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A universal mom life truth is that some nights, it is hard to get dinner on the table. A second truth is that some nights we just don’t want to cook! In an effort to serve easy dinners on those busy nights, most of us turn to fast food. I don’t even want to know how much of my money Chick Fil A has! Or Dominos for that matter.
Over the years, and in between school pick-ups, band practice, soccer and basketball practice, hula, church activities, and everything else that most families call life, I have come across a few easy dinners for those busy nights.
If you follow me on Instagram, you have seen my “Fast Dinners” story highlight. Here are my top 5 easy dinner recipes for those busy nights.
5 Easy Dinners for Busy Nights
1. Wonton Soup
This is by far the easiest recipe in my repertoire! You can buy these bags at Costco and for our family of six, it is easily 3-4 meals. First, you make the broth ( personally love this recipe) then you cook the wontons for literally 3-5 minutes until it’s cooked through.
2. Menudo/Afritada
If you’ve had my dad’s version of this, I’m sorry to disappoint and say that it’s a cheater version of it.
Ingredients: Menudo/Afritada mix, ground meat, potatoes, carrots, peas, onion, bell pepper, onions, soy sauce.
Steps: 1. Dice all the veggies (except the peas). 2. Mix powder with water. 3. Brown meat and drain extra juices. 4. Add in the onions, potatoes, and carrots and stir fry for about 2 minutes. 5. Add in soy sauce (sorry, no measurements here as I just eyeball it) and stir for another minute. 6. Add in the afritada mix/water mixture. 7. Cover and let simmer until potatoes and carrots are cooked (add water as needed). 8. When potatoes and carrots are cooked, add in peas and cook through – add in soy sauce as needed. 8. Serve over rice and enjoy!
3. Instant Pot Chicken and Veggies
This is a recipe that I made up and that I’m super proud of. It’s somewhere in between teriyaki chicken and shoyu chicken. It is always a crowd pleaser and it’s great for leftovers and meal prep.
Ingredients: About 2 pounds of chicken breasts/thighs (it can be frozen), yoshidas, water
Steps: 1. Place chicken in the Instant Pot. 2. Pour 1 cup of water and 1 cup of Yoshida’s marinade over chicken (you could probably get away with 1/2 cup each, but we like the extra sauce to drizzle over our rice and veggies). 2. Put the cover on top and turn the vent to “sealed.” Choose poultry option and cook for 15 minutes. 3. Shred Chicken and put back in the sauce. 4. Serve with rice and veggies (we love it with broccoli).
P.S. If you still don’t have an Instant Pot, stop what you’re doing right now and go get one here! I took forever to get one and regretted not getting it sooner once I saw how awesome it was. I am ALWAYS forgetting to defrost meat. With the Instant Pot I can still get meals like this done in under 30 minutes.
4. Burrito Bowls (requires some planning ahead)
Ingredients: Mexican rice, taco meat (the trick here is to prepare and freeze a few ziplock bags so you have them ready for those busy nights), any toppings you want to add.
Steps: 1. Cook Mexican rice. 2. Heat taco meat. 3. Assemble bowl and enjoy!
5. Japanese Curry
This recipe is similar to the Menudo/Afritada in that it has most of the same ingredients and it is cooked in much the same way.
Ingredients: Golden Curry mix, choice of meat, onion, carrots, potatoes, any other veggies you like. We’ve done peas and bell peppers in the past.
Steps: 1. Slice onions and dice the rest of the veggies. 2. Cut chicken into bite-size cubes or strips. 3. Saute onions in oil. 4. Add in meat, add carrots, and potatoes, then stir fry for 3 minutes. 5. Add in other vegetables and stir fry for another minute. 6. Add water and bring to boil until carrots/potatoes almost cooked and chicken is cooked. 7. Break apart curry mix, add the pieces into the pot, and let them melt. 8. When the curry mix is melted all the way through, stir the pot and simmer for extra 5 minutes. 9. Serve over rice.
