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The 100 Best Easy Dinner Ideas for Right Now

Because you’re busy.

Emily Weinstein is the editor in chief of New York Times Cooking and Food, and the writer of the Five Weeknight Dishes newsletter.

Published Sept. 1, 2026 Updated Sept. 1, 2026

It’s here: September, and with it arrives the Weeknight 100, New York Times Cooking’s annual list of the dinner recipes you should make in the year ahead.

Why publish it in September and not January? It’s back-to-school season, of course, the turning of the dial. It’s that transition from the languid late days of summer, when routine has long ago dissolved into the pool’s chlorine, to the first bell and a newly crammed calendar.

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I’m a summer person, and yet I appreciate the energy and optimism of September. It’s a moment to reset, to block out a new schedule and lay in new habits, to buy clothes, swear that we’ll get to the gym, get a full night of precious sleep or map out a week’s worth of dinners and stick to them.

I can’t help you with the gym. But I can help you with dinner.

I’ve selected the 100 dinner recipes below for you to try. The emphasis is on efficient yet excellent cooking, recipes that are truly delicious and don’t take too much of your time. Everything on this list takes under an hour to make, and a vast majority are much faster than that.

Save all the recipes at New York Times Cooking

I kept kids — those picky, petulant, wonderful beings — in mind when I made this list, and there are many recipes that could work for them, either exactly as written or with simple modifications. But there are also recipes that are more likely to please the adults. Hopefully, whatever your needs are, there’s something here for you.

Chicken

Chicken and Pesto Rice With Peas A worthy use of a tub of pesto.

Sheet-Pan Chicken With Black Beans and Squash Not all sheet-pan recipes are created equal, and this is an especially good one.

Tomato Basil Chicken Breasts Take a cue from the blissed-out commenters and make it with the freshest tomatoes you can find (though plump supermarket cherry tomatoes work in a pinch).

Keema Palak (Ground Chicken and Spinach Curry) A full pound of baby spinach is wilted into this dish, a quick, very green version of classic keema curries.

Honey Ginger Chicken and Carrots The simple honey-ginger-soy marinade is the undisputed star of this stir-fry.

An overhead image of a soup filled with ground chicken and white beans.

Chile Chicken and Bean Guisado Cinnamon-tinged and chile-spiced, this quick stew starts with ground chicken, not rotisserie, for a truer chicken flavor.

Creamy Tuscan Chicken A slab of cream cheese melts into this sauce to make it extra bodacious.

Rosemary-Garlic Roasted Chicken and Gnocchi Pantry gnocchi subs in for potatoes in this clever sheet-pan recipe.

Chicken and Kale Hatch Chile Bowl A can of mild diced green chiles is the key that unlocks this great, simple dinner.

Miso-Maple Sheet-Pan Chicken With Brussels Sprouts Sensationally easy, this is the kind of high-reward meal that home cooks rave about.

Meatballs on a bed of rice with a tahini yogurt sauce.

Za’atar Turkey Meatballs With Tahini Yogurt Just imagine these atop a rice bowl instead of falafel, heaped with chopped cucumbers and tomatoes.

Greek Chicken With Cucumber-Feta Salad One herbed yogurt sauce, two distinct uses: Half serves as marinade for the chicken, while the other half dresses a briny, crunchy Greek salad.

Chicken, Eggplant and Basil Stir-Fry The easy steam-frying technique here gives you eggplant that’s silky, golden and not at all oily.

Lemon-Garlic Grilled Chicken Breasts This is it: the only method you need for grilling boneless chicken breasts to juicy perfection.

Crispy Cheddar Chicken Tacos These Cheddar-lined tacos are more fun than any quick dinner has a right to be.

Chicken breasts in a cast-iron skillet filled with an olive-studded red broth.

Quick Harissa Apricot Chicken Intense, beguiling harissa paste is the key ingredient in this speedy recipe; apricot jam brings sweetness to offset any heat.

