6 quick dinners
Twenty-five minutes is the time it takes to decide on a takeaway, wait for it and find a plate. These are dinners that are on the table in the same time, start to finish.
CThe Cookpath kitchen9 min read · 6 recipes
Chili Oil Noodles
- 10 mintotal
- 8 gprotein
- 410kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: The fastest one here. Packs well for work.
11 ingredients · 5 steps · 8 min hands-on
Ten minutes from start to bowl, the fastest dinner on the page. The sauce is a sticky mix of oyster sauce and two kinds of soy, sharpened with black vinegar and honey, with garlic, gochugaru and spring onion in the bowl.
The oil is the only trick. Heat it until it is hot but not smoking, then pour it over the sauce ingredients and stir. At 410 kcal and 8 g of protein it is light on protein, so save it for the night you want something fast and hot more than anything else.
6 Minute Sirloin Steak with Chimichurri
- 11 mintotal
- 46 gprotein
- 740kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 6servings
Why it's here: Makes 6 servings, so it covers several days.
11 ingredients · 4 steps
Eleven minutes in total, and the steak itself cooks in about six. A sirloin is seared hard and sliced thin, with a sharp, herby chimichurri that you make while the pan heats.
Season generously and pat the salt and pepper onto the meat so it sticks. Sear about 3 minutes a side, rest it for a few minutes, then slice thin against the grain. At 1120 kcal and 69 g of protein a serving this is the big dinner on the page, for when you want steak on a weeknight.
Baked Sea Bass with Vegetables
- 15 mintotal
- 70 gprotein
- 750kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 2servings
Why it's here: The most protein on this list. 9 g of protein for every 100 kcal, which is very lean.
11 ingredients · 2 steps
The least washing up on the list. The sea bass bakes on one lined tray with green beans, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and a few sprigs of thyme, and lemon slices go on top.
Heat the oven to 220 °C and bake for 10 minutes. Put the paprika on the fish only, and the salt and pepper on everything. At 750 kcal and 70 g of protein a serving, it is a high-protein dinner that asks almost nothing of you.
Garlic Butter Shrimp
- 15 mintotal
- 47 gprotein
- 390kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 2servings
Why it's here: 12 g of protein for every 100 kcal, which is very lean.
8 ingredients · 4 steps
A dinner you can make while the rice finishes. It has 47 g of protein for 390 kcal, the best ratio on the page, with a glossy sauce of butter, garlic, soy and a little sugar.
Cook the shrimp only until mostly pink and take them out. Make the sauce in the same pan, then put the shrimp back in to finish. That keeps them tender. Serve over rice and spoon the extra sauce on top.
Air Fryer Teriyaki Salmon
- 15 mintotal
- 27 gprotein
- 340kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
9 ingredients · 5 steps
The air fryer does the salmon while a small pan does the sauce, so both finish together. It is the lightest dinner here with protein to spare: 340 kcal and 27 g.
Air fry at 200 °C, skin side down, for 7 to 9 minutes. Simmer the soy, sake, mirin and honey very gently so the sauce thickens without burning. If it will not thicken, a little cornstarch slurry fixes it. It makes four, so it also works for a family night.
Rosé Tteokbokki
- 15 mintotal
- 19 gprotein
- 570kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
10 ingredients · 5 steps · 12 min hands-on
Chewy rice cakes in a pink, mildly spicy sauce of milk and gochujang, with bacon and little sausages for salt. Fifteen minutes from start to finish, and the sauce thickens on its own as the rice cakes release their starch.
Keep the heat low once the milk goes in and stir often, or the rice cakes stick to the pan. Stop when the sauce is as thick as you like it. A Beginner dish for the night you want something warm and a bit different.
Fast dinners fail for two reasons: the recipe says 20 minutes but means 20 after the chopping, or it is so plain that you order food anyway. Every time here is the full time, chopping included, and none of them are plain.
They are sorted fastest first, so if it is already late, start at the top. Cook all six and you have a week of fast dinners you can make without looking.
A short dinner depends on a short routine. Water on first, everything cut before the pan is hot, and one thing at a time in the pan. Nothing here needs more than that.
Three things that help
If there is pasta or rice, the kettle goes on before you take your coat off. That is five minutes saved.
One read of the steps before you start stops the moment where the oil is smoking and the onion is not cut.
Rinse the board and the bowl while something simmers. Fewer things to wash is the other half of a quick dinner.
Every dish here is in the app with timers inside the steps, servings you can change and a shopping list that builds itself.
