One-pot

• Vegetarian

Five fast, easy and delicious vegetarian recipes to have on high rotation

Use pantry staples and easy ingredients to make Katrina Meynink’s new vegie recipes the whole crowd will love.

• March 20, 2023
• Katrina Meynink

• Recipe collection
• Chicken

30 best-ever budget chicken recipes

Make the most of cheaper cuts of chicken to create one-trays, stews, curries and stir-fries the whole family will love.

• Curry

Thai fish and pumpkin curry

This dish uses fish instead of chicken in a tangy, creamy Thai curry, adding pumpkin and green capsicum to up your vegetable count for the day.

• 30 mins - 1 hr
• Jill Dupleix

• Seafood

Mussels, guanciale and cannellini beans

Mussels are a favourite of mine in the kitchen. Not only are they delicious, they're also affordable and very quick to cook. And whether it's pancetta, chorizo or bacon, there's something irresistible about the combination of briny mussels with fatty pork. Here, I'm using guanciale – cured pork jowl – which adds real richness. Serve the mussels in the pan at the table with plenty of grilled bread on the side to mop up all the flavoursome juices.

• < 30 mins
• Julia Busuttil Nishimura

• Casseroles & braises

Italian chicken with capsicum and summer tomatoes

The best tomatoes come out in late summer, so it's a good time to make this chicken dish - and to use tomatoes in salads often. Serve the chicken with chat potatoes or your favourite pasta, and a green salad.

• 30 mins - 1 hr
• Neil Perry

• Casseroles & braises

Macadamia dukkah chicken with preserved lemon

Middle Eastern flavours spice up a no-fuss chicken dish. This one is a throw-together recipe with no fuss but loads of flavour. You can break down a whole chicken and use all the pieces, but for convenience we use thighs and drumsticks. They're usually less expensive than breast and stay juicier. It's really important to get your pan nice and hot to crisp the skin which adds more flavour. Try preserving your own lemons (the flavour is fantastic) or store-bought is fine.

• 30 mins - 1 hr
• Mark LeBrooy and Darren Robertson

• Budget

Fast skillet eggplant and spicy salami bake

Think of this layered eggplant bake as a low-carb lasagne of sorts.

• 30 mins - 1 hr
• Jessica Brook

• Budget

Roast chicken thighs with potato, garlic and rosemary

It's taken a while, but life seems to have slipped back into a normal type of busy, and I'm constantly finding myself cooking on the run at home during the week. And that means plenty of one-tray or one-pot dinners. An all-in-one-tray roast is a certain, no-fuss path to deliciousness. Chicken and potatoes roasted with plenty of herbs, garlic, olive oil and a glass of wine makes for an incredibly flavourful midweek meal. Some cooked greens – or a salad – complete the picture.

• 1-2 hrs
• Karen Martini

• Budget

Danielle Alvarez's lemony chicken and orzo stew

This recipe uses wholesome ingredients I know I can turn to when I'm watching my pennies. Chicken drumsticks, often neglected, can be bought at a bargain price. Frozen spinach is a fraction of the cost of fresh and still delivers ample nutrition. While saving on those ingredients I do like to splurge on something fresh like lemons, which give this dish vibrancy. I bet you wouldn't feel like this dish was budget cooking in the slightest.

• 1-2 hrs
• Danielle Alvarez

• Main course

Spiced lamb meatball traybake with chickpeas and sumac feta

I imagine this spilling indecently out the top of puffy white pitas, or enjoyed, fresh from a swim, with a fork dipping into the tray, the need for plates debatable. I've made the quantity for 1kg lamb mince so you can have half now and extra meatballs for the freezer, ready for a long day when it's simpler to defrost rather than think. I've got you.

• 30 mins - 1 hr
• Katrina Meynink