The #1 Healthiest Menu Item at 30 Popular Restaurant Chains
20 Cheap & Easy Dinner Recipes
Family-friendly dinners that are delicious, easy, and affordable.
French Onion Pasta - Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
There's no better feeling than feeding your family (or yourself) a delicious meal, knowing it's cheap (less than $10 for the whole meal), easy to make, and completely satisfying. It's the ultimate recipe trifecta, and I'm happy to say that these 20 recipes have it all.
As you're finding new inspiration for your next affordable dinner, make sure to read the tips and tricks from our editors, contributors, and readers.
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Get Recipe: Creamy Lemon Pasta
"For some added nutrition and a pop of green, add 3 to 4 cups of fresh baby spinach to the pan after cooking the garlic, stirring until it wilts. Frozen green peas or frozen chopped broccoli are also good choices—add up to a cup." —Laurel Randolph, Simply Recipes Senior Editor
Simply Recipes / Photo by Julia Gartland / Food Styling by Pearl Jones
Get Recipe: The 30-Minute Soup I'm Making all Autumn Long
"Spanish smoked paprika gives this soup its signature kick of spice. It's different than Hungarian paprika, which is milder and sweeter." —Jeanette Hurt, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Get Recipe: Midnight Pasta
"Four whole cloves may seem like a lot, but the garlic mellows after it's sautéed gently in oil and then simmered with some of the pasta cooking water. You can adjust the amount depending on your taste, using a couple less cloves or even an extra if you're a serious garlic lover." —Sheela Prakash, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
Get Recipe: Marry Me Beans
"Any kind of white bean will work, like cannellini, navy, and Great Northern." —Laurel
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
Get Recipe: French Onion Pasta
"To get the onions caramelizing faster, salt the onions helps to draw out moisture." —Julie and Amy Luxemberg, Simply Recipes Contributors
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
Get Recipe: My Mom's Famous Broccoli Cheese Casserole Is a Family Favorite
"I like to use aged cheddar for extra umami flavor but use whatever cheddar you prefer. This recipe uses the cheese in two ways; in a simple mornay sauce as well as on top of the casserole to keep things extra cheesy." —Molly Adams, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Phoebe Hauser
Get Recipe: Easy Pasta Pomodoro
"Transferring the cooked pasta straight from the pot to to the sauce means you don't have to clean a colander and any water clinging to the noodles will help to thicken the sauce." —Julia Levy, Simply Recipes Recipe Developer
Simply Recipes / Stephanie Ganz
Get Recipe: The 3-Ingredient Pizza Beans That Converted My Kids Into Bean Lovers
"I like shredded mozzarella or a pizza cheese blend for these beans, but I'm also very on board with the idea of throwing in a half cup or so of ricotta, which gives the dish serious baked pasta vibes." —Stephanie Ganz, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Photo by Jen Causey / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Phoebe Hauser
Get Recipe: This Italian Soup Is Cheap and Delicious—I Can't Stop Making It
"Using the rind from a chunk of Parmesan cheese imparts lots of savory, umami flavor to the broth, so don't skip it. While you can often buy the rinds from grocery stores like Whole Foods, you'll be grating Parmesan cheese into the soup, too, so it's most cost-effective to simply buy a chunk and trim off the rind yourself." —Marianne Williams, Simply Recipes Recipe Developer
Simply Recipes / Hannah Zimmerman
Get Recipe: Sesame Peanut Noodles
"If you want to give your noodles a kick, add a tablespoon of chili oil or Sriracha to the sauce." —Hannah Zimmerman, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Photo by Andrew Bui / Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne
Get Recipe: Best Cabbage Soup
"With so few ingredients, the quality of this soup relies on the quality of your ingredients. Homemade chicken stock is the best (we'll also use Better than Bouillon in a pinch), and a good quality canned tomatoes makes all the difference (we use Muir Glen)." —Elise Bauer, Simply Recipes Founder
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
Get Recipe: The French Onion Beans I'm Making All Autumn Long
"I developed this recipe to be quick and dinner-friendly, so I added a bit of sugar to speed up the onion caramelization; if you have more time, skip the added sugar and let your onions caramelize slowly, ideally for about 30 minutes." —Stephanie
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
Get Recipe: One-Pot Mac and Cheese
