The 3-Ingredient Dinner Matt Damon Makes On Repeat

Even movie stars have their favorite go-to easy meals to make. For Matt Damon, it's a three-ingredient dinner that he loves making for his kids to ensure that they eat some veggies. The simple meal consists of just pasta, butter, and steamed broccoli.

In an interview with People, Damon — who admits that he's a "terrible cook" overall — said of his go-to dinner, "It's all about getting enough healthy food in front of them every three hours." And his kids love it. The actor continues, "Luckily, I found out all three of my youngest girls love broccoli. There are times where I can't get them to eat protein or a little piece of fish because they are going crazy over the broccoli. Sometimes they're the ones bribing me to eat more of my vegetables."

With that in mind, this may just be the perfect meal to get your kids to eat their veggies — or even to get veggies into your own diet if it's something that you struggle with. Plus, this meal couldn't be simpler — or faster. You can even steam the broccoli in the microwave while you wait for the pasta to cook. And if your kids don't like broccoli, swap it out for whatever veggie they will eat — perhaps asparagus, cauliflower, or spinach. Whichever vegetable you choose, you should be able to serve the pasta within 30 minutes, making it the perfect dish for a busy weeknight.

There are more ways to customize Matt Damon's easy, few-ingredient pasta dish than just swapping out the veggie. In fact, you may want to adjust the meal more to the adult palette.

To start, you can swap out the butter for pasta sauce. For marinara, try Rao's Homemade, which we placed in the top spot in our ranking of 12 classic marinara sauce brands. Or, other great sauce options include pesto for something fresh and nutty or, if you want something creamy, try Alfredo sauce. You can even turn the dish into a veggie version of cacio e pepe — which typically consists of just pasta, black pepper, and Pecorino Romano, combined with pasta water to make a creamy sauce.

There are also classic pasta add-ons to consider, such as a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese or a dash of red chili flakes for heat. You can also level up your simple pasta dish with a fried egg – this addition is a tasty way to make the pasta a bit more filling and give it some extra protein. Or, for another way to add some extra protein, perhaps you have some leftover bacon or sausage from breakfast that you can throw in there as well to round out the dish. Finally, you can't go wrong with adding fresh herbs, such as basil, oregano, or thyme — just one of these will instantly make the dish more exciting and elevated.