5 Ingredients or Less: 25 Meals For All Taste Buds

5 Ingredients or Less

flickr: imageme

Not everyone can keep a lot of different ingredients in the cupboards. And not everyone loves to spend a lot of time whipping up complex meals.

For that reason, I’ve complied a list of 25 meals with just 5 ingredients or less to inspire your creativity, and enable you to enjoy simple, and easy meals at home for the whole family.

It’s not for everyone perhaps, but if you sometimes struggle to come up with a varied weekly menu for your family, or if you just want to keep your cooking simple, these healthy meals with 5 ingredients or less, could provide the perfect option for you.

5 ingredient meals by Fish, Poultry, Red Meat, Pork, and Vegetarian.

Important: Flour, water, oil, butter, salt, and pepper are not included in the 5 ingredients (or less) ingredient count.

Fish Meals With 5 Ingredients or Less

5 ingredients or less

Flickr: ciordia

#1 Lemon Baked Fish

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Servings: 3

3 Ingredients:

  • 1 pound frozen fish fillets of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper
  • Fresh dill

Method:

  1. Oil a baking dish, and arrange fish in a single layer. Season with a little salt and pepper.
  2. Add a few drops of olive oil, and pour the lemon juice over. Scatter dill on top for flavour.
  3. Bake the fish at 350°F (180°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.
  4. Serve with juices from the pan.

Recipe source

#2 Indoor-Grilled Salmon

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4

1 Ingredient:

  • Four 5-ounce salmon fillets (about 1-inch thick), skin-on
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

  1. Bring the salmon to room temperature 20 minutes before grilling.
  2. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Set a large cast-iron grill pan over low heat and pre-heat for 1 minute.
  3. Meanwhile, brush the salmon lightly with the oil, and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Raise the heat under the grill pan to medium-high. Place the salmon, skin-side up on the grill, at an angle across the ridges of the pan. Cook until the fish has distinctive grill marks, about 3 minutes. Cook 2 minutes more. Turn the salmon over, and transfer the grill pan to the oven. Continue cooking the fish in the oven for 2 to 3 minutes for pink inside, 5 minutes for medium, and 7 minutes for well done.
  5. Remove the fish from the pan, and let rest for 2 minutes, to finish cooking.

Recipe source

#3 Fish Cakes

Serve with steamed veggies, or a tossed salad.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Servings: 4

4 Ingredients:

  • 425g tin of tuna
  • 1 large sweet potato, mashed with a little milk and olive based spread
  • 1 tablespoon sweet chili sauce
  • Breadcrumbs (enough to be able to shape the fish into cakes)

Method:

  1. Put sweet potato in a pot of boiling water and cook until tender. Mash with a little milk. Drain tuna well and add to mashed sweet potato.
  2. Add in the chopped onion and sweet chili sauce. Mix together well.
  3. Add enough breadcrumbs to make patties. Season with salt and pepper. Mold the mixture into patties.
  4. Heat around 2 teaspoons of oil in frying pan and cook the fish cakes for 5 -7 minutes, turning only once, until hot and golden.

Recipe source

#4 Lemony Tuna and Orzo Salad

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Servings: 2

5 Ingredients:

  • 2 cups orzo pasta
  • 2 (5 ounce) pouches herb and garlic marinated chunk tuna, drained
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
  • 1 cup creamy lemon salad dressing – substitute mayo for a low fat version

Method:

  1. Cook orzo according to package directions; drain well.
  2. Combine with remaining ingredients in large bowl and toss gently to coat.
  3. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving.

Recipe source

Which 5 ingredient meals (or less) take your fancy?

Click the next page to see poultry recipes with 5 ingredients or less…

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5

About Melanie
Melanie is a Registered Dietitian who started Dietriffic in March 2007. Her aim is to make good health attainable and sustainable, without guilt and torture, making her approach popular with those who desire a level-headed approach to good health. Have you got your copy of her free book yet?


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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

Lauren March 5, 2008 at 9:45 pm

Hey Mel this is a great list of recipes. I can’t wait to get stuck into some of them.

Cheers.

Reply

Tanya March 5, 2008 at 10:26 pm

Great job. I have some similar recipes and I look forward to trying some of these.

Reply

Family Nutritionist March 6, 2008 at 1:40 am

There are some great ideas here. Also, don’t forget meatloaf. You can do it in 5 ingredients if you like it plain, 6 if you want to add a seasoning (italian seasoning, curry powder, chili powder, or chipotle peppers, for example).

Is your “kumara” my “sweet potato”? In the US’s New England, fishcakes were traditionally made from leftover salt cod (bacala) and mashed potato. This is an interesting variation.

Reply

ruth March 6, 2008 at 6:29 am

absolutely adore these recipes! can’t wait to try them. and share them!!!!!!!

