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Dinner ideas for tonight

Type what’s in your fridge and get a dinner made from it, or pick from 48 family dinners below: easy, quick, healthy, cheap and kid-friendly, plus chicken, ground beef and vegetarian.

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Serves 4

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Soft tacos with grilled meat, onion, cilantro and lime wedges

Easy dinner ideas

Few steps, one or two pans, and ingredients from any grocery store.

  1. Sheet-Pan Sausage, Peppers and Potatoes

    40 min

    Everything roasts on one pan while you do something else. Five ingredients and a little oil.

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  2. Chicken Quesadillas

    20 min

    Rotisserie chicken and cheese in a hot skillet. Add black beans to make it stretch.

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  3. Baked Ziti

    45 min

    Pasta, marinara and two cheeses. Assemble it in the morning and bake it at six.

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  4. Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowls

    25 min

    Glazed chicken over rice with cucumber and steamed broccoli.

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  5. Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches

    15 min

    Fifteen minutes of work in the morning; dinner is ready when you get home.

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  6. Scrambled Egg Breakfast Tacos

    15 min

    Breakfast for dinner: soft eggs, cheese and salsa in warm tortillas.

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Quick dinner ideas, 20 minutes or less

For the nights there is no time at all.

Let the dinner picker choose

  1. Garlic Butter Shrimp with Rice

    20 min

    Shrimp cooks in three minutes. Microwave rice makes it faster still.

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  2. Pesto Tortellini with Peas

    15 min

    Refrigerated tortellini, frozen peas and a jar of pesto, all in one pot.

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  3. Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps

    20 min

    Seasoned ground turkey in crisp lettuce cups, or tortillas for the kids.

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  4. Egg Fried Rice

    15 min

    Yesterday’s rice, eggs and frozen vegetables in a very hot pan.

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  5. Black Bean Quesadillas

    15 min

    Mashed beans, cheese and salsa. Pantry staples, ten minutes, no meat needed.

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  6. Ramen with Egg and Greens

    15 min

    Instant noodles made into dinner with a soft egg, spinach and green onions.

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Healthy dinner ideas

Lean protein, plenty of vegetables and flavor from herbs, citrus and spice.

High-protein dinners under 450 calories

  1. Sheet-Pan Salmon with Broccoli

    25 min

    Salmon and broccoli roast together with lemon and garlic in 20 minutes.

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  2. Chicken Souvlaki Bowls

    30 min

    Lemon-oregano chicken with cucumber, tomato and a Greek yogurt sauce.

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  3. Turkey and Black Bean Stuffed Peppers

    45 min

    Bell peppers filled with taco-seasoned turkey and beans, baked with a little cheese.

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  4. Lentil Soup with Spinach

    40 min

    Cheap, filling and full of fiber. Freezes in single portions.

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  5. Shrimp and Vegetable Stir-Fry

    20 min

    Crisp vegetables and shrimp in a ginger-garlic sauce.

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  6. Chicken Burrito Bowls

    30 min

    Spiced chicken, beans, corn and salsa over rice or cauliflower rice.

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Cheap dinner ideas

Built on rice, beans, eggs, pasta and chicken thighs, the cheapest proteins in the store.

What to make with lentils

  1. Black Bean Soup

    35 min

    Canned beans, onion, cumin and broth, blended until thick. Top with cheese and chips.

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  2. Baked Chicken Thighs and Rice

    1 hr

    Thighs bake right on top of the rice so it soaks up the juices.

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  3. Pasta e Fagioli

    35 min

    Italian pasta and bean soup that turns a can of beans into dinner for six.

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  4. Potato and Egg Hash

    30 min

    Crispy diced potatoes, onions and peppers with eggs cooked on top.

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  5. Lentil Sloppy Joes

    30 min

    Lentils in a tangy tomato sauce on soft buns. Kids rarely notice there’s no meat.

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  6. Chicken Fried Rice

    20 min

    A chicken thigh, leftover rice and frozen peas feed four.

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Dinner ideas kids will eat

Mild, familiar food, easy to serve plain for the cautious ones.

Dinners for picky eaters

  1. Baked Chicken Tenders

    30 min

    Panko-crusted strips baked on a rack until crunchy. Serve with any dip.

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  2. Mini Meatloaves

    40 min

    Baked in a muffin tin, so they cook in half the time and everyone gets a crust.

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  3. Naan Pizzas

    20 min

    Store-bought naan, sauce and cheese. Everyone tops their own.