One-Pan Kuku Paka (Chicken in Coconut Curry) Use skin-on chicken thighs in this creamy, richly spiced curry.

Chicken With Peas and Mint Sweet peas and fresh mint make an even more pleasing pair when they’re served in a skillet with crisp-skinned chicken thighs.

Spicy Paprika Chicken and Potato Stew Like chicken paprikash but in stew form, this recipe swaps out sweet paprika for its spicy cousin.

Blackened Chicken Breasts A basic recipe that tastes like anything but, and the leftovers make amazing chicken salad.

An overhead image of rice and chicken in a bowl with herbs and green beans.

Stir-Fried Cumin Green Beans and Chicken Even quicker than the typical stir-fry, because you hardly need to do any chopping to prep.

Chicken and White Bean Stew This flexible dish is made quickly with boneless breasts poached in broth and made creamy from smashed beans.

Pasta, Noodles, Grains

Shrimp and noodles in a dark gray bowl in a curry sauce.

Coconut Curry Noodles With Shrimp A weeknight noodle bowl, but make it a luxuriously creamy slurp.

Stir-Fried Salt and Pepper Dumplings This recipe convincingly makes the case for stir-frying your freezer dumplings.

Ravioli With Roasted Red Pepper Sauce A brilliant and brilliantly simple sauce.

An overhead image of a bowl of pasta fagioli.

Quick Pasta e Fagioli This is a speed-demon version of the classic and is remarkably satisfying for it.

Farro With Blistered Tomatoes, Pesto and Spinach The combination of pesto and tomatoes can summon August any time of year.

Cream Cheese Ramen In the words of its writer, this nine-minute recipe is a “break glass in case of noodle emergency” dinner, perfect for kids and hospitable to additions like peas.

Angel hair pasta is tossed with cherry tomatoes in a skillet.

Smoky Chicken and Peppers Penne If fajitas were a pasta dish, it’d be this: sweet, smoky and fun to spear with a fork.

Angel Hair Pasta A simple throwback that’s easy to love.

Spicy Pork Noodle Soup Ramen is entangled with browned ground pork and thinly sliced veggies in this easy-to-throw-together soup.

Salsa Macha Pasta With Shrimp This unique and delicious recipe brings the elements of salsa macha — nuts, seeds, garlic and chiles — into a skillet, where they are tossed with shrimp and spaghetti.

Gnocchi in a creamy sauce with pieces of asparagus.

Creamy Lemon Asparagus Gnocchi Pasta al limone inspired this pillowy one-pan dinner.

Cold Noodles With Steak and Tomatoes This dish is both brawny (from sliced steak) and bright (from fish sauce, lime and juicy tomatoes).

Peanut Noodles With Spicy Tofu Chewy, nubby tofu crumbles take this dish to the next level.

Cheesy Baked Pasta With Sausage and Ricotta If love were a baked pasta dinner, it would be this one.

Soy Sauce and Brown Butter Brussels Sprouts Pasta A surprisingly rich dish, with a soy-butter sauce and tender sliced brussels.

Chicken chunks and rice topped with onions and scallion greens.

Cumin Chicken Fried Rice You can prep all the ingredients ahead for this recipe, including the three-ingredient sauce that knits together all the elements.

Tortellini Soup This is screaming, “Make me for dinner!”

Creamy Cottage Cheese Basil Pasta We live in the golden age of cottage cheese; in this recipe, it’s blended with spinach and basil to make a silky pasta sauce.

One-Pot Orzo and Meatballs This dish may sound Italian Americanish, but it actually has a Spanish streak, with pimentón and fresh chorizo featured in the pot.

Kimchi Ramen Silken tofu softens the heat in this customizable soup.

Dumplings top a bed of greens scattered with sesame seeds.

One-Pan Dumplings With Greens Just cook that kale right in the pan with your dumplings, drizzle with soy sauce and rice vinegar, and garnish to your heart’s content.

