Recipe: Caprese Grilled Cheese. This recipe calls for a lot of basic ingredients you'll already have in the pantry. It makes six to eight servings too, so you can enjoy leftovers for lunch all week.

Recipe: Chicken Noodle Soup. Dal is a timeless classic — and this version is an ideal starter if you've never made it before. You only need a handful of ingredients, and the whole thing only takes 20 minutes. The original recipe calls for red split lentils, but if you want to get more creative, add some French lentils, too.

Recipe: Dal. Black bean patties are one of the most popular alternatives to meat. They're also pretty easy to make. Recipe: Black Bean Burgers. Recipe: Tuna Melt. Pair it with any greens you have handy! Recipe: Sweet and Spicy Glazed Chicken.

Tangy, spicy kimchi or Korean-style fermented vegetables is another way to add a ton of flavor to a dish for not a lot of money. Keep a jar stocked in the fridge, then work it into fried rice, noodle bowls, or burgers. Recipe: Minute Kimchi Fried Rice.

Recipe: Rice Bowl With Fried Egg And Avocado. Recipe: Southwest Turkey, Vegetable, and Rice Skillet. This recipe calls for only three ingredients, and you can always add a protein to the mix if you want. Recipe: Creamy Tomato Shells. Recipe: Chicken Pesto Bowls.

Recipe: Zucchini Corn Quesadillas. Recipe: One-Pan Pizza Chicken. Recipe: Super-Fresh Cucumber Tomato Salad. Recipe: One-Pot Caprese Chicken Pasta. Recipe: Vegan Creamy Kale Pasta. Recipe: Greek Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. Recipe: One-Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac 'n' Cheese.

Recipe: Spicy Chipotle Buddha Bowl With Cauliflower Rice. Recipe: Chicken and Mandarin Salad With Simple Sesame Dressing. Recipe: 5-Ingredient Coconut Curry. Recipe: Garlic Butter Capellini Pomodoro With Shrimp. Recipe: Vegetarian Sheet Pan Zucchini Parmesan.

Recipe: Vegetable Enchilada Casserole. The recipe calls for both whole wheat spaghetti and zucchini noodles, but you can skip the spaghetti if you want to go fully low-carb. Recipe: Burst Tomato and Zucchini Spaghetti With Avocado Sauce.

Recipe: Amazing Slow Cooker Turkey Tacos. Recipe: P. Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps. A super-straightforward weeknight dinner that you can serve with grilled chicken if you want some added protein.

Recipe: Orzo With Spinach and Roasted Red Peppers. Introducing your new favorite pasta sauce, made with nothing more than egg yolks, Parmesan cheese, and fresh lemon. Recipe: Pappardelle Al Limone. This recipe calls for tofu, broccoli, and sweet potato, but you can always swap in whatever protein and veggies you like best.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Thai Green Curry. Orzo, sliced sausage, bell pepper, heavy cream, and a handful of spices are all there is to this Cajun-inspired skillet. Recipe: Sausage and Creamy Cajun Orzo Skillet. Grab some chicken broth, rotisserie chicken, canned diced tomatoes, ranch dressing, and canned fiesta corn mix to make this heartwarming chicken soup with a Mexican flair.

Recipe: 5-Ingredient Chicken Tortilla Soup. Have toast for dinner, but make it fancy with this mixture of artichoke hearts, spinach white beans, and basil mashed into a creamy and savory spread.

Recipe: White Bean and Artichoke Basil Toasts. Don't let the ingredient list overwhelm you. All you really need to make these fajitas are portobello mushrooms, peppers, onion, and tortillas.

Swap the avocado sauce for store-bought guacamole or diced avocado and you've got a delicious meal. Recipe: Portobello and Poblano Fajitas. Recipe: Spicy Lentil Nachos With 3-Cheese Sauce.

Black beans in chocolate muffins might sound odd, but they get super creamy and batterlike — and it absolutely works.

Recipe: Flourless Black Bean Brownie Muffins. You can also use coconut curry as a marinade for your meats. Here, the chicken marinates for two hours in a mixture of coconut milk, soy sauce, curry powder, turmeric, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and fish sauce.

Recipe: Chicken Satay With Peanut Sauce. Recipe: Sun-Dried Tomato, Kale, and White Bean Skillet. Recipe: Grilled Cheese and Cream of Tomato Soup. Recipe: Baked Eggs in Marinara Sauce. And fair warning that you'll want to put the latter on just about everything.

Recipe: Mujadarra. Recipe: Simple Black Bean Soup. Recipe: Big-Batch Minestrone. This article contains content previously curated by Hannah Loewentheil, Jesse Szewczyk, Marie Telling, Melissa Jameson, and Ailbhe Malone.

It was compiled by Lavanya Narayanan. Easy recipes and cooking hacks right to your inbox. Opens in a new window Opens an external site in a new window Opens an external site. Share via facebook Share via pinterest Share via email Share via sms.

Vegan 3-Bean Chili. Feel free to use store-bought pizza dough to make this recipe a cinch to throw together. Taco Pizza. White Cheddar Mac 'n' Cheese With Chicken and Broccoli. Grilled cheese meets tuna salad. Sweet and Spicy Glazed Chicken. Top it off with your favorite hot sauce and you're good to go.

