My Favorite Quick 20 Minute Easy and Healthy Family Dinners
I’m so excited to share with my 5 favorite quick and healthy family dinners with you today.
If you’re here, it’s most likely because you’re a busy parent. And as a busy parent, you’re probably always on the lookout for a quick and healthy family dinner, especially when you have picky eaters to contend with.
My family has prioritized over the last year eating at home and eating whole (unprocessed) foods. I’ve found some awesome recipes in this last year that I’m here to share with you today. Each one takes 20 minutes or less to prepare for those of you who are needing to juggle so much during dinnertime. So here are my family’s top 5 favorite meals.
Breaded Chicken with Potatoes and Green Beans
One of my absolute favorites that started with my mother making this for us when I was growing up. Chicken tenderloins or chicken breasts, either one works for this as long as you make sure to cut them thin and then pound them even thinner. The thinner the better!
I actually don’t follow a recipe for this one. I cut and pound my chicken, dip them into eggs, dip them into Italian seasoning, and then start cooking them in a skillet in olive oil. You can pair them with any side, but I love these with sweet potatoes and green beans roasted in the oven. If you are looking for a recipe, I did find one that looks delicious and easy.
Homemade Pizza with Sourdough Crust
My family’s favorite meal of the week! Pizza night! And I finally found a guilt-free healthy version of this staple that is so easy to make! Start by making some sourdough pizza crust (recipe below). If you aren’t into sourdough or don’t have a starter, the crusts I used before this were these from Whole Foods. You can grab them on Amazon Prime. They seemed to be the least processed version of pizza crusts I could find. Then top the crusts with all your favorites! I always use Rao’s pizza sauce (all whole ingredients!), some mozzarella, and some delicious pepperonis. But you can truly do whatever your family loves!
If you use sourdough, Farmhouse on Boone is my favorite blog to follow for healthy sourdough recipes and here quick discard sourdough pizza crusts are amazing.
Ground Chicken Creamy Marinara Pasta
A recent favorite for my family! I had a last minute dinner that I needed to make something quick for, so did a Google search for ground chicken recipes. Oh my goodness was this one delicious! You can use ground beef or ground turkey instead if you prefer or have those on hand! And this one is so versatile! It calls for spinach and sun dried tomatoes, but you don’t have to use those if you have picky eaters like me and it’s still yummy and flavorful. We used whole grain penne but again, any pasta you have on hand will work!
Grape Jelly Meatballs with Rice and Broccoli
I love making meatballs and they are always a crowd pleaser. I’d heard of these grape jelly meatballs as an idea for an appetizer for a potluck/party. But I thought they sounded amazing as the main entree for dinner. And served with fluffy white rice and some roasted broccoli? Amazing. If you’re looking to make them healthier, you can use organic or sugar free grape jelly and we used a sugar free barbecue sauce since the jelly adds so much sweetness already. So easy and so delicious.
Chicken Quesadillas with Sourdough Tortillas
Another very versatile one that can be made however your family likes them. My kids are basic still so just like cheese in their quesadillas, but with my youngest, I can get away with adding some chicken as well. And the way I feel better about these is making the tortillas from scratch with my sourdough starter. If you don’t have sourdough starter, you can always use any tortillas at the store that look good to you.
These can be as fancy or as simple as you need them to be. Sometimes, it’s just adding cheese to the tortilla, sticking it in the microwave for 15 seconds to melt the cheese, and serving it. Sometimes it’s going a little more all-out with the recipe and using the skillet and adding all the topping and dips on the side. Whatever your situation allows for, you can’t go wrong with quesadillas.
Check out the tortilla recipe here.
Check out the rest of the chicken quesadilla recipe here.
Happy eating!
