Easy Real Food Recipes
✅🍽️ During the holiday season and especially the week of a holiday, I’m sharing my easy real food dinner recipes since we need those too! 30-minutes max, healthy-ish, and no-fuss because now is the time for streamlined and simple!
Easy Real Food Dinner Recipes
- While I would love to make a dinner out of a charcuterie board or spinach and artichoke dip every night, it’s not great for my waistline and health 😉. I don’t feel satisfied and I need REAL food: protein and veggies! Which is why I’m sharing 10 recipes I keep in my back pocket for weeks and seasons like this!
- Every recipe below has been extensively tested in my kitchen and they’re all reader favorites from over the years, many with hundreds of glowing 5-star reviews. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- If you like these types of recipes, please also check out my 30 Minute Meals ebook with 30 recipes that are all ready in 30 minutes or less, and many are one pot or one sheet pan numbers.
- Click on the ‘View Recipe’ underneath each entry and you’ll be taken to that recipe.
1. 15-Minute Southwestern Chicken and Black Bean Skillet
This Southwest chicken skillet is my go-to when I need dinner done fast but still want it packed with flavor and texture. Black beans, corn, green chiles, and a squeeze of lime turn simple chicken into something special. It’s naturally gluten-free, ready in 15 minutes, and perfect for meal prep!
2. 15-Minute Sheet Pan Chicken Fried Rice
This sheet pan fried rice is healthier than takeout and ready even faster! I love that it’s baked instead of fried, and the rice gets those crispy toasted edges everyone fights over. Use leftover rice or those microwave pouches and dinner is done in 15 minutes flat.
3. 15-Minute Tex-Mex Ground Beef and Rice Skillet
An EASY comfort food recipe with just 5 main ingredients made with everyday staples!! Juicy beef, tender rice, and just the right amount of kick from the salsa make this an automatic FAMILY FAVORITE!
4. 20-Minute Lemon Butter Dijon Skillet Chicken
This easy lemon Dijon chicken is comfort food at its finest and it’s ready in just 20 minutes! The sauce is made with lemon butter, Dijon mustard, and a splash of wine for extra flavor. It’s the kind of recipe that becomes a family favorite after just one bite.
5. Perfect 20 Minute Baked Chicken Breasts
🍗❤️🙌 NO MORE dry chicken! Super juicy, flavorful, EASY, and tender baked chicken breasts that are ready in 20 minutes and made on ONE sheet pan! Nothing complicated or fussy about this PERFECT chicken that everyone LOVES!
6. 15-Minute Barbecue Chicken Skillet
🍗🙌🏻 Just 3 ingredients in this saucy EASY 15-Minute Barbecue Chicken Skillet recipe: Chicken, barbecue sauce, and Italian dressing. It doesn’t get any simpler than that and it’s ready in 15 minutes! When you need a family favorite skillet chicken recipe for busy weeknights, this is a winner!
7. Homemade Hamburger Helper (One Pot, 30 Minutes)
🍔🧀 You can kiss the store-bought-stuff goodbye because my homemade recipe for classic hamburger pasta is EASY, ready in 30 minutes, and made in ONE skillet! There’s saucy cheesy pasta and juicy ground beef in every bite making this a family FAVORITE comfort food recipe. PERFECT for busy weeknights!
8. 15-Minute Sheet Pan Lemon Pepper Chicken
This lemon pepper chicken is the ultimate easy sheet pan dinner—just toss everything on the pan and let the oven do the work! It’s loaded with bright lemon pepper flavor, ready in 15 minutes, and cleanup is practically nonexistent. Perfect for those crazy busy nights!
9. One Pan Sweet Chili Roasted Chicken and Vegetables in 15 Minutes
This sweet chili chicken is accidentally healthy yet packed with amazing flavor—a little sweet with just the right amount of heat! Everything roasts together on one sheet pan and is ready in 15 minutes. It’s become one of my most-requested weeknight dinners!
10. 10-Minute Lemon Butter Sheet Pan Shrimp and Broccoli
When I need a healthy dinner in a hurry, this lemon butter shrimp and broccoli is my answer! The shrimp stay juicy, the broccoli gets those crispy roasted edges, and everything is coated in bright lemon butter. Ten minutes and one pan—it doesn’t get easier than this!
I have tried a few of your recipes. We seem to have similar tastes. I look forward to trying more recipes.
Thanks Audrey for letting me know that you’ve tried some of my recipes and plan to try some more!