’m not the only one that turns to ramen when I don’t really feel like cooking!! It definitely can be jazzed up and be made incredibly delicious…now I want some ramen for dinner 😉
shawnna griffin says
hey girl great tips! I try to just throw things together most of the time! Be creative that’s what I think!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much girl! I like keeping a list because when I get tired, I tend to run out of ideas lol!
Nancy Reid says
spinach salad with soft boiled eggs-bacon-and a mustard vinaigrette is right up my alley!
Sweetphi says
That salad is one of our favorites! It’s so easy to make, and is so flavorful. Just thinking about it I want it for dinner lol!
cheri says
Hi phi, I love this posts!!!! great tips for quick meals. Will start stocking pizza dough in the freezer. that is probably my husband’s favorite thing to eat. Usually I scrap together something for a salad or sandwich when I am short on time.
Sweetphi says
Pizza dough is perfect for having in the freezer, it definitely makes for a quick meal that hubby’s love (I even freeze cheese if I have too much of it!) Thank you so much for commenting!