Best 15 Minute Dinner Recipes

[CherryBlossom27]

Hi everyone,

Looking for some quick (and easy!) dinner recipes, I desperately need some inspiration and hoping you can share your best recipes!

DS is 7 months old and gets seriously grumpy around about the same time I start cooking, so if I can cut down on cooking time that would be great!

TIA

Steamed salmon (strips of fillet), with steamed greens (leeks, beans whatever's handy) and boiled new potatoes (in the water at the bottom of the steamer). You can do the whole thing in ONE saucepan in 15 mins. :)
Wedge of lemon to serve OR chop/grate 2 tspns fresh ginger, fry gently in one tblspn soy sauce & 2 water. Spoon on top of salmon. Mix it up and add some chopped red chilli. You can substitute potatoes for rice noodles too.
In the summer we do the salmon, potatoes, a green salad and a dollop of nice mayo with chives or dill added in.
Stick saucepan in dishwasher, Done.

Fish parcels (envelopes of foil with butter and water added) with chopped veg are v easy to assemble too and cook v quickly in the oven. best to put some water in the roasting dish around the parcels

Sundried tomato in oil
Chicken breast cut into cubes
Spinach

Use the oil from the tomato to fry the chicken, add the Sundried tomatos. When chicken. cooked add the spinach and cook for a further few minutes until it has wilted.
Serve with pasta

If you don't already have them get a slow cooker and a steamer.

In the steamer you can wrap meat or fish in foil with herbs / lemon / lime / spices and cook alongside rice and / or vegetables.

Youo can prep ahead of time, just keep the foil parcels in the fridge - the veg are fine left out in the steamer.

Yummy :) Thank you for all the ideas! Got a food shop tonight so I'm going to make a meal plan and try out these ideas! Here's to an easier life!

Does anyone mind if I ask MNHQ to move this thread into Recipes? There's lots of good ideas.

Right, meal plan made...

Tonight - pork chops, mash, carrots & peas (pork chops need using up)

Saturday - grab something out as we're going out for the day

Sunday - roast chicken dinner (not 15 minutes but DH will watch DS while I'm cooking and it is an easy dinner)

Monday - lemon & tarragon chicken, rice & steamed green veg (using chicken leftover from roast dinner)

Tuesday - warm roast vegetable & chickpea salad with feta cheese (this can be prepared while DS is napping and put in the oven for 30 minutes)

Wednesday - oven baked salmon fillets in pesto sauce with spinach, cherry tomatoes & cous cous

Thursday - cous cous salad with pesto, red pepper, cucumber, spring onions and feta cheese (I can prepare the whole thing while DS is asleep and keep it covered in the fridge ready to serve)

Friday - stir fry with hot bean sauce, prawns and eggs noodles (if I buy a stir fry veg packet it's cheap and no preparation time involved, I can cook this as soon as DH gets home from work and it should take 5-10 minutes max)

We have a rice cooker which is great as I can just wash the rice and stick it in the rice cooker which keeps it warm once cooked - rice never goes wrong in a rice cooker!

I have a big pot with a steamer that slots on top which is handy and doesn't take any extra storage space.

My Mum is planning to get me a slow cooker for Christmas - cant wait!

I think if I can do as much preparation early while DS is asleep that will help and then the actual cooking time is very quick for these dishes (or otherwise they can be left for x amount of time in the oven with no attention required).

I love eating home made meals as opposed to microwave meals and oven chips etc which are fine every so often, it's just trying to be organised. I do enjoy cooking, but I've always taken ages actually preparing the meal and cooking which doesn't work with a baby so I need to adapt :o

AbsofAwesomeness - that would be a great idea, I started it in chat as I thought there would be more traffic. I did search 15 minute recipes on MN but nothing came up so this might be useful for other stressed mums (or dads) in years to come :o

Well, it's one of the discussions of the day ...

I've asked them to move it.

Another one - shakshuka which is like a tomato saucey thing with eggs poached in it (tend to make this when short of time and we have practically no food in the house).

