14 Easy Weeknight Recipes That Are Always a Hit

These recipes make cooking less of a chore and dinnertime way more enjoyable.

By
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Mimi Young
Editor
Mimi Young is an editor and pastry chef. She has also curated and written numerous recipe roundups for Serious Eats.
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Published August 18, 2025
Onions placed on top of steaks, with sides of rice, plantains and beans

Serious Eats / Two Bites

It’s not just cooler weather that signals the coming of fall. As the days get shorter, the nights get longer and filled with seemingly endless chores, like getting dinner on the table. However, dinner doesn’t have to be an onerous task, not when you’ve got a great collection of easy, delicious, satisfying recipes you can cook on rotation like the 14 we’ve curated below. They include speedy stir-fries, hearty soups and stews, and one-pan favorites, all designed to streamline your cooking, so you can sit down and actually enjoy dinner on a weeknight without having to worry about tackling a mountain of dirty pots and pans afterwards.

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  • Easy Sausage, Kale, and Black-Eyed Pea Soup With Lemon and Rosemary

    20140109-sausage-kale-and-black-eyed-pea-soup-3.jpg
    J. Kenji Lopez-Alt

    The key to this ridiculously easy and delicious soup is to start with a hearty base of dried beans and kale, then let them absorb a load of extra-flavorful ingredients, such as savory Italian sausage, garlic, rosemary, and lemon zest. Soak the beans overnight in salted water to soften their skin and yield a tender texture when cooked. Reserve some of the lemon zest and rosemary to add right before serving to give the soup a fresh aromatic punch.

  • Quick and Easy Stovetop Butternut Squash Soup

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    J. Kenji López-Alt

    On those nights when you don’t feel like cranking up the oven to roast butternut squash for soup, Kenji’s stovetop method is a speedier alternative that delivers the same warm, cozy autumn vibes as our classic butternut squash, in under an hour. Brown the butter in the pot before sweating the onions, carrots, and celery to add a nuttiness and depth of flavor to the finished soup. What’s great about this recipe is its adaptability—top it with toasted pumpkin seeds or spiced nuts, throw in a pinch of smoked paprika or cinnamon, or replace the heavy cream with full-fat coconut milk spiced with curry powder for a vegan meal.

  • Easy Pressure Cooker Pork Chile Verde

    Pressure Cooker Pork Chile Verde

    Serious Eats / Eric Kleinberg

    If you haven't already, this recipe will convince you to invest in a pressure cooker (like an Instant Pot) because it delivers all the flavor and texture of a long-simmered stew in under an hour, with only 15 minutes of hands-on work. You start by sizzling big chunks of well-marbled pork shoulder, quartered tomatillos, roughly chopped onion, garlic, green chiles, and seasonings in the pressure cooker, then seal, bring to high pressure, and cook for 30 minutes. Since the vegetables contain more than enough water for steaming without the need for additional liquid, you get a thick, luscious, intensely flavored sauce just by puréeing the cooked vegetables and residual juices with a bit of fish sauce.

  • Easy Stir-Fried Pork With String Beans

    04022014-stirfry-pork-with-string-beans-14.jpg
    Shao Z.

    A simple wok stir-fry is a super quick and easy way to pull together a great weeknight meal in less time than it takes to cook a pot of rice, which is why it was a staple in my family. Here, strips of pork tenderloin marinate in salt, soy sauce, wine, sugar, oil, and cornstarch to keep the meat juicy and help it brown without overcooking. Fresh green beans are quickly blanched in the wok to set their vibrant color and partially tenderize. Stir-frying the components in a ripping-hot wok in stages, with ginger-infused oil and minced garlic, ensures tender pork and snappy green beans kissed with smoky flavor.

    Continue to 5 of 14 below

  • Spicy Mexican Shrimp Pasta

    A plate with spaghetti and shrimp, garnished with herbs, placed on a table with a fork nearby

    Serious Eats/ Shri Repp

    This quick, punchy, aromatic shrimp pasta will spice up your weeknight. A brief brine in salt and baking soda makes for plump, bouncy, well-seasoned shrimp, while cooking the shells in butter gives the sauce a deeper, nutty shrimp flavor that permeates the pasta. Opt for smashing the garlic and chile in a mortar and pestle over mincing with a knife for a spicier, more fragrant, and slightly sweeter flavor.

  • Baked Honey-Mustard Pretzel Chicken Tenders

    Honey mustard chicken tenders in a basket with dip, more tenders on a tray in the background.

