17 Best Recipes With 5 Ingredients Or Less
There are dinners that call for extensive grocery lists, cleared schedules, and hours of prep and cook time. But unless you're a professional party host, a recipe developer, or a person with a lot of time on your hands, occasions in which you have an endless amount of ingredients at your disposal or enough time to whip up an elaborate feast are few and far between. For the average home cook, weekday meals call for as little time in the kitchen as possible.
As any busy and/or famished person will tell you, a defining characteristic of a quick and easy meal is one that features a minimal amount of ingredients — preferably ones you already have in your refrigerator or pantry. Whether you forgot to go to the store, you're too tired to do a lot of prep work, or you're slammed for time, here's a great selection of Daily Meal recipes for lunch, dinner, dessert, and snack time that don't require more than five ingredients.
1. Homemade Potato Chips
If you think making potato chips from scratch sounds like more work than buying them from the store, think again. Assuming your kitchen is stocked with russet potatoes, canola oil, and salt, you're already on the road to tackling this recipe.
The key to mastering the crisp factor of these classic chips is to soak your thinly sliced potatoes in cold water to draw out excess starch. Like most fried potato dishes, you'll also want to thoroughly dry the spuds with a paper towel before letting them sizzle to golden perfection.
Recipe: Homemade Potato Chips
2. Party-Pleasing Pimento Cheese
When you need to tide over your party guests (or yourself) while you finish making dinner, look no further than this take on a classic Southern dip, which calls for mayonnaise, hot sauce, diced pimentos with the juice, and shredded cheddar cheese. Serve it with buttery crackers and call it a day.
Pro tip: If you're saddled with leftover dip, use it in place of melted cheese on any hot or cold sandwich.
3. Simple Seared Scallops
Sometimes, the simplest dishes are also the classiest. That's definitely the case for this seared scallop recipe, which brings out the delicate sweetness of one of the sea's tastiest mollusks.
Aside from a ripping hot pan to cook everything in, all you need is scallops, salt, black pepper, olive oil, and lemon wedges. With so few ingredients, springing for quality scallops and olive oil will have a big payoff.
Recipe: Simple Seared Scallops
4. Birthday Rice Krispies Treats
This just in: Rice Krispies Treats don't have to come in prepackaged blue foil from your local supermarket. With a box of puffed rice cereal, a bag of mini marshmallows, a stick of unsalted butter, and some sprinkles, you're approximately 35 minutes away from tucking into a sticky square of nostalgic sweetness at home.
Use rainbow sprinkles in this recipe for birthday Rice Krispie Treats — or you can pick any sprinkles color that suits your fancy.
Recipe: Birthday Rice Krispies Treats
5. Easy Garlic Bread
You don't need to make your own baguette to nail this recipe for garlic bread, but you certainly could. If baking's not your thing, you don't need us or Ina Garten to tell you that store-bought is fine.
Aside from bread, you'll need three garlic gloves, parmesan cheese, a stick of unsalted butter, and chopped parsley; the latter adds a kick of freshness to a bread-heavy side dish.
Recipe: Easy Garlic Bread
6. 20-Minute Peanut Butter Cookies
When you're craving something sweet — like, immediately — that will make your kitchen smell like a bakery, peanut butter cookies are the answer. This particular recipe takes a cool 20 minutes and only requires peanut butter, brown sugar, an egg, and vanilla extract. If you bake often, we're willing to bet you have each of those ingredients at the ready.
For bonus points, use a fork to make a pretty crosshatch pattern on each unbaked cookie before putting your batch in the oven.
Recipe: 20-Minute Peanut Butter Cookies
7. Classic Oven-Baked Potatoes
You know it. You love it. But have you made it at home? This baked potato recipe is as no-frills as it gets. You'll need large baking potatoes (such as russet, preferably), olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Depending on your predilection for toppings, this recipe might technically exceed five ingredients (though we digress). Go with butter or sour cream and chives if you're feeling traditional, or get creative with something elevated like miso butter.
Recipe: Classic Oven-Baked Potatoes
8. 4-Ingredient Fudge
Oh no! It's your mom's birthday tomorrow and you still haven't bought her a present. Lucky for you, this recipe for caramel-esque fudge only takes four ingredients (whole milk, unsalted butter, brown sugar, and a can of sweetened condensed milk) and is great for gifting.
The hardest part of the process will be restraining yourself from indulging in the rich dessert as it rests for six hours at room temperature.