Cook til soft finely diced onion and green/red peppers, with some garlic. Add in some cumin seeds/powder. Add in a tin of chopped tomatoes, season and bring to a simmer. CAREFULLY crack eggs into the tomato mixture (around 2 eggs per adult), cover, and leave to cook for c. 10 minutes/until the eggs are cooked to your liking. Serve with bread

I love this thread. My tips for cutting down on cooking time are use the slow cooker. Eat a lot of stir fries and frittatta.

Cherry if you can do cooking earlier in the day then reheat that gives you a lot more options. Risotto for example is perfect for this, just leave it slightly undercooked and then add a little more water when you reheat. And if you make extra risotto then leftovers can be fried as little rice patties and are even better than the risotto itself IMO.

Also any slow cook "simmer/put in the oven for 2 hours" recipe would work - I don't think you need a specific slow cooker (unless you are out of the house all day), just a Le Creuset decent casserole with a lid. Even if you are going out, some ovens can switch themselves on and off (I am always a bit terrified of relying on this mind you).

Pasta and Taleggio Bake
350 g (12oz) penne pasta
250 g (9oz) mascarpone cheese
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
250 g (9oz) chorizo sausage chunks
Bunch spring onions
200 g (7 oz) taleggio cheese, diced, or try gorgonzol
Salt & black pepper to season

Preheat oven to 200c/400f/Gas mark 6

Method

1. Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until just al la dente.
2. Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Cook chorizo and spring onion for a few minutes. Stir in mascarpone and mustard until the mascarpone melts.
3. Finally, stir in the taleggio, chorizo, spring onion and season well. Transfer the mixture into an ovenproof dish and bake for approximately 15-20 mins, or until the top is golden brown.

Lovely!

What time does your 7mo sleep? I cook after mine gone to sleep. She's grump from 5.30 to 6pm already. There's no way I can cook even for 15min.

I found couscous and pasta type of meals cook fastest. Something like

Spaghetti Puttanesca
Pad Thai

Tortilla pizzas. Get a soft tortilla spread with either tomato sauce or pesto or Philadelphia. Add salami or ham, some olives, spinach etc. Grate cheese on top. Put in oven until cheese has melted and tortilla is going crispy (5-10 mins).

Fried eggs on ham with goats cheese and spinach. Bed of spinach on plate, top with slice of NICE, Mumsnet-approved, ham. Fry an egg or two, put on the ham, crumble some goats cheese over top. 5 mins tops!

These all sound lovely!

I just got a tin of chicken in white sauce - cheaty and not the best health wise but hey it's a nostalgia thing as my nan used to use it :o

Poured it in a pie dish, mixed in some frozen peas, topped with ready rolled pastry.

Just about to take it out of the oven actually...

For lunch I had bruschetta - sliced French bread with a mix of tomatoes, basil leaves, pine nuts (our indulgent treat, we were ridiculously excited about ordering them as we had some of our budget left!) and cubes of goats cheese. Stuck under the grill for 5 minutes, served with dressed salad.

I have to admit I used to be quite snobby blame my parents about using prepared ingredients - even stuff like salad dressing as I learnt young how to make a lovely one - but choosing convenient shortcuts has changed our stressful life for the better.

Not very imaginative, but for DD and I, I put two chicken thighs, some chopped potatoes, squash and carrots onto a baking tray (Add herbs and garlic if wanted) and put in the oven for 20 mins. when all cooked put everything on plate, throw a splash of water and stock cube into tray and boil until gravy. at the end throw some frozen peas into gravy to 'cook' and cool down gravy. Eat immediately. quick to prepare (especially if you don't peel veg) and one tray to wash.

Sorry, haven't read all the posts so this may repeat:

You can buy cod fillets frozen, they take 10 mins to microwave, with some couscous and frozen peas (or boiled potatoes)

Just a tip re roasted vegetable - waitrose do a big bag of frozen roasted veg for £2.49, its really nice just stirfried from frozen and add to pasta, couscous, anything - saves having to chop lots of peppers, courgettes, aubergine etc.

