Any working person can tell you, certain days you just want to get home, cook something quick and get on the couch or in your bed. We have all had at least one day like this. But cooking can be so long and tedious. But it doesn’t have to be. Here are some amazing and quick recipes that you can cook in a flash.
In this post I will list a few recipes that can be made in 30 minutes or less.
First up is Creamy Chicken Pesto over pasta:
Chicken Pesto with pasta
One of my 30 minutes or less recipes. Quick to make and tastes great.
Servings: 4 people
Cost: €6
Equipment
- medium sized pot for pasta
- medium/large skillet or wok
Ingredients
Chicken pesto
- 600 grams boneless chicken breast cut in bite sized blocks. Can be cut in advance and frozen, then thawed on the day that you will cook
- 1 onion medium, roughly cut to liking
- 4-6 mushrooms large, double if small – sliced
- 250 ml cooking/heavy cream
- 2 tbsp green pesto
- oil or liquid butter to fry chicken
Pasta
- 500 grams pasta I recommend either penne pasta or butterfly shaped pasta (farfalle)
Instructions
Prepare pasta:
- Add water to pot and add pasta. Cook for recommended time (usually about 15 minutes) or until pasta is soft. It is better to start the pasta first, as this takes the longest.
Chicken Pesto:
- In large skillet (I use a Wok) add a little oil and heat on high flame
- Once oil is hot, add chicken and fry until white or even lightly browning (approx 5 minutes)
- Add chopped onion and let fry until onion is soft (approx 3 minutes)
- Add sliced mushrooms and mix in for about 1 minute, then add cream. Stir in well and let simmer for another 3 minutes
- Add pesto and mix in well. Let sit another 3 minutes to thicken slightly. Stir regularly so cream doesn't burn or separate.
- Optional: you can let the chicken pesto sit on hot stove for 5 minutes to allow sauce to thicken more. Or you can add 1 tsp of corn starch and mix very quickly to help thicken the sauce up.
Serve:
- Serve chicken pesto over pasta.
- Optional: Can drizzle some parmesan cheese on top for extra flavor
Notes
You can pre-season chicken in the weekend and pre-cut them, then put in ziplock bag and freeze. On the day you will cook it, take out a bag and place in a bowl of water to defrost. The water will prevent the chicken from getting too warm if it is a warm day. It saves you time when preparing.
You can season chicken based to your liking. I have done this with a little soy sauce, about a teaspoon of adobo, some garlic powder and onion powder. Place cut chicken and seasonings in ziplock bag, shake and mix well, then freeze.
Another easy recipe you can make that is very quick and easy, and is also very easy to adapt for any demand, is Grind meat and pasta:
Grind meat and pasta sauce over pasta
Quick and easy, one of my 30 minutes or less recipes. Very easy to make, and very adaptable to any demand. For vegetarians, swap meat for eggplant. Want a leaner version, you can use grind chicken instead of beef/pork. Want a creamier version, you can use grind chicken with a carbonara sauce. Also goes well with a variety of pastas. Spaghetti, penne pasta, tagatelle pasta, etc.
Servings: 4
Cost: €5
Equipment
- medium pot
- medium/large skillet or wok
Ingredients
Grind meat
- 500 grams Grind meat Can be pork, beef, pork/beef mix, chicken or eggplant
- 1 bottle pasta sauce Goes best with Italian seasoned sauce, can alternate with carbonara sauce if using grind chicken
- salt/pepper to taste
Optional veggies:
- 3 carrots small, chopped
- 1 can corn small can is fine, larger can if preferred
- 4-6 mushrooms sliced
- 1 bell pepper red, chopped
- 2 chives chopped
Pasta
- 1 package Pasta of choice approx 500 grams. Can be penne pasta, spaghetti, tagatelle or any pasta of your choice
Instructions
Prepare pasta:
- In medium pot, add water and cook pasta as recommended. Do this first, as it takes the longest.
Grind meat preparation:
- In large skillet (I prefer to use a wok for the extra height) fry meat until brown/golden. Approx 4-5 minutes
- Add veggies of choice and mix in well. Fry for another 2 minutes.
- Add pasta sauce and mix in. Let simmer for another 3 minutes
- That's it. Serve warm over pasta.
Notes
When cooking grind meat with pasta sauce, you can add about 20ml of cooking cream to give the sauce a nice creamy taste. You can also top with pretty much any kind of cheese and let melt. Dutch gouda cheese shredded, mozzarella, parmesan. Just drizzle a little over the meat and let melt.
If you are looking for something more Asian, maybe this recipe will grab your attention? The prep time does throw the recipe outside of my normal 30 minutes or less, but a lot of the prep can be done in advance. Here is the Asian Chicken Broccoli in soy sauce:
Broccoli and Chicken Stir-Fry
Who doesn’t like Asian Chicken and Broccoli?
Servings: 4 people
Equipment
- Rice cooker
- Wok
- Whisk
- two small bowls to mix sauce
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup soy sauce Low sodium version if possible. Otherwise recipe comes out very salty. I prefer Kikkoman.
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 600 grams chicken pre-cut or chicken breasts, cut in to chunks
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper or alternative
- 1 onion sliced
- 2 tablespoon water
- 1 broccoli Large, cut into bite size pieces.
Instructions
- Stir soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger and cayenne pepper together in a bowl to dissolve sugar into the liquid.
- In a separate bowl, mix water and cornstarch together using whisk or fork until cornstarch dissolves completely. Keep stirring from time to time, as the cornstarch will settle and harden after a few minutes.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat. Fry chicken and onion in hot oil until the chicken is no longer pink in the center and the onion is tender, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir in the broccoli with the chicken and onion, saute until the broccoli is hot, about 5 minutes.
- Give both the soy sauce mix and the cornstarch mix a last stir. Now mix together in one bowl and give a good stir.
- Pour soy sauce and cornstarch mixture over the chicken and vegetables and saute further until sauce thickens and starts coating chicken and vegetables. Approx. 5 minutes.
- Serve hot over or next to white rice or fried rice.
Notes
The sugar can make recipe a bit sweet. If it is too sweet for your liking, cut back on the sugar a little.