"If possible, buy blocks of cheese and shred them yourself. Cheese shredded from a block melts much better into the sauce than pre-shredded." —Kayla Hoang, Simply Recipes Contributor
Elise Bauer
Get Recipe: Chili Beans with Rice
"As is, this recipe makes a fairly mild batch of chili beans. If you'd like more heat, just add more chili powder to taste, or a little cayenne pepper. You can also add Tabasco or Crystal hot sauce, either to the pot or to each individual bowl." —Elise
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Get Recipe: The 20-Minute Dinner I've Made a Thousand Times
"Watch your brown butter closely. It can go from perfectly golden to burnt quickly. If you sense that it will burn, quickly but carefully transfer the butter into a heat-proof bowl to stop it from further browning." —Sharon Lehman, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Annika Panikker
Get Recipe: Daal Palak (Lentil & Spinach Curry)
"This is a thicker daal recipe. If you would like it thinner add 1/4 cup water into the daal and stir well, then add the tadka." —Annika Panikker, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
Get Recipe: Kai Jeow (Thai Omelet)
"If you are having the kai jeow with steamed rice and raw vegetables, use the full 2 teaspoons of fish sauce, as the salty omelet will "season" what's served with it. If you are having the omelet on its own, you may want to reduce the fish sauce to 1 teaspoon." —Lany Phlong, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Mihaela Kozaric Sebrek
Get Recipe: I Make These 2-Ingredient Creamy Beans When I'm Too Tired To Cook
"The last time I made two-ingredient creamy pesto beans, I drizzled a small pack of cherry tomatoes with olive oil, seasoned with salt, and broiled them while the beans cooked. I ended up piling the beans up on crispy toast and topping with the tomatoes, more pesto, and a drizzle of balsamic." —Laurel
Simply Recipes / Molly Adams
Get Recipe: The Affordable One-Pan Meal I Make Once a Week
"For this recipe, I prefer using the block of feta that comes in brine—it has a better flavor and texture that crumbled feta." —Molly Adams, Simply Recipes Contributor
Simply Recipes / Alexandra Shytsman
Get Recipe: The 4-Ingredient Soup I Make When I'm Short on Time and Need Comfort
"If you don't own an immersion blender, you can purée the soup in a food processor or a regular upright blender. Be very careful when puréeing hot liquids in an upright blender. It is essential that steam has a way to escape while you purée, so remember to take out the removable center of the blender lid before blending and loosely drape a kitchen towel over the opening." —Alexandra Shytsman, Simply Recipes Contributor
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Pasta Al Limone (Lemon Pasta)
This simple pasta recipe doesn't try to do much. Hailing from Sartiano's restaurant in New York City, it pairs fresh spaghetti with a bright, refreshing and lemony cream sauce and Parmesan cheese. It comes together quickly, so that you can have a restaurant-worthy dinner on the table in under thirty minutes.
The first step is to make the cream sauce — the base is created by emulsifying butter into heavy cream, which sounds more complicated than it is. Working over a moderate heat, simply swirl the butter into the cream until it is incorporated, then add a squeeze of lemon juice and some freshly grated zest.
The best part about this recipe is its versatility. Serve it on its own as a light appetizer or as a main course with your favorite seasonal vegetables. Sometimes Chef Portale serves it with market-fresh seafood at Sartiano's, such as lobster, scallops or shrimp, and it's especially decadent when adorned with a generous spoonful of Ossetra caviar for special occasions. You can also switch up some of the ingredients. Fresh pasta is ideal, but dry spaghetti will not disappoint. Other long pasta strands will work too — try something such as linguine, bucatini or fettuccine. Finish everything off with some fresh chives and as much Parmesan cheese as you can handle.
Swap Option: You can use dry pasta instead of fresh. Adjust cooking time of pasta according to the package instructions.
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Broadsheet's 15 Most Popular Recipes Of All Time
Since Broadsheet was launched in 2009, we've published hundreds of recipes from dozens of top chefs from both near and far. Scrolling through them all gives a snapshot of where our eating habits have taken us – both in terms of what's on our plate and the venues we've loved – over the past 15 years: the nation's 2010s obsession with "stoner" food and fried chicken, the era when creativity on the breakfast scene was hitting new heights, through to a rising awareness of native ingredients. Then there are the Covid years, when we were all working from home, looking for whatever kitchen shortcuts we could find.
