What to Make in 20 Minutes: 3 Lazy Dinners
It's 5:30 and you want dinner in 20 minutes, not a project with a shopping list. These three are the lazy dinners that don't depend on a specific protein: garlic noodles, a tuna melt, and a white bean skillet. Every combination page on this site is also 30 minutes or less. Start here if you don't even know what you have. Got more in the fridge? Snap a photo and we'll pick dinner for you. Free.
Quick picks: 3 dinners with dinner in 20 minutes in 30 minutes or less
Fastest option: a 12-minute dinner
12 min
Garlic noodles
Total time, start to plate · One pot · serves 4 · Kid-friendly
Pasta, olive oil, garlic, and salt. A lazy dinner with a optional pinch of chili.
Ingredients
- 12 oz pasta
- 3 cloves garlic
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp chili flakes
Steps
- Boil the pasta in salted water. Save a cup of the water.
- Warm the olive oil and garlic in a skillet for 30 seconds. Add chili flakes only if you want heat.
- Toss the pasta in with splashes of pasta water until it looks glossy.
- Taste. This dinner is only good if it is salty enough.
Keeps: Fridge for 2 days. Fry it again with a little oil.
One-pan option
Garlic noodles is already one pot. There is no second pan to wash.
The other dinners
15 min
Open tuna melt
Total time, start to plate · One sheet pan · serves 4 · Kid-friendly
Canned tuna, a little mayonnaise, and cheese on toast. Under the broiler for a few minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 can tuna
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- 4 slices bread
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
- 1/4 tsp salt
Steps
- Drain the tuna and stir it with mayonnaise and salt.
- Toast the bread, then spread the tuna and cheese on it.
- Broil on a sheet pan until the cheese melts. Watch it.
- Eat it hot. This is the lazy dinner that still feels like a plate.
Keeps: Eat it now. The toast goes soft.
15 min
White bean skillet
Total time, start to plate · One skillet · serves 4 · Kid-friendly
A can of white beans, garlic, and greens if you have them. Fifteen minutes, no meat.
Ingredients
- 1 can white beans
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 cups spinach
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Steps
- Warm the garlic in olive oil for 30 seconds.
- Add the rinsed white beans, a splash of water, and the salt. Mash a few.
- Stir in the spinach until it wilts. Skip it if you don't have it.
- Taste. Beans from a can are bland until you salt them. Eat with toast.
Keeps: Fridge for 3 days.
Make it with leftovers
Cold pasta becomes the garlic noodles. Canned tuna doesn't count as a leftover, but leftover chicken can take the tuna's place on the melt. Cooked beans only need warming in the skillet.
Pantry staples you'll need
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Salt
- Chili flakes
- Bread
- Cheese
No pasta: make the tuna melt. No tuna: cheese on toast, or the bean skillet. No beans: you still have two dinners on this page.
Picky-eater and healthy tweaks
Butter or garlic noodles with the chili flakes left out. A plain cheese melt if tuna is a no. The bean skillet is the one to skip for a child who hates beans.
These are small, fast dinners, not a nutrition label. Garlic and beans are the lighter cards. The melt is the richer one. Add fruit if the plate looks like only bread.
Have something else in the fridge?
Got more in the fridge? Snap a photo and we'll pick dinner for you. Free.
Snap your fridgeRelated dinners
Questions
What can I make for dinner in 20 minutes?
Garlic noodles take 12 minutes. An open tuna melt takes 15. A white bean skillet takes 15. Every combination page linked below is also 30 minutes or less, and each card leads with the total time.
What's a good lazy dinner?
Garlic noodles. One pot, pantry ingredients, no chopping except garlic. The tuna melt is the other one, if you can turn on the broiler.
What if I have absolutely no idea what to make?
Snap a photo of the fridge and let that pick. If you can't even open the app yet, make the garlic noodles. Then look at rotisserie chicken or eggs and rice if those are in the house.
Can I do this in one pan?
Garlic noodles finish in one pot. The bean skillet is one skillet. The melt uses a sheet pan under the broiler.
What if the fridge is empty?
Garlic noodles and the bean skillet come from the pantry. The nothing-in-the-fridge page has more of that kind of dinner.
How do I keep a 20-minute dinner kid-friendly?
Leave the chili flakes out of the noodles. Cheese toast instead of tuna if tuna is a no. Salt the noodles. Bland fast food is why kids ask for something else.