Not sure what to cook for dinner tonight? Feeling stuck? Look no more: here is a list of easy dinner recipes that also happen to be family-friendly. Enjoy!
Getting a homemade meal on the table every night is no joke.
Even for someone who loves cooking, I sometimes struggle to find the time and energy to create something that I know will be delicious, satisfying, and, in the end, totally worth the effort it required.
For nights like this when take-out sounds so tempting, it’s essential to have a back pocket list of recipes that can come together without a lot of effort that will also please the entire family.
To help all you fellow food lovers out, I’ve pulled together a list of some of my favorite recipes that you can turn to when cooking sounds exhausting or when dinner is feeling boring.
Don’t you worry, I’ve got your back 🙂
This “Easy Dinner Recipes for Family” post includes:
- Easy Prep (15-min or less) dinner recipes
- 1-hour or less dinner recipes
- Extra kid friendly recipe ideas
- Vegetarian dinner ideas
- Best recipe round ups (with even more dinner recipes!)
Easy Prep (15-min or less) Required for these Dinner Recipes
Pressure Cooker Triple Bean Chili
Warm, comforting Instant Pot Chili is the perfect cool weather meal and this is the ABSOLUTE BEST CHILI I have ever eaten! Packed with fiber and nutrients, covered in cheese and sour cream – get ready to fall in love!
Pressure Cooker Triple Bean Chili Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 45 min
Instant Pot Pork Medallions
Instant Pot Pork Medallions are the new pork chop and I, for one, am never going back! Juicy, tender mini pork chops smothered with the best Apricot Sauce you'll ever taste. Get ready to fall in love!
Instant Pot Pork Medallions Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 25 min
Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken Bowl
This Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken Bowl is just how I like my teriyaki – sweet, tangy, and LOADED to the brim with as many vegetables as I can fit in a bowl. Healthy, satisfying dinner in under 30 minutes, comin' right up!
Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken Bowl Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta
One-pot pasta wonder comin' at ya! Instant Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta is easy enough for every day and fancy enough for entertaining. Take it to the next level with a crunchy topping and steamed or roasted veggies.
Instant Pot Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta Recipe
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot French Dip Sandwich
This is the Instant Pot French Dip Sandwich of your dreams right here! Tender beef, au jus that's darn near drinkable, creamy horseradish sauce, and some more extras to give your sandwich crunch and personality. This is indeed the Best French Dip recipe I've ever had!
Instant Pot French Dip Sandwich Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 15 min
Instant Pot Healthy Crack Chicken
Have you heard of the infamous Crack Chicken? Well, I've cut it down to size and turned that calorie bomb into this Instant Pot Mexican Inspired, Healthy Crack Chicken. Healthy Crack Chicken means: Bring on the Guac!
Instant Pot Mexican Inspired Healthy Crack Chicken Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 45 min
Instant Pot Chipotle Shredded Chicken
Plain shredded chicken is boring. Honey Chipotle Shredded Chicken is a smoky, spicy, sweet party in your mouth! Addictive, versatile, and healthy, it's gonna be your new monthly staple!
Instant Pot Chipotle Shredded Chicken Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 40 min
Instant Pot Paprika Pork Pita
When you need dinner fast, but you still want it tasty, this easy Instant Pot Paprika Pork Tenderloin is here to save you! Healthy, juicy bites of pork wrapped in a sweet paprika and pineapple sauce. Mmmmmmm….
Instant Pot Paprika Pork Tenderloin Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
1-hour (or less) Dinner Recipes
Instant Pot Meatball Sandwich
Instant Pot Meatball Sandwiches are messy, satisfying, comfort food and loved by all. Tender, juicy meatballs bathed in a quick and easy homemade tomato sauce. So easy and quick with shortcut ideas included!
Instant Pot Meatball Sandwich Recipe
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 35 min
Instant Pot Green Goddess Chicken Sandwich
Devouring this Instant Pot Green Goddess Chicken Sandwich will make you feel like a Greek Goddess! Creamy, refreshing, herbaceous chicken piled high on a bagel with lots of fresh, crisp veggies. This is my kind of soul food!
Instant Pot Green Goddess Chicken Sandwich Recipe
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
Instant Pot Chicken and Corn Chowder
Chicken and Corn Chowder is so creamy, quick, and easy in the Instant Pot! The addition of sweet potato here turns the same ol' boring chowder into Dynamite Healthy Pow Chow!
