These Three Dinners Can Be Made in Under 20 minutes

Forget to thaw something for dinner? Download this PDF and hang it on your fridge!

As a private chef, I’ve created elaborate dinners to be paired with some of the world’s best wines. It wasn’t unusual to spend days preparing every element from scratch and use 40+ ingredients for one 5 course meal.

As a mom, however, creating dinner every night comes down to as few ingredients as possible in the quickest time.

Sometimes you can have the best intentions, but you still forget to plan dinner. With these cooking hacks and quick cooking ingredients you can pull together dinner in a flash.

My Quick Dinner Hacks

My biggest tips are have the equipment and keep the Essential Ingredients on hand so even without a plan, you can have dinner on the table in under 30 minutes.

My basic formula is:

Protein + Flavoring Agents + Veggies + Base = Dinner

Equipment for Fast Dinners

• Air Fryer - We use this almost every day. Besides making grilled chicken tenders or roasting completely frozen fish in 8 minutes, you can also use it to make toast, warm food and there’s even mini-kabob skewers and a holder to make kabobs.

• Instant Pot - Frozen chicken breasts can be completely cooked in 20-25 minutes. While it’s cooking you can prep the remainder of dinner. The 6 quart fits up to 3 lbs of meat and has worked well for us, but the bigger one works better when my 6’4” athlete is home.

• Instant Pot Combo - Air Fryer and Instant Pot in one. I haven’t used this but both my sister and my son swear by it!

Essential Ingredients - Proteins

• Frozen Fish Filets - I keep frozen Sockeye Salmon and Mahi Mahi. They are both mild and will cook completely through in 10 minutes, 15 if they’re frozen solid.

• Unbreaded Chicken Tenders - Thawed chicken tenders cook in around 8 minutes. Change up the flavoring agents and you can use this hack multiple times a week.

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts or Thighs - Even frozen solid, you’re only about 25 minutes away from shreddable chicken. While it’s cooking and totally hands off, you can be prepping the rest of dinner. See all my suggestions for meal combos on the PDF.

• Ground Meat - Unlike solid pieces of meat like steaks, chops or roasts, you can cook ground meat even from frozen in 10 minutes or less. If it’s frozen, microwave on 30% power (Hit power level button and then 3) for 2 minute increment then when it’s mostly thawed, add it to a pan and use a spatula to shave off the thawed part and break apart the still frozen middle.

Essential Ingredients - Flavoring Agents

• Primal Kitchen Condiments - This is my favorite brand of ready made condiments. They are made with clean ingredients - no seed oils, sugar or additives - and basically the same ingredients I use to DIY sauces. Use code RFSVIP for 10% off your first order.

• Spice Blends - Whether you buy high quality spice blends (I like Simply Organic Spice Blends) or DIY the ones on my link, you will have a new dinner every time simply by switching up the spice.

Essential Ingredients - Vegetables

These are all very quick cooking vegetables or in the case of the salad and coleslaw mixes, almost instantaneous.

• Zucchini - grill or pan saute thick half moons

• Asparagus - broil for 3-5 minutes max for crunchy spears

• Green Beans - Steam then toss with olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

• Salad Mix - Toss with your favorite dressing and instant side.

• Coleslaw Mix - Make your favorite slaw recipe, or just toss with EVOO, apple cider vinegar, a little maple syrup and salt and pepper.

• Frozen Vegetables - The next best thing to farm fresh. Not quite the same texture or flavor as fresh, but with a quick pan roast at high heat or microwave they can be done in 5 minutes.

Essential Ingredients - Bowl Bases

I love bowls. If you have any of these bases made up ahead of time, you can easily have dinner ready. I keep a batch of rice made up at all times. Shredded chicken, cooked ground meat, a sauce and some veggies and you’re good to go. BTW, see my perfect rice method on the PDF.

• Rice - Keep premade on hand or make a batch and keep in a silicone bag in your freezer.

• Pasta - Here’s my super hack for pasta: Use only about 6 cups of water with 2 tsp salt and add pasta immediately rather than waiting for water to boil. Cook and stir occasionally. It should take only about 10 minutes.

• Salad Bowl - Use bags of mixed greens or slaw mix tossed with olive oil, lemon or lime juice, salt and pepper.

• Potatoes - While a true baked potato is better, a microwaved potato or sweet potato can do in a pinch.

Three Ultra Fast Dinners

For the ultimate in ease, these are complete dinner recipes with no thinking involved. Hang this PDF on your fridge and keep the ingredients on hand for emergency dinners.

Recipe #1 - Salmon with Asparagus and Lemon Caper Aioli

Recipe #2 Spiced Chicken and Rice with Lemony Simple Salad

Recipe #3 Instant Pot Shredded Chicken For A Million Meal Combos