Are you looking for quick meals with few ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes? We've got you covered with 30 lazy Sunday dinner recipes including pasta, sandwich, toast, sauce, dip, and salad ideas.
These easy meals are low-effort, time-efficient, and beginner-friendly. You'll be surprised by what you can cook, or mix together with pantry ingredients, and basic spices.
Browse through this list, and take your pick: from easy and healthy grain bowls, and quick pasta, to one-pot meals - all of them ready in 20 minutes. Hopefully, you'll find a new lazy Sunday dinner favorite reading through this list!
LAZY Sunday DINNERS IN 20 MINS
Here's a selection of the easiest and quickest recipes, perfect for lazy (and busy) days.
These meals are family-friendly, vegetarian-friendly, and do not require any cooking skills (apart from boiling the water for pasta).
Avocado Toast
We start our lazy Sunday dinner list with a no-cooking recipe: creamy avocado spread. You need just 5 minutes of prepping and blending, toasted bread, and little sesame seeds, chickpeas, or diced tomatoes on top.
Rigatoni Arrabbiata
Rigatoni Arrabbiata is a creamy and super easy Italian pasta dish with a spicy tomato sauce. This is a simple yet tasty recipe that you can make in just about 20 minutes with pantry ingredients. Little effort but maximum flavor!
Sautéed Zucchini
Sauteed zucchini is a stovetop recipe that you can make in 15 minutes! It's a great way to enjoy a lazy Sunday evening while still getting a tasty and nourishing meal. Top the zucchini toast with basil, pine nuts, or seeds, and enjoy this Italian-inspired bruschetta!
Guacamole
Guacamole is a 5-minute Mexican dip that you can serve as an easy snack or appetizer with nachos. Upgrade it to a meal by spreading it in a burrito, sandwich, or on toast. It's easy, fulfilling, and super tasty.
Tofu Scramble
Breakfast for dinner is on the menu with this 5-minute tofu scramble mixed with veggies and easily thrown together in a pan. If you're feeling lazy, this is a plant-based and super easy dinner idea, great for toast and crispy bread.
8-minute Microwave Sweet Potato
Prick a sweet potato and press 8 minutes of your microwave - and dinner is served! This microwave sweet potato can be eaten with a little butter, salt, a quick couscous-parsley mix, or whatever sauce or condiment you have in your fridge.
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta
Creamy pasta in 20 minutes with roasted pepper sauce and rigatoni pasta. Get your jar of bell pepper, almonds, and canned tomatoes - blend it, and mix the pesto sauce with pasta! It's a quick and beginner-friendly pasta meal!
Marinara Sauce
Marinara sauce is great as a dip (breadsticks, crostini) and also as a 5-minute sauce for spaghetti. You'll have a tasty Italian meal with little effort, and you can easily add a can of chickpeas or leftover protein from your fridge on top.
Greek Salad
If you're going for a light dinner or appetizer, this greek salad is a super easy 10-minute meal. Serve it with crostini or toasted bread, and plenty of good quality extra virgin olive oil.
Panzanella
Use bread leftovers in a creative (and no-cooking needed) manner with this Italian Panzanella recipe. Eat it as is, or serve it next to a dip of your choice, such as guacamole, hummus, or white bean dip.
Avocado Salad
This 10-minute avocado salad is creamy, crunchy, and refreshing, and it's all you need for a quick lunch or light lazy dinner during the hot summer months. Add a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas or lentils to make it a complete and fulfilling meal.
Eggplant Bruschetta
Bruschetta is mainly served as an appetizer, but many people in Italy eat it for dinner, topped with different vegetables and leftovers from their lunch, and served with a salad on the side. Try this sauteed eggplant bruschetta made on a pan in less than 20 minutes, it's a low-effort yet delicious dinner idea.
Chickpea Salad
This colorful chickpea salad is a quick, tasty, and nutritious main dish. Make it in just 15 minutes with simple, fresh ingredients and a creamy mustard dressing, no cooking required!
Hummus
you only need a few pantry staples to make hummus: a can of chickpeas, tahini, cumin, garlic, lemon juice, and salt. You can eat it for breakfast, brunch, as a snack, lunch, in a sandwich, with veggies and Shirazi salad, after a workout, on pasta, for dinner, and why not, as a midnight snack.
Artichoke Pasta
Another lazy pasta meal is this 20-minute artichoke pasta that is creamy, tangy, and packed with tender artichoke hearts. It's an easy yet restaurant-worthy everyday meal made with jarred artichoke and fusilli pasta.
Hummus Pasta
Get a quick and easy pasta dinner with this delicious meal ready in less than 20 minutes. You can make hummus pasta with homemade hummus or your favorite store-bought brand, and optionally, add pan-fried mushrooms on top.
Mashed Chickpea Salad
Mashed chickpea salad is a quick and easy recipe made with canned chickpeas. It's the perfect replacement for tuna in a sandwich, to fill a baked sweet potato, on a slice of bread, or with a baked potato and chives on top.
Lemon Pasta
It really takes just 20 minutes to make this delicious and refreshing pasta dish with spinach and lemon. You need only eight simple ingredients, a pot, and a pan, and you'll enjoy a springy pasta dinner in no time!
Summer Pasta Salad
Meal-prep-friendly and colorful, this pasta salad is a 20-minute lazy dinner idea for spring and summer. You can prep the veggies and dressing in the time it takes to boil your pasta, and mix it all together in a big salad bowl.