    Serious Eats / Lorena Masso

    These crispy, sweet, and tangy baked chicken tenders are the kind of snack-inspired riff that can turn a familiar-but-ordinary weeknight staple into something extraordinary, and all it takes are a few pantry ingredients. A mixture of yellow mustard, honey, and mayonnaise serves as both coating and dip, while crushed pretzel takes the place of the usual breadcrumbs to provide a salty crunch to balance the sweet, tangy honey-mustard. Once coated, the chicken tenders can be baked in the oven or air fryer or stashed in the freezer and baked from frozen—perfect for meal prepping.

  • Pork Tenderloin with Cherry Compote and Arugula Sauce

    Sliced roasted pork tenderloin with green sauce and roasted cherries on a plate, placed on a red tablecloth with a fork and knife

    Serious Eats / Victor Protasio

    One of the things I love about pork tenderloin is how quick and easy it is to prepare. Here, it’s coated in oil and seasoned with a simple spice blend before roasting in the oven. What takes it over the top are two spectacular sauces—a sweet, tangy caramelized cherry compote and a vibrant, herbaceous arugula pesto made with pistachios. Both can be made up to two days ahead to help streamline weeknight dinner prep.

  • Palomilla (Cuban Steak and Onions)

    Green Plate of Pallomilla with rice beans and plantains. Red napkin with untensils, and large plate of pallomilla to the side

    Serious Eats / Two Bites

    Make this simple Cuban American staple of steak and onions when you want a satisfying, flavorful, meaty meal on the table in under 30 minutes. Pound your sirloin extra thin—or buy it pre-sliced (1/4- to 1/8-inch-thick) to save time—then marinate it in salt and lime to tenderize and flavor the meat. It pairs well with classic Cuban sides like rice, beans, and plantains or even a simple side salad.

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  • Instant Pot Lu Rou Fan (Braised Pork Belly Over Rice)

    2 bowls of minced pork on white rice in a blue bowl and a white bowl, with chop sticks and glasses of water on a green tablecloth

    Serious Eats / Qi Ai

    Like many busy parents, Clarissa Wei has turned to the Instant Pot to shave off hours of hands-on cooking for some of her favorite dishes, including this Taiwanese classic of braised pork belly over rice. The key is cutting the pork belly into smaller pieces to ensure even cooking and maximum absorption of the flavorful sauce. Once you sear the pork and bloom the aromatics, all you have to do is seal the lid and let the pressure cooker do the work while you cook the rice.

  • 3-Ingredient Stovetop Mac and Cheese

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

    While boxed mac and cheese admittedly conjures nostalgic, comforting childhood memories for many of us, this three-ingredient stovetop recipe wins on flavor and texture, hands-down! Plus, with only dry pasta, evaporated milk, and your favorite melting cheese of choice, it comes together in the same amount of time as the boxed variety and tastes infinitely better. The secret to its creamy, velvety texture is cooking the pasta in less water and subbing evaporated milk for regular milk.

  • Channa Masala

    Channa masala and white rice on a blue plate decorated with white lines. The plate is on a dark blue surface.

    Serious Eats / Mateja Zvirotic Andrijanic

    Looking for a comforting, easy one-pot recipe you can from pantry ingredients on repeat? These plump chickpeas bathed in a spicy and tangy tomato sauce come together in under an hour. Plus, it makes for a hearty vegan meal—just swap out the ghee for a vegetable, nut, or seed oil. For an even faster take, see our 10-minute channa masala.

  • Chinese Scrambled Eggs With Tomato

    Two plated dishes of tomato and egg with rice on a grey, textured background

    Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

    Almost every Chinese family has a scrambled egg with tomato recipe in their repertoire, mine included, for good reason. It’s delicious, quick to make, and the standard-bearer for great homecooking. This version has cracked the code for producing large, fluffy curds and soft tomatoes perfectly seasoned with Shaoxing wine and soy sauce.

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  • Crispy Kimchi Cheese Rice

    Spoon holding a portion of the final dish aloft
    Vicky Wasik

    This one-pan recipe transforms leftover rice into a delicious, crispy, ooey-gooey main event loaded with the funky, umami-packed goodness of kimchi and spicy sweet heat of gochujang. To get the requisite crunchy edges and bottom, use a cast iron skillet and grease it well with butter to avoid any stickage that can prevent you from enjoying every last delectable bite.

  • Easy Stir-Fried Chicken With Ginger and Scallions

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    Shao Z.

    Similar to the pork and green beans stir-fry recipe, this chicken iteration also benefits from a brief marinade in a soy sauce, wine, and cornstarch mixture to help it retain moisture as it cooks. The dish gets a double dose of fresh ginger—a chunk flavors the hot oil and julienned strips go into the stir-fry itself, to layer on flavor.

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