If You Can't Stand Cooking After Thanksgiving, Turn To These Easy Dinner Recipes
Reclaim your kitchen sanctuary.
Thanksgiving can be a beautiful celebration, but with all the travel, guest accommodation, cooking, cleaning, drinking, and cleaning again, it can be easy to feel kitchen burnout in the following days and weeks. Every year when the last of the dessert plates are cleared away, my mom delivers a variation of her famous “Don’t Ask Me To Cook Anything Anytime Soon” speech, and as I’ve begun hosting my own holiday feasts in the past years, I now totally understand. When the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers run out, don’t head for the drive-thru, we’ve got plenty of quick and easy dinners that are sure to ease you back into loving the kitchen again. They say the quickest way to a person’s heart is through their stomach—we say it's through a sink empty of dishes.
This list gathers 10 hearty meals for after the holidays that may look and taste like a whole evening toiling over the stove, but in actuality consist of one or a combination of limited ingredients, limited clean up, and limited cook time.
I’m a firm believer that the first place to search when you’re looking for a quick and easy, but hearty and delicious dinner is in the pasta aisle. Check out our pasta alla Gricia, our baked spaghetti, or any number of our other weeknight pasta dishes.
Tired of poultry after too many post-turkey naps to count? Give our cube steak, our pot roast, or our honey-garlic glazed salmon a try.
Whether you spent several days straight in the kitchen this holiday season, or simply ate your way into kitchen limbo, these recipes are all as painless as they are delicious.
Pasta Alla Gricia
Along with carbonara, cacio e pepe, and amatriciana, pasta alla gricia completes the four classic pasta dishes of Rome. It's a classic for good reason: With only four ingredients, it's simple to make and easy to indulge. Eight ounces of pasta fits nicely in a high-sided skillet, which is what you'll need for this fast process that calls for finishing your pasta in the sauce.
Get the Pasta Alla Gricia recipe.
Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon
This savory-sweet salmon is quick and easy enough for weeknights (ready in under 30 minutes), but is also fancy enough for special occasions. If you’re a seafood novice, don’t sweat it: Searing fish might seem intimidating, but with my top tips, you’ll be a pro in no time.
Get the Honey Garlic Glazed Salmon recipe.
Sheet-Pan Miso Chicken & Sweet Potatoes
Bone-in chicken thighs, sweet potatoes, and shallots get smothered with miso-chili sauce and baked until the sweet potatoes are tender and caramelized and the chicken is juicy and golden brown. The whole thing is topped with a sprinkle of chopped cilantro, then served with a little extra chili crisp to make sure this really packs a punch.
Baked Spaghetti
While I could never get tired of classic spaghetti with homemade meat sauce, sometimes I'm looking for the easiest route possible to a weeknight dinner. Enter: baked spaghetti. This casserole is what comfort food is all about—cheesy, hearty, and completely adaptable to whatever you have on hand. Ready in around an hour, this is the simplest and most satisfying dish when you're looking to please, without investing heaps of extra effort.
Get the Baked Spaghetti recipe.
White Chicken Chili
Can we all agree that chili is THE comfort food staple? Adding white beans makes this heartier than your average chicken noodle soup, and the addition of green chiles, jalapeño, and sour cream add the perfect amount of heat and creaminess to switch up classic chili. Plus, everything comes together in less than an hour (!!), making it an easy, no-stress dinner to cozy up to any time of year.
Get the White Chicken Chili recipe.
One-Pan Cheesy Broccoli-Cheddar Orzo
This quick and easy orzo recipe is a 30-minute dinner that’s low on dishes and full of gooey, melted cheese flavor. It’s like an adult twist on mac and cheese that the entire family will love. This take on mac and cheese is simple and easy. There’s no béchamel or even a roux. All you need is your favorite sharp cheddar cheese, some milk, orzo, and broccoli.
Cube Steak
Dredged in a seasoned flour mix and smothered in an onion soup mix gravy, this recipe turns this cut into a flavor-packed steak that was was made to be served alongside creamy mashed potatoes and fresh veggies. With a prep and cook time of just under an hour, this budget-friendly dinner hits all the marks for a comforting weeknight meal
Get the Cube Steak recipe.
Marry Me Chicken
Whenever I’m looking for a chicken dinner that will make jaws drop, I always turn to this go-to recipe. Chicken breasts are seared until golden brown before being baked in a cream sauce that results in a chicken that's packed with flavor in every bite. Whatever occasion you make this extra-special weeknight dinner for, be prepared—this chicken just might inspire a confession of love at first bite.
Get the Marry Me Chicken recipe.
Pot Roast
When it comes to stick-to-your-ribs comfort food, it’s difficult to beat tender, flavorful pot roast. A classic main player on holiday tables, this slow-cooking dish is the meal to make when you want to impress and satisfy without a crazy amount of effort. The shredded beef meal comes complete with tender potatoes and carrots and a sauce you’ll want to spoon over everything.
Get the Pot Roast recipe.
Pizza Casserole
From the realms of cheesy pizza and bubbling baked pasta comes a new family favorite: pizza casserole. Loaded with sausage, veggies, and plenty of cheese, this easy weeknight dinner has all of the cheesy, tomato-filled goodness of our favorite take-out pizza, neatly packaged in a 13"-by-9" pan.
Get the Pizza Casserole recipe.
One-Pan Coconut-Lime Chicken
Chicken Pesto Pasta
Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken
Creamy Coconut-Lime Chickpea Skillet