Kale Caesar Pasta Salad A hefty, make-ahead pasta for Caesar lovers.

Pasta With Tomato-Poached Eggs This is a pantry dish that, against all odds, feels like a luxury.

Chilled Sesame Soba and Tofu A light dinner in minutes, substantiated with hunks of firm tofu.

Lemony Pasta With Chickpeas and Parsley Use chickpeas to bulk up a simple bowl of pasta.

Beef and Pork

Ground beef is tossed with asparagus and sliced scallions.

Beef, Asparagus and Tofu Stir-Fry This clever recipe uses less beef than a typical similar stir-fry without skimping on the protein; it’s better for the planet and more cost-effective, too.

Smashed Beef Kebab With Cucumber Yogurt This was our most popular recipe of 2025, and if you make it you’ll see why.

Roasted Sausages With Chickpeas and Spinach Keep sausages in your freezer so you can always throw together a dinner like this.

A cheeseburger soup topped with tomato, bacon, gheese and sour cream.

Cheeseburger Soup This is the best cheeseburger soup recipe in the land, and yes, kids love it.

Kielbasa Coins and Cabbage My favorite touch in this recipe is the apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard that are stirred into the pan before serving.

Sausage, Beans and Greens Soup Sausage is an ingenious base for this satisfying soup, generous with its fat and flavor.

Sheet-Pan Charred Meat Pitas Definitely top these delicious pitas with abandon.

Sausages With Tangy, Gingery Pineapple Don’t believe the haters: Pork and pineapple belong together.

Sliced zucchini and steak chunks on a white plate.

Chile-Garlic Steak and Zucchini A red wine vinegar dressing ties the seared steak and zucchini together.

Shake and Bake Pork Chops Definitely serve with applesauce on the side.

Sheet-Pan Steak and Pepper Tacos Steak is very satisfying here, but you could use any protein you want (including tofu or tempeh).

Pork chops and corn kernels in a cast-iron skillet.

Skillet Pork Chops With Buttered Corn This is at its best made with peak-season sweet corn, but frozen corn works well, too.

Panko-Crusted Pork Tenderloin With Tahini Slaw This method produces utterly juicy pork that is difficult to stop eating.

Glazed Chile-Garlic Meatballs Made with soy sauce and maple syrup, this glaze is salty-sweet in just the right way.

A bowl of soup with beans and sliced hot dogs.

Charros Corridos (Quick Spicy Bean Soup) Frijoles charros — cowboy beans, studded with sliced hot dogs — are from Northern Mexico, and this recipe lets you have that for dinner in a hurry.

Smashed Bean and Sausage Toasts Normalize toasts for dinner, especially when they’re as garlicky and meaty as these; I’d make a green salad to go on the side.

Perfect Soy-Grilled Steak Exactly as advertised and very easy to make.

Vegetarian

Two tacos filled with halloumi and sweet potatoes and coleslaw.

Halloumi and Sweet Potato Tacos An unexpected combination that works shockingly well, and a good dinner for kids who don’t eat meat.

Skillet Chickpea Parmesan All the saucy, bubbling, dig-in joy of a baked Parmesan dish, but with the pantry-friendly convenience of a few cans of chickpeas.

Creamy Butternut Squash and Coconut Noodle Soup An excellent showcase for sweetly familiar butternut squash, inspired by the Thai dish khao soi.

Tofu Schnitzel With Buttermilk Slaw Use prepackaged slaw mix as a shortcut here; anything would be great tossed with that creamy, tangy buttermilk dressing.

White beans in a red sauce topped with eggs in a cast-iron skillet.

White Bean Shakshuka Heartier than more traditional shakshuka, thanks to those white beans, but no more taxing to make.

Chickpea Tomato-Rice Soup The starch from the rice makes this soup creamier than you might imagine.

Anda Bhurji (Tomato-Chile Scrambled Eggs) A spicy scramble for nights when it’s eggs for dinner.

