9 Quick and Easy Meals for Busy Days

If you’re anything like me, this scene probably plays out in your kitchen on a weekly basis.

You’re exhausted from a day of work and famished to boot. You forgot to defrost that frozen chicken earlier today, and you’re going to chew off your own arm if you can’t eat now.

You remember that new recipe you saw online, and you think it might just be perfect. The description said it will take 25 minutes, tops. So you pull it up and scroll down to the ingredients list. And then you discover that you need to chop the entire contents of your fridge and have pre-cooked, shredded chicken on hand.

In a word, the recipe is not going to take 25 minutes.

So you surrender.

You pour a bowl or cereal, or you put in your Postmates order, and you call it a night.

Now, there’s nothing bad about either of those choices, for sure.

But what if you had an arsenal of quick and easy meals on hand for nights just like this? Recipes that would be faster than delivery and more exciting than another bowl of Special K?

Keep reading, my friend. And you’ll find a collection of those recipes.

If you need some new ideas for nights when you have no time or energy, give one of these quick and easy meals a try. They don’t require defrosting anything ahead of time, and they legitimately will take less than half an hour. Scout’s honor.

Quick and Easy Meals

1. Migas

Basic Idea: Eggs, cheese, veggies, and crispy tortillas wrapped up burrito-style

Why this recipe is great: I was first introduced to migas on a trip to Texas. Adam ordered them from a food truck in Austin, and when I stole a bite, I instantly regretted my breakfast burrito and vowed to learn how to recreate them. This recipe is the one we use.

Most recipes require you to crisp up your own corn tortillas to add to the eggs. This is for sure the most delicious way to make migas, but if I’m low on time, I just crumble up tortilla chips and we all survive.

2. Pulled pork tacos

Basic idea: Pulled pork, cabbage mix, avocado, and mango salsa tossed on a tortilla. Refreshing and easy.

Why this recipe is great: This is one of my favorite low-cook, high-reward meals. It originally came from this post, which has some other great Trader Joe’s hacks as well!

While you could absolutely make your own pulled pork in a slow cooker or Instant Pot, I grab a package or two of Trader Joe’s premade pulled pork to have on hand in case dinner is running late. Just toss the pulled pork, some cabbage mix, avocado, and mango salsa onto a corn tortilla, and you’ve got yourself a meal.

Got five extra minutes? Try these simple upgrades.

Make a quick cabbage slaw by combining your cabbage mix, the juice of a lemon or lime, a glug of olive oil, and some salt. Taste it to make sure you’ve used enough salt, then let it sit while you heat up the pulled pork.
Make corn tortillas 100% tastier with heat and salt. Hold them over a gas burner for a few seconds (or just pop them in the microwave) and salt before adding toppings.

3. Spiced-up sandwiches

Basic idea: add some kind of heat to a sandwich. Boom.

Why this recipe is great: Because melted cheese is my favorite food group. And it’s ridiculously easy.

You have a few options for adding heat to your sandwich.

If you’ve got a panini press? Bully for you. Dinner is served.

Otherwise, make any sandwich grilled-cheese style. Apply butter or mayo (or both!) to the outside of your bread slices, add meat, cheese, and some kind of spread, and toast.

If you’re working with buns instead of bread slices, toast everything under the broiler until the cheese is bubbling.

Our favorite sandwich combinations?

Turkey club. Heat up a sandwich with turkey, bacon, cheese, and mayo. Afterwards, add lettuce and avocado.
Cubano. Broil a hoagie bun or a loaf of Italian bread with ham, cheese, mustard, and mayo. These sandwiches also call for shredded pork, which is amazing if you have it (but we often don’t, and these turn out great anyway). Afterwards, add pickle spears.
Fried egg. Heat up a sandwich with ham, cheese, and a gently fried egg. Afterward, mix a little hot sauce with ketchup for dipping.

4. Garlic butter ramen

Basic idea: Asian-style noodles with veggies and buttery garlic sauce.

Why this recipe is great: Um, garlic caramelized in butter. Need I say more.

But also? This recipe is incredibly customizable. We made it last week with ground turkey and mushrooms instead of zucchini, and it was entirely delicious.

If you’re still learning to play around with these kinds of recipes, you might see The Lazy Genius noodle bowl instructions for more guidance.

5. Baked pasta

Basic idea: Noodles, tomatoes, and cheese baked in a Dutch oven. Heaven.

