35 Easy Weeknight Dinners for Busy Families

These 35 tasty, healthy, and easy weeknight dinners will help get you through the week.  These recipes are busy family approved and ready in no time so you don't have to worry or stress!

I get it: Dinner is hard on those busy weeknights.

Between work, soccer practice, homework, driving home, unpacking, bath time, and prepping for the next day, life totally gets in the way of a well-planned, time-consuming dinner.

Breathe.

But, we still need to eat...

So, what normally happens?

We go for the easy way out -- I know we're guilty of it in our house, too.  We grab the pre-packaged foods from the grocery store.  We eat cereal.  PB&Js.  Protein shakes.  Anything that fills you and the kids up and is easy.  It happens to all of us sometimes.

But, what if your weeknight dinner was...easy?

Wouldn't that be amazing?  You'd like win an award every weeknight or something.  Or feel like a rockstar, at least.

Fortunately, we can rely on easy weeknight dinners to get us through.  You just need to know where to look and what to cook.

What Makes An Easy Weeknight Dinner?

The way I see it, an easy weeknight dinner basically means you don't want to run away and cry in the corner on those busy weeknights when it's time to make dinner.  Easy weeknight dinners are all of the following:

• Easy To Make -- whether that means few ingredient or simple directions
• Quick -- no one has time for waiting hours for your dinner to cook
• Satisfying -- we want the family to be happy with the meal and enjoy dinner, after-all
• Healthy -- I mean, that's why we're avoiding the pre-packaged foods and convenience items
• Reliable -- the last thing you want is to follow a recipe only to not enjoy the food
• Easy To Prep -- no crazy prepping required

(Pssst: If you're wanting weekly meal plans with all of these great requirements delivered to your inbox plus a community of people who like to eat healthy and enjoy making dinner easier, come join us in No-Fail Meals.  Learn more about this awesome meal planing service here.)

35 Quick, Healthy & Easy Weeknight Dinners

Below, I've shared 35 amazingly delicious, easy, and simple recipes to make your busy weeknights less stressful.  These recipes are dependable, family-approved, hard to mess-up, and come out delicious every time. When you come home from work and are hungry, these recipes will be reliable, yummy, and on the table in no time.

1. Healthy Beef With Broccoli – Easy, fresh, and better than take-out. Ready in just 20 minutes. [GET THE RECIPE.]

2. Chicken Tacos – These flavorful chicken tacos are delicious, easy, and ready in just 20 minutes. [GET THE RECIPE.]

3. Stuffed Bell Peppers – These stuffed peppers are simple to assemble and easy to prep ahead. [GET THE RECIPE.]

4. Steak Cobb Salad with Creamy Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing –Delicious, easy, and healthy steak cobb salad with homemade avocado cilantro lime salad dressing. So fresh and so easy!  [GET THE RECIPE.]

5. Baked Sea Bass And Zucchini Sheet Pan Dinner – Ready in just 25 minutes, this sheet pan meal is as easy as it gets. [GET THE RECIPE.]

6. 25 Minute Chicken Cauliflower Fried Rice –Skip the greasy take-out and still get your chicken fried rice fix with this 25 minute chicken cauliflower fried rice recipe. [GET THE RECIPE.]

7. One Pan Chicken Bruschetta –This one pan chicken bruschetta is fresh, flavorful, healthy, and ready in less than 25 minutes! [GET THE RECIPE.]

8. Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce –This is an easy Flank Steak With Chimichurri Sauce that is healthy, fast, and super tasty. This flank steak goes great with these Roasted Sweet Potatoes.  [GET THE RECIPE.]

9. Easy Chicken Picatta – Easy Chicken Picatta, one of the best comfort foods ever, made HEALTHIER so it can be enjoyed any day of the week! Plus, it's so easy to make and is ready to devour in just 25 minutes! [GET THE RECIPE.]

10. Low Carb Turkey Burger Bowl with Sriracha Mayo –This bowl is great because it changes up your typical dinner AND makes great left-overs – you just need to store the pieces separately and assemble when you’re ready to eat.  Then, all ya gotta do is fry the egg and slice the avocado and your dinner prep just took you 8 minutes. [GET THE RECIPE.]

11. Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowl – These flavorful chicken tacos are delicious, easy, and ready in just 20 minutes. [GET THE RECIPE.]

12. Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole –This Skinny Tuna Noodle Casserole is a healthy take on an old favorite and takes just 45 minutes to make.  Makes great left-overs, too! [GET THE RECIPE.]

13. Chicken and Hummus Greek Wrap –This Greek wrap is super duper yummy.  It’s shocking how just a few simple ingredients can create such intense flavors and textures all wrapped up in a neat, handheld wrap. Just 25 minutes and it's ready! [GET THE RECIPE.]

14. Cilantro Lime Chicken – Assuming you're into the whole amazingly flavored chicken thing, you're gonna love this cilantro lime chicken recipe.  Just prep the night before so it's grab and cook when you're ready. This chicken goes great with this Cilantro Lime Rice. [GET THE RECIPE.]

