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!
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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)
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!
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!
SHRIMP FAJITAS
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.
INSTANT POT CHICKEN PICCATA
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!
HUEVOS RANCHEROS
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.
AIR PORK CHOPS
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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:
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