11 Tips From Chefs For Stress-Free Weeknight Meals

In his role as a judge on "Iron Chef," Andrew Zimmern may seem all about the details; however, as a home cook, his goal is efficiency. In a conversation with Today, the celebrity chef confessed that he tries to keep his weeknight cooking time under 20 minutes, and that he does so by prepping his food in advance. "I like to plan as much of the week's food as I can and cook most of it on Sundays. That's my day to cook three, four, or five things," he told the outlet.

As revealed in his interview, some of Zimmern's favorite foods to prepare for later include items that are easy to store. The celebrity chef recommends preparing liquids like soups and pasta sauces in advance and then keeping them in your freezer. To put this method to the test, you can start out by making this twenty-minute tomato basil soup. From there, pour your creation into a vacuum-sealed bag, rather than a plastic container. This strategy won't just maximize your freezer space, but it will also ensure that your soup will be easy to defrost come weeknight dinner time. 

Soups and sauces aren't the only items that Zimmern likes to make in advance. As the chef added, salad ingredients — like roasted vegetables or quinoa — can be whipped up on a Sunday afternoon, stored in the fridge, and then assembled into a healthy dinner days later. 

Cookbook author Lindsay-Jean Hard may be a whiz in the kitchen, but she still understands that not everybody has a ton of time to make a gourmet meal after work. Thankfully, as she revealed in a conversation with NBC, the culinary professional is ready to offer us a solution: Frittatas. According to Hard, frittatas are relatively easy to whip up since they are crustless and don't require any specific ingredients beyond eggs. As she told NBC, all you have to do to make a good frittata is combine some ingredients and then throw them into the oven to bake.

The best part is that you can use your leftovers by adding them to a frittata. In her interview, Hard explained that frittatas are, "easily adaptable to whatever stragglers you have in the fridge — veggies, cheeses, [and] other odds and ends." One of the most unusual and delicious ingredient combos that she's ever tried involved some leftover breakfast treats. "One of my friends adds tater tots to [her frittatas] and now I'm a convert," she explained. "I add them in whenever I have them on hand."

To make this lazy weeknight dinner, mix some eggs with milk or cream and add in your toppings of choice. Cubed ham, crumbled sausage, and shredded chicken are all great meat items that can add extra protein to your finished product. In terms of vegetables, leftover spinach, peppers, and onions can also bring flavor to your creation.

Chef Sara Moulton knows so much about cooking during the work week that she literally stars in a show called "Sara's Weeknight Meals." According to the TV personality, the most common struggle with weeknight cooking has more to do with planning your meal than with actually cooking it. As Moulton divulged in an interview with nola.com, "The hardest part of cooking is figuring out what you're going to cook." 

Thankfully, the celebrity chef says that this problem has an easy solution. Rather than worry endlessly about what you're going to make for your weeknight dinners, Moulton suggests organizing your fridge into three columns: One for protein, one for veggies, and one for starches. She advises home cooks to buy five ingredients for each of these three groups — one for every day of the week. "So, now you have five things from each column in-house. You can just open the refrigerator and say, 'I'm going to take that item from Column A, that item from Column B, and Column C and make dinner,'" the chef explained.

To put Moulton's idea to work, stock your fridge with some of your favorite foods from each category. Don't forget to be creative and select different kinds of starches, including root vegetables like sweet potatoes, tubers like yuca, and grains like the ones found in tabbouleh salad. 

When it comes to whipping up a quick and easy weeknight meal, Chef Cary Taylor is all about elevating some ramen. The RealGood Farm Box chef says that he likes to add some fun ingredients to some basic ramen noodles in order to create a unique meal. And, interestingly enough, some of these ingredients include leftovers from previous dinners. "My go-to quick meal is store-bought ramen noodles that I doctor up with chicken stock from the box, kimchee, chili garlic sauce, leftover rotisserie chicken, and green onions," the chef told Eat This, Not That! If you have extra eggs lying around the fridge, Taylor says you can also add them to your noodle soup. "I like to crack an egg and poach [it] in the broth as well," he added. 

To make ramen for a weeknight dinner, you can start out with some canned broth and a pack of instant noodles. Heat the two items up together so that they cook quickly and then feel free to add whatever ingredients you wish to the pot. In terms of using leftovers, definitely consider adding any kind of dark poultry meat to your ramen. The scraps of meat that you'll commonly find on a turkey's wing or a chicken drumstick are rich in flavor and will pair wonderfully with this soup. To give this combo a try, you can prepare a batch of this chicken thigh ramen.

For many Americans, the most stressful part of preparing weeknight dinners is trying to guess which foods their children will actually eat. Interestingly, Padma Lakshimi of "Top Chef" says that parents would do well to enlist their kids in the cooking process. In an interview with Buzzfeed, Lakshimi hinted that it's way more difficult to turn your nose up at a meal when you were the cook. "I think one of the best ways to get kids to eat — and especially eat something healthy — is to empower them by contributing to the meal in some way," she recommended.

Some ways to incorporate kids into the cooking process include simple things, like inviting them to participate in grocery shopping. Children can also help out with activities like prep work, mixing ingredients, and plating. According to Lakshimi, some of the tasks that have worked well in her household are, "Washing the lettuce for a salad, chopping vegetables (if they're old enough to handle a knife), shelling peas, peeling potatoes, ripping the fresh herbs, [and] stirring the soup." Regardless of the chore that parents choose, they will be allowing the kids to become more accountable for their meals. "Give them a part of the meal for which they can be responsible," Lakshimi said.

If you are looking for a crowd-pleasing way to use up leftover ingredients, listen to chef and cookbook author, Matt Jennings, who knows how to repurpose these food items in a way that will convince people of all ages to enjoy them: Serving them on top of a pizza. In an interview with Food & Wine, Jennings revealed that his family in Florence, Italy, makes Friday night dinners easy by preparing a pizza topped with the uneaten fare from their fridge. And, to those that say their stores aren't full of black olives and prosciutto, nessun problema! According to Jennings, his family has used all sorts of non-traditional elements as toppings. The chef explained, "Char cucumbers and sprinkle feta on top. We've even put toasted ground nuts, dried fruit, and canned beans on the avanzi — although not necessarily at the same time!"

To take a page out of chef Jennings' book, start out by making some homemade whole-wheat pizza dough. Then, peruse this list of weeknight pizza ideas. You can add any number of unusual ingredients to your "leftover pizza," including chilies, barbecue chicken, ground beef, and butternut squash. Shredded spicy chicken can easily go on tacos one night and then top a Southwestern-style pizza with red peppers and onions the next night. The more creative that you are, the more interesting your results will be.