These quick & easy 30 minute meals will have a warm dinner ready– even when you feel like you don’t have the time! If you need easy cheap meals, you’ll also find my quick way for subbing out ingredients.
Can we talk about kids & sports? Or what it is like being a mom juggling school events during the week?
One or other is seriously affecting our dinner plans lately. To help fight the 30-minute time crunch and not grab dinner through the drive-thru, I rounded up my favorite easy 30 minute meals for families!
You’ll notice that I included several slow cooker recipes simply because they are my go-to dinner hacks when we want a warm dinner quickly. It seems like I can always find 5 extra minutes in the morning to prep the dinner than the extra 5 minutes after arriving home and before we have to leave for soccer practice.
While we love baking chicken tenders, it’s not quick. Our favorite baked fried chicken recipe takes almost 40 minutes to bake– so delicious, but it’s not for practice nights!
Unless you’re a Sunday dinner meal prepper, I’d avoid any recipes that promise you 30 minutes, but require you to bake whole chicken breasts. Perhaps I’m super weird about needing super done chicken, but it seems like I can’t dip & batter chicken and then bake it in 25 minutes.
For those cases, I happily recommend buying a rotisserie chicken the next time you’re at the grocery store. I like to shred the chicken, store it all in the fridge, and then sub it in for recipes when we dinner that much quicker on the table.
Alright, now onto my favorite easy 30 minute meals! You will feel good about serving them to your family and be able to take advantage of the leftovers for lunch the next day! [Here is my favorite trick for never wasting dinner again]
Need Easy Cheap Meals?
If you are looking to stay under budget, I recommend using cheaper meats for the slow cooker recipes. You can sub out prime cuts of beef for stew meat or the weekly sale promo.
Since we are big fans of shopping our weekly sale ad for dinner ideas, we usually find a way to use the meat that is on promo. If nothing is on promo, we will use the chicken & ground beef from Costco / Sam’s Club.
[We buy in bulk and store them in the freezer as single meal’s worth]
Swapping out cuts of meat for what is on sale is one way we balance our budget. I will save on the slow cooker meals and perhaps spend a little more for the ingredients that add flavor in quick 30 minute meals.
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Let’s Get to The Easy 30 Minute Meals!
28 Really Easy 30 Minute Meals for Families
These quick & easy 30 minute meals will have a warm dinner ready-- even when you feel like you don't have the time! Click to see the quick dinner recipes!
An easy slow cooker Italian meatballs and peppers dish! Perfect for a cool week night dinner.
These super quick & easy chicken tortilla pinwheel roll ups are the dinner you need when you don’t want to cook! No baking and ready in just a few minutes!
This 5 ingredient slow cooker tortilla soup recipe is perfect for weeknights! Add in the ingredients in the morning and arrive home to a yummy dinner! Click to see the recipe
These slow cooker chicken tacos are super easy to make! They only need 2 ingredients and are ready for tacos, taco salads, and quesadillas!
Here is an easy slow cooker recipe for turkey meatballs. They are perfect for a work night when you want comfort food, but without any hard work!
Are you looking for a quick dinner that is also healthy? Skip drive thrus and make these easy chicken gyros! They only take about 15 minutes to make.
An easy recipe for slow cooking tasty bbq ribs.
Easy burger sliders with a fun take! They are super easy and yummy! Click to see the recipe!
Incredibly juicy crock pot french dip sandwich made in just 10 minutes! It’s the perfect french dip for a lazy Sunday, weeknight dinner.
No more need for Chinese takeout. With this super simple Black Pepper Chicken you will save money and calories.
An easy and flavorful ragu recipe that takes less than 30 minutes hands on time! This Pork Ragu is braised with apples, honey and vegetables for a memorable dish you’ll make again and again.
Instant- pot Meal prep Quinoa burrito bowl is a healthy twist to a popular Mexican takeout favorite. Its made easily in the pressure cooker/instant pot in under 1 minute! Easy to customize and perfect for busy weeknights.
This 15 minute Chicken Ramen Stir Fry is a delicious way to spruce up your instant ramen noodles without the flavor packets. It’s ready in minutes and tastes so much better!
One Pot Cheesy Sausage & Spinach Gnocchi is a great comfort food dish to whip up any night of the week- easy, quick, and delicious. Ready in just 30 minutes!
Cider Glazed Chicken Breasts are a delicious, easy gluten-free chicken dinner.
This Cheesy Sausage Gnocchi Recipe is an easy, healthy and delicious dinner made in under 30 minutes! Everyone in your family will LOVE it!
This lightened-up Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Soup only takes 10 minutes of prep! This recipe is made from scratch {NO canned soups} and sure to please even the pickiest eaters! Plus it’s gluten-free!
This is the Best Chicken Quesadilla Recipe EVER! It’s a unique, quick, easy, delicious dinner recipe that is ready in under 30 minutes and loaded with sneaky veggies!
Rootbeer BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches only need four ingredients and all day in the slow cooker to sweet and saucy perfection.
Skillet Chicken Sausage with Apples is one of those perfect recipes that you can have the ingredients on hand, and when pressed with time make a delicious dinner in no time.
Slow Cooker Apple Cider Chicken simmers in the crockpot all day resulting in tender fall off the bone chicken.
Make a dinnertime favorite even quick and easier! The instant pot is a great way to make creamy spaghetti and meatballs with minimal dishes and effort.
This recipe makes 4 gluten-free Bacon Ranch Quesadillas - perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. Feel free to double for larger families! These are great served with bell peppers and corn chips for sides.
For the Mac and Cheese lovers out there, the perfect way to easily and quickly make homemade creamy mac and cheese with your Instant Pot.
This makes a wonderfully easy meal you can serve with mashed potatoes or rice and your favorite vegetable alongside the carrots and celery if you wish. And I make chicken pot pies with the leftover chicken.
A fabulously quick and easy to assemble, slow cooked family meal - chicken thighs in an Italian tomato, pepper, onion & mushroom sauce which you can serve with rice or pasta.
It’s too hot, the kids are on their summer break and you really want to be spending as little time in the kitchen as possible, well help is at hand with my simple vegetarian 10 Minute Mushroom Pasta.
This Healthy Egg Roll in a Bowl has all of the great flavor of Egg Rolls, but it's a sure to please Easy One Pan Meal without the carbs and grains of typical egg roll wrappers.
I hope that the next time you’re feeling crunched on time, that you can take advantage of these recipes! Don’t forget to grab your FREE pantry staples cheat sheet. It will help you make sure you don’t run out of the basics the next time you cook!
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Camilla Hawkins says
Loving this selection of fabulous quick dinner ideas, there’s something for everyone Thank you for featuring 2 of my recipes:-)