15. Dijon-Roasted Chicken And Carrots – I promise you will not believe how much flavor comes out of this incredibly easy dinner.  Prepare yourself for some magic. [GET THE RECIPE.]

16. Make-Ahead Greek Quinoa Stacks – Take just 30 minutes of prepping ahead and you can have these delicious dinners all week! Perfect for the hot summer months!  [GET THE RECIPE.]

17. Almond Crusted Baked Chicken Strips –Replace your typical heavy batter with this almond coating and add healthy unsaturated fats, fiber, and protein into your finger foods.  It’s a win-win for the whole family. [GET THE RECIPE.]

18. Spinach And Feta Burgers with Garlic Aioli – These burgers are the solution to being tired of the same ol' burger recipe.  Prepare your mouth for a flavor overload that's ready in 30 minutes. [GET THE RECIPE.]

19. Healthy Baked Chicken Parmesan with Zucchini Noodles –Yes, my friends, it is possible to enjoy chicken parmesan and still eat healthy.  And, believe it or not…it’s actually pretty darn easy to make, too (and ready in just 35 minutes!) [GET THE RECIPE.]

20. Brown Rice Pilaf with Flank Steak –Try this amazingly savory, healthy and mediterranean-inspired Brown Rice Pilaf With Flank Steak. Ready in just 35 minutes! [GET THE RECIPE.]

21. Chicken Tortilla Soup (Slow Cooker) – Just 10 minutes of prep work and you'll come home to this amazingly zesty and fresh chicken tortilla soup [GET THE RECIPE.]

22. Easy Minestrone – This easy vegetarian dinner makes tons of left-overs and easily reheats for a quick weeknight dinner. [GET THE RECIPE.]

23. Garlic-Roasted Pork Chops – This garlic-roasted pork chops recipe comes together in less than 25 minutes and is FULL of flavor. Plus, it only needs 5 ingredients.  That’s right: five. Goes great with these Parmesan Roasted Green Beans. [GET THE RECIPE.]

24. Quinoa and Lentil Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette – This salad is crunchy, chewy, and tender, all at the same time.  The kick of the lemon vinaigrette is amazing and really makes everything pop. It is everything you're wanting. [GET THE RECIPE.]

25. Instant Pot Quinoa Chicken Bowl – In just 30 minutes, you could be holding this amazing Instant Pot Quinoa Chicken Bowl in your hand. And yes, delicious clementine basil dressing prep time included. [GET THE RECIPE.]

26. Easy Cream of Broccoli Soup – If easy, simple, and quick soups are your thing and you want them to be healthy, too, then this is the soup for you.  Takes just 25 minutes until gloriousness.  [GET THE RECIPE.]

27. Chicken Cobb Mason Jar Salad with Homemade Ranch – This salad will stay crisp, fresh, and tasty for you all week for an easy grab and enjoy weeknight dinner.  [GET THE RECIPE.]

28. Steak Fajita Bowl with Cilantro Lime Rice – These steak fajita bowls are great for busy weeknights because they can be prepped ahead and then re-assembled wen you need it.  So good!  [GET THE RECIPE.]

29. Green Chile Pork Tacos (Slow Cooker) –Make these slow cooker green chile pork tacos any night of the week and enjoy all the flavor of your favorite restaurant tacos without the guilt! [GET THE RECIPE.]

30. Baked Chicken Meatballs with Sauteed Zucchini – If you've never jumped for joy over meatballs before, you've never tried these baked chicken meatballs.  [GET THE RECIPE.]

31. Easy Chicken Marsala – This easy chicken marsala is wonderfully simple and tasty.  It gets a subtle sweetness from the Marsala wine, but it’s still quite savory and delicious.  I’m always amazed at just how flavorful the simple ingredients are and how quickly this meal comes together. [GET THE RECIPE.]

32. Sweet Potato and Quinoa Hash with Garlic Sauteed Kale –This high-protein, high flavor sweet potato and lentil hash will fill you up and make you feel great!  [GET THE RECIPE.]

33. Quinoa Taco Stackers –These Quinoa Taco Stackers have all the goodness of tacos stacked up neatly in a grab and go mason jar.  Ready in just 35 minutes. [GET THE RECIPE.]

34. Healthy Quinoa Make-Ahead Casserole  – Healthy and Easy come together in this delicious make ahead casserole using quinoa penne noodles. [GET THE RECIPE.]

35. Cashew Chicken (Slow Cooker) – This is one of those amazingly simple recipes that get you all excited about when it's in the slow cooker because you know the delicious smell it’s giving off isn’t even a tenth of how delicious your meal will be in just a few short hours. Super simple. Super easy. High protein. Flavorful. Yep: amazeballs. [GET THE RECIPE.]

I hope you've found these easy weeknight dinners helpful ad full of healthy weeknight inspiration.  If you'd like to get weekly emails from me with 5 healthy recipes and a grocery list plus lots of other helpful goodies, come check out No-Fail Meals, my weekly meal planning service.  Learn more about No-Fail Meals here.