At-Home Cooks Swear By These 5-Ingredient Recipes That Will Make Dinnertime 100% Easier (2024)

Recently, I stumbled on a Facebook group called Cheap Meal Ideas. In it is just a wealth of ideas of, well, cheap meals. Aside from recipes, it's also hacks, meal planning tips, and suggestions for leftovers.

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In the group, there are a lot of ideas for meals involving five ingredients or less, so in the spirit of the Target order I just made, which was about 15 different food options for my baby and only frozen dino nuggets for my husband and I, I decided to round them up.

1. "Bacon wrapped chicken stuffed with onion and chives cream cheese. Top a little butter on top salt, pepper and bake. LOL, I have a cute four-ingredient recipe book. This one is the one I remembered the most."

—Heather Campbell, Facebook

2. "Smoked sausage, green beans, and sliced whole potatoes, season to your liking, then boil them together in water until done, top with French-fried onions (optional) [and] serve with bread and butter or rolls."

—Alicia Moyer, Facebook

3. "Crockpot chicken and dumplings! Use a carton of chicken broth, two cans of cream of chicken, boneless chicken breast, and a can of biscuits. Pour your chicken broth in a pot, and whisk in your chicken soup. Add in your chicken. Cook on low for six to eight hours. Shred your chicken. Cut your biscuits into quarters, add in with your mixture, and cook for about 30 to 45 more minutes! Then serve!"

—Misty Millican, Facebook

4. "FIVE-INGREDIENT SLOW COOKER STEAK FAJITAS!"

"INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs beef, sliced

1–2 bell peppers, sliced

1 onion, sliced

20 ounces salsa

2 tbsp fajita seasoning

INSTRUCTIONS: Add salsa to bottom of the slow cooker. Add beef, onion, bell pepper, and fajita seasoning. Stir to mix well. Cook LOW 6–8 hours or HIGH 3–4. Enjoy!"

—Mary-Ann Smith, Facebook

5. "Five-ingredient chicken alfredo bubble up bake (I doubled this)."

"2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken

2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach

1 jar (15 oz) Alfredo sauce

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1 can Pillsbury Grands buttermilk biscuits

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix chicken, spinach, Alfredo sauce, and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Separate dough into eight biscuits; cut each into six pieces. Add to bowl; gently stir. Spoon mixture into baking dish; top with remaining one cup cheese. Bake 36 to 40 minutes or until deep golden brown and biscuits are cooked through."

—India Green, Facebook

6. "Carne con papas with a side of rice or beans and tortillas. I grew up on this meal. It's simple and delicious. You can use any meat. We used carne asada or ground beef. Pan sear, add a can of tomato sauce with a cup of water, chop up potatoes, add it to the meat mixture, bring to a boil, cover and simmer till potatoes are fork tender. If we had leftovers, my mom would make breakfast burritos with this meat mixture, scrambled eggs, cheese, and beans."

—Bobbie Vega, Facebook

7. "I used chicken tenders, pineapple chunks, and Panda Express Mandarin Teriyaki Sauce. I added cherry tomatoes. SO yummy and quick!"

—Rebecca Florence, Facebook

8. "Pizza bubble bake. Biscuits, sauce, cheese, pepperoni, and we did bacon bits, too, but you could do sausage or whatever you want."

—Brandy Asher, Facebook

9. "Three to four chicken breasts put in a coated crockpot, one cup BBQ sauce, and one large can of pineapple. Cook on low 4–6 hours. Serve on hamburger buns, over rice or noodles, or just eat plain."

—Katie Hofer, Facebook

10. "Chicken, frozen or fresh peppers and onions mix, gravy packet, and add whatever seasoning you like, and water or broth, cook in a crockpot on low for approximately 6–8 hours or [in the] oven. We love it! With rice, taters, veggies, or whatever sides you like."

—Debbie Howard, Facebook

11. "Five-ingredient broccoli casserole. One tub of French onion dip (has to be the sour cream kind), one pound of broccoli, one bag of crispy fried onions, one can of cream of mushroom, and one bag of cheddar cheese. Mix all together and bake at 350º for 25 minutes. Sooo good; my kiddos hate broccoli but ate this up!"

—Charity Ragland, Facebook

12. "Stuffed chicken breast. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, stovetop stuffing, chicken gravy, instant potatoes, and veggies."

—Heather Hurst Flaherty, Facebook

13. "Spaghetti squash Alfredo. Cook the spaghetti squash drizzled with oil in the oven, open-side down, for about 40 minutes. Separate the strands with a fork and put into a pot. Mix in Alfredo sauce, spinach leaves, and Parmesan cheese. Let the spinach wilt and cheese melt. Then serve!"

—Emma Christin Ward, Facebook

14. "Round steak cut in strips. Add Lipton beefy onion mix and one cup of water. Cook on high two hours. Add strips of tri-color bell peppers. Cook an additional two hours. You can add some more cut-up onions if you like. Also, thicken sauce with a little corn starch or flour added to tap water mixed well, then put in crockpot when you add peppers. Serve over white rice. It’s delicious."

—Janice Buring, Facebook

15. "Pulled pork BBQ. Just a pork loin or boneless pork chops with a cup of Dr. Pepper (I’ve heard root beer is good, too) and a little BBQ sauce. Cook on low for 6–8 hours or high for 4, I think. Shred the pork and mix with BBQ sauce."

—Heather Becker, Facebook

16. "'Crockpot Meal for Two': two baked potatoes wrapped in foil and two ears of corn wrapped in foil sitting on two steaks."

—LukeNatalie Sulc, Facebook

17. "Beef pot pie. Four ingredients: pie crusts (I use store-bought), one pound hamburger, frozen mixed veggies, and one packet of brown gravy."

—Rhonda Miller, Facebook

18. Finally, "Buffalo chicken stuffed russet potatoes: four russet potatoes, one pound chicken breast, garlic powder, and 1/4 cup hot sauce (plus additional 1/4 cup after cooking). Have each potato wrapped in foil and stack two on top of the other two. Season the chicken with garlic powder and top with hot sauce. Cook on low 6 hours. Top with ranch style dressing."

—Jaya Hernandez, Facebook

Do you have an excellent recipe that uses less than five ingredients? Tell us in the comments below!