16 To Try: One-Pot-or-Pan Recipes for When You Simply Can’t Be Bothered in the Kitchen

No matter how much you enjoy cooking – and eating – coming up with dinner ideas every night that don’t take forever or lead to masses of washing up can be taxing. But, unless you plan on feasting on toast or forking out on takeaway (in this economy!) five nights a week it’s basically a non-negotiable. Enter one-pot-or-pan meals. We’re talking less prep, less washing up and, importantly, less time. One thing there’s not less of in this compilation of breezy recipes requiring just one main cooking mode? Flavour, thanks to recipes like Shannon Martinez’s bolstering (and hangover-shattering) radicchio and chickpea pasta, a quick and smoky char kway teow and a surprisingly streamlined butter chicken. Here are 16 one-pot recipes to try.

Adam Liaw’s “carbonara” fried rice

Adam Liaw is just like us: all he wants is a meal that tastes good but requires little effort to nail. Enter his “carbonara” fried rice – it’s exactly what it says on the tin, a melange of ham, eggs, rice and cheese, all brought together in one frypan.

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

This recipe , from Melbourne plant-based-cooking queen Shannon Martinez ( Smith & Daughters ), does double duty: it saves time in the kitchen (it takes less than 30 minutes to make) and it slays hangovers, thanks to its hearty mingling of carb-y pasta, protein-y chickpeas and warming broth. That it’s vegan is really just a bonus. “It’s perfect one-pan, one-bowl, on-the-couch-with-a-blanket sort of food,” says Martinez.

Dodee Paidang’s pad krapao

Tough day at work? Set aside 20–30 minutes and you’ll be able to whip up what chef Sattawat Tangsuksan, of Melbourne’s Dodee Paidang, calls “total comfort food”. His pad krapao is a textural, chilli-loaded bowl meal that requires very little washing up after you’re done, which is just as comforting as the dish itself.

Tom Sarafian’s hummus bil lahme

“Hummus is more than just a dip,” says Tom Sarafian, purveyor of hummus, toum and harissa via his eponymous company. “Traditionally it is enjoyed as a meal, or part of a meze feast shared with family and friends.” This textural dish gussies up jarred hummus with minced lamb, crunchy almonds and plenty of spices. On the table in less than 30 minutes and requiring just one saucepan, it’s both a perfect low-touch midweek meal and a good-looking centrepiece when entertaining.

Baked satay chicken by Recipetin Eats

Nagi Maehashi – aka Recipetin Eats – is another cook who understands our weeknight meal woes. This satay recipe , like every other recipe from her latest cookbook, Tonight , is low-effort and high impact, and loaded with accessible ingredients. Here, skewered chicken is swapped for thighs to save time, and it all cooks in one casserole dish.

O Tama Carey’s turmeric and curry leaf scrambled eggs

Who among us hasn’t eaten scrambled eggs for dinner, whether out of laziness or because there’s nothing else in the house? O Tama Carey’s ( Lankan Filling Station ) version amps up this classic lazy-night dinner – which will hit the table in 15 minutes – with turmeric, curry leaf and chilli. Obviously, it also makes a very worthy breakfast or lunch, and you can even serve atop a bed of rice to bulk it out a bit.

Alice Zaslavsky’s spring salad with parmesan vinaigrette

If you’ve got a saucepan, a colander and a bowl you have all the tools you need to make Alice Zavlasky’s very easy spring salad. It’s a tumble of fresh spring veg and perfect for warm nights when the idea of standing over a hot stove, followed by eating a plate of hot food, makes you break into a sweat.

Silvia Colloca’s frittata di spaghetti

Got leftover spaghetti ragu, puttanesca or carbonara in the fridge? This recipe “honours tradition and the fundamental Italian home cooking principle of not wasting food”, says its creator, cookbook author and TV host Silvia Colloca. “Think of it as the Neapolitan bubble and squeak.” Made just like a frittata, with the fun addition of spaghetti, it’s a low-cost meal big on crunch and low on washing up and effort.

Combination fried rice from Raymond’s

Swipe away from the Deliveroo app. Instead of ordering in a Chinese meal tonight, make your own – this combination fried rice will be on the table quicker than most takeaways. And rather than juggling a bunch of plastic containers, all you’ll need to wash up are your plates and a wok.

Shiyamalee Somaweera’s red lentil curry

This curry is the perfect one-pot meal: ingredients are gradually added to a large saucepan, flavour layered upon flavour, ending with a final result that’s creamy and packed with tender lentils. Shiyamalee Somaweera ( Citrus ) says most of the dish’s flavour comes from the coconut milk, and while she eats it with other curries and rice, we reckon it makes a bang-up meal if simplicity is the aim.

Rosheen Kaul’s tamarind eggplant

Vegetarians and carnivores alike will enjoy this zingy eggplant dish by Rosheen Kaul. It’s ready in just 25 minutes and makes more than enough for a full meal once it’s piled atop steamed rice. Plus, whoever is on washing-up duties will thank you: it takes just one frying pan.

Tania Gogos Wilson’s avgolemono

This recipe , found in the Yiayia Next Door cookbook, is a zesty Greek soup made by Gogos Wilson’s yiayia, Eftichia. Though it requires a bit of time to bubble away on the stove, it’s relatively hands-off and yields plenty of leftovers to slurp up for the remainder of the week. It’s perfect for when you need a warm hug in the form of a meal, or just for when the temperature drops.

Diana Chan’s char kway teow

Flying solo for dinner? This quick noodle dish by Masterchef winner Diana Chan is your friend. To get char kway teow’s signature smoky flavour and charred texture, make sure you turn the heat below your wok way up – and have your ingredients prepped before you start, as this dish is all about a fast cooking process. All the better for having dinner on the table quickly, in our opinion.

Victor Liong’s congee

This classic rice porridge is a food for “when the cook was too lazy to make a meal”, says Victor Liong ( Lee Ho Fook ). In this recipe, everything gets thrown into one saucepan over about an hour, melding together into one big warm hug of a dish. Beyond the congee itself, it’s a choose-your-own-adventure of garnishes: you could throw in shredded chicken with ginger, spring onion and white pepper, or sliced lean pork and century egg with ginger. In other words, make it as time-consuming or easy as you like.

Palisa Anderson’s pad thai

Pad thai started life as a workers’ lunch, meaning it’s quick and fits the one-pan (in this case, wok) remit. Palisa Anderson’s ( Chat Thai ) version can be adapted depending on what’s in your pantry – but prepping in advance is essential, as once you’ve got the wok hot enough, things will move quickly.

Amandeep Sharma’s butter chicken

You will need to prep ahead of time for this take on murgh makhani (butter chicken), by former Attica chef Amandeep Sharma – the chicken needs overnight marinating. But on the day of eating, things are simple, with ingredients all progressively added to the pot, culminating in a creamy dish that doesn’t belie its simplicity.