Southwest Turkey, Vegetable, and Rice Skillet. One-pan creamy goodness. Healthy, tasty, and cheap! Ready in 25 minutes, these quesadillas are a perfect spring dinner. You had me at pizza. Guaranteed to be just as good as your local salad bar, for half the price. Ready in 35 minutes for the perfect weeknight dinner.

Deliciously creamy, and without any meat or dairy. Greek Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. A protein-packed vegetarian dinner. Pretend your mac 'n' cheese is actually healthy by adding some broccoli to the mix. We like to turn leftover tofu into tacos, for some Japanese-Mexican fusion.

Toss roasted sweet potato wedges in a sweet and nutty tahini dressing for this quick vegetarian weeknight dinner. And no, it will not break the bank. This budget meal is about turning leftover side dishes into something totally new. Nearly any roasted vegetable or cooked grain could be worked into a frittata using this method.

This looks like something that took hours in a crockpot to make, but in reality, the black-eyed peas soak up the flavors of an onion- and tomato-based gravy in under 30 minutes. Tuna salad deserves to be considered a dinner dish, not just a sandwich filling. Let the pan-fried chickpeas and red endive in this recipe convince you.

Pan-crisped and glazed sweet potatoes. With hearty, almost meaty lentils. And pistachios. Purchase lasagna noodles, mushrooms, mozzarella, and Parmesan. The rest of the ingredients for this cheap dinner recipe are already in your fridge or pantry.

One style of cheap meals: recipes chosen with their leftovers in mind , making two meals out of one. For example, these ground beef meatballs and their tomato sauce make for a great hoagie filling the next day.

If you've already got miso in your fridge and don't want to spend on something new, you could use that in this stew recipe instead of gochujang. It will be a whole different vibe, but a vibe nonetheless. Serve it with a poached egg and a slice of bread for a good cheap meal.

Easy homemade tomato soup is an upgrade to the canned stuff, but we don't judge. Try pouring the soup directly over the sliced sandwich for an irresistible comfort food.

Consider this roast chicken your Sunday dinner. And then your Monday lunch, too. You can turn the leftover meat into pulled chicken sandwiches or a chicken noodle salad. Do not underestimate the potential of the often underrated legume, the lentil, a key ingredient when it comes to filling but cheap meals.

Our creamy, almost Alfredo pasta -looking stovetop mac and cheese is about as easy as opening one of those little boxes of shells and powdered sauce —but a lot more delicious.

Freeze half of these burgers to pull out during those times when you get the craving for fast food. Just add heat; you already paid.

Here are our favorite ways to prove that a cheap meal can also be the best meal. Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Emilie Fosnocht, prop styling by Emma Ringness. View Recipe. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua.

Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou. Photo by Emma Fishman. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Sean Dooley, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua. Photo by Alex Lau, styling by Sean Dooley. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Judy Kim, Prop Styling by Nicole Louie.

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Mieko Takahashi. Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Pearl Jones and Thu Buser, prop styling by Sean Dooley. Photograph by Elizabeth Coetzee, Prop Styling by Emma Ringness, Food Styling by Emilie Fosnocht.

Photography by Isa Zapata, food styling by Thu Buser, prop styling by Christina Allen. Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Pearl Jones, prop styling by Emma Fishman.

Photograph by Isa Zapata, Prop Styling by Tim Ferro, Food Styling Sean Dooley. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Christina Allen. Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Pearl Jones. Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Emily Eisen.

Photograph by Julian Cousins, Food styling by Adriana Paschen. Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Pearl Jones. Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Pearl Jones, prop styling by Sophie Strangio.

Photo by Chelsie Craig, food styling by Anna Billingskog. Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boytsova. Photo by Laura Murray, food styling by Susie Theodorou. Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Heather Greene.

Alex Lau. Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by D'mytrek Brown, Props by Meilen Ceramics. Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Maggie Ruggiero, prop styling by Sophia Pappas. Photo by Heami Lee, food styling by Judy Haubert, prop styling by Rebecca Bartoshesky.

Photo by Alex Lau. Food styling by Susie Theodorou. Photography by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Adriana Paschen, Prop Styling by Elizabeth Jamie.

Photo by Chelsie Craig, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova. Photo and Food Styling by Emma Fishman. Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Micah Morton. Photograph by Emma Fishman. Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Adriana Paschen, Prop Styling by Elizabeth Jaime.

Photo by Chelsie Craig, styling by Molly Baz. Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by D'mytrek Brown. Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Taneka Morris, Prop Styling by Tim Ferro.

76 Cheap Dinner Ideas That Don't Skimp on Taste · Slow Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup · Hearty Vegetable Soup with Parsley A Month of Budget Meals for Two Ready in 30 Minutes or Less · Week 1: Simple Lemon Herb Chicken · Week 1: Pork Fried Rice 65 Easy And Cheap Dinner Ideas That You'll Want To Make On Repeat · 1. Sweet Potato And Black Bean Burritos · 2. Chili

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