Looking for a quick but tasty meal to whip up after work? You’ve come to the right place. These family-friendly weeknight dinner recipes range from pastas, soups, risottos and stir fries, to lighter salads and one-pot bakes. Whether your family is craving chicken, steak, pork, salmon, zucchini, eggs, vegetables, tofu or noodles, we’ve got all the bases covered. Plus dessert ideas for those who love the sweet stuff.
Quick 'n' dirty olive pasta with prosciutto, spinach and olives
"This is how you feed a crowd. It’s also the dish I turn to most when I just need to get dinner done. When people are hungry, and ‘being fed’ is the order of the day, you’ll have this on the table in the time it takes to cook the pasta." – Katrina Meynink
Crispy pork belly stir fry with white garlic chives and shiitake mushrooms
“This is a family recipe, which celebrates the cooking techniques that Chinese migrants brought to Thailand. Chinese and Thai people celebrate Lunar New Year together, and we developed this recipe for our Chinese friends. A top tip is to stir-fry the garlic chives at a very high heat for a short period, to let the chives stay crunchy.” – Narin Kulasai.
Risotto with radicchio, walnuts and Taleggio
This radicchio risotto is ridiculously good.
Greek-style pasta salad
Take your Greek salad to the next level with the inventive addition of spiral pasta.
Anh's ginger chicken (ga kho gung)
“This is a play on thit kho (braised pork with eggs), with ginger and anise, which are my favourite fragrances from pho. I cook it in memory of my mother. This is a ‘finger licking’ quick and easy dish, so it’s perfect for single parents and even young people to make.” Recipe by Anh from Free to Feed.
Salt and pepper fish stir-fry
Olivia Andrews' lightning-fast salt and pepper fish stir-fry is perfect as a midweek dinner and doubles up as a tasty lunch treat the next day.
Thai beef noodle salad recipe
This Thai beef salad recipe is a quick and easy dinner idea. Packed with crunchy vegetables, and sitting on bed of vermicelli noodles, any leftovers will make a great work or school lunchtime treat,
Cheesy kimchi corn pasta bake
This is Khanh Ong's ode to the classic Korean side. Kimchi is the magic ingredient in your fridge. Use it to make cheesy bakes like this beauty, perfect for feeding hungry hordes, add it to salads or soups, or pop it on a toastie for something super-special and delicious.
Crying Tiger (Thai-style steak) with sticky rice
"A catchy name with many explanations, but at the end of the day, it’s just a delicious (and simple) sauce drizzled over a beautiful piece of chargrilled beef with some sticky rice to mop up the juices. Just a heads up: it’s mighty hot." – Lucy Nunes.
Vietnamese rare beef salad (bo tai chanh)
“Bo tai chanh is a super-vibrant and deliciously simple beef salad that’s cooked using the acidity in limes. The meat changes from red to light pink in the fridge as the garlic and fresh lime begin to coat the fillet. Combined with lightly pickled veg and a herbaceous salad, and finished with peanuts and nutty shallots on top of a prawn cracker, it’s a playground of texture and flavour. We usually serve this with different types of prawn crackers or cassava crackers. Grab some salad and place it on the cracker and have a bite.” – Khanh Ong.
Vegan ragu pasta
Make this with leftovers from Mike McEnearney's vegan sweet potato and lentil nut roast (see notes for recipe).
Neapolitan pasta with patate and provola (cheesy potato pasta)
Potato and cheese is the ultimate comfort combo! Here it is in pasta form, for that extra bit of comfort.
Fast fried rice
Fried rice is the saviour of that leftover rice from last night’s takeaway and the ideal way to dispatch those mostly eaten bags of frozen veg that seem to multiply in my freezer.
Broccolini salad with roasted garlic dressing
Served as either a side for 4 or quick vegie dish for 2, this salad is perfect for any midweek meal.
Miso butter lamb cutlets with quick Asian salad
Miso provides a quick punch of flavour that doesn't require hours of marinating.
