Five-Ingredient Dinners: 100+ Fast, Flavorful Meals by America's Test Kitchen

Test cooks share their favorite low-effort, high-reward complete weeknight dinners, most ready in an hour or less.

Imagine surveying your pantry or fridge and realizing you already have every ingredient you need to make any number of fast, flavor-packed meals. Sounds like a dream? These back-pocket dinners make it a reality, with recipes that transform foods such as a rotisserie chicken, a baguette, hummus, or quinoa into full meals using just five ingredients (plus salt, pepper, and fat) that require little in the way of planning.

What these recipes lack in ingredients, they more than make up for in flavor and creativity. We use simple techniques to our advantage to coax the maximum amount of oomph out of each component:

Turn rotisserie chicken into a cheesy, melty tart with frozen spinach, Brie, and store-bought crust

Shape lemony meatballs from ground chicken and quinoa--given a flavor boost from garlicky hummus that doubles as the base for a sauce

Get resourceful with our Grilled Tofu with Charred Broccoli, Peanut Sauce, and Crispy Shallots, repurposing the often drained-away shallot frying oil to coat the broccoli before grilling for an added layer of savoriness

With each recipe, a test cook's commentary gives an inside peek into the recipe creation process, whether offering a tip for using a high-impact ingredient like red curry paste or oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (we help you compile a treasure trove of useful flavor bombs) or an imaginative technique (such as mincing carrot tops for a garnish). These recipes and tips will have you looking at your pantry with fresh eyes.

Author: America's Test Kitchen
Publisher: America's Test Kitchen
Published: 08/17/2021
Pages: 280
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.20lbs
Size: 9.70h x 8.00w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9781948703925

About the Author
America's Test Kitchen is well-known for its top-rated television shows with more than 4 million weekly public television viewers, bestselling cookbooks, magazines, websites, and cooking school. The highly reputable and recognizable brands of America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Illustrated, and Cook's Country are the work of over 60 passionate chefs based in Boston, Massachusetts, who put ingredients, cookware, equipment, and recipes through objective, rigorous testing to identify the very best. Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!