Instant Pot Chicken and Corn Chowder Recipe
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potato
When the main course and a side dish can cook themselves together in one pot, I feel reminded that there is peace and goodness alive and thriving in my world. Instant Pot Barbecue Chicken, sweetened with dates and stuffed in a fluffy sweet potato, topped with a Ranch Coleslaw – this is my happy place.
Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potato Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 40 min
Instant Pot Thai Pork Tacos
Instant Pot Thai Pork Tacos are going to have you dancing around the kitchen on your next taco night! Juicy bites of pork topped with a pile of Sriracha Coleslaw and crunchy peanuts. Flavor fireworks right here!
Instant Pot Thai Pork Tacos Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowl
Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowls are going to make your life easier and insanely delicious. Sweet, salty, and just a tad spicy beef over a pile of rice topped with the most delightful pickled veggies to ever grace your fork – this is a keeper for sure!
Instant Pot Korean Beef Bowl Recipe
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
Instant Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta
This Instant Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta is like a walk down Farmer's Market memory lane. Tangy sun-dried tomatoes, light garlic/herb sauce, tender bites of chicken, and a fat dollop of pesto on top to be enjoyed with every bite. Best Instant Pot Pasta dish ever!
Instant Pot Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot Pesto Chicken and Quinoa
One-pot Instant Pot Pesto Chicken and Quinoa – the meanest, greenest, most amazing dinner to ever grace your table. Perfect for an easy weeknight meal – just lay out the toppings and let everyone build their own bowl!
Instant Pot Pesto Chicken and Quinoa Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
Instant Pot Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
No need to get take out tonight! These EASY Instant Pot Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps can be thrown together in the pressure cooker quicker than take-out service and they taste a million times better too!
Instant Pot Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipes
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot Steak Fajitas
Steak fajitas all in one pot? No greasy splatters or house smelling like onions for a week? Yes! It IS possible! Tender, flavorful steak and perfectly cooked veggies made in your Instant Pot! Plus it is so simple that now you'll get to enjoy them more often than ever.
Instant Pot Steak Fajitas Recipes
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 40 min
Extra Kid Friendly Dinner Ideas
Pressure Cooker Pizza Mac and Cheese
Yes, you read that title right: Pressure Cooker Pizza AND Mac and Cheese. Healthy, Whole Grain, Creamy Mac and Cheese meets Pepperoni Pizza and we all get to fall in love!
Pressure Cooker Pizza Mac and Cheese Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
Instant Pot Pasta
How to Cook Pasta in the Instant Pot: We're talking about the magical formula for making perfectly cooked pasta in the Instant Pot that involves no stirring, babysitting, or foamy overflows all over your stovetop! All made possible by my true love, the Electric Pressure Cooker.
Instant Pot Pasta (The Perfect Formula) Recipe
Prep Time: 2 min, Total Recipe Time: 10 min
Instant Pot Easy Tin Foil Dinners
Instant Pot Tinfoil Dinners, AKA Hobo Dinner Packets, are here to save your sanity! Juicy meat, tender vegetables, and a delightful Special Sauce, these packets are quick and easy with minimal cleanup.
Instant Pot Easy Tin Foil Dinners Recipes
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 45 min
Instant Pot Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich
If you thought going through a drive-through for breakfast was easy, you are in for a serious treat! This Instant Pot Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Breakfast Sandwich is a quick, healthy, and delicious way to start any day – it's the true “Breakfast of Champions.”
Instant Pot Sausage, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Pressure Cooker Creamy Whole Grain Mac and Cheese with Broccoli
Whole Grain Creamy Pressure Cooker Mac and Cheese made in minutes in your handy dandy Electric Pressure Cooker (aka Instant Pot). Top it off with a pile of Parmesan and Panko Roasted Broccoli and this is a meal you can feel good about every day of the week.
Pressure Cooker Creamy Whole Grain Mac and Cheese with Broccoli Recipe
Prep Time: 5 min, Total Recipe Time: 35 min
Instant Pot Creamy Cauliflower Soup
Instant Pot Creamy Cauliflower Soup is thick, creamy, and luscious with a fraction of the calories of many other indulgent versions. It's so easy to whip up in the pressure cooker and can be hot and ready on your table in less than 30 minutes!
Instant Pot Creamy Cauliflower Soup Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot Creamy Ravioli Butternut Squash Soup
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup with Cheesy Ravioli and Sausage – this soup is hands down the family favorite at my house and it comes together quick and easy!
