5 Easy Weeknight Dinner Recipes, Including Shrimp Primavera Pasta

Easy recipes (with minimal clean up).

By Laura Jeha

Updated May 2, 2025

The best ways to cook chicken: Lemon-garlic chicken with spinach

Weeknight meals don't have to be stressful. Plan ahead and watch dinner come together in a flash. Photo, Erik Putz.

Monday: Shrimp primavera pasta

Ready in: 25 min. Serves: 4
This fresh update on primavera includes quick-cooking shrimp for a protein boost, tender-crisp asparagus and bright yellow peppers to make it a well-rounded (and fast) supper. Get this shrimp primavera pasta recipe.

Healthy weeknight meals: shrimp primavera pasta with asparagus

Photo, Erik Putz.

Monday: Chickpea Falafel Burger

Ready in: 25 min. Serves: 4
Use kitchen staples like canned beans and oats to whip up these vegetarian-friendly burgers. Serve with a tahini sauce and our zesty parsley salad for a full mediterranean feast. Get this falafel burger recipe.

Chickpea-Falafel veggie burger in a frying pan on a stove next to sesame buns and sun-dried tomatoes; the burgers are made with large-flake oats; canned chickpeas; garlic; green onions; egg; chili powder; oregano; salt; 540-mL can lentils; English cucumber; fresh parsley

(Photo: Angus Fergusson)

Wednesday: Five-spice pork medallions with pineapple salsa

Ready in: 40 min. Serves: 4
Enjoy a flavourful meal without having to leave your kitchen, with spiced pork and a zippy pineapple salsa. Get this five-spice pork medallions with pineapple salsa recipe.

Photo, Roberto Caruso.

Thursday: Lemon-garlic chicken with spinach

Ready in: 45 min. Serves: 4
Sometimes simple is best. Perfect example: this lemon-y chicken dinner where everything is cooked in one pan. Get this lemon-garlic chicken recipe.

Photo, Sian Richards.

Friday: Grilled Steak Tacos

Ready in: 20 min. Serves: 4
It’s Friday! Celebrate the arrival of the weekend with steak tacos, done up with sliced avocado, tangy pico de gallo, and a squeeze of fresh lime. Get this steak taco recipe.

Grilled steak tacos on soft flour tortillas with slices of lime, pico de Gallo salsa, pickled onions and avocados for a post on an easy grilled steak tacos recipe

(Photo: Erik Putz)

Dessert: Chocolate Marble Loaf

Ready in: 1 hour Serves: 10
This quick loaf would also make a great next-day breakfast treat—hello cake toast! Get this chocolate marble loaf recipe.

Photo, Erik Putz.

Watch: How to make fresh salsa for your Friday-night tacos

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The cover of Chatelaine magazine's spring 2025 issue, reading "weekend prep made easy"; "five delicious weeknight meals", "plus, why you'll never regret buying an air fryer"; "save money, stay stylish how to build a capsule wardrobe" and "home organization special" along with photos of burritos, chicken and rice and white bean soup, quick paella in a dutch oven, almost-instant Thai chicken curry and chicken broccoli casserole in an enamelled cast-iron skillet

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