I think loads of meals can be done in 15 minutes if you have a timer on your oven. I do roast chicken on weeknights - takes 5 minutes to prep and then put in oven on timer while I do bathtime with the twins, then its ready when I come back downstairs, have with jacket spuds and salad.

My lazy pie was lovely :o

Put pasta on to boil

Whilst that is cooking, mix a dollop of philadelphia cheese with milk and heat through - to this add whatever you have in the fridge, usually for me a bit of chopped ham and peas. My current favourite is a pack of smoked salmon trimmings (90p from Asda) with some peas and a few squeezesof lemon juice .

Great thread.

My favourite is gnocchi. Cook gnocci as per packet (takes 2 mins). Mix with tin cherry toms, spring onion, a little creme fraiche / cream. Pop in baking dish and top with mini mozzerela balls and put under the grill till cheese melting and sauce warmed through. Serve with sald.

Gnocci also great with pesto or any pasta sauce, and can stir through and cooked veg / spinich.

Isn't jamie Oliver about to do this as another programme/book?

Sure I have read somewhere that he now thinks the 30 minute meals are more suited to Friday/Saturday nights & ants to do something that is quicker and easier for midweek.

Might be wrong

My easiest: fresh gnocchi (Morrisons is v good and not expensive) tossed with butter and rapeseed oil, a big handful of oatmeal (trust me!) a pack of pea shoots, chopped chives and either a couple of flaked smoked mackerel fillets or smoked salmon bits (again, cheap) Takes less than five mins from when I put the water on to boil. Equally easy but you have to wait longer is to keep the mackerel fillets whole and serve with a bagged green salad and new potatoes tossed in butter and oatmeal. Oatmeal tatties are apparently a traditional Scottish thing as handed down to me by my grannie and v tasty.
My son's favourite though, invented in a dire emergency and begged for weekly thereafter is what he calls Splattered Eggs and Wedges. Potato wedges in a bag of oil, give them a good shake and spread out on baking sheets, put in the oven for 20 mins then make little clearings between the wedges and crack an egg into each. Back in the oven for 2-3 mins and you have a slightly healthier and very hands-off egg and chips. Classy eating it ain't but it always goes down well. You can chop the potatoes the night before and put them in their bag of oil in the fridge till the next night.

I do cook properly usually. Honest.

my easy peasy dinner all 5 of my kids love.

cook pasta in one pan normall fusili or penne pasta.

in another pan heat some cream, and then add some gorgonzolla cheese, crumble it in and melt it up, this is your sauce.

near the end of cooking time add some frozen peas to the pasta.

in the meantime chop/rip up some nice thick ham (or you can use cheaper stuff but i prob wouldnt use that wafer thin stuff)

drain pasta and peas, mix it all with the sauce and then when serving put some ham on each serving.

takes as long as your pasta takes to cook basically! nice and easy and mine all love it. suitable for blw or if your baby prefers you to feed you can cook them some of that little baby pasta :)

Toss a drained tin of chickpeas in a couple of tablespoons of seasoned flour mixed with some fine cornmeal (polenta) as an optional extra, include some spice and crushed garlic if you want. Shallow fry the floured chickpeas until golden and crispy (about 5 mins). Chop in some herbs at the end if you want. Serve in a warm tortilla, pitta or chapati with some salad. 'Ansome.

Also I really like this Jamie Oliver pasta sauce:
Pulse chop in a blender a couple of decent sausages, an onion, some celery, a carrot, a pinch of chilli flakes and a tsp of fennel seeds. Fry for a few mins until veg is soft and meat is brown. Add a bit of balsamic vinegar and half a tub of passata. Let it bubble and reduce until the pasta is cooked. Bung in some basil. This also works really well with left-over cooked sausages, and pork or beef mince and is great for hiding veg!