Instant Pot Creamy Ravioli Butternut Squash Soup Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 40 min
Instant Pot Taco Meat
This Instant Pot Taco Meat will be the easiest taco filling/nacho topping you've ever made! Healthy, flavorful, and loaded with vegetables, it is the perfect quick weeknight meal.
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot Hawaiian Haystacks
Try this pressure cooker (AKA Instant Pot) version of Hawaiian Haystacks! Tender chicken, creamy rice, and ALL the toppings you can stack in a bowl! Fast, whole grain, and healthy with minimal effort on your part!
Instant Pot Hawaiian Haystacks Recipe
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 50 min
Vegetarian Dinner Ideas
Instant Pot White Beans with Cilantro and Lime
Instant Pot White Beans with a flavor boost of cilantro and lime are about to take center stage at each and every Mexican dinner from here on out. Bring on the chips, tacos, and enchiladas – it's party time!
Instant Pot White Beans with Cilantro and Lime Recipe
Prep Time: 5 min, Total Recipe Time: 2 hours
Instant Pot Mexican Street Corn
Mexican Street Corn Salad (AKA Esquites or Elote) drizzled with a Creamy Jalapeno Sauce is quicker, tastier, and easier with the help of an Instant Pot. Get ready for the best corn dish you will ever, and I do mean ever, experience. Sweet, smoky, tangy and addictive, this salad will be your new party dish go-to!
Instant Pot Mexican Street Corn Recipe
Prep Time: 15 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
7 Layer Bean Dip
What better recipe to show off your Instant Pot Refried Beans than the famous 7 Layer Bean Dip. This recipe was created by my mom and has been proclaimed, “BEST LAYERED BEAN DIP EVER!” for the past 30 years. That's serious street cred right there.
Prep Time: 20 min, Total Recipe Time: 22 min
Red Lentil Soup (30 min)
If there were ever a magical, “cures what ails you” soup, this one would be it! Full of creamy, flavorful, good-for-you foods that will fill your belly with warm, comforting “food medicine” (as I like to call it). Winter viruses got nothin' on this!
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 30 min
Instant Pot Roasted Cauliflower
This Instant Pot Whole Roasted Cauliflower is getting all dressed up today, get ready for the ultimate taste bud party! Tender roasted cauliflower on a swoosh of Homemade Hummus, drizzled with a bright herbaceous chimichurri sauce . . . are you with me?
Instant Pot Roasted Cauliflower Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
Pressure Cooker Perfect Tofu
To the 50% of you who are about to skip over this post . . . STOP!!! Give me 5 minutes and an open mind, and I just might be able to change your entire perception of the world (or at least your meat alternative perception). Meet Perfect Instant Pot Tofu.
Pressure Cooker Perfect Tofu Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 20 min
Instant Pot Quinoa Fried Rice
Instant Pot Quinoa Fried Rice is my whole grain, high protein, veggie-loaded solution for lackluster restaurant Chinese fried rice. Open your mind and palate to this new improved quinoa version, this is going to become a regular in your home!
Instant Pot Quinoa Fried Rice Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min, Total Recipe Time: 25 min
Best Recipe Round-Ups
Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners (Family Friendly!)
Are you new to all things Instant Pot and pressure cooking? Need some amazing tried and true recipes to get comfortable with this amazing appliance? You are in the right place! Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners coming right up!
Instant Pot Recipes for Beginners (Family Friendly!) post.
Best Healthy Instant Pot Soup Recipes
All of my favorite Instant Pot Soup Recipes on one page! Here you will find a huge variety of Instant Pot soups that are all healthy, unique, and bursting with flavor.
Best Healthy Instant Pot Soup Recipes post.
Instant Pot Tomato Recipes Roundup
Instant Pot Fresh Tomato Recipes that will have you on cloud nine!
Instant Pot Tomate Recipes Roundup post.
Instant Pot Zucchini Recipe Roundup
Zucchini Recipe Round-Up – Instant Pot style! Here are 20 recipes to make sure not one single zucchini goes to waste. Plus, a bonus tip at the end of the post on what to do with zucchini when you just don't want to eat it anymore.
Instant Pot Zucchini Recipe Roundup post.
Learn how to use your Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker to cook your vegetables, including Squash and Pumpkin. We also give you easy side dishes to make!
Check out all our Side Dish Ideas here.
What do you think? Is dinner time sounding a bit more doable? The memories we create around the dinner table are so precious. I sincerely hope this list gets you excited and motivated to put a wholesome, homemade meal on your dinner table!
What are your favorite meals for busy nights? I’d love to hear!
Leave a Comment