Lazy Weekend Guide to Minimal Cooking
I've never loved the idea of spending all weekend cooking & meal-prepping. If that sounds as awful to you as it does to me, here's how to cook once and stretch the leftovers for a few days!
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Let’s Keep Meals Easy and Basic
The older I get, and the longer I’ve been a food blogger (going on 17 years now), the less I want anything that’s complicated or time-consuming.
I’m all about recipes that I can “stretch”. Not in the old-school way of stretching a pot of soup by adding extra water or adding more rice rather than meat to a casserole.
I want recipes that I can cook once, and eat at least twice from, but actually three times is better. This is the truest definition of planned leftovers. Planned leftovers sounds so much easier than meal prepping sounds.
I really admire someone who uses their Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon to batch cook things and put it all into containers, cut up all produce for the week, create a little assembly line in your kitchen…but I will never be that person. So my goal is to make something that I can later use for a few other meals. And keep it real simple, no assembly line precision necessary!
I’ve created ebooks with 30 Days of 30-Minute Meals, and 30 Days of Slow Cooker Recipes, and 30 High Protein Recipes (at least 30 grams per recipe) to help you uncomplicate your meals and cooking!
Chicken: The Protein We’re Working With
You’ll want to make this Oven Roasted Whole Chicken and Potatoes 🍗🙌🏻🥔 FOUR ingredients + ONE pan = PERFECT roasted chicken with ZERO cleanup! Your new FOOLPROOF and EASY whole roasted chicken recipe that’s ready in 1 hour and you’ll use the leftovers in the recipes below.
If you’re more of a slow cooker person rather than oven-baking, try this Crockpot Whole Chicken 🍗🙌🏻😋 Your slow cooker does all the work for you! The chicken is lightly flavored with lemon, garlic and herbs, and turns out so moist, juicy, and tender! Potatoes cook alongside the chicken to create an effortless built-in side dish.
How to Repurpose Leftover Chicken with 30-Minute Recipes
Pro Tip: If you did not take my advice and make roast chicken or Crockpot chicken (above), go grab a store bought rotisserie chicken.
Second Tip: All of the recipes below are very improv-friendly. If you don’t have the exact ingredients and want to take some liberties, go for it. I’m showcasing salads, sandwiches, soups, tacos, and enchiladas. All things that are perfect for using up that chicken you already made.
I know that salads aren’t as sexy as we’d like but you know what - they’re super easy, quick, healthy, and no rules what to put into them. 95% of the time, I repurpose leftover chicken onto some sort of salad. This Chopped Chicken Salad has so much FLAVOR and CRUNCH and it’s topped with your leftover chicken. Homemade honey apple cider vinaigrette adds the finishing touch!
This Loaded Chicken Taco Salad 🌮🥗🎉 reminds me of potlucks and church basement event. Fast and fabulous! All your favorite taco flavors in one big kickin’ salad that everyone will LOVE! Sprinkle taco seasoning on your leftover chicken, and then add tomatoes, corn, black beans, shredded cheese, and more. A homemade creamy lime cilantro dressing tops it all (or use store bought).
Making chicken sandwiches is another fast and easy meal to make with leftover chicken. BBQ Chicken Sliders feature chicken that’s smothered in tangy barbecue sauce, sandwiched between soft Hawaiian rolls with cheese, and baked until warm! These pull-apart sandwiches are also perfect for parties, game days, or any casual gathering where a simple appetizer or snack is needed!
In the soup category, take your leftover chicken and make Creamy Sweet Potato Chicken Soup. This is an EASY comfort food chicken soup recipe with sweet potatoes and more to keep you full and satisfied for hours! Ready in 30 minutes with a flexible ingredients list based on what you have on hand!
A reader favorite soup is this Chicken, Kale and White Bean Soup 🍗🥬👏🏻 It’s easy, ready in 30-minutes, hearty, and healthy! Packed with flavor and texture, it’s a full meal in itself! Perfect for quick weeknight dinners and leftovers freeze and reheat great!
Easy White Chicken Chili 🍲🙌🏻🍗 is hearty, healthy, loaded with tender chicken, beans, and packed with bold flavor! Fast and easy comfort food that everyone loves! A one-pot EASY chili recipe that’s ready in just 30 minutes. It’ll be on rotation all fall and winter!
Tacos and enchiladas (below) are another great way to use leftover chicken. Easy 20-Mnute Chicken Tinga Tacos 🍗🌶️🌮 FAST, super easy, and the super juicy chicken has AUTHENTIC smoky chipotle FLAVOR! When you’re craving tacos, these are the tacos to make!
Or make Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas 💚🧀🍗 EASY juicy enchiladas with so much flavor from the salsa verde and melted CHEESE! Ready in 30 minutes, are made with just a handful of ingredients, and will be an instant family favorite!
Tell me what your favorite thing is to make so that you’ve got some planned leftovers or meals that require little effort in the following days.
I’m always looking to cook less and save more. Thank you for posting recipes that are affordable and easy and can have leftovers for dinner a couple days after. Coming from a home of ten people to now it took a lot of effort to create recipes for just my husband and I. We are retired now and we don’t have the money we needed for spurring on eating out. So when we do go out to eat we usually split a meal. Most restaurants put to much on the plates and we always have leftovers for the next day. Grocery shopping is always a tuff choice for what to get for what we can afford to spend.