24 Easy Dinner Recipes for Beginners

If you don’t have a lot of confidence in the kitchen, not to worry! Instead, just keep cooking. Like any new skill, it’s all about practice. Good recipes help, too.

With that in mind, here are 24 easy recipes suitable for new cooks, including tips to help you find success in the kitchen:

• Read the recipe from start to finish before starting. That way, you’ll know what you’re getting into and can plan accordingly. 
• If you’re unfamiliar with a technique, we have a lot of tips and tutorials that can help. Within the recipe, we try to include images with the methods to help guide you along visually.
• Be organized. Gather the tools, equipment, and necessary ingredients and set them neatly on the kitchen counter. A messy kitchen can make cooking harder. 
• To minimize stress, try to cook when you don’t have a big time crunch. Put on music you love. Relax. Aim to make cooking a pleasant experience. That way, you will want to keep doing it. With time, you will no longer be a beginner cook. 
• Know that it’s normal to have failures along the way. You’ll pick up pointers for the next time you cook.

It seems fancy, but it’s easy—promise. Pan-fry flour-dredged chicken breasts in olive oil and butter. Add more butter, garlic, and seasonings (including lemon pepper) to the same pan to make the sauce. Add the chicken back to let it soak up some of the sauce’s flavor. Serve it with the remaining sauce drizzled over.

There’s no need to lean on canned soup when homemade soup is this easy (and so good!) Top it with anything you like, from grated Parmesan to buttery croutons. If you want to make the most of your cooking time, double the recipe and freeze the leftovers for next time.

This three-ingredient dinner—sausage, peppers, and onion (plus oil and seasonings)—cooks up on just one sheet pan in 45 minutes from start to finish. Take the pan from the oven to the table and add a green salad and crusty bread. Feel free to reach right into the middle of the table with a slice of bread and soak up the juices straight from the pan.

Combine Dijon mustard, brown sugar, honey, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Spoon the mixture onto the salmon. Bake for 12 minutes. You’re done. It doesn’t get much easier than this to create a healthy main dish.

Adults and kids love these easy homemade Sloppy Joes, and they taste so much better than anything you get from a can. Mince (cut into tiny pieces) onion, carrot, garlic, green onion, and celery. Sauté them on the stovetop and then add ground turkey until it’s cooked through. Add a sauce of ketchup, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and brown sugar to the pot and bring to a simmer. Serve on rolls.

It’s just as easy to make shrimp scampi with pasta as it is chicken scampi, but somehow chicken scampi seems less intimidating to a beginner cook. For this easy weeknight meal, sauté quick cooking, thin, seasoned chicken tenders while the pasta water is boiling. When the pasta goes into the pot, make the simple garlicky sauce in the pan, cut the chicken into strips, and combine it all with the cooked pasta. Sprinkle with parsley and enjoy.

Make a simple tomato based enchilada sauce by simmering onions and garlic, then adding tomato paste, canned green chilis, and some seasonings. Roll cooked chicken (store bought rotisserie chicken works) and cheese into tortillas, then add them to the pan. Spoon the sauce over, top with more cheese, and let cook on the stove. Top with the garnishes of your choice. Leftovers freeze well.

Creamy white beans and Italian sausage make an excellent pairing, and they come together with ease in this dish. Cook the beans from scratch or use canned beans. Serve the finished meal in a shallow bowl with grated Parmesan on top and a generous slice of toasted Italian bread.

Even the most novice cook might have a good idea of how to make a pizza bagel, but our recipe gives you ideas for the types of bagels to use and the variety of seasonings that can kick them up a notch. Quick, easy, and pizza(ish). What else could you want? If you’re an adult eating this favorite from your youth, perhaps a bottle of Chianti?

Add black beans and avocado to your quesadilla to transform this Mexican-inspired mainstay into a truly nourishing supper. Plus, you’ll learn how to get tortillas crispy in the process. For a quick side dish, slice one English cucumber (no need to peel or seed) and douse it with the juice of one lime. Season it with salt and chili powder to your liking.

Omelets are easy to make and this hearty version is full of diced ham (you can use deli ham if you want), onion, bell pepper, and cheddar cheese. Serve with a simple salad of mixed greens, and brinner (breakfast for dinner) is ready.

Transform everything that’s appealing about good, garlicky tomato bruschetta into a scrumptious chicken dinner that takes just about 20 minutes to make. Serve it with a crusty baguette to swipe through all those tasty pan juices.

Senior Editor Laurel Randolph says, “Using microwavable rice means you don’t have to dirty a pot making a batch of rice. You don’t even have to microwave it—the rice will finish cooking and heating up in the skillet. Any microwavable white rice will work, including Ready Rice, Bird’s Eye, and store brands like Trader Joe’s.”

Abolish any notions you have that a good pasta sauce takes all day to make. This is a simple spin on a classic Italian meat sauce. Chopping the onion, carrots, and celery is easy since it only takes a few seconds in a food processor. Serve the sauce over any pasta shape you like with a side of steamed broccoli.

Tilapia is an unfussy fish to work with so it’s a good choice for beginners. This simple recipe takes just 20 minutes from start to finish. Make a sauce with butter, lemon, and garlic (plus salt and pepper), pour over the fish, and bake. Serve with an equally simple side like steamed broccoli or green beans.

Shrimp is one of the quickest to cook in the seafood case. It’s also easy to tell when it’s done since the color changes dramatically from grey to pink. This recipe includes fresh ginger, which adds great flavor. Check out this tutorial for how to prepare ginger. Serve the shrimp over rice. You can cook your own or don’t be afraid to take a shortcut with store-bought pre-cooked rice. It’s usually found in the frozen foods section.

Simply Recipes Founder Elise Bauer says, “This topping will also work on: mahi mahi, sea bass, cod, tilapia, bluefish, orange roughy, or red snapper.”

You only dirty one pan for this recipe, which is part of what makes it so appealing. Buy pre-cut broccoli at the market if you want to minimize prep time. Be sure to follow the first step of pre-heating the baking sheet before adding the chicken and potatoes—that’s what makes them golden brown and crispy.

It’s handy to have a foolproof steak recipe in your back pocket. This one is done with flank steak, a thin, flavorful cut of meat that cooks quickly. Serve it with classic baked potatoes and a simple salad on the side.

If you have flank steak leftover from making the recipe above, you’re already halfway done making this salad that’s flavorful and filling. You can use the leftover steak—or cook a steak—for this salad. Pile bell peppers, avocado, scallions, goat cheese, and the steak on top of lettuce and arugula. Dress with a quick Dijon vinaigrette and sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

When corn and zucchini are plentiful in the summer at the farmers markets and the grocery stores, this is the recipe to use them in. Quickly cook some corn and zucchini on the stovetop. Fill tortillas with goat cheese and the cooked veggies. Add some fresh basil leaves, fold the tortillas over and pan fry them.

Simply Recipes Contributor Devan Grimsrud says, “The recipe calls for cooked chicken. Use rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, or cook your own by poaching, grilling, or roasting your chicken.”

Looking for a light dinner? Grab a can of tuna, some cheese, and bread, and get to work making these scrumptious sandwiches. Mix perfectly seasoned tuna with mayo, cut up a tomato, and cook up the melts on the stove. Use any bread, but may we suggest slices of a French or Italian loaf?

Cook up some white rice (the kind that cooks up in a minute is absolutely fine). Then do a fast stir fry of mushroom, shrimp, and scallions in olive oil followed by a drizzle of sauce of chicken stock, garlic, soy sauce, and cornstarch.