17 Healthy, Easy 5-Ingredient Dinners with Three Steps or Less (2024)

These 5-ingredient dinners, excluding staples like salt, pepper and oil, are perfect for a simple night in. And with only three steps or less, these delicious dishes are easy to prepare. Recipes like our Black Bean Tacos and Honey-Paprika-Glazed Steak & Onions are healthy meals that are flavorful and filling.

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Black Bean Tacos

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Mixing mashed canned beans with whole beans and seasonings makes an incredibly simple taco filling from your pantry. Top these speedy 5-ingredient tacos with lettuce, tomato and salsa or any of your favorite taco toppings.

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Lemon-Sopressata Chicken

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You'll only need 5 ingredients and 30 minutes for this healthy chicken recipe. Serve with mashed potatoes and a mixed green salad with red-wine vinaigrette to round out dinner.

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Honey-Paprika-Glazed Steak & Onions

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We love the flavor of grilled onions with the steak in this healthy 5-ingredient recipe (not including oil, salt and pepper) but skewer up any veggies in your fridge--zucchini, cherry tomatoes and eggplant are all good choices. Just adjust the cooking time as necessary. Serve with a baked potato or brown rice pilaf flecked with herbs.

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3-Ingredient Refried Bean & Pico de Gallo Tostadas

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Making your own tostadas is easy. Use store-bought corn tortillas, brush them with olive oil and bake to crunchy perfection! Here we topped the tostada with refried beans and fresh pico de gallo for an easy 3-ingredient meal.

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Brown Butter Seared Scallops

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Get perfectly cooked scallops every time with this easy method. Sea scallops (the large ones) are sautéed in butter that turns deliciously nutty as it cooks, to make a super-fast, special dinner. A splash of lemon juice and fresh herbs finish the dish. Round out the menu with sautéed spinach and brown rice or orzo.

Black Bean Quesadillas

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17 Healthy, Easy 5-Ingredient Dinners with Three Steps or Less (6)

In a hurry? These satisfying quesadillas take just 15 minutes to make. We like them with black beans, but pinto beans work well too. If you like a little heat, be sure to use pepper Jack cheese in the filling. Serve with: A little sour cream and a mixed green salad.

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Red Cabbage-Apple Cauliflower Gnocchi

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Tender cabbage and a vibrant applesauce-mustard pan sauce are the perfect pairing for pillowy low-carb cauliflower gnocchi. Add diced chicken-apple sausage for extra protein.

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Chicken Curry Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

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Use convenience ingredients, like cooked chicken (leftover or purchased) and store-bought curry sauce to whip up these easy loaded baked potatoes. We call for cauliflower in this recipe, but feel free to sub in whatever veggies you have on hand for a quick and easy dinner. You can also swap the sweet potatoes for russets.

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Seared Salmon with Green Peppercorn Sauce

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17 Healthy, Easy 5-Ingredient Dinners with Three Steps or Less (9)

A simple sauce of piquant green peppercorns, lemon juice and butter tops this seared salmon recipe. Green peppercorns come from the same plant as black ones, but are harvested before they mature. Typically packed in vinegar, they have a refreshingly sharp flavor. Look for them near the capers in most supermarkets. Serve with smashed red potatoes and sautéed kale.

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Spaghetti Genovese

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Traditionally, this Italian pasta recipe combines pasta and pesto with potatoes and green beans. In our recipe for Spaghetti Genovese we give pesto a nutritional boost by adding spinach and toss it all together with fiber-rich whole-wheat pasta for a warm, comforting weeknight meal. Serve with escarole and radicchio salad.

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Chili-Rubbed Tilapia with Asparagus & Lemon

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Tilapia, a relatively plentiful fish, has the unfortunate reputation of being dull. All it needs is a spice rub, a familiar barbecuing technique that works just as well indoors. You could also use this rub on chicken breasts or toss it with lightly oiled shrimp before cooking.

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Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad with Chicken

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In this healthy copycat of a takeout salad favorite we combine precooked (or leftover) chicken and poppy seed dressing with fresh greens, strawberries and goat cheese for an easy throw-together meal that's ready in 10 minutes.

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Shrimp Oreganata Cauliflower Gnocchi

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This cauliflower gnocchi dinner is ready in just minutes on busy nights. A simple flavor-packed sauce marries the tender pasta with cooked shrimp. If you don't eat shrimp, use rotisserie chicken instead.

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Build-Your-Own Chicken Tacos

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This kid-friendly recipe keeps every element of tacos separate so your child can decide to eat them separately or have fun building their own mini tacos with their favorite toppings. Plus, it's perfect for packing into a bento box for a healthy lunch for school.

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Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Halloumi

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Take advantage of healthy convenience foods, such as pureed vegetable soups, to make a healthy meal in minutes. We enhance the flavor of boxed butternut squash soup with curry powder, then top it with irresistible halloumi cheese. Serve with warm whole-grain pita bread.

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Cornmeal-Crusted Chicken Nuggets with Blackberry Mustard

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Tossing chicken tenders with cornmeal gives these chicken nuggets great crunch without deep-frying. Blackberries (or raspberries, if you prefer) combined with whole-grain mustard make for a sweet-and-savory dipping sauce. Serve with: Steamed broccoli and carrots.

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Shrimp with Mango & Basil

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This one-pan stir-fry is an Indian feast of sweet shrimp, perfumy mangoes and spicy basil. It's guaranteed to evoke dinnertime oohs and ahhs. Carbs are a time-tested way to take the pop out of the heat, so make sure you have plenty of aromatic jasmine rice to go with this fiery dish. Use prepeeled shrimp to make preparation a breeze.