Why this recipe is great: YOU DO NOT HAVE TO PREBOIL THE NOODLES.

I cannot stress how revolutionary this is.

This recipe is the one exception to the under-30-minutes-total rule of this post. But I promise it’s still worth considering, because it takes less than 7 minutes of prep. It’s so. easy. Whip up those ingredients, toss it in the oven, then fire up an episode of Parks and Rec. It will be done before you know it.

We also tinkered with this recipe and use ground sausage instead of meatballs. We just cook it in a Dutch oven, then mix in all the other stuff after it’s browned and pop it straight into the oven.

6. Crack chicken

Basic idea: Make seasoned, shredded chicken in an Instant Pot, then add cheese, cream cheese, tomatoes, and beans.

Why this recipe is great: Because you dump the ingredients in an Instant Pot and walk away.

This recipe also makes a ton, can be frozen if you have leftovers, and is a great multi-purpose filling. It’s fantastic on a quesadilla, served on top of nachos, or as a salad.

Plus, if you are like me and forget to defrost chicken on the regular, you can toss frozen chicken your Instant Pot and everyone will live! Glory be.

Just FYI, if your Instant Pot takes a year and a half to heat up like mine does, this might take a smidge over 30 minutes. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

7. Shakshuka

Basic idea: eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce, topped with feta served with naan.

Why this recipe is great: This recipe is a holy trifecta of easy, cheap, and healthy. Plus, it’s so good! There are lots of variations on the recipe, but this is the one we use most often. Use San Marzano canned tomatoes if at all possible.

8. Flatbread pizza

Basic idea: Pizza toppings on some kind of carb base.

Why this recipe is great: You can make pizza out of just about anything. Flatbread? English muffins? Trader Joe’s frozen naan? Refrigerated bread dough? All of them will work great when you need to hustle.

Just add sauce, toppings, and cheese and pop into a hot oven. Dinner is served.

9. Avocado toast

Basic idea: Smash an avocado. Put it on toast. Add a runny egg.

Why this recipe is great: Recreate the #basicgirl brunch favorite at home!

Avocado toast can be as simple as smashed avocado on bread. But here are a few tricks to make this quick and easy meal seem fancy.

1. Use adequate salt

This is the key to basically all cooking, but especially anything with avocados. We typically smash the avocado with a healthy sprinkle of salt, then add on a little garlic salt on top as well.

2. Add an egg

The key is that your egg needs to be a little soft and jammy. These are my two favorite ways to accomplish that elusive goal:

Soft boiled. Get your water boiling and keep it there. Add eggs. Set the timer for 6 minutes and 30 seconds. As soon as it goes off, scoop out the eggs and run them under cold water. (These are killer on buttered toast too, btw.)
Over easy. Crack your eggs into a pan. Once the whites have set, add a splash of water to the pan and cover it. As soon as the yolks have filmed over, turn off the heat and remove eggs.

3. Add seasoning

If you’ve got it, Everything But the Bagel seasoning, a shake of Sriracha, or some Chili Onion Crunch oil makes this extra delicious.

More Hacks for Quick and Easy Meals

Finding yourself in a bind over dinner more evenings than not? These additional tips might help you out.

Keep a list of go-to meals.

When you’re hungry, you’re not likely to browse Pinterest for that one great recipe idea you saw 2 months ago. You need to keep those ideas for quick and easy meals at easy access so even hanger won’t derail you. I love love love using Trello for this. (Pssst…you might want to take a peek at my step by step guide for using Trello for meal planning here!) I have one section of my recipe board that is solely easy meals that can be made in less than 30 minutes. You could also keep this list on your fridge or in a note on your phone.

Reduce decision fatigue.

Everything feels way harder when you’re hungry. So if at all possible, use that list and figure out what you’re going to eat ahead of time. Especially if you know you’re going to have a busy day. Even if you just decide you’re going to make peanut butter toast, at least you have one more decision out of the way.

Plan for emergencies.

We always keep some staples on hand that can be whipped up into quick and easy meals. If you’ve got eggs and pasta? You’re gonna be okay.

We’ll also occasionally buy pre-cooked meat for this reason. Sure, it’s more expensive. But we’re fine with that if we save it for must-eat-now emergencies.

9 Quick and Easy Meals for Busy Days - Anna Saxton (2024)