Ever have one of those days when you look in your refrigerator and pantry and wish dinner would magically appear from the random things left in there? I have good news. There are a lot of recipes out there that are simply delicious…but only take a few ingredients to make! This is great for those overdue grocery shopping days, for keeping the food budget intact, or for busy people of all kinds who just don’t have a lot of time to fuss around in the kitchen on weeknights.
I once made a post of a dozen or so dinner dishes that have just three ingredients in the recipe. This post is dedicated to main dish recipes that have just 4 or 5 ingredients. I believe that everyday, weeknight cooking shouldn’t be too complicated so I have a lot of these recipes on the blog. In fact, there’s about 60 of them in this roundup!
For this list, I didn’t count salt or pepper as an ingredient. If it is served beside rice as a side, or on a sandwich bun, I didn’t include those either. But everything that you actually have to mix and stir and cook in these recipes really do take just a couple of ingredients. As a result, most of these don’t take very long to prepare, and some of them only take a few minutes to cook as well!
Choose one for supper tonight. I’m guessing you have all of the ingredients to make at least a few of these in your pantry right now.
Sixty + Recipes that take 5 ingredients or less
Like easy recipes? Join thousands of happy members and let us do your meal planning and grocery list making for you. We make dinner fit easily into your days by giving you 15 minute meals, lots of slow cooker meals and keeping things simple. Find out how you can become a member here.
Apple BBQ Pork Chops
Chicken Curry in the Crockpot – We love this recipe!
Easy Meatball Subs – You can do this real quick on the stove or slow in the crockpot.
Honey Lemon Pepper Salmon
Sloppy Slow Cooked Chicken Tacos
Slow Cooked Brown Sugar Chicken and Sweet Potatoes
Asian Salmon on the Grill
BBQ Chicken Fajitas – A great way to use leftover BBQ chicken.
Barbecue Pepper Jack Chicken – Add bacon for extra yum-factor!
Black Bean and Corn Chicken Taco Bake
Cheese Ravioli with Pesto, Red Peppers and Grilled Chicken
Chicken and Cheesy Rice Casserole
Chicken and Dressing Casserole
Chicken Fingers
Easy Crockpot Beef Fajitas
Easy Crockpot Chicken Fajitas
Easy Dijon Tilapia – Assemble in the morning, bake it at night.
Easy Pepper Steak in the Slow Cooker
Zingy BBQ Chicken in the Slow Cooker or Oven
Turkey Breast in the Slow Cooker
Southwestern Steak and Cornbread Dressing
Slow Cooker Chicken and Gravy over Rice
Pork Chops Topped with Pineapple, Green Pepper and Onion
Honey Dijon Pork Chops and Apples in the Slow Cooker
Pork Chops & Apples Sheet Pan Dinner
Pesto Tomato Ravioli
Jerk Chicken Sandwiches – a favorite of ours!
Chicken with Blackbean Salsa and Cornbread dressing
Tomato Basil Parmesan White Fish
French Dip Sandwiches – One of the easiest meals, ever.
Teriyaki Pork Chops
Beef Teriyaki with Pineapple
Teriyaki BBQ Chicken Legs
Super Easy Tacos
Roasted Garlic Brown Butter Parmesan Pasta
Italian Season Salt & White Wine Pork Tenderloin
Orange Chicken
Ham Bean Soup
Sausage and Corn Quesadilla – a yummy 15-minute meal!
Sloppy Chicken Tacos
Chicken Cordon Bleu Sandwiches
Caribbean Citrus Grilled Fish
Honey Mustard Chicken
Garlic Chicken with More Garlic
Roasted Chicken with Garlic and Wine
Pork Chops and Baked Beans
Apricot Soy Ginger Chicken
Garlic Lime White Fish
Sweet and Spicy Chicken Legs
Chicken Philly Sandwiches
Peach Chutney Chicken Salad
Beer Brats
Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
Hawaiian Luau Meatballs
Slow Cooker Potato Soup
Chicken and Broccoli Stuffed Shells – Freezer-friendly, too!
Peach Pork BBQ Sliders
Red Eye BBQ Ribs
Hawaiian BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
General Tsos Chicken and Broccoli
Reuben Sliders
If you want to take a look at some recipes with even less ingredients, here’s my post for dinner recipes with 3 ingredients or less. Some of these are so easy it’s ridiculous, but they’re also some of our favorites!
It’s a secret says
This is really amazing 😻 I love how hard you do this website this helped me a lot on my homework about cooking keep up the good work and sometimes I ask my mother to cook it for me and my family thanks for making this recipe I love it a lot and read it at times when I have nothing to do I hope you keep doing this you make everybody’s life of making food way easier