72 Easy And Cheap Dinner Ideas That You'll Want To Make On Repeat (2024)

Upgrade your dinner game with these super simple, budget-friendly potato noodles! Just mix potato starch and water for a chewy, versatile base that's perfect with any sauce—easy on the wallet and delicious!

Recipe:Potato Noodles

This tinned salmon citrus pasta is a budget-friendly dinner that’s packed with fresh flavors from zesty citrus and tender salmon. It’s quick to make and perfect for a satisfying meal that won’t break the bank.

Recipe:Tin Salmon & Citrus Pasta

Looking for a budget-friendly meal that's both tasty and filling? This ramen omelette combines ramen, eggs, and cheese for a delicious, low-cost dinner—plus, it’s easy to customize with your favorite toppings!

Recipe:Ramen Omelette

Bring the flavors of artichoke spinach dip to your plate with this affordable and creamy artichoke spinach pasta. It's a cost-effective way to enjoy a rich and comforting meal that's both filling and flavorful.

Recipe:Artichoke Spin Dip Pasta

Sauté chickpeas with spices and Buffalo sauce, then roll into a wrap with crisp romaine, juicy tomatoes, tangy red onions, and a drizzle of creamy hummus dressing. Dinner is served, and money is saved!

Recipe:Buffalo Chickpea Wraps

With just three simple ingredients—boneless, skinless chicken thighs, soy sauce, and brown sugar—you can create a mouthwatering chicken teriyaki that's both easy on your wallet and your schedule.

Recipe:3-Ingredient Teriyaki Chicken

This easy, meal-preppable recipe will keep you away from takeout temptation all week. Made with budget-friendly ingredients—mushrooms, broccoli, peppers, and garlic—you can whip up this delicious and nutritious dinner in no time.

Recipe:Garlic Veggie Rotini Pasta

These cheesy vegetarian burritos with sweet potatoes, corn, and black beans are easy to make and light on the wallet.

Recipe:Sweet Potato And Black Bean Burritos

Tilapia is one of the most affordable fish to buy. This recipe elevates baked tilapia with a spicy and tangy marinade featuring chili powder, lime, and garlic.

Recipe:Chili Lime Baked Tilapia With Avocado Crema

This whole chicken is enough for multiple meals. Season the chicken with a BBQ rub, then cook it on a can of beer on the grill for juicy and flavorful results.

Recipe:Barbecue Beer Can Chicken

This rainbow bowl also serves as a rainbow of nutrients. It's packed with energizing ingredients like quinoa, mushrooms, beets, and herbs, as well as a tangy tahini dressing — a nutritious and filling budget meal.

Recipe:Energy-Boosting Buddha Bowl

These noodles are literally made of vegetables — so this meal is doing double duty as comfort food with a healthy twist. Add kale to your pesto to sneak another veggie in there. Kids won't know the difference, and everyone will think it's totally delicious!

Recipe:Zucchini Noodles with Kale Pesto

This dish just feels like home. It gives you everything you want in a meal: the healthiness of vegetables, the protein of chicken, and the delightful texture of a biscuit. This recipe takes less than half an hour to make. So what are you waiting for?

Recipe:Chicken & Biscuit Bake

Get rid of that idea in your head that cooking seafood is hard! With this recipe, it's sure to go *swimmingly.* Cook your favorite pasta (we recommend linguine); once you take it out of the pot, keep using the same pot to cook your shrimp—and the delicious flavors of garlic andcrushed red pepper. It's that easy!

Recipe:One-Pot Lemon Garlic Shrimp Pasta

This dish is so delicious, you won't believe it only calls for a handful of ingredients. The secret is pairing pesto with mozzarella cheese — it's always a crowd pleaser. This recipe makes 4 servings, so you can have it as leftovers, invite friends over, or eat it all — we wouldn't blame you.

Recipe:Pesto Chicken Bake

Great news! This dish is super easy (and quick!) to make. You probably already have all of the ingredients on handand it takes less than 20 minutes to make. With this cheesy pasta dish, you'll be cheesin' in no time.

Recipe:Easy Chicken Alfredo Penne

Who doesn't like fried rice? With brown rice, peas, carrots, eggs and scallions, this dish is a classic. This veggie fried rice is also a great call if you get home hungry — Instant Pot to the rescue!

Recipe:Healthier Veggie Fried Rice

Let's just face the facts: quinoa in salad is elite. This salad is a vegetarian's dream, with a refreshing combo of cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach. Top it all off with a lemony dressing to really seal the deal.

