Smart strategies to save you time and get you fed as fast as possible.
Slow cooking will always have its place, but sometimes you just want food to cook faster and for dinner to take less time. Luckily, there are lots of ways to make that happen.
Yes, there are times when you want to luxuriate in the beauty of a tough cut of meat tenderizing slowly and gently over many hours. But other times there's the ticking clock and a hungry spouse and/or children on a harried weeknight after a long day that might've started before dawn. Slow cooking is not an option then (unless you did it over the weekend, or started it in the morning and can enjoy it now. In that case, kudos!).
But when you've worked all day, you're stressed, you're tired and you're hungry (verging on hangry), you need to figure out dinner fast.
The easy way out
Meal delivery services come in all varieties these days, from local restaurant deliveries via the likes of DoorDash, GrubHub, Postmates and Caviar to full-on meal kit delivery services like Blue Apron and HelloFresh. The former capitalizes on our desire for great-tasting meals with little effort. The latter does that too, but has really targeted our preference for fresh, healthy meals cooked at home -- only with much less stress and more speed. In many respects, it's better than dining out, takeout or delivery food.
But you can learn to look in your fridge and pantry at 6:30 p.m. on a Tuesday with no idea what to make and somehow whip up a bean-cheese-pepper quesadilla and salad -- or some such well-balanced, delicious, filling meal -- in 45 minutes or less, no meal kit required. You can! You just have to learn a few tricks, techniques and strategies for shaving time off the process.
How to cook faster & have dinner ready in less time
We hope the following tips and tricks help you get more quick and easy dinners on the table:
1. Manage your expectations
Do one thing well, not everything well, in the meal. If you make great baked honey-mustard chicken, then don't stress about your ho-hum steamed broccoli and mashed potato sides. Accept that some meals won't be the best with all the bells and whistles -- and that's OK. You cooked your dinner at home instead of eating out or doing takeout, so if it's at least edible, count it as a success. Weeknight dinner doesn't have to be perfect or wow-worthy. It's a freakin' Tuesday. Give yourself a break. (If even that seems like a struggle, try one of these 21 cheap and easy recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.)
2. Divide and conquer
3. Embrace big batches
4. Repurpose leftovers
Many people who want homemade meals on weeknights cook and plan on the weekends. Props to them. If you'd rather relax on your days off and don't have room in your freezer to save batch-cooked meals anyway, make a big pot of chili and use it a few times in the coming week in different ways, such as with crackers or cornbread on the side one night, then over pasta or rice another night. See more ways to serve leftover chili.
Leftover rice? Make fried rice with fresh add-ins, or with other leftovers you have (like cooked veggies and protein); crack a couple eggs in the sauté pan too. If you need specific inspiration, these fried rice recipes are better than delivery.
Or did you roast a chicken on Monday? Use that leftover meat for taco filling on Tuesday -- or in these 15 recipes to make with leftover chicken (or a rotisserie chicken). Use the carcass to make easy chicken stock too.
Slow cooker pulled pork and other heaping helpings of protein can also be distributed among several meals over the course of the week. See these large format cooking projects and what to make with the leftovers for even more ideas.
5. Keep your pantry stocked
You can whip up something on impulse if you have a well-stocked kitchen pantry of basics, plus your favorite ingredients, such as: beans, broth, pasta, rice, dried fruits, nuts, oils, vinegars, tuna, canned tomatoes, dried spices and herbs, flavorful pastes (like curry, harissa tomato, etc.) -- and always keep garlic, onions and potatoes around too. They last a long time in dark, cool, dry places like pantries. Try these easy pantry dinner recipes if you're not sure what to make with all that stuff.
Also, think of your freezer as an extension of your pantry. Store sauces, pesto, chopped herbs, broth and stock in ice cube trays in there among the peas and carrots and frozen proteins. Pop out a cube or two and heat it up for a quick hit of flavor.
6. Make all-in-one meals
Make recipes that have you cook the meat and sides all in one pot or roasting tray. Fewer dishes means less time spent on clean-up. Check out these sheet pan dinner recipes and more easy one-pot meals for inspiration.
In the same wheelhouse, don't underestimate the versatility of a parchment or foil pack. Fold up a protein -- quick-cooking fish or shrimp are great options -- plus vegetables and aromatics and harness the power of steam to cook your meal. This method makes for easy clean-up too. Try this easy fish baked in parchment recipe (add some asparagus spears in season).
7. Heat things up
If you're using the oven, crank it up to the right temperature before you do anything else. If you're making pasta, start boiling the water first thing (you can always top it off if you start lagging behind and it begins to reduce -- if you have an electric kettle, boil some water and use that to top off the pot so it doesn't lower the temperature). It always takes longer than you think for these things to actually heat up to the proper temp, so get them on their way right out of the gate. Then you won't have to stop and wait after chopping, mixing sauces and the like.
8. Don't go whole hog (or chicken breast)
Cut your meat and vegetables into thin slices or bite-size chunks (or buy them that way to make things even quicker), instead of cooking and serving them whole. They'll be done faster that way. You can quickly stir-fry them, or even broil the food in your oven, which will cook it faster than baking or roasting, providing a nice crust on top. If it's thin, the heat will cook the meat or vegetable all the way through in less time.
9. Spoil the ending
Instead of using small saucepans and roasting pans, try pans with a larger surface area, so the food is spread out and not on top of each other. Your food will be able to receive more direct heat and will cook faster (also, if you're roasting, crowding ingredients together will steam them instead of properly caramelizing them).
11. Sharpen your knife skills
Instead of using small saucepans and roasting pans, try pans with a larger surface area, so the food is spread out and not on top of each other. Your food will be able to receive more direct heat and will cook faster (also, if you're roasting, crowding ingredients together will steam them instead of properly caramelizing them).
11. Sharpen your knife skills
12. Make meatless Monday a real thing
13. Clean as you go
Does something need to boil for 10 minutes or bake for 30? Use that time to wash the dishes you used, put ingredients away and clean the countertop. That'll save clean-up time after the meal and you can get to relaxing sooner rather than later.
14. Plan on it (and possibly prep for it)
Some of you may love being spontaneous and creative when you cook, but save yourself some stress. Plan your meals for the coming week. Write it down. It will save you the time it takes to decide each evening what you want to do. And you will know to take the stock or the meat out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to defrost the morning before you want to use it for dinner. No waiting around (or accidentally partially cooking it trying to defrost in the microwave). You can plan grocery store trips more efficiently.
And if there's any way to prep some of those ingredients the weekend beforehand, go for it. If you have a multicooker, try these 7 Instant Pot meal prep ideas to help streamline your week.
15. Repeat yourself
16. Take advantage of technology
If you have an Instant Pot, use it more often. If you have a recipe that involves a ton of chopping, break out your food processor for the prep. Discover all the ways to use your stand mixer besides baking projects. Go ahead and microwave your eggs. Basically, you should use all the tools you have at your disposal.
17. Take shortcuts too
There's no shame in smart shortcuts either. Store-bought pizza dough recipes range from ersatz gnocchi (shown above) to quick calzones. Gourmet pantry food staples can be combined into all sorts of easy meals, from fancy and filling cheese plates to simple pastas. Even doing something like buying pre-chopped meat or veggies (or even precooked frozen veggies -- including cauliflower rice!) can sometimes make the difference between dreading dinner and stir-frying it in literally 10 minutes flat. A lot of store-bought slow cooker sauces taste great (and can also be used in a pot on the stovetop). And, yes, there are always meal kits too.
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