Reply

Melanie March 6, 2008 at 8:37 am

Hi guys,

Thank you all for commenting!

Lauren – I hope you enjoy!

Tanya – Your site looks great, I’ll check out your recipes too.

Family Nutritionist – I’ve actually never tried meatloaf, can you recommend a recipe? Yes, the kumara is sweet potato, or is it also called yam in the USA?

Ruth – you can let me know if you do try any of them out!

Reply

Rebecca March 7, 2008 at 11:30 am

YumOLA! I can hardly wait to try some of these, especially that berry chicken. Thanks for sharing.

Reply

ruth March 13, 2008 at 8:16 am

hi mel, well I tried the chicken pesto parcels. Wonderful! similar to another dish I make stufing my chicken with mozerella and beef tonatoes and fresh basil leaves. so it was good having another variation.

Reply

Melanie March 13, 2008 at 10:35 pm

Hi Rebecca,

Glad you found the recipes useful, I thought the berry chicken sounded great too.

Hi Ruth,

So the pesto parcels went well..that’s great news. Yes, I’ve had your stuffed chicken dish too, it’s delicious!

BTW, thanks for the rice recipe, I’ve definitely had it once before, and it’s great. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thank you!

Reply

Family Nutritionist April 5, 2008 at 3:14 am

Melanie,

I missed your response to my comment.
I’ve posted my favorite meatloaf recipe at Perfect Chipotle Meatloaf.

Reply

Family Nutritionist April 5, 2008 at 3:22 am

In the US, “yam” and “sweet potato” can be confusing. The sweet potato is not a yam, but for some reason the red or orange sweet potatoes are called yams, especially in the South Maybe they taste something like real yams (which I’ve never had). So sometimes they are called “yam sweet potatoes”. And sometimes yams are called “yams (not sweet potatoes)”. But real yams are uncommon, except in groceries with lots of customers from the Caribbean.

And the pale, whitish variety of sweet potatoes are always called sweet potatoes, but who eats them? Sweet potato pie, mashed sweet potatoes, sweet potato french fries, and are made with the orange sweet potatoes. Candied yams are made with the orange sweet potatoes, too.

Reply

Melanie April 8, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Hi Family Nutritionist,

Thanks for linking to your meatloaf recipe. Since replying to your initial, I’ve had meatloaf at a friends house. It was great, and not at all what I had expected.

Also, thanks for clearing up the extremely confusing “yam” issue!

Reply

Jesse May 18, 2008 at 9:38 pm

Love this compilation…amazing,fish cakes using sweet potato,a totally new idea for me.Thanks for sharing :)

Jesse’s last blog post..‘ Love Thyself.. ‘

Reply

Melanie May 19, 2008 at 8:56 am

Hi Jesse,

Thanks for commenting. I’m glad you found some new ideas here, that’s great!

Reply

Barry January 14, 2009 at 2:56 pm

Melanie,
This is great and just what my readers are looking for.
Thanks,
Barry (Solo-Dad)

Reply

Melanie January 15, 2009 at 7:15 pm

Hey Barry,
I’m glad the post was useful to you. Let me know if any of the recipes are particularly good!! :-)

Reply

Karyn June 6, 2009 at 3:41 am

THANKS so much for these recipes!! What a wonderful and EASY idea – and healthy! I am not big on beef, but will use probably 75% or the recipes posted here!
Thanks again,
Karyn

Reply

Melanie June 6, 2009 at 4:22 am

Hi Karyn,
I’m so glad you found this post useful, hope the meals are a success! :-)

Reply

Deborah Porter August 26, 2009 at 12:46 pm

Thanks for the great Veggies recipes. Always looking for some.
.-= Deborah Porter´s last blog .. =-.

Reply

Melanie August 27, 2009 at 8:46 am

Hey Deborah,
I hope they are helpful. What’s the best veggie recipe/s you’ve found?

Reply

Daleen April 30, 2010 at 7:02 pm

Thanks Melanie for the list of recipes cant wait to try them

Reply

Melanie May 3, 2010 at 9:45 pm

You’re welcome!

Reply

Glucose Meters December 19, 2010 at 2:14 am

Wow, that looks absolutely delicious! Great post, you did such a nice job presenting the pictures too…I am definitely going to have to try that recipe this weekend! Thanks!

Reply

Melanie December 23, 2010 at 12:41 pm

Hi,
Thank you. I hope the recipes turned out well for you :-)

Reply

Micah February 23, 2011 at 5:25 pm

your recipes look very good and i thing im gonna try them all in the later days to they look GOOD

Reply

Melanie February 23, 2011 at 7:05 pm

Let us know how you get on :-)

Reply

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