5 Super Easy Dinners For People In A Hurry

Sometimes during the week we hardly have time for anything or we get home very tired, so we throw away precooked and ultra-processed foods for dinner. The ideal is to have things prepared but it may have passed us, that we have not planned well or that we have run out of what we had saved.

For these cases it is best to prepare healthy dinners that do not require much work or much attention, that are varied, with fresh ingredients, taking advantage of what we have in the fridge and in the pantry, that do not require soiling many utensils, and above all that they are healthier than commercial alternatives.

Quick and easy recipes for dinner

It’s easy to do it, I give you a few ideas that can be perfectly adapted to your tastes and what you have at home. For example, in the case of rice, we can do the same with pasta, we can change the vegetables for whatever is in season or whatever we have in the fridge, and we can make more than one dish at the same time, simultaneously, and thus leave it ready for the next day.

1. Vegetables with rice

Instead of making rice and vegetables separately, we can do it all in the same saucepan and at the same time.

Choose vegetables that take 10-12 minutes to cook and have a good texture and flavor. For example broccoli, kale, cherry tomatoes, carrots, peppers, mushrooms, onion, leek, zucchini, asparagus, spinach … and give them a touch of spices.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of rice
• ¼ broccoli
• 6-8 mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 10-12 cherry tomatoes
• ½ red pepper
• ½ green pepper
• a handful of fresh parsley
• pinch of salt
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Preparation

1. Wash all the vegetables well and cut them into medium pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat and add them all.
3. Add the rice, parsley, salt and bay leaf and 1 cup of water and cover. When it comes to a boil, put it over a low heat.
4. Let it cook until there is no water left.
5. Set it aside and let it rest for 5 minutes.
6. Serve it.

2. Curried lentils

Although it seems a very elaborate dish, we do not really need to be constantly watching it and it can be done with all the ingredients at the same time. The trick is to use red lentils, which have a shorter cooking time than other varieties, and which also become creamy and thicken our curry.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of red lentils
• 1 medium zucchini
• 150 g of hard tofu (optional)
• ½ onion
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• ½ cup of tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• pinch of salt
• chopped cilantro for serving (optional)

Preparation

1. Wash the vegetables and cut them into medium-small pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a saucepan or medium heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat,
3. Put the zucchini, tofu, onion, carrot, tomato and curry and cook for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and 2 cups of water. Cover it and when it comes to a strong boil, put it over a low heat.
5. Let everything cook together for 15 minutes, stir it and rectify the salt.
6. Serve hot.

3. Pumpkin and zucchini cream

You can put all the ingredients and the water from the beginning and let it cook until they are tender. Then you just have to pass them through the blender and serve.

You can make them with seasonal ingredients, the ones you like the most, adding those that make them creamier, such as potato, sweet potato or cauliflower, and others for flavor, such as leek, onion, celery or fennel.

Ingredients

• ¼ pumpkin
• 2 medium zucchini
• ½ onion
• Approx. ¼ teaspoon salt
• A handful of walnuts (peeled)

Preparation

1. Peel the vegetables and cut them into medium pieces.
2. Put them in a saucepan or medium pot with enough salt and water to cover them.
3. Put it over high heat and when it boils lower it to medium-low.
4. Let it cook for about 15 minutes (until the pumpkin is tender), half covered.
5. Beat everything with the mixer until smooth.
6. Serve hot with the walnuts on top.

4. Baked ratatouille

It is a very comfortable dish if we have a mandolin or a cutter, since the only job we have to do is cut the vegetables into slices.

Ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini
• 4-6 pear tomatoes
• 2 thin aubergines
• approx. 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• pinch of salt

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
2. Wash the vegetables and cut them into thin slices with a mandolin.
3. Arrange the sliced ​​vegetables, sandwiching them, forming a spiral, in a baking dish.
4. Pour the oil on top and sprinkle with salt.
5. Bake about 25 minutes or until vegetables are golden brown.
6. Serve hot.

5. Sautéed chickpeas with vegetables

It is enough to go picking ingredients, cutting them and adding them to the pan with a little oil and some spices. We can also add cooked legumes from the pot (well washed and drained) and some sauce or pate if we have it (for example tomato sauce, guacamole, hummus, etc.

Choose ingredients that are done quickly and you will have dinner ready in 5 minutes.

Ingredients

• ½ medium broccoli
• ½ medium zucchini
• 1 carrot
• ½ medium leek
• 1 cup of chickpeas, cooked and drained
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Thyme, parsley and black pepper

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Chop the leek and put it in the pan.
3. Cut the broccoli, zucchini and carrot into medium pieces and add them as well. Skip it for a couple of minutes.
4. Add the chickpeas, salt and spices and sauté it all together for a few more minutes, until the vegetables are golden brown.
5. Serve hot.