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  4. Cheesy Chicken and Broccoli Rice

    35 min

    One pot of rice, chicken and broccoli under melted cheddar.

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  5. Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

    40 min

    The classic, with baked meatballs. Set some plain pasta aside before the sauce.

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  6. Build-Your-Own Taco Night

    25 min

    Fillings in bowls on the table, so picky eaters choose exactly what they want.

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Chicken dinner ideas

Breasts, thighs or a rotisserie chicken from the store.

What to make with chicken breast

  1. Lemon Chicken Orzo

    30 min

    Creamy, risotto-like orzo with seared chicken, lemon and spinach in one pot.

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  2. Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs

    30 min

    Sticky, sweet-savory thighs with a glaze kids ask for again.

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  3. Sheet-Pan Chicken Fajitas

    30 min

    Chicken, peppers and onion roast together while the tortillas warm.

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  4. Baked Chicken Parmesan

    40 min

    Crisp panko cutlets with marinara and melted mozzarella, no frying.

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  5. Chicken Tortilla Soup

    35 min

    A brothy, gently spiced soup with beans and corn.

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  6. Butter Chicken

    40 min

    A mild, creamy tomato curry that even cautious eaters love, with rice or naan.

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Ground beef dinner ideas

A pound of ground beef is dinner for four in a dozen different ways.

What to make with ground beef

  1. Cheeseburger Pasta

    30 min

    Everything good about a cheeseburger, cooked in one pot with macaroni.

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  2. Korean Beef Rice Bowls

    20 min

    Ground beef in a sweet soy-ginger sauce over rice with cucumbers.

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  3. Shepherd’s Pie

    1 hr

    Beef and vegetables in gravy under a mashed potato lid, browned in the oven.

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  4. Beef Tacos

    20 min

    Homemade seasoning beats the packet, and takes a minute to stir together.

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  5. Sloppy Joes

    25 min

    Saucy beef on soft buns, with a bag of coleslaw on the side.

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  6. Stuffed Peppers

    50 min

    Beef, rice and tomato baked inside peppers under melted cheese.

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Vegetarian dinner ideas

Meatless dinners with enough protein that nobody goes looking for a snack at nine.

What to make with chickpeas

  1. Chickpea Curry

    30 min

    Chickpeas and spinach in a mild coconut tomato sauce over rice.

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  2. Black Bean Enchiladas

    45 min

    Beans, corn and cheese rolled in tortillas and baked in red sauce.

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  3. Veggie Fried Rice with Egg

    20 min

    Leftover rice, frozen vegetables and plenty of egg.

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  4. Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

    50 min

    Big pasta shells filled with ricotta and spinach, baked in marinara.

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  5. Lentil Tacos

    30 min

    Lentils simmered with taco spices, in tortillas with all the toppings.

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  6. Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

    25 min

    The best rainy-night dinner, with a can of white beans blended into the soup.

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Tired of deciding every night?

Plan the whole week at once. The meal planner picks three to seven dinners that share ingredients and writes one grocery list by aisle. Or get five family dinners and a list in your inbox every Saturday, free.

Plan my weekGet the Saturday plan

Dinner ideas: questions people ask

What should I make for dinner tonight?

Start with what you already have. Type two or three ingredients into the generator at the top of this page and it writes a recipe around them. If you’d rather choose from a list, quick favorites are fried rice, quesadillas, tacos, pesto pasta and a sheet-pan chicken dinner. Still stuck? The dinner picker chooses for you.

What is an easy dinner for a busy weeknight?

Anything that cooks in one pan with little chopping: sheet-pan sausage and peppers, chicken quesadillas, teriyaki rice bowls or breakfast tacos. A rotisserie chicken, a bag of frozen vegetables and microwave rice cover a lot of fast dinners.

What is a healthy dinner idea?

A plate that is half vegetables, a quarter lean protein and a quarter whole grains or starch: salmon with broccoli, chicken burrito bowls, turkey stuffed peppers or a lentil soup. See our high-protein dinners under 450 calories for full recipes with the numbers.

What is a cheap dinner for a family?

Beans, lentils, eggs, rice, pasta and chicken thighs are the cheapest ways to feed a family. Black bean soup, pasta e fagioli, egg fried rice, potato hash and baked chicken thighs with rice all cost very little per plate.

What can I make for dinner with what I have?

Type the ingredients into the recipe generator, for example “chicken, rice, spinach”, and it writes a dinner built around them, marking anything you’d need to buy. Switch on “Only what I have” to skip the store.