17 Ridiculously Good One-Pot Meals You Can Make Without a Sink Full of Dishes

A plate of chicken served with vegetables and bread next to a bowl of soup — Serious Eats / Qi Ai

We all have those days when we want a ridiculously delicious meal, but we don't want to put much effort into it—especially when it comes to the clean up afterwards. Fortunately, there are plenty of dishes that come together in one pot or pan. Below, you'll find our favorite one-pot dinner recipes—including flavorful braises, quick curries, and comforting soups—that come together easily and efficiently, so you can enjoy a great meal without worrying about all the dishes you'll have to do later.

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Channa Masala

Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotic Andrijanic

Channa masala—chickpeas bathed in a spicy and tangy tomato sauce—is one of the most popular dishes in the world. Here, we caramelize the onions with baking soda on high heat to create a rich, deep-bodied flavor in the sauce without added sweetness. We also upgrade store-bought garam masala by pounding fresh garlic, ginger, and chiles with lemon juice, which tames its bitterness and brightens its flavor profile.

Channa Masala
Chinese Scrambled Eggs With Tomato

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

There are many variations of Chinese scrambled eggs with tomato, with each Chinese family putting their own spin on the dish. Contributor Jenny Dorsey starts by gently scrambling the eggs, then cooking down the tomatoes with a fragrant mixture of scallion whites, garlic, and ginger.

Chinese Scrambled Eggs With Tomato
Moroccan Egg Drop Harira (Vegetable and Legume Soup)

Serious Eats / Jen Causey

Harira is often prepared with red meat, but some versions are made with chicken, eggs, or can be vegan. This version features both lentils and chickpeas, and is finished with a drizzle of beaten egg to form little wispy egg bits in the thickened soup.

Moroccan Egg Drop Harira (Vegetable and Legume Soup)
Creamy Braised Chicken With Bacon and White Wine (Blanquette de Poulet)

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

A silky white wine sauce, tender chicken, and vegetables come together in a dish that's comforting, elegant, and weeknight-friendly.

Creamy Braised Chicken With Bacon and White Wine (Blanquette de Poulet)

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3-Ingredient Stovetop Mac and Cheese

Photographs: Vicky Wasik. Video: J. Kenji López-Alt

How about a mac and cheese with fewer ingredients than the boxed version, but comes together in the same amount of time? Cooking macaroni in minimal water concentrates the starch from the pasta, helping the cheese form a creamy emulsion. The result is a pasta that's gloriously creamy, gooey, and cheesy.

3-Ingredient Stovetop Mac and Cheese
Cantonese-Style One-Pot Braised Brisket

Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

This fragrant stew of braised brisket with daikon radish and carrots is flavored with chu hou paste, a sweet and savory blend of fermented yellow soybeans, sesame seeds, garlic, and ginger.

Cantonese-Style One-Pot Braised Brisket
Gyudon (Japanese Simmered Beef and Rice Bowls)

J. Kenji López-Alt

Gyudon—steamed rice topped with beef and onions simmered in sake and soy sauce—is a quick, easy meal that's equally at home at the food court or on your kitchen table. The recipe's one-pot simmering technique requires no cooking experience, making this a simple, foolproof dish.

Gyudon (Japanese Simmered Beef and Rice Bowls)
Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti With Black Pepper and Pecorino Romano)

Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

Pasta, black pepper, and Pecorino Romano join together to form one of the simplest and most delicious classic Roman pasta dishes. Finely grating Pecorino Romano cheese ensures even melting and incorporation, reducing the risk of clumping due to its hard, dry nature.

Cacio e Pepe (Spaghetti With Black Pepper and Pecorino Romano)

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Khua Kling Gai (Southern Thai Dry Curry With Minced Chicken)

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Khua kling gai is a fiery stir-fry that's quick and easy to make. While much of the flavor in the dish is provided by the aromatic and spicy curry paste, sliced lemongrass, makrut lime leaves, and fresh red chiles amplify its herbal notes, provide textural complexity, and a bit of freshness, while fish sauce and sugar are used to season and balance out the flavor profile.

Khua Kling Gai (Southern Thai Dry Curry With Minced Chicken)
The Best Moules Marinières (Sailor-Style Mussels)

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

Inexpensive, elegant, and easy, these mussels are the ultimate one-pot meal. Sweating shallots, leeks, and garlic without browning them allows the aromatics to meld into a sweet and pungent mélange, forming a nuanced base for the broth—and rapidly steaming the mussels ensures they open just enough to stay tender and succulent.

The Best Moules Marinières (Sailor-Style Mussels)
Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon Fillets

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

Our recipe for pan-seared salmon shows you how to simultaneously achieve extra-crunchy skin and perfectly tender fish. The minimal-effort technique produces excellent results: The key is to cook the salmon most of the way through with the skin side down in order to insulate the delicate flesh from the direct heat of the pan.

Crispy Pan-Seared Salmon Fillets
Butaniku no Shogayaki (Japanese Ginger Pork)

Vicky Wasik

This Japanese pork stir-fry is incredibly easy and comes together in no time. Using very thinly sliced meat means you don't have to marinate it for very long, and cooking the pork in batches leads to more browning and less steaming.

Butaniku no Shogayaki (Japanese Ginger Pork)

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Crispy Kimchi Cheese Rice

Vicky Wasik

Crispy-chewy rice, gooey cheese, crisped in an iron skillet—this recipe works for lunch, dinner, or any time in between.

Crispy Kimchi Cheese Rice
Ganach Lupia (Armenian Braised Green Beans)

Serious Eats / Andrew Janjigian

Meltingly tender green beans and lamb braised in a tomato-based sauce is a luxuriously easy one-pot dinner. This dish is so fundamental to Armenian cuisine that its name means simply “green beans” (ganach is Armenian for “green" and lupia is the Armenian word for "bean"; fassoulia is the Arabic word for “bean”).

Ganach Lupia (Armenian Braised Green Beans)
Pressure Cooker Ribollita (Tuscan Bean and Vegetable Stew)

Vicky Wasik

This Tuscan vegetable, bean, and bread stew typically takes many hours to cook from start to finish, but a pressure cooker reduces that cooking time significantly while producing perfect results.

Pressure Cooker Ribollita (Tuscan Bean and Vegetable Stew)
Chicken Scarpariello (Braised Chicken With Sausage and Peppers)

Serious Eats / Julia Estrada

The Italian-American dish of chicken braised with sausage and peppers in a sweet-and-sour sauce is the perfect weeknight meal. Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs stay tender and juicy, while the gelatin from the connective tissue adds richness to the sauce.

Chicken Scarpariello (Braised Chicken With Sausage and Peppers)

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Pressure Cooker Thai Green Chicken Curry With Eggplant and Kabocha Squash

Serious Eats / J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

Using a pressure cooker makes quick work of this green curry, and ensures the vegetables and chicken are cooked through and tender in just 20 minutes. The great thing about this dish is you can do as much or as little work as you want. For speed and convenience, we reach for store-bought Thai green curry paste and brighten it up with some fresh garlic, ginger, Thai chiles, and spices.

Pressure Cooker Thai Green Chicken Curry With Eggplant and Kabocha Squash