40 Dinner Ideas That Don’t Need a Recipe

If you’re anything like me, your Pinterest board is likely filled with delicious-looking recipes that you’ll never make. Because let’s be real: When it comes down to it, it can be challenging to find the time to sit down, decide on a week’s worth of recipes, write down all the necessary ingredients, hit up the supermarket, and then go through the tedious step-by-step process of actually making the meal.

Thankfully, there’s a better way: Ditch the recipes and seek out flavorful “freestyle” dinner ideas.

All of our healthy meals below are made with just a handful of ingredients—many of which you likely already have in your kitchen—and are basically self-explanatory to pull together. Better yet, they all go from stove to kitchen table in under an hour. Add them to your weekly lineup to rid the stress from your daily mealtime grind—and while you’re at it, continue down a path of low-effort healthy eating by ordering one of these healthiest menu options from the most popular restaurant chains!