What should I make for dinner?
Start with whatever in your fridge goes off first, then choose by how much time you have. Two or three things you already own make a proper dinner: chicken and rice become a stir-fry, eggs and potatoes a tortilla, pasta and a tin of tomatoes a sauce in fifteen minutes. If you would rather not think about it, tap what you have below and we will write a recipe around it.
What have you got?
Tap what is in your fridge or cupboard. Three or four things is plenty.
Free, no account needed for your first recipe. It opens with your list filled in.
A way to decide in two minutes, any night
- 1
Start with whatever goes off first
Open the fridge and look for the thing with a day or two left: the chicken, the bag of spinach, the half tub of cream. That is tonight’s starting point. Deciding this way means dinner also stops food going in the bin.
- 2
Pick the protein you have
Chicken, beef, eggs, fish, tofu, beans or lentils. If there is genuinely nothing, eggs or a tin of beans will carry a meal.
- 3
Match it to the time you have
Fifteen minutes means eggs, a stir-fry or pasta. Thirty means a skillet or a sheet pan. An hour means something in the oven while you do something else.
- 4
Fill the gap from the cupboard
Rice, pasta, bread, tortillas or potatoes turn one or two fresh things into a proper dinner. You rarely need to shop for tonight.
By what is in your fridge
| If you have | Try |
|---|---|
| Ground beef | tacos, a quick bolognese, rice bowls |
| Chicken breast | sheet-pan chicken and vegetables, stir-fry, wraps |
| Chicken thighs | crispy skillet thighs, curry, traybake |
| Ground turkey | lettuce wraps, chili, meatballs |
| Eggs | shakshuka, a frittata, fried rice |
| Pasta | garlic and oil, tomato sauce, a creamy one-pan |
| Rice | fried rice, burrito bowls, a pilaf |
| Potatoes | hash, a Spanish tortilla, loaded baked potatoes |
| Salmon | sheet-pan salmon, rice bowls, pasta |
| Chickpeas or lentils | curry, a quick stew, crispy chickpea bowls |
| Vegetarian, nothing much in | beans on toast done properly, egg fried rice, a big soup |
| Under 30 minutes | every fast dinner on the site in one place |
Questions people ask
What should I make for dinner with what I have?
Start with whatever is closest to going off, add a protein you already own, and fill the rest from the cupboard with rice, pasta, bread or potatoes. If you would rather not work it out, tap your ingredients into the tool on this page and it writes a recipe around exactly those things, free.
What is a quick dinner when nothing is planned?
Eggs are the fastest answer: fried rice, a frittata or shakshuka all take under twenty minutes. Pasta with garlic, oil and whatever greens you have is another. Both use things most kitchens already have, which is the point when nothing is planned.
How do I decide what to make for dinner every night?
Decide from the fridge rather than from a recipe. Look for what expires first, build the meal around it, and match it to the time you have. Doing this for a week at once is easier than doing it at 6pm every day, which is what a meal planner that starts with your expiry dates does for you.
Is there an app that decides what to make for dinner?
Several. We make Riff.kitchen, which writes a recipe from the ingredients you have and plans around what expires first. SuperCook searches existing recipes by ingredient, and general chat assistants will suggest something if you describe your fridge. Our comparison of eight of them says what each is best at, including where others beat us.
What can I make for dinner if I have almost nothing?
Pasta with garlic and oil, eggs on toast, beans with rice, or a soup from an onion, a stock cube and whatever vegetable is left. A near-empty kitchen usually still has a starch, an allium and an egg or a tin, and that is a dinner.
Comparing tools rather than deciding tonight? Here are eight apps for cooking with what you have, compared honestly, including the ones that beat ours.