Gochujang slicked tofu in a skillet with scallions and broccoli.

Buttery Gochujang Tofu and Broccoli You have to stir together only a few ingredients to make the incredible glaze.

Charred Broccoli and White Bean Stew Searing the broccoli until it’s golden brown helps build flavor in this pleasingly simple soup.

Chile Tofu A vegan take on chile paneer, this recipe soars on the strength of its spicy-sweet sauce.

Crispy Tofu and Cheesy Bean Burritos The spiced-and-seared tofu crumbles in this recipe make a killer addition to beany burritos.

A white bowl filled with chickpeas and spinach.

Ras el Hanout Chickpea and Spinach Stew This is a pretty fabulous way to have chickpeas for dinner.

Green Curry Beans and Greens Beans and greens get a bright, hot boost.

Hearty Vegetable Tofu Soup Thick with cabbage, carrots and scoops of silken tofu, this gingery soup is a satisfying dinner.

Fries and breaded tofu nuggets next to a dipping sauce and slaw.

Old Bay Tofu Nuggets A gleefully fun vegetarian dinner, especially if you serve it with dipping sauce.

Tofu and Sweet Potato Peanut Butter Curry Peanut butter is the heroine of this creamy, sweet-and-salty dish.

Soy-Glazed Mushroom Rice Bowl Silky caramelized cabbage adds another layer of flavor; add sardines for protein if you’d like.

Seafood

An overhead image of a vegetable platter next to two plates with lettuce, rice and salmon.

Ginger Salmon Lettuce Wraps This great get-your-hands-messy dinner is brought to life by nước chấm, the punchy Vietnamese sauce.

Harissa Shrimp With Greens and Feta A genius sheet-pan dinner; the shrimp and greens cook together quickly before they’re topped with feta, avocado and red onion.

Spicy Tuna Salad With Crispy Rice A sushi restaurant staple is cleverly remade for home cooks.

An overhead image of brothy salmon with tomatoes and rice.

Salmon and Cherry Tomato Curry You can never go wrong with a coconut-milk curry; this one is flavored with ginger, garlic and the juices of those burst tomatoes.

Broiled Wild Salmon and Peppers Running fish and quick-cooking vegetables under the broiler is a weeknight move that reliably delivers.

One-Pot Salmon and Dill Rice With Peas The rice, salmon and peas all cook together in this convenient dinner, lightened with yogurt sauce and dill.

A breaded crispy salmon fillet next to a side salad.

Crispy Coconut Salmon Bring the tropical, shredded-sweet crunch of fried coconut shrimp to weeknight baked salmon fillets.

Shrimp and Bacon Burritas “These were dope,” a commenter wrote.

Cod With Caper-Orange Sauce This sauce has the power to make simple cod sing.

Baked Salmon Meatballs An excellent use of canned salmon, and a gift from the meal-prep gods.

Puttanesca Poached Fish Puttanesca sauce, as bold as can be, is a delicious medium for gently poaching fish.

Roasted Cumin Salmon With Carrots A simple recipe that puts earthy cumin front and center (it’s especially nice contrasted with the carrots).

Corn and Cod Green Curry This is a heavenly ingredient trio: fish, corn and coconut milk.

Crispy Salmon With Lentil Salsa Verde Salsa verde with lentils is more than a sauce; it’s a side dish to this crisp-skinned salmon.

Sautéed Shrimp With Lemon-Caper Dressing This is so fancy for how easy it is; serve it with toast, tossed with pasta, over rice or in a salad.

Greek Salad With Sardines and Beans A main-course salad that could be made with just about any tinned fish.

Sheet-Pan Citrus Salmon With White Beans This recipe is excellent all year round, but save it for the darkest part of winter, when citrus provides some sunshine.

Spicy Shrimp Masala Shockingly complex for the speedy cook time, and truly alive with flavor.

Tuna Melt This solid rendition of the classic is among the fastest recipes on this list.

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