Easy stovetop meals

We are still dealing with high temperatures and I am still unwilling to turn on the oven to cook dinner. August is here and making its presence known. I am sure you know what I mean. Nothing heats up the house quicker than turning on the oven.

This week, I wanted to go with quick and easy, but I made salads last month. So this month, I wanted something that didn’t keep me in the kitchen too terribly long, but was more substantial than a salad. Things that take 30 minutes or less to cook are the best. Even if I need to turn on the stovetop, if I can be done quickly, I don’t mind as much.

Choosing foods that don’t take long to cook is fairly easy. Seafood is super easy to cook and is fast cooking to boot. Recipes tend to include fewer ingredients too as you don’t want to overpower the flavor of the fish. So when I think quick, I automatically think seafood. As long as your seafood is thawed, you are talking just minutes to a good meal. Shrimp, when raw, is about 5 minutes per side. You want to cheat and be done quicker? Buy the cooked shrimp and just heat it. Fish is about the same 5-7 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the fillet. Scallops are even quicker at about 3 minutes per side.

Breakfast is typically pretty quick too. Eggs are quick and easy in just about any form, from scrambled to hard boiled. Sausage is quick to cook, but if you don’t really feel like doing much, you can buy sausage and bacon precooked and frozen hash brown patties you throw in the air fryer to crisp. Frozen waffles in the toaster can finish up a quick breakfast. Or if you don’t want to go all that elaborate, make breakfast burritos! A little cheese, some scrambled eggs and crumbled bacon or sausage and you have a meal. As long as you aren’t making 30 pancakes they only take a few minutes too.

Smoked sausage is already cooked, all it needs is reheated so I keep it on hand for easy meals. Steak is another quick meal that won’t take long to cook. Your sides for this dish will likely take longer to prepare than the meat itself. We like ours medium rare in my home and that is only a couple minutes per side and done.

Thicker meats can also be pounded or sliced thinner for quicker cooking or diced into smaller chunks. Something like chicken takes too long to cook unless it’s smaller pieces.

You can also cook something one day, say in the slow cooker or outside on the grill. Then, use the leftovers to make another meal a different day. Brisket is great as a meal one day, sandwiches another and tacos yet another. Leftover chicken can be shredded for tacos as well or sliced thin for sandwiches. Ground beef for tacos one night can be quesadillas or nachos another evening.

These recipes this month only took 10-20 minutes to make each. I was in and out of the kitchen quickly. Make your grocery list, check your ingredients on hand and head to the store. Then, meet me in the kitchen for these easy stovetop recipes!