What can I cook for dinner in 30 minutes?

Cacio e pepe or Cajun blackened fish, both ready in 20 minutes including preparation. Drunken noodles and a smash burger take 25 minutes, and chicken teriyaki, kung pao chicken and fish en papillote take the full 30. If you want something lighter, egg drop soup is on the table in 15 minutes.

Does the 30 minutes include prep time?

Yes. Every recipe on this page takes 30 minutes or less in total, preparation and cooking together, measured by the clock. A dish that cooks in 15 minutes but needs 20 minutes of slicing and marinating first would not qualify. The recipe page shows prep, cook and total time separately, so you can see where the minutes go.

What is the quickest recipe here?

Ayran and a Greek frappé, at three minutes each: the first is yoghurt whisked with cold water and salt, the second is instant coffee shaken hard into a thick foam. For food, guacamole and fig and honey yoghurt take ten minutes, and fettuccine Alfredo and egg drop soup are the fastest hot dishes at 15.

Are there quick vegetarian recipes?

Yes: French toast, elote, bruschetta, deviled eggs, guacamole and fig and honey yoghurt are all vegetarian, and bruschetta and guacamole are vegan as well. Cacio e pepe and fettuccine Alfredo are not tagged vegetarian, because pecorino romano and Parmigiano Reggiano are traditionally made with animal rennet.

Quick recipes under 30 minutes

These are quick recipes under 30 minutes by the clock, counted from the moment you pick up a knife to the moment the food is on the plate. Preparation is included, so nothing here hides twenty minutes of chopping behind a ten-minute cooking time.

Weeknight dinners are the heart of it, from cacio e pepe and chicken teriyaki to kung pao chicken and a smash burger, with French toast for a slow weekend morning. Each recipe gives exact amounts for the number of people you are feeding, and whatever you still need goes onto your shared shopping list in one tap.

77 recipes

What counts as a 30-minute recipe

The time on each recipe is total time: preparation and cooking added together. It has to come to 30 minutes or less for the recipe to appear on this page, however short the cooking itself is.

Within that limit the range is wide. Ayran and frappé take three minutes, guacamole and agua fresca ten, and egg drop soup and fettuccine Alfredo fifteen. At the other end, beef chow fun, kung pao chicken, chicken teriyaki, fish en papillote, chivito and eggs Benedict use the full half hour.

How to cook fast without rushing

Speed here comes from heat and order, not shortcuts. The cooking in kung pao chicken takes about five minutes, so the sauce is mixed and everything else measured before the wok goes on. Once it starts, there is no time to open a bottle.

A smash burger needs a pan hotter than feels sensible, or the beef steams instead of forming a crust, and Cajun blackened fish needs a smoking cast-iron pan and an open window. Beef chow fun is cooked in small portions, because a crowded wok steams the noodles rather than charring them.

The two Roman pastas work the other way round. Cacio e pepe splits if the pecorino meets a hot pan, so the cheese goes in off the heat, and fettuccine Alfredo is tossed with soft butter in a scalding bowl with no pan on the flame at all.

Turning quick recipes into a full meal

A few of these fit together without stretching the evening. Bruschetta or chorizo al vino can go on the table while the pasta water heats, fish en papillote steams in its parcels while you lay the table, and fig and honey yoghurt is dessert in ten minutes.

The shopping overlaps more than the spread of cuisines suggests. Soy sauce turns up in chicken teriyaki, beef chow fun, kung pao chicken, drunken noodles and egg drop soup, so one bottle serves them all, and a pack of fresh wide rice noodles covers both beef chow fun and drunken noodles.

Frequently asked questions

What can I cook for dinner in 30 minutes?: Cacio e pepe or Cajun blackened fish, both ready in 20 minutes including preparation. Drunken noodles and a smash burger take 25 minutes, and chicken teriyaki, kung pao chicken and fish en papillote take the full 30. If you want something lighter, egg drop soup is on the table in 15 minutes.
Does the 30 minutes include prep time?: Yes. Every recipe on this page takes 30 minutes or less in total, preparation and cooking together, measured by the clock. A dish that cooks in 15 minutes but needs 20 minutes of slicing and marinating first would not qualify. The recipe page shows prep, cook and total time separately, so you can see where the minutes go.
What is the quickest recipe here?: Ayran and a Greek frappé, at three minutes each: the first is yoghurt whisked with cold water and salt, the second is instant coffee shaken hard into a thick foam. For food, guacamole and fig and honey yoghurt take ten minutes, and fettuccine Alfredo and egg drop soup are the fastest hot dishes at 15.
Are there quick vegetarian recipes?: Yes: French toast, elote, bruschetta, deviled eggs, guacamole and fig and honey yoghurt are all vegetarian, and bruschetta and guacamole are vegan as well. Cacio e pepe and fettuccine Alfredo are not tagged vegetarian, because pecorino romano and Parmigiano Reggiano are traditionally made with animal rennet.

Quick recipes under 30 minutes

77 recipes

What counts as a 30-minute recipe

How to cook fast without rushing

Turning quick recipes into a full meal

Frequently asked questions

More ways to browse

Cuisines

Meals

Diets

Quick and easy

Autumn