Our 30 Best Skillet Dinners

By

Danielle DeAngelis

Published on September 26, 2022

Creamy Garlic Skillet Chicken with Spinach — Photo: Marty Baldwin

Skillet meals are easy options for weeknights, so we gathered our best recipes to provide delicious inspiration. From pasta and casseroles to an array of chicken skillets, these dinners are highly-rated and will get a completed dinner on your plate with one scoop. You'll be saving recipes like our Skillet Lemon Chicken & Potatoes with Kale and 20-Minute Creamy Tomato Salmon Skillet to make again and again.

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Skillet Lemon Chicken & Potatoes with Kale

This easy one-pan skillet-roasted lemon chicken is perfect for weeknight dinners. Juicy chicken thighs are cooked in the same pan as baby potatoes and kale for a satisfying meal with the added bonus of minimal cleanup.

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Ground Beef & Potatoes Skillet

Ground Beef & Potatoes Skillet — Photography / Caitlin Bensel, Styling / Ruth Blackburn

In this healthy ground beef and potatoes recipe, ground beef and potatoes are paired with colorful veggies, including kale, tomato and peppers. Everything is cooked in one skillet, which allows for layers of flavor to build quickly while also cutting back on the number of dishes.

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20-Minute Creamy Tomato Salmon Skillet

20-Minute Creamy Tomato Salmon Skillet — Jamie Vespa

Salmon fillets cook quickly and are coated with a delicious creamy sauce made with tomatoes, zucchini and Italian seasoning. This easy salmon dinner is sure to become a new weeknight favorite the whole family will love. The best news: you can get this meal on the table in 20 minutes flat.

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One-Skillet Bourbon Chicken

One-Skillet Bourbon Chicken — Photography / Antonis Achilleos, Styling / Christine Keely, Ali Ramee

Bourbon chicken gets coated in a slightly sweet-spicy sauce for a flavorful dinner that comes together quickly, making it perfect for busy weeknights.

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Black Bean Fajita Skillet

Black Bean Fajita Skillet

You can often find presliced and ready-to-cook fresh vegetables in your grocer's produce section. Use these to your advantage to cut down on dinnertime prep. Here, presliced fajita vegetables are sautéed with canned black beans and Southwest seasoning for a quick and easy Tex Mex-inspired meal. Plus, this recipe requires just three ingredients, not including basics like salt, pepper and oil. You can easily take your bowl up a notch by adding some cheese, sour cream or another tasty topping.

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Creamy Garlic Skillet Chicken with Spinach

Creamy Garlic Skillet Chicken with Spinach — Marty Baldwin

Quick-cooking chicken cutlets are coated in a garlic cream sauce, while spinach adds a boost of color and nutrition in this easy, one-skillet recipe. Serve over pasta or whole grains to soak up the delicious sauce.

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Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan

Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan

This one-pan chicken pasta combines lean chicken breast and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal that's garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. I call it "Mom's Skillet Pasta" and she called it "Devon's Favorite Pasta." Either way it's a quick and easy weeknight dinner we created together and scribbled on a little recipe card more than a decade ago, and it remains in my weekly dinner rotation to this day. It's a simple dinner the whole family will love.

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Summer Skillet Vegetable & Egg Scramble

Don't toss out those almost-past-their-prime vegetables and fresh herbs. Toss them into this skillet egg scramble for a quick vegetarian meal. Nearly any vegetable will work in this easy skillet recipe, so choose your favorites or use what you have on hand.

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Quick King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Quick King Ranch Chicken Casserole

Usually made by layering creamy chicken and tortillas (lasagna-style), this classic Mexican-inspired chicken casserole gets speedier for an easy weeknight dinner when we mix everything together in a skillet, then pop the whole pan under the broiler to make the cheese topping gooey. Serve this healthy chicken casserole recipe with a side salad for a filling meal.

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Pork Chops with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

These seared pork chops are topped with a rich and creamy mushroom sauce that gets flavored with fresh herbs.

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Creamy Skillet Chicken with Spinach & Mushrooms

Creamy Skillet Chicken with Spinach & Mushrooms — Marty Baldwin

Chicken cutlets are topped with a spinach-mushroom cream sauce for a flavorful yet healthy dinner. Serve over pasta or grains to soak up the sauce.

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Ground Beef & Pasta Skillet

Add extra vegetables to your day with this easy one-skillet pasta recipe. Finely chop mushrooms to resemble the texture of ground beef and stir them into a classic meat sauce for a healthy twist on a dinnertime favorite.

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Mozzarella, Basil & Zucchini Frittata

This vegetable-studded frittata recipe is one of the quickest meals you can make. Make it for breakfast, or serve for lunch or dinner with a tossed salad and a slice of olive oil-drizzled crusty baguette.

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One-Skillet Cheesy Ground Chicken Pasta

One-Skillet Cheesy Ground Chicken Pasta — Victor Protasio

Make this cheesy ground chicken pasta recipe for a busy weeknight dinner. Serve with a simple side salad and a glass of red wine.

