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  2. 15 Main Dishes With 10 Ingredients or Less

15 Main Dishes With 10 Ingredients or Less

March 07, 2022
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Credit: Cooking Light
Looking for weeknight dinner inspiration? These stellar main courses require just 10 ingredients or less (minus pantry staples like olive oil, salt, and pepper) and can be whipped up in a snap. From juicy chicken thighs to creamy pastas, these dinners prove that the simplest dishes can sometimes be the best. 
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Peppery Chicken Thighs with Potatoes

Credit: Cooking Light
View Recipe: Peppery Chicken Thighs with Potatoes

This dish includes a savory gravy to serve over the tender chicken thighs and baby potatoes.

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One-Pot Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes

Credit: Photo: Caitlin Bensel
View Recipe: One-Pot Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes

This one-pot pasta dinner is simple, fresh, and healthy—what's not to love? Cooking the pasta right in the sauce saves time and cleanup while infusing the noodles with more flavor. This speedy recipe is also endlessly adaptable, and lends itself to plenty of easy ingredient swaps, too. 

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Super Quick Low Carb Shrimp Scampi

Credit: Antonis Achilleos
View Recipe: Super Quick Low Carb Shrimp Scampi

This low-calorie and low-carb shrimp scampi feels like a restaurant dish, but it is actually very easy to make. There is just enough buttery sauce to coat the shrimp. The trick is to not over-reduce the sauce when cooking it. It’s better to make it a little more saucy than dry. If you want to bulk up this entrée, you could add peas or thinly sliced carrots, or serve it over spaghetti squash

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Easy Herbed Pork Tenderloin

Credit: Photo: Colin Price
View Recipe: Easy Herbed Pork Tenderloin

We suggest buying poultry blend herbs, which will provide a mix of rosemary and thyme in one package (instead of buying two separate packages). Be sure to reserve half of the pork for the next day's lunch.

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Peppery Beef and Broccoli

Credit: Caitlin Bensel
View Recipe: Peppery Beef and Broccoli

Fast-cooking flank steak provides a hefty dose of iron; broccoli’s ample vitamin K boosts bone strength. Slice the steak against the grain for the most tender results.

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Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Credit: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

Very creamy and saucy with a faint sharpness from the cheddar, this mac and cheese packs hot sauce and dry mustard, which adds depth. If you don’t have dry mustard, substitute with Dijon. Once the pasta is cooked, the dish comes together very fast, so have your sauce ingredients ready.

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Perfect Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts

Credit: Photo: Brian Woodcock; Styling: Claire Spollen
Get Recipe: Perfect Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts

This is the perfect way to cook chicken breasts. You'll end up with a golden brown platter of delicious chicken ready for the tasting. Use this recipe to shred over baked potatoes, make chicken salad, slice over fresh greens, or enjoy with classic sides such as haricot verts and roasted potatoes.

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Cocoa Salmon

Credit: Photography © 2019 by Tim Turner
View Recipe: Cocoa Salmon

This grilled salmon is a standout. Master this, and you will have a great dinner party dish. It might seem counterintuitive, but adding cocoa is the magic elixir here. This combination of savory spices with unsweetened cocoa creates a crispy barbecue finish, leaving the salmon so moist, it absolutely melts in your mouth.

This recipe is excerpted from No Crumbs Left: Whole30 Endorsed, Recipes for Everyday Food Made Marvelous

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Paleo Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Credit: Photo: Jennifer Causey
View Recipe: Paleo Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Two teaspoons of smoked paprika may seem like a lot, but it will help to form a nice crust on the pork as it sears in the pan. You can also sub 1 teaspoon ground cumin plus 1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder. A hot oven will help the sweet potato wedges crisp up on the outside without burning. Remove the pork from the oven just as it reaches 140. The temp will climb to an ideal 145, and the meat will be just right. This is paleo version of one of our favorite weeknight dinners.

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Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup

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View Recipe: Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup

Broccoli-cheese soup is a cold-weather remedy that hits all the right notes—creamy, cheesy, and soothing.

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Chicken Burgers

Credit: Photo: John Autry
View Recipe: Chicken Burgers

If you need to speed things up, make these chicken patties in advance. Line a cookie sheet with freezer paper, arrange uncooked patties in a single layer on the pan, and freeze until firm. Wrap each frozen burger in freezer paper or aluminum, and store until you need them. Like beef burgers, take out as many as you need, thaw in the fridge overnight or while you're at work, and you'll be able to have a simple sandwich in minutes.

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Shrimp and Broccoli Rotini

Credit: Photo: Caitlin Bensel
View Recipe: Shrimp and Broccoli Rotini

Sometimes simple and easy is best, as in this no-frills shrimp, broccoli, and pasta dish. Try switching to whole-grain rotini for a nutrition boost. You can use fresh or frozen shrimp in this recipe, just make sure to look for the peeled and deveined kind without any additives. 

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Vegetarian Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Credit: Antonis Achilleos
View Recipe: Vegetarian Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Flavor-packed, incredibly nutritious, and very filling, this stuffed sweet potato is a triple threat! You’ll get nearly 50 percent of your daily quota of heart-healthy fiber, as well as 25 percent of your potassium needs (which is a nutrient that most Americans fall short on daily yet can help offset the negative effects salt). Want to make it vegan? Just leave off the yogurt—or sub with your favorite non-dairy alternative.

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Slow Cooker Miso–Black Pepper Salmon

Credit: Caitlin Bensel
View Recipe: Slow Cooker Miso–Black Pepper Salmon

As a true dump-it-and-leave-it dish, this salmon is a weeknight go-to. The lime and scallion flavors will soak into the salmon, leaving it with a light Asian flavor. Be sure to spray the foil with cooking spray before adding food to the slow cooker to ensure that nothing sticks to it.

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Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Chipotle Butter and Bell Peppers

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View Recipe: Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Chipotle Butter and Bell Peppers

Make sure the cast-iron skillet is hot before adding the steaks so that they get a nicely browned crust on both sides. We like using both red and orange peppers, though just one color will work.

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    Everything in This Slideshow

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    1 of 15 Peppery Chicken Thighs with Potatoes
    2 of 15 One-Pot Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes
    3 of 15 Super Quick Low Carb Shrimp Scampi
    4 of 15 Easy Herbed Pork Tenderloin
    5 of 15 Peppery Beef and Broccoli
    6 of 15 Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
    7 of 15 Perfect Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts
    8 of 15 Cocoa Salmon
    9 of 15 Paleo Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes
    10 of 15 Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup
    11 of 15 Chicken Burgers
    12 of 15 Shrimp and Broccoli Rotini
    13 of 15 Vegetarian Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
    14 of 15 Slow Cooker Miso–Black Pepper Salmon
    15 of 15 Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Chipotle Butter and Bell Peppers

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