Pantry Route

Start with what you have

Quick Dinner Ideas From Everyday Ingredients

These quick dinner ideas start from one thing you already have: chicken, pasta, rice, eggs, beans, or potatoes. Pick that ingredient. The list under it is a small set of dinners with a time and a full recipe, not a shopping project.

Choose Your Route Tonight

Under 20 Minutes

  1. Egg fried rice
  2. Black bean tacos
  3. Lemon tuna pasta

One pan

  1. Tomato chicken skillet
  2. Chickpea tomato skillet
  3. Potato and egg skillet

Few Ingredients

  1. Garlic spinach pasta
  2. Lemon tuna pasta
  3. Potato and egg skillet

Good for Leftovers

  1. Vegetable soup
  2. Baked pasta
  3. Chicken rice bowl

About 20 Minutes From Kitchen to Table

20 minEgg Fried Rice

Rice

25 minGarlic Tomato Pasta

Pasta

20 minBlack Bean Tacos

Beans

20 minLemon Tuna Pasta

Pasta

20 minChickpea Tomato Skillet

Beans

20 minVegetable Quesadillas

Eggs or vegetables

Dinner by Main Ingredient

Chicken

Pasta

Rice

Eggs

Beans

Potatoes

Three dinners, written out

Skillet

Quick Tomato Chicken Skillet

Prep: 10 minutesCook: 20 minutesServes: 4

Chicken browned in one pan, then a can of tomatoes and something green. Rice or bread on the side if you have it. The full page is here.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound boneless chicken, cut in bite-size pieces
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 can (14 to 15 ounces) diced tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 cups spinach, or 1 cup frozen peas

Instructions

  1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until browned and cooked through, about 7 minutes. Move it to a plate.
  2. In the same pan, cook the onion about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano. Stir for half a minute.
  3. Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Simmer about 8 minutes, until the sauce looks a little thicker.
  4. Return the chicken and any juices. Add the spinach and stir until it wilts, or the peas until they are hot.
  5. Taste. Add salt if the tomatoes are still flat. Serve from the pan.

Instructions

  1. Boil the pasta in salted water until just tender. Save 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain.
  2. Warm the oil in a wide pan. Add the garlic and stir about 1 minute, until it smells strong and the edges barely color.
  3. Add the spinach in handfuls. Stir until it wilts. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Add the pasta and about 1/4 cup of the saved water. Toss until the greens coat the noodles. Add more water if it looks dry.
  5. Taste. Add the chili or the cheese if you are using either.

Substitution. No spinach: frozen peas, or kale cut in ribbons and cooked a minute longer. No oil: butter.

Storage. Fridge up to 3 days. Reheat in a pan with a splash of water so the pasta loosens.

Tacos

Easy Black Bean Tacos

Prep: 8 minutesCook: 12 minutesServes: 4

A can of beans, an onion, and tortillas. Full write-up: Easy Black Bean Tacos.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, drained
  • 1/3 cup water
  • Salt
  • 8 small tortillas
  • Salsa, and a cup of shredded cabbage or lettuce
  1. Cook the onion in the oil with a pinch of salt until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin. Stir for half a minute.
  2. Add the beans and water. Cook about 5 minutes, until hot and most of the water is gone. Mash some of the beans so the filling holds. Taste for salt.
  3. Warm the tortillas in a dry pan, a few seconds a side.
  4. Fill the tortillas with beans, cabbage or lettuce, and salsa.

Substitution. Pinto beans work the same way. No cabbage: just salsa, or a diced tomato.

Storage. Keep the beans separate, up to 3 days. Reheat with a spoon of water and warm fresh tortillas.

Missing Something? Start Here.

If you don't haveTryWorks best in
SpinachKale or peasPasta and skillets
ChickenBeans or tofuRice bowls and tacos
RiceCouscous or potatoesBowls and skillet meals
Fresh tomatoesCanned tomatoesSauces and soups
LemonMild vinegarSauces and dressings
CreamMilk plus a little butterSimple pasta sauces

Dinner by Equipment

One pot

The soup stays in one pot. The pastas boil in one pot and finish in one pan, with the oven left off.

About 20–35 min

One pan

A skillet does the browning and the sauce. Rice that is already cooked goes in at the end.

About 20–30 min

Oven only

The sheet pan or the baking dish holds the meal. You turn it or you leave it.

About 20–45 min

Seven-Day Dinner Line

MonChicken Rice Skillet

30 min

TueTomato Pasta

25 min

WedBean Tacos

20 min

ThuVegetable Soup

35 min

FriSheet-Pan Potatoes

40 min

SatQuick Fried Rice

20 min

SunBaked Pasta

45 min

Recipe Library

The quick dinner ideas below are the full set: twelve recipes with ingredients, times, and steps. Start from the ingredient you have, or from how many minutes you actually have.

  1. Quick Tomato Chicken Skillet30 min
  2. Garlic Spinach Pasta25 min
  3. Easy Black Bean Tacos20 min
  4. Twenty-Minute Egg Fried Rice20 min
  5. Lemon Tuna Pasta20 min
  6. Tomato Chickpea Skillet20 min
  7. Vegetable Quesadillas20 min
  8. Chicken Rice Bowl30 min
  9. One-Pot Vegetable Soup35 min
  10. Sheet-Pan Chicken and Potatoes40 min
  11. Simple Baked Pasta45 min
  12. Potato and Egg Skillet20 min

Kitchen Notes

About Pantry Route

Pantry Route is an independent recipe resource focused on simple everyday cooking and practical dinner ideas. The pages are written for a normal kitchen: a pot, a pan, and the ingredients a regular grocery trip actually produces.

Operated by Andrea Cuestas, 2037 17th St, Corpus Christi, TX 78404.

Contact

Andrea Cuestas
2037 17th St
Corpus Christi, TX 78404

[email protected]