Feeling the Pinch? Here Are 30 Budget-Friendly Recipes by Chefs and Restaurants for a Quick and Easy Dinner

The price of everything has shot up – something you’ve no doubt felt when you’re grocery shopping. A combination of a “oligopolistic” supermarket practices, increased production costs and product-specific issues like rising egg have seen grocery price increases continue to outpace wage growth.

To help you keep eating well, we’ve gathered 30 of our favourite economical recipes that don’t sacrifice flavour or nutrition. They’re all proper dinners too, not sides masquerading as meals. As you’d expect, rice, pasta and canned or dried pulses are your friends here, what with meat and dairy usually being the costliest ingredients on a shopping list.

While extras like nuts, cheese and fresh herbs are relatively expensive to buy upfront, they go a long way, and we wholeheartedly recommend spending what you can afford on these crucial flavour- and texture-adders. Ditto for sauces and condiments like mustard, balsamic vinegar and soy sauce, where a jar or a bottle will last weeks or months.

Also: buy what you can at local farmers markets. The produce is almost always superior to what you’ll find at a supermarket or even a dedicated greengrocer, while typically being two or three times cheaper.

Samuel Goldsmith’s pan-fried gnocchi in creamy tarragon sauce

This recipe is built on a foundation of frozen peas, a cost-effective staple that here bolsters a creamy gnocchi dish bulked out with bacon lardons. Bonus: it will be on the table in under half an hour.

Meera Sodha’s miso butter greens pasta

Get your daily greens into your diet without too much effort by whipping up this budget-hacking – and entirely vegan – pasta dish. Cavolo nero and broccoli won’t hit the wallet too hard and by adding miso paste to your kitchen, you’ll have a flavour-packing ingredient on hand for the next time you need an umami boost.

Shannon Martinez’s cacio e pepe

Cacio e pepe is classic Italian “peasant” food – that is, food made with affordable, accessible ingredients. This vegan version is a little more involved, but with the clever use of silken tofu, vegan parmesan and pasta water, it’ll keep your bank account in the green.

Adam Liaw’s “carbonara” fried rice

Fried rice and carbonara are both cheap and easy dinner options in their own right. But what if you were to combine them? You’d end up with Adam Liaw’s 10-minute “carbonara” fried rice. The most expensive element is the eggs, but the relative cheapness of the other ingredients makes up for it.

Recipetin Eats’ spicy kimchi noodles

Apart from the bean sprouts, onions and udon noodles, there’s a good chance you’ve already got everything you need to pull together this 15-minute noodle recipe. And if gochujang and kimchi aren’t already staples in your household, this is a good excuse to make them so.

Julie Goodwin’s gnocchi with peas and speck

Potatoes? Check. Flour? Present. Peas? Yep. This trio stars some of the building blocks of a topnotch budget-friendly meal – in this case, potato gnocchi with peas and speck. Just don’t be afraid to get your hands and countertop dirty while rolling out the gnocchi.

Sophie Hansen’s rice, potato and chorizo pilaf

Don’t be put off by the lengthy ingredients list of this pilaf bake – for one thing, it’ll serve up to eight people so the cost-per-plate is low. Plus, you’ll likely have plenty of the pantry ingredients already (stock, rice) and produce like potatoes will also keep your grocery bill down.

Danielle Alvarez’s spaghetti alla nerano

Dried pasta is a backbone of cooking on a budget – and the zucchini, cheese and garlic in Danielle Alvarez’s spaghetti alla nerano won’t set you back too much, either. Here, Alvarez harnesses the magic powers of the ultimate cheap ingredient – pasta water – to make something already great even better.

O Tama Carey’s curry leaf and turmeric scrambled eggs

Keep this one up your sleeve for when egg prices return to normal. A satisfying medley of spices brings full-throttle flavour to what’s a classic midweek meal shortcut: scrambled eggs.

The Dolphin Hotel’s spaghetti carbonara

Carbonara is exactly what you need if your budget is low and your flavour expectations high. This version, by Sydney’s The Dolphin Hotel, calls for just eight ingredients – and most of them (salt, pepper, olive oil and spaghetti) are pantry staples anyway. Plus, chef Danny Corbett includes some handy hints for nailing this notoriously tricky dish.

Silvia Colloca’s frittata di spaghetti

Turning last night’s leftovers into tonight’s dinner is a surefire way to save money. Silvia Colloca’s frittata di spaghetti – or Neapolitan bubble and squeak – transforms cold spaghetti in any sauce (including carbonara, if you’ve made The Dolphin’s version above) into an entirely new meal, with just a few simple ingredients. This is another to keep up your sleeve until egg prices come down a bit.

Bert’s spaghetti aglio e olio

Anchovies and parmesan are the most expensive ingredients in this simple, pantry-clearing pasta of garlic and olive oil. And you need very little of each. The most flavour comes not from these two ingredients, but from closely following the advice of chef Jordan Toft from Sydney’s elegant Bert’s, who says it’s crucial to keep swirling the pan to distribute the garlic and oil properly.

Palisa Anderson’s pad thai

If you love this takeaway classic but can’t justify the delivery bill right now, make it at home. Anderson’s (Boon Luck Farms) version takes just 30 minutes and is filling and balanced, with carbs from the noodles, and protein and fat from the tofu and egg. You could also add some wilted green veggies, like bok choy or choy sum, if they’re cheap and in season.

