5 Easy Recipes You Can Cook With What’s in Your Pantry

When you want to cook a quick meal (and maybe you’re waiting for your next HelloFresh box to arrive), you can find easy dinner ideas by playing around with what you have left in your kitchen pantry or fridge. Whether it’s a dinner recipe for two or the whole family, you skip a trip to the supermarket and cook a great meal without ever leaving your kitchen.

On nights when you’re feeling tired and just want to throw something together for an easy, healthy meal, take another look at what you already have. Try these five common pantry recipes for some inspiration the next time you’re facing a dinner challenge. Besides, it’s good practice to use up all of your ingredients and leftovers at home, to avoid any unnecessary food waste.

1. Puttanesca

Typical pantry items like capers, anchovies, canned tomatoes and olives are staple ingredients in this traditional Italian pasta dish. Puttanesca recipes can take on many variations, using different spices and vegetables, which makes it the perfect meal to adapt to your ingredients. Though flexible and varied, puttanesca recipes tend to have a couple of things in common, like a fragrant element (usually garlic) and a salty bite (from anchovies or capers). Read more about the risqué pasta sauce and try our cheeky version of the Neapolitan classic. 

2. Risotto

Cooking a creamy risotto is easier than you think. Besides the key element – arborio or risotto rice – you can easily pick and choose which other ingredients you want to add from among fridge and pantry staples. Mushrooms, sweet potato, frozen peas, ham or asparagus are all great options for risotto, and most likely something you have hanging around your kitchen. Here are a few top-rated HelloFresh risotto recipes for inspiration! 

Lamb Bolognese Risotto

Mushroom and Bacon Risotto

3. Frittata

Omelettes, quiches and frittatas are simple meal ideas you can make from pantry ingredients in no time at all. Acceptable for breakfast, lunch or dinner, all you need for a deliciously simple frittata is eggs, a few vegetables and some milk or cheese. There’s no right way to make one, so have fun experimenting with whatever ingredients, canned vegetables, frozen items or leftovers that you have. Here’s one of our favourites from HelloFresh, Truffled Mushroom Frittata.

4. Soup

If you have beans, broth, onion and garlic, then you have soup. Soup can always be a quick and healthy recipe, put together with just a few essential ingredients. Cannellini, red kidney, chickpeas or black beans are easy to keep stored in the kitchen and they are very convenient for last-minute supper ideas, like soups or even hearty stews and vegetarian curries. You’ll be glad you had cannellini beans in the pantry when you make our Chicken and Chorizo Stew.

5. Fried rice

Fried rice is an adaptable favorite you can cook with pantry treasures or leftovers, with help from some condiments that will always add complexity. Sesame oil and soy sauce can turn basic rice and vegetables into an aromatic fried rice dinner. One of our easy chicken recipes is this Chicken Fried Rice with sweetcorn and sesame seeds. 

Feeling inspired? Save a trip to the supermarket and take another look in your pantry for some simple meal ideas. Add your suggestions for inspiring and easy dinner ideas from pantry staples in the comments, below!