Recipe: Four-Ingredient Fudge
9. Buttery Mashed Potatoes
It's only fair to call this buttery mashed potato recipe "simplicity at its best." Yukon or russet potatoes get dressed up with butter, milk, and salt for a creamy side topped with (optional) fresh herbs like parsley or thyme.
Too simple for you? You can always add a dollop of mustard or a sprinkle of cheddar or parmesan cheese for extra flavor.
Recipe: Buttery Mashed Potatoes
10. Basic Cranberry Sauce
The next time you're tasked with making cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, do yourself and your fellow dinner guests a favor and skip the canned stuff. This homemade cran sauce doesn't pull any punches, by which we mean you won't have to make a last-minute trip to the store on Turkey Day to rack up a bunch of random ingredients.
All it takes is one bag of fresh cranberries, sugar, water, and an orange. Not sure if your fresh cranberries are up to snuff? Try the bounce test to determine their ripeness.
Recipe: Basic Cranberry Sauce
11. 5-Ingredient Apple Crisp
When apples are in season but you're too lazy to whip up a pie crust, turn to apple pie's close cousin, the apple crisp. This simple version calls for butter, apples, old-fashioned oats, ground cinnamon, and brown sugar — no stand mixer or rolling pin required.
Serve it warm for dessert with a scoop of ice cream on top. If you somehow manage not to eat the whole thing, have the rest for breakfast with a scoop of yogurt on the side.
Recipe: 5-Ingredient Apple Crisp
12. Valentine's Day Popcorn
If you or your sweetie like salt in your sweets, this festive snack is sure to please. This recipe turns to microwave popcorn for ultimate ease, featuring some pretty simple add-ins: melted white chocolate (or any kind of chocolate), a mixture of red, pink, and white M&M's, and red and pink sprinkles.
Not into Valentine's Day? It goes without saying that you can color-match your candy and sprinkles to any season for year-round popcorn munching.
Recipe: Valentine's Day Popcorn
13. Pasta With Classic Alfredo Sauce
We have nothing bad to say about Olive Garden, but the casual dining chain's alfredo sauce is undoubtedly creamier than an authentic Italian version. Harken back to Alfredo Di Lelio's original Roman sauce (which the Italian chef and restaurant owner purportedly whipped up as a last-minute meal for his wife in the early 1900s) with this no-cream recipe.
The recipe itself calls for a strikingly simple emulsion of butter, parmesan, and pasta water. Go for fettuccine or tagliatelle to keep the tradition alive, and don't forget the cracked black pepper on top.
14. Truffled French Fries
Like potato chips, french fries are a deceptively simple restaurant dish that you can easily make at home. A little truffle oil goes a long way in taking this recipe to a white-tablecloth-worthy place. You'll need russet potatoes, peanut oil, truffle oil, and kosher salt, plus an optional sprinkling of fresh parsley.
If you want to make the recipe healthier, we suggest baking these fries instead of frying them.
Recipe: Truffled French Fries
15. Classic Fresh Pico De Gallo
Call it pico de gallo, salsa fresca, salsa bandera, or salsa cruda. No matter what name for this dish is most familiar to you, this Mexican staple is a fresh alternative to super-saucy salsa, which traditionally favors visible chunks of Roma tomatoes, white onion, cilantro, serrano peppers, and lime juice.
This recipe replaces serranos with a jalapeño, but you can easily sub in the spicy fruit of your choice.
Recipe: Classic Fresh Pico De Gallo
16. Baked Spaghetti Squash
Most vegetables should be used within a week of picking or purchasing, but spaghetti squash is a hearty exception. Buy one, leave it on your counter for up to four months, and use it to whip up this baked spaghetti squash recipe for when you're running low on dinner supplies.
In addition to this particular type of squash, you'll need a neutral-tasting oil with a high smoke point (such as avocado oil), salt, pepper, and garlic granules or powder. It's great with salsa, peanut sauce, or marinara sauce on top.
Recipe: Baked Spaghetti Squash
17. Classic Ladyfingers
Tiramis-who? We can't think of anything more fanciful than a weeknight batch of ladyfingers, with or without the coffee-flavored Italian dessert they're known for.
This classic recipe uses flour, sugar (both granulated and powdered), and eggs. The egg whites arewhipped and later folded into the batter, making for a fluffy, delicately sponge-like sweet treat to have with a cup of coffee. Just be careful not to overmix.
Recipe: Classic Ladyfingers