• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Flavor Mosaic logo

  • Home
  • About Me
    • Work With Me
    • Privacy Policy
    • Travel
      • Car Reviews
      • Restaurant Reviews
      • Travel
  • Creative Recipes
    • Breakfast / Brunch
    • Main Dishes
      • Beef
      • Chicken
      • Pork
      • Seafood
      • Turkey
      • Vegetarian
      • Dinner in Under 30 Minutes
      • Slow Cooker
    • Desserts
    • Appetizers
    • Side Dishes
      • Grains
      • Legumes
      • Pasta
      • Potatoes
      • Vegetables
    • Soups / Salads
      • Green Salads
      • Pasta Salads
      • Potato Salads
      • Soup
    • Cuisine
      • American
      • Asian
      • Cajun
      • French
      • German
      • Italian
      • Mediterranean
      • Mexican
    • Seasonal Recipes
      • Christmas
      • Cinco De Mayo
      • Easter Recipes
      • Fall Recipes
      • Game Day
      • Halloween
      • Holiday Baking
      • Holiday Leftover Recipes
      • July 4th
      • Mardi Gras
      • New Years
      • St Patrick’s Day
      • Summer
      • Thanksgiving
      • Thanksgiving Desserts
      • Thanksgiving Sides
      • Winter Recipes
    • Seasoning Mixes
  • Instant Pot Recipes
    • Instant Pot Beef Recipes
    • Instant Pot Chicken Recipes
    • Instant Pot Soups
  • Southern Recipes
  • Tex-Mex Recipes

10 Back To School Dinner Ideas

4-photo collage for 10 back to school dinner recipes article.

10 Back To School Dinner Ideas

BY: Michele
PUBLISHED: Aug 12, 2022
Add Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

With the start of a new school year, parents are looking for quick and easy weeknight dinner ideas for back to school.

If this is you, then you’re in luck because I’m sharing ten easy, family-friendly 30-minute dinners that are perfect for busy weeknights, especially for back to school!

Jump to:
  • Time Saving Tips For Weeknight Dinner Prep
  • EGG ROLL IN A BOWL (Crack Slaw)
  • BUBBLE UP PIZZA CASSEROLE
  • SHRIMP FAJITAS
  • INSTANT POT CHICKEN PICCATA
  • HUEVOS RANCHEROS
  • AIR PORK CHOPS
  • CHICKEN ENCHILADA SKILLET DINNER
  • THAI STEAK SALAD
  • SLOW COOKER CHICKEN MARRAKESH
  • ONE POT CHICKEN TACO PASTA SKILLET

Time Saving Tips For Weeknight Dinner Prep

Prep On Weekend. Do as much preparation work as you can on the weekend to save time during the week.

  • Weekly Meal Plan. Plan which meals you will make in advance. Then make a shopping list of all the ingredients you need to buy to make the meals.
  • Roast On the Weekend. On the weekend prepare a pot roast in the slow cooker, or cook an Oven Roast Chicken. Then you can use the leftover roast or chicken in other weeknight meals.
  • Slow Cooker Meals. Use your slow cooker on weekdays. Let the slow cooker do the cooking while you work. Then when you are off work, dinner is ready!
  • Chop Vegetables In Advance. Chop onions, peppers, carrots, and other vegetables that you will need for your weeknight meals on Sunday and store them in individual airtight containers in the refrigerator. This way you can pull them out and throw in however much you need into your dish and not spend your weeknights chopping.
  • Buy Pre-Chopped. If you don’t want to spend time chopping, buy pre-chopped vegetables and other time-saving items like shredded cabbage, carrots, etc. Yes, you’ll spend a little extra money but it will save you time.

EGG ROLL IN A BOWL (Crack Slaw)

Eggroll In A Bowl (AKA Crack Slaw) sitting on w white plate with blue background.

Egg Roll In A Bowl is for you if you are looking for a low-carb, one-pot meal in 20 minutes.

It fits into almost every diet or meal plan, even vegan with some adjustments, and tastes delicious.

This easy dish is loaded with vegetables (which can be pre-shredded or chopped), and flavor from the ground beef, ginger, soy sauce, Sriracha, and more!

Get The Recipe

BUBBLE UP PIZZA CASSEROLE

Who doesn’t love pizza? Everyone loves pizza, especially kids. Make this kid-friendly pizza casserole and you will have one happy family!

This delicious dinner has all the flavors of pizza, including pepperoni, Italian sausage, pasta sauce, and lots of mozzarella cheese, but in a casserole form.

Best of all, you can have dinner on the table in 30 minutes! And then it will likely be scarfed down in about 30 seconds, but it will be worth it!

Get The Recipe

SHRIMP FAJITAS

Shrimp Fajita with lime slice and chopped cilantro

If you’re craving restaurant-quality Mexican food, then you’ll love these mouthwatering Shrimp Fajitas!

You’ll love how easy this dish is to make, especially if you prepped your vegetables ahead of time, and you’ll only dirty one pan.

Furthermore, you can feel good about serving these tasty Shrimp Fajitas to your family because they are good for you and good tasting.