Recipe:Avocado Quinoa Power Salad

Stir-fry is always a good idea. This recipe is flexible, since we all know stir-fry can be made with everything and the kitchen sink and still taste delicious! You can even switch out the rice for noodles for a change in texture.

Recipe: Chicken & Veggie Stir-Fry

This recipe is easy and delicious — and, even better, you can swap out some of the vegetables for ones already in your fridge. If you have tofu, dijon, and something green, you are most of the way there. So what are you waiting for? Get scrambling!

Recipe:Tofu Scramble

It only takes 15 minutes to whip up this simple-but-satisfying masterpiece. Plus, the whole recipe only requires one pan. So not only will cooking be easy, but so will clean up!

Recipe:Cheese Tortellini in Creamy Marinara

Craving sushi but don't want to go out? We got you. Even better, the recipe is flexible, so you can swap out the veggies or protein for whatever you happen to have on hand.

Recipe:Sushi Bowl

Feel free to use store-bought pizza dough to make this recipe a cinch to throw together.

Recipe:Egg Pizza With Scallions

This hearty chickpea masala is the perfect recipe for vegetarians and can be prepared spicy or mild, depending on your taste. The recipe calls for a splash of heavy cream, but you can use coconut milk to keep it vegan.

Recipe:Cauliflower and Chickpea Masala

This recipe uses baby kale to stuff the toast cups, but feel free to use spinach or arugula if kale isn't your favorite.

Recipe:Bacon and Egg Toast Cups

Feel free to use any hearty veggies you have on hand in place of the beets and radishes. Brussels sprouts, diced sweet potatoes, and carrots would all work well.

Recipe:Baked Eggs With Roasted Vegetables

This baby is everything you love about caprese and grilled cheese crammed into one delicious sandwich. Serve it with salad or soup, and you've got yourself a dinner that's both fancy and budget-friendly.

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

Grilled cheese meets tuna salad.

Recipe:Tuna Melt

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:20-Minute Kimchi Fried Rice

Top it off with your favorite hot sauce and you're good to go.

Recipe:Rice Bowl With Fried Egg And Avocado

This recipe calls for only three ingredients, and you can always add a protein to the mix if you want.

Recipe:Creamy Tomato Shells

Healthy, tasty, and cheap!

Recipe:Chicken Pesto Bowls

Ready in 25 minutes, these quesadillas are a perfect spring dinner.

Recipe:Zucchini Corn Quesadillas

You had me at pizza.

Recipe:One-Pan Pizza Chicken

Guaranteed to be just as good as your local salad bar, for half the price.

Recipe:Super-Fresh Cucumber Tomato Salad

Ready in 35 minutes for the perfect weeknight dinner.

Recipe:One-Pot Caprese Chicken Pasta

Deliciously creamy, and without any meat or dairy.

Recipe:Vegan Creamy Kale Pasta

Pretend your mac 'n' cheese is actually healthy by adding some broccoli to the mix.

Recipe:One-Pot Bacon Broccoli Mac 'n' Cheese

A super-fast summertime salad for your weeknight dinners.

Recipe:Chicken and Mandarin Salad With Simple Sesame Dressing

The perfect option for your meatless Monday.

Recipe:5-Ingredient Coconut Curry

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Recipe:Garlic Butter Capellini Pomodoro With Shrimp

A healthy-ish, delicious, and vegetarian take on the classic chicken Parmesan.

Recipe:Vegetarian Sheet Pan Zucchini Parmesan

If you want to add some meat, you can always brown some chicken and add it to the mix.

Recipe:Vegetable Enchilada Casserole

If you're looking for inspiration for your next Taco Tuesday, search no more.

Recipe:Amazing Slow Cooker Turkey Tacos

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

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

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

Lentils are often used as a healthy staple — but they can also be gloriously indulgent.

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

Beans and greens = always worth reaching for.

Recipe:Sun-Dried Tomato, Kale, and White Bean Skillet

Cozy comfort in a bowl.

Recipe:Grilled Cheese and Cream of Tomato Soup

Using store-bought marinara sauce means prep is a breeze.

Recipe: Baked Eggs in Marinara Sauce

This Middle Eastern fave combines brown rice + lentils + caramelized seasoned onions. (And fair warning that you'll want to put the latter on just about everything.)

Recipe:Mujadarra

Black beans + salsa + cilantro + cumin + garlic.

Recipe:Simple Black Bean Soup

Prep takes all of 10 minutes, and you'll have plenty of leftovers.

Recipe:Big-Batch Minestrone