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Skillet Swiss Steak

This weeknight-fast Swiss steak recipe is made on the stovetop in just 30 minutes (traditional Swiss steak braises in the oven for an hour or more). Sautéed peppers, onions and tomatoes make a quick, savory sauce. Ask your butcher for 4 equal-size cube steaks (about 4 ounces each) so they cook evenly.

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Skillet Chicken Potpie

A store-bought pie crust, frozen veggies and precooked chicken simplify the prep for this easy potpie. This healthy dinner recipe is comfort food at its best.

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Spinach-Artichoke-Sausage Cauliflower Gnocchi

Hearty and piquant, this quick cauliflower gnocchi dinner incorporates several healthy convenience ingredients, including turkey sausage and tender artichoke hearts, so dinner is on your table fast.

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One-Pan Cilantro-Lime Chicken

One-Pan Cilantro-Lime Chicken — Photography / Antonis Achilleos, Styling / Christine Keely, Ali Ramee

A simple marinade of lime juice, zest and spices like cumin and chili powder creates quick flavor in this juicy cilantro-lime chicken. Slice the chicken and enjoy over salad greens, in a taco or with rice.

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Tater Tot Casserole with Beef, Corn & Zucchini

Skillet Beef, Corn & Zucchini Tater Tot Casserole — Jason Donnelly

Casseroles can be for summer too! We packed this one with peak-season vegetables—corn, zucchini and tomatoes—then topped it with crispy tater tots and gooey melted cheese, making it a dinner winner.

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Egg, Hash Brown & Bacon Breakfast Skillet

This breakfast skillet with eggs and hash browns is reminiscent of the hashbrown bowl at Waffle House. It's filling and tastes decadent, but is still a pretty low-calorie breakfast. Be sure to use a large skillet because you need the surface area to get the potatoes crispy (overcrowding your skillet will just steam them).

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Adobo Chicken & Kale Enchiladas

Put out your favorite toppings for these quick and healthy layered enchiladas. We like cilantro, sour cream, guacamole and jalapeños.

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Shrimp Scampi Zoodles

Shrimp Scampi Zoodles

Classic garlicky shrimp scampi gets a low-carb makeover in this easy dinner recipe. Zucchini noodles, also known as "zoodles," are a healthier alternative to traditional pasta--they mimic the texture of pasta while taking on the flavor of whatever sauce you serve them with. Make sure you salt and drain the zoodles, otherwise your final dish will be soupy and the flavor will be diluted.

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Beef & Bean Sloppy Joes

This healthy copycat recipe of the comfort food classic trades beans for some of the meat to bump up fiber by 7 grams. We also cut back on the sugar and ketchup in this Sloppy Joe recipe makeover to save you 12 grams of added sugar.

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One-Pan Chicken Parmesan Pasta

This chicken Parmesan pasta uses the one-pot pasta method to cook your noodles, chicken and sauce all in one skillet for a fast and easy dinner with minimal cleanup. Finish the dish under the broiler to achieve a delicious melted cheese crust.

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Chicken Enchilada Skillet Casserole

Chicken Enchilada Skillet Casserole — Jacob Fox

This simplified take on cheesy chicken enchiladas only requires one pan for cooking and eliminates the need to stuff and roll corn tortillas. Charring the veggies in a cast-iron skillet adds depth of flavor. Don't worry if you don't have one, because you can use any oven-safe skillet instead.

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Skillet Beef Potpie with Buttermilk Biscuits

Using an oven-safe skillet (like cast iron) allows you to take this healthy homemade potpie from stovetop to oven without dirtying extra pans. A quick drop-biscuit topping made with white whole-wheat flour adds 2g fiber per serving and cuts the sodium in half compared to using refrigerated biscuit dough.

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Creamy Skillet Ranch Chicken & Broccoli

Creamy Skillet Ranch Chicken & Broccoli — Photographer / Brie Passano, Food Stylist / Annie Probst, Prop Stylist / Holly Raibikis

This crowd-pleasing dinner feeds four and can be on the table in just 30 minutes. To top it off, the creamy ranch sauce, chicken and broccoli all come together in one skillet, making cleanup just as easy as cooking.

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One & Yum Squid

One & Yum Squid — Jacob Fox

When cooking squid, the golden rule is to cook it fast (like this method, shared by Irish chef Clodagh McKenna from her new book, In Minutes) or cook it slow. Otherwise, it can turn out too chewy. Paired with spicy chorizo, earthy chickpeas, peppery kale and crunchy almonds, this dish feels like an instant taste-escape to Spain.

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Skillet Lasagna

skillet lasagna — William Dickey

This skillet lasagna takes the hard work of layering the noodles, filling and cheese out of the picture and turns lasagna into a super-easy weeknight meal.

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One-Skillet Chicken Paprikash with Mushrooms & Onions

One-Skillet Chicken Paprikash with Mushrooms & Onions

Try this quick and easy one-skillet version of the Hungarian classic chicken paprikash. Serve the chicken cutlets, mushrooms and creamy sauce over egg noodles with a green salad on the side.

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