Get The Recipe

INSTANT POT CHICKEN PICCATA

Instant Pot Chicken Piccata on white plate with asparagus and slice of lemon.

With Instant Pot Chicken Piccata, the Instant Pot pressure cooker does most of the work for you so you are free to do other things.

Chicken Piccata is insanely delicious with garlic, shallots, lemon juice, parmesan cheese, and capers!

This dish will certainly be a family favorite!

Get The Recipe

HUEVOS RANCHEROS

Overhead view of Huevos Rancheros with Huevos Rancheros Sauce and 2 fried eggs garnished with chopped cilantro and served on a white plate.

Breakfast for dinner anyone? I love a good hearty breakfast dish for dinner every once in a while.

The Huevos Rancheros salsa cooks and refried beans reheat, while you cook the eggs in a skillet.

These savory Huevos Rancheros will re-energize you after a long day of work with fried eggs with runny yolks, refried beans, corn tortillas, and zesty Huevos Rancheros Sauce.

Get The Recipe

AIR PORK CHOPS

A side view of a single air fryer parmesan crusted boneless pork chop cut into strips and next to cooked broccoli and topped with a little shredded parmesan.

You’ll love the crispy outside and tender inside pork chops, and the fact that it only requires 15 minutes to get on the dinner table!

I love my air fryer because I can get the crispy “fried” texture outside and keep the meat on the inside moist and tender.

These well-seasoned parmesan-crusted pork chops will bring a smile to everyone’s face as they taste these mouthwatering pork chops.

Get The Recipe

CHICKEN ENCHILADA SKILLET DINNER

One skillet is the only pan you will have to wash after making this scrumptious Chicken Enchilada dinner!

It tastes just like chicken enchiladas but in a skillet casserole form. Don’t worry about rolling up tortillas because that is not needed to make this recipe.

Yet your family will love the Mexican flavor of these chicken enchiladas!

Get The Recipe

THAI STEAK SALAD

Thai Steak Salad

You’ll love this flavorful grilled sirloin steak with fresh salad greens, shredded carrots, crisp radishes, and a Thai Sesame Ginger Vinaigrette.

This Thai Steak Salad is light, refreshing, and low carb, so it fits into many meal plans.

Requiring only 5 minutes of grilling on a hot grill, this dinner is ready in no time, especially if you prepared the vegetables in advance.

Get The Recipe

SLOW COOKER CHICKEN MARRAKESH

Slow Cooker Chicken Marrakesh

With chicken, sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), and Mediterranean spices, this one-pot meal is wholesome and scrumptious!

Cook it on high before you leave for work and come home at noon and have a delicious lunch, or set it on low and let it cook while you are at work and come home to an entire dinner ready to eat.

This wholesome, hearty meal is certain to be a family-pleaser.

Get The Recipe

ONE POT CHICKEN TACO PASTA SKILLET

This easy budget-friendly taco-inspired pasta dish will be a family favorite you’ll want to make again and again.

With ground beef, black beans, diced tomatoes, green chilies, corn, salsa, and pasta, it is like combining your favorite tacos with pasta, just without the taco shells.

This one dish recipe will take only 30-minutes to make and uses pantry staples.

Go To Recipe

There you have it – my top 10 recipes for easy 30-minute weeknight dinners for back to school. Hopefully, it will help everyone ease back into the daily routine.

I hope you found some recipes that you like and learned some tips to help you save time cooking weeknight dinners.

If you like these recipes, or make one of these recipes, be sure to leave a comment, rate the recipe, and follow us on:

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Filed Under: 30-Minutes-or-Less, Budget-friendly, Custom 3 Featured Posts, Dinner in Under 30 Minutes

DISCLOSURE: Flavor Mosaic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. Please note: This blog may contain affiliate links to products I use and love. I earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, to help with blog expenses when you make a purchase through an affiliate link. Thank you for your support!

Reader Interactions

Michele F - Owner / Founder / Creator / Blogger at Flavor Mosaic
Michele

Hi, I’m Michele Feuerborn, wife, and dog Mom, with 20+ years experience as a home cook. I’m the Founder of Flavor Mosaic, as well as the author, recipe developer, and photographer. I share fast, easy, flavorful recipes with bold flavors, featuring Instant Pot recipes and Southern and Mexican cuisines.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

About Me

Hi, I’m Michele, a home cook with 20+ years experience. I created Flavor Mosaic as a place to share our favorite fast, easy, and flavorful creative recipes with bold flavors, including Southern, Mexican, Tex-Mex, and Instant Pot recipes. Read More…

Follow Me

Follow FlavorMosaic on Facebook Follow @FlavorMosaic on Instagram Follow FlavorMosaic on Pinterest Follow @FlavorMosaic on Twitter Subscribe to FlavorMosaic's RSS Feed

Search Flavor Mosaic

Logos of websites that have featured recipes from FlavorMosaic.com

Newest Recipes

  • Pesto Garlic Bread
  • Pesto Butter Recipe
  • Air Fryer Fish Tacos With Blackened Catfish
  • Apple Oatmeal Custard
Copyright © 2023 Flavor Mosaic · All Rights Reserved