One-pan meals that understand how much you hate doing dishes

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Yes, yes, you’re all very proud of your sourdough starters and perfect, perky loaves of photogenic bread right now. And you should be! But not everyone has that kind of stamina, or even the interest. Not everyone wants to dedicate their weeknight to cleaning congealed bits of crusty flour off their countertops with a bench scraper before washing out the stand mixer bowl and praying that the globs of leftover dough will make their way down the drain without incident. Then, of course, there’s the matter of trying to get all that olive oil off of anything. Sometimes two rounds of soap and scouring aren’t enough to get all the slick residue off your dishes.

The point is, sometimes you want the satisfaction of having made a meal yourself—and the satisfaction of eating said meal—without any additional commitments. If you have children, you could always conscript them into washing the cookware. Or, better yet (because kids never let things drain upside down in the sink properly), you can make these One-Pan Wonders: easy and delicious weeknight dinners that can be cooked using a single pan.

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Crock-Pot curry, a one-appliance crowdpleaser

This dish is primarily based on butter and potatoes, with the added bonus of peas to get some green veggies in there for the kids (and adults). The heat is primarily provided by the red pepper flakes, so you can adjust the spice level at will. While this mea is great on its own, you could also serve it over rice—but that does create more than one dish to clean up after.

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Layer your proteins and starches with a skillet pie

The only tricky part with this delicious dinner is spreading the cornbread layer: too much batter and you get cornbread-with-chili instead of the other way around. If you distribute the batter too roughly, the chili pokes through and the whole thing gets a bit unsightly. But once it’s assembled, it bakes in a neat 30 minutes. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can bake it in a casserole dish.

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Lasagna you don’t have to preheat the oven for

It’s true that streamlining your dinner into one pan pares down on your cleanup time, eliminating the most painful part of the meal for some. But it also incorporates all the elements of the meal, making your prep and planning that much easier. The secret to this lasagna is the no-cook noodles, which are layered between portions of sauce. It’s a rousing success with picky eaters.

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Green beans, the sleeper hit of weeknight dinners

This Greek family recipe is simple and sturdy. Throw some feta and extra green onions on top and add some crusty bread on the side for an easy, nutritious (also inexpensive) add to your weeknight rotation. You can swap frozen green beans for fresh, and can even cook this meal to use up whatever vegetables you might have hanging around in your larder, like carrots or zucchini—as long as the green beans and potatoes still take center stage.

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Shakshuka, rattle, and roll

Shakshuka is an easy way to feed a lot of people. It’s also delicious: a spicy Moroccan vegetable stew with eggs poached right unto it. It’s one of the few dishes out there that will wow your table any time you serve it: breakfast, brunch, late-night dinner. Its showy presentation never fails to impress, and it’s rather hard to mess up as long as you get your textures right. And while the ingredient list in the recipe is pretty specific, you can also add any vegetables you’re trying to use up out of your fridge.

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And finally, a new use for Bisquick

Basically, this meaty casserole is a deconstructed burrito, with a refried-beans-and-Bisquick crust, topped with ground beef, salsa, and cheese. You can add some taco seasoning to the beef, or skip it—then bake the whole thing in a cast-iron skillet. It takes all of 10 minutes to pull together and costs less than $10 total. Hardest part: browning ground beef. Second hardest: combining Bisquick and refried beans.