Through all the dining trends, venue openings and closings, and love affairs with certain modes of eating, a clutch of recipes have proven to be standouts. And, perhaps signifying the global upheavals of recent years, the most popular recipes on Broadsheet have been heavy on comfort: lots of cheese, bowls of pasta, potatoes aplenty and some sweet treats sprinkled in as well. Here we've collected the 15 most popular recipes from 15 years of Broadsheet.
Never miss a moment. Make sure you're subscribed to our newsletter today.SUBSCRIBE NOWIf you've ever asked "how good can a potato really be?" this recipe – the most popular ever published on Broadsheet – is your answer. Broadcaster Annabel Crabb's "glass" potatoes are so named for their bottoms: "a translucent, crackling, toffee-coloured brittle delight". Just don't skimp on the salt and oil.
Take rich, flavourful cauliflower cheese, wrap it in filo and you have this hot mess of a pie by Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad. Jazzed up with curry powder and English mustard, it's also great if you're feeling a bit lazy. And its "scrunched up" edges are part of the charm.
It seems Broadsheet readers love an Ottolenghi pie. This one takes the layers of breaded eggplant, cheese and tomato sauce of an Italian-American eggplant parmigiana and tops them with crunchy kataifi (or string) pastry for a deeply delicious – and meatless – dinner party centrepiece.
Having a great lamington recipe in your arsenal is almost as important as a go-to roast chicken technique or your mum's spag bol method. And this one, by Beatrix's Nat Paull, is a classic: fluffy sponge sandwiching homemade strawberry jam, coated in chocolate icing and encased in coconut. It's a labour of love that is well worth the effort.
If you're going to make a chocolate cake, it may as well be "the fudgiest of all the chocolate cakes". Which is precisely what this can't-stop-at-one-slice bake is, according to its maker Nadine Ingram. And she'd know: she's the founder of beloved Sydney bakery Flour and Stone, where the counter is a riot of Sydney-famous sweet treats.
Just a few ingredients are all it takes to pull together a classic spaghetti carbonara – but there are several ways it can go wrong (hello, scrambled eggs and split sauce). This recipe, from Sydney pub The Dolphin, helps you dodge any possible pitfalls and offers a bonus tip to inject your pasta with extra flavour.
This recipe is a version of a dish created by a family-owned restaurant on the Amalfi Coast – Stanley Tucci recently declared it one of the best things he's ever eaten. The original recipe is kept under wraps, but Danielle Alvarez's take is, luckily, a less closely guarded secret.
Potato cake, potato scallop, potato fritter – we might have a never-ending nationwide debate about what these deep-fried spud rounds are called, but we can all agree they're a marvellous invention. Adam D'Sylva's recipe leans heavily on the batter to guarantee the correct crispiness and avoid any unnecessary greasiness.
Brownies are a dime a dozen – that's why it's good to have a brownie recipe that's head and shoulders above the rest. This one by Natalie Paull of Beatrix is exactly what you want. For starters, it has a perfectly fine-flaked top and a special method for keeping the brownies soft for longer. Plus, it has the potential to be endlessly adapted.
Got a barbeque coming up? This corn will really get the party started. Charred sweet kernels with a hint of smoky paprika are amped up with a tangy sour cream dressing and a hit of lime for good measure.
Crisp shards of flatbread, sprinkles of toasty almonds and dollops of tangy yoghurt come together in this crowd-favourite take on fatteh from Melbourne's Moroccan Soup Bar. The caramelised almonds are what really make this dish shine.
This warming Ottolenghi recipe is a twofer: not only does it yield a series of eggplants wrapped around paneer (or tofu, if that's more your bag), but it also includes a zingy coconut dal that's brilliant all by itself.
The first rule of nailing this rich butter chicken is to use bone-in chicken thighs to pack in the flavour. And never, ever use chicken breasts. Amandeep Sharma, a former Attica chef, would make this as a staff meal for his fine-dining chef colleagues. It was a massive hit – and you'll find it's just as popular when you make it at home.
At the time of writing, this perfectly textured risotto from Adam Liaw has only been on Broadsheet for a little over a year. Yet it's already one of our most popular recipes of all time, testament to the faith home cooks everywhere have in the cookbook author and TV host's meticulous, foolproof recipes.
In our mind, summer is ripe for minimalist cooking: few ingredients, not much use of the stove and speedy enough that you're not cutting into beach time. This recipe from Brisbane's Botanica ticks all those boxes, as well as a fourth one: it packs big flavour.
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