5 weeknight dinners ready in 30 minutes or less

The hardest part of dinner is often deciding what to make. These five recipes take 30 minutes or less from start to finish, use everyday supermarket ingredients and work for the whole family.

1. Lemon basil chicken pasta

Penne, chicken, lemon and Parmesan. The trick: save a cup of pasta water and use it to make the sauce creamy without any cream.

2. Chicken and broccoli stir-fry

Everything cooks in one pan in under 10 minutes once the prep is done, so slice the chicken and broccoli before you turn on the heat. Serve over rice.

3. Shakshuka

Eggs gently cooked in a spiced tomato and pepper sauce. Cover the pan so the whites set while the yolks stay soft, and serve with bread.

4. Sheet-pan teriyaki salmon

Salmon and broccoli roast together on one tray while the rice cooks. The salmon is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

5. Chicken piccata with zucchini

Thin cutlets cook in about six minutes and stay juicy. A quick pan sauce of lemon, capers and a little butter finishes the dish.

Make it even faster

• Read the whole recipe once before you start.
• Get every ingredient out and measured first.
• Use the step timers in the Mescola app so nothing overcooks while you do the next step.