Air Fryer Potatoes
Air fryer potatoes are an excellent side dish with a tender, almost buttery core and with a finger-licking good, salty, crispy skin. Serve them with mayonnaise, and ketchup as a snack, or appetizer. They have a pleasant rosemary aroma and they're perfect for lazy Sundays.
Sauteed Eggplant
Here's a classic Italian recipe ready in 20 minutes. Serve it as a side dish, as an appetizer on toasted bread, or mixed with pasta for a healthy and delicious dinner.
Creamy Kale Pasta
This is a terrific recipe for everyday dinners because it's tasty and fulfilling, and you can make it in literally the time it takes to boil the pasta. The secret to that is to cook the kale with the pasta, in the same pot, at the same time. As a result, the kale gets soft and creamy, and the pasta gets flavorful.
Pasta Puttanesca
This pasta puttanesca is one of those meals that makes you wonder how a few simple ingredients like tomatoes, olives, and capers can make such a tasty sauce. Perfect as a lazy meal, and without meat, fish, or dairy, and ready in about the time it takes to boil the pasta.
Kale Pesto Pasta
This 20-minute pasta is perfect for when you're short on time, you can make the kale pesto pasta sauce in a few minutes. And if you want to add more veggies, try tossing in some roasted pumpkin. It's delicious!
Chickpea Pasta Salad
Here's a chickpea pasta salad that is quick and healthy made with fresh and nutritious ingredients in less than 20 minutes. You'll love this healthy recipe because it's tasty, nourishing, and fulfilling, with wholesome plant-based protein, fresh veggies, and healthy fats.
Broccoli Pasta
Broccoli pasta is so easy, you're gonna fall in love with the broccoli-pasta combination. Mash broccoli into a sauce, add the al dente pasta and enjoy this restaurant-worthy pasta meal.
White Bean Dip
If you can find a can or two of cannellini beans in your pantry, you're in luck! Make this white bean dip as a snack, and serve it with pita and veggie sticks. Or use it as a spread in a sandwich with cucumber and tomatoes for a quick and satiating dinner idea.
Couscous Salad
This easy couscous salad is easy, fresh, crunchy, and nutritious. Prep time is just 15 mins, and you'll have a complete and nutritious meal with a tasty lemon vinaigrette.
Tomato Bruschetta
Tomato bruschetta is crunchy, juicy, garlicky, and perfect as an appetizer, dinner, or even for brunch. The recipe is simple, and you can make it in 10 minutes with a few ingredients.
Garlic and Oil Pasta (Spaghetti Aglio e Olio)
Here's the original recipe for garlic and oil pasta, a delicious Italian meal also known as spaghetti aglio e olio. Make it in under 15 minutes, with simple pantry ingredients and fresh parsley.
What can I make for dinner when I feel lazy?
Sauces and condiments are a great place to start if you feel like a low-effort dinner.
There are so many ways you can level up your meals with a good sauce! Take, for example, marinara as a base sauce for these easy and delightful meals:
- Use as a dipping sauce for breadsticks and crunchy crostini.
- As a pizza sauce with store-bought dough for homemade mini pizzas, or flatbread pizzas.
- To make a zucchini sauce for pasta, by adding air-fried zucchini or roasted zucchini.
- Use it in a protein-packed recipe for this delicious pan-fried tofu with tomato sauce.
If you have mayonnaise in your fridge, or you feel like making this 5-minute egg-free mayonnaise, you can make a lazy dinner, such as:
- BLT sandwich with toast and tomato slices
- "Egg" sandwich with mayonnaise, mustard, tofu, and chives.
- Carrot raisin salad with grated carrot, raisins, and parsley.
- Serving of french fries with ketchup, mustard, and mayo.
How to store these easy meals
- How to store: Most of these meals keep for 1 day in the refrigerator, best if stored in an airtight container.
- How to freeze: You can also freeze most of these meals for up to 3 months (although not salads, and uncooked meals). To freeze them, let them cool down first, then transfer them to a freezer-friendly container, leaving some space to allow them to expand.
- How to reheat: Thaw in the microwave or in a pot on the stovetop. Before serving, garnish with fresh herbs. Always refer to the individual recipes for exact guidance.
More easy dinner ideas
If you're still looking for ideas of what to cook, take a peek at our other easy recipe collections:
For many more 30-minute meal ideas, check out our 30-minute meal category page.
30 Lazy Sunday Dinner Ideas
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 2 large avocados
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice or more to taste
- ½ clove garlic
- ⅓ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and score its flesh with the tip of a knife. Then, scoop the flesh out and add it to a food processor.
- Peel the garlic, cut it in half lengthwise, and remove its core, if any, with the tip of a knife. Next, slice the garlic and add it to the food processor.
- Add the rest of the ingredients to the food processor: tahini, freshly squeezed lemon juice, salt, and black pepper.
- Pulse until you reach your desired texture. You might have to stop once or twice to scrape down the sides of the food processor. We think the avocado spread should be almost completely smooth, without too many avocado pieces.
- Taste, adjust for salt and lemon juice, then transfer to a bowl and serve as a dip or a spread.
Video Recipe
Notes
Nutritional Values
If you liked these lazy Sunday dinner ideas, you might also like
Leave a comment and star rating :-)