Hana Assafiri’s chickpea bake

Consisting of crisp shards of flatbread, sprinkles of toasty almonds and dollops of tangy yoghurt, this home-style fatteh was a long-time crowd favourite at dearly departed Melbourne restaurant Moroccan Soup Bar. It’s surprisingly cheap and easy to make – and a really great option if you’re having a dinner party or looking for a tasty grazing snack.

Cornersmith’s cheesy cauliflower bake

This recipe comes from Use It All, a cookbook by Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards of Sydney’s Cornersmith, that's all about saving money by using more of what you already have. It calls for the entire cauliflower, including leaves and stem, to produce a hearty, cost-effective dinner. And if you can find them cheaper, silverbeet or celery can easily be subbed in.

Raph Rashid’s nasi goreng

On the table in 25 minutes, this satisfying Indonesian fried rice by Melbourne’s Rashid (Juanita Peaches, All Day Doughnuts) can become a weeknight classic in your repertoire. You can whip it up with whatever add-ons and condiments you have in your fridge or pantry already: hot sauce, pickled ginger, fried eggs, lemon wedges or crispy fried shallots, say.

Rosheen Kaul’s burnt spring onion oil noodles

If you want to keep things simple, make Kaul’s recipe as is, or use these noods as a handy foundation for further experimentation. This recipe, by the former head chef at Melbourne restaurant Etta, only contains a couple of ingredients, spring onion and three sauces, but you could add something like crushed peanuts, diced tofu, greens or cabbage. Whatever floats your boat.

Rosheen Kaul’s creamy tofu noodles

A round of applause for Kaul’s method, please, which sees tofu curds blitzed in a blender to create a creamy sauce that adheres to the noodles and makes each bite a spicy, gingery, garlicky delight. Again, if this one feels a bit simple, you can jazz it up with whatever extras you want.

Garum’s gnocchi passata

This simple tomato gnocchi probably isn’t something you’ll feel like whipping up on a weeknight. But hey, weekend cooking projects shouldn’t be limited to pricey ingredients only, should they? Take your time, roll out some fluffy gnocchi and enjoy.

Christine Manfield’s spiced chickpea dal

You can’t talk about affordable food without talking about dal, the possibility-filled Indian stew that can be made with split lentils, peas, kidney beans and dozens of other types of pulses. Manfield ate this particular one frequently while travelling through Sikkim, a north-east Indian state that borders Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. It combines ginger, chilli and turmeric for a warming punch.

Shane Delia’s turmeric chickpeas with tomatoes, greens and zhoug

This is effectively another dal, and one of those recipes where you really need fresh herbs – coriander, in this case – to make the spicy green sauce known as zhoug. “This is a pretty simple dish but there’s lots of flavours going on,” says Delia of Melbourne’s Maha. “You’ve got turmeric and tomatoes and onions in the braise, then you have the lovely fieriness of the toum, and to finish it off you’ve got the zhoug. It really amplifies the flavour.”

Hetty Lui McKinnon’s cacio e pepe udon noodles

Got cheese, pepper, miso and noodles? You’ve got dinner. It’s that simple with Lui McKinnon’s Asian take on the classic Roman pasta dish.

Parwana’s kabuli palaw

This glorious pilaf, Afghanistan’s national dish, is a riot of carrot, sultanas, almonds and pistachios. This particular version is by Farida Ayubi, of Adelaide's Parwana, and also includes 500 grams of lamb, which you can easily dial back to a more modest, affordable 150 grams or omit altogether for a fully vegetarian take.

Parwana’s banjaan borani

Another by Parwana. Make this dish of melt-in-your-mouth eggplant, acidic tomato and cooling, tangy yoghurt in summer, when eggplants are at their peak. If you need some more bulk, rice studded with a handful of currants, sultanas or nuts will do the trick.

Junda Khoo’s popcorn rice

Like Raph Rashid’s nasi goreng, this basic rice, butter and egg creation is ripe for customisation. Add more fried eggs, dried shrimp, tofu or anything else that feels good. Or you know, just have it as is, like Khoo, of Sydney's Ho Jiak, often does.

Kepos Street Kitchen’s red lentil soup

Carrot, zucchini, lentils and flat-leaf parsley come together nicely in this hearty soup, which batches and freezes easily if you’re in the habit of meal prepping. Just make sure your final garnishes, like the parsley, are added fresh each time.

Shannon Martinez’s tubetti with braised fennel, radicchio and chickpeas

“It’s perfect one-pan, one-bowl, on-the-couch-with-a-blanket sort of food,” chef Shannon Martinez of Smith & Daughters says of this recipe, which she originally put together to fend off a hangover. True to form, it’s wholesome yet salty, and finished in under 30 minutes.

Silvia Colloca’s busiate alla Trapanese

This tomato and ricotta pasta, from the Sicilian province of Trapani, is best saved for summer, when tomatoes and basil are cheap and abundant. That’s when you’ll want to eat it, too. This version – by Sydney-based author and TV host Colloca – is fresh, and the acidic pesto feels ready-made for open-air eating as the day’s heat slowly wanes.

Rita Macali’s minestrone

This is a cucina povera (“poor kitchen”) classic that Italian peasants historically made to use up everything in the larder. While Macali’s version does get a little elaborate with inclusions like a whole cup of cabbage, the beauty of minestrone is that it’s endlessly customisable, depending on what you have and can afford.

Gordon Ramsay’s green pasta with rocket, almonds and lemon

Rocket and kale are the main components of this speedy, summery pasta from the British shouty man, with the kale blitzed into a pesto. “You could add broccoli or spinach to make it even more nutritious,” he says, “and use whole-wheat pasta, if you have more time.”

Additional reporting by Che-Marie Trigg.