Thirty Minutes or Less: 10 Easy Recipes From Top Chefs and Cookbook Authors for Midweek Meals

When it feels like time is on fast-forward, it can be hard to muster the energy to cook during the week. But who says you can’t make a fresh, delicious post-work meal (mostly) from scratch?

These recipes – from top chefs, cookbook authors and culinary celebs – can all be made in 30 minutes or less, meaning you’ll have enough time to polish off a plate before vegging out on the lounge.

Here are xx recipes for noodles, pasta, sandwiches, salads and more, for when speed is a must but you don’t want to resort to ready-made meals or takeaways.

Nagi Maehashi – aka Recipetin Eats – is a cook we turn to when we want a speedy midweek meal we know will work. Here she harnesses the flavour-boosting power of kimchi and the rich umami of gochujang to boost a noodle dish that takes just 15 minutes to pull together.

There are only three steps to this fresh and adaptable salad from chef Jesse Gerner – cook your freekeh (cracked grain will only take up to 15 minutes); blanch your broccoli (two minutes max); and mix everything else together. It’s delicious enough to have on its own, or you can easily throw on some meat from the grill.

Plenty of veg the remit? Alice Zaslavksy has you sorted with her bright and crunchy spring salad, which is ready in less than half an hour. It’s solid enough to make a meal in itself, or an ace side if you’re throwing a few bits and bobs on the barbeque on a warm evening.

This recipe gives you noodles instantly – but it’s much more comforting than packet instant noodles. You’ll need to boil a pot of water for the noodles, but nothing else has to be cooked; the rest of the magic happens in your blender or food processor. Rosheen Kaul, former head chef at Melbourne’s Etta says, “the smooth tofu wraps the noodles in a weightlessly creamy blanket, cooling your tastebuds through the salty, spicy dressing”.

Adam Liaw is the guy you want on speed dial for a quick-and-easy weeknight dinner. Case in point: this cheese- and ham-loaded fried rice, which brings two speedy classics (carbonara and fried rice) into one 10-minute dish you’ll want to eat on repeat.

In the movie Chef, it takes Jon Favreau one minute to whip this dish up with the help of Hollywood editing. It only takes a little bit longer to cook this version from Sydney chef Jordan Toft. You only need one pan (plus a pot for boiling your pasta) and there’s an added savoury bite from Parmigiano and anchovies.

Cacio e pepe is an ideal last-minute store cupboard dinner, but typically hard to replicate for those adhering to a plant-based diet. Shannon Martinez has you sorted. Her vegan take has all the ease of the original and uses the magic of silken tofu and vegan parmesan, coupled with pasta water, to achieve cacio e pepe’s famously clingy sauce in just 20 minutes.

Adelaide chef Emma McCaskill makes this simple recipe once a week for herself and her kids. It calls for an easy hack ingredient – store-bought roast chicken – which means you can have it on the table in 40 minutes. And if you boil the chicken bones to make broth the night before, you can easily shave that time by another 20.

Put down the instant mee goreng and make this Diana Chan recipe instead. Sure, it takes a little more time and effort – but it’s only half an hour between you and these fresh egg noodles coated in a rich and spicy sauce.

Palisa Anderson learned how to cook Thailand’s national dish from her late mother, pioneering restaurateur Amy Chanta, and now she makes it for her kids too. It takes just 25 minutes, and most of that time is set aside for preparing your vegetables and tofu. Once the wok-cooking starts, it all happens quickly.

French cuisine has a reputation for being fiddly and time consuming. Not this breaded veal, from legendary French food writer Ginette Mathiot – it’s on the table in just 20 minutes. It’s also supremely versatile: swap the veal for chicken or turkey to make the most of whatever’s in the fridge.

The muffuletta sandwich originated in New Orleans, but this one from food stylist and recipe developer Fiona Hammond is inspired by ingredients from the Mornington Peninsula (you can use whichever producers are local to you). It’s easy to put together, but if you’re an early riser you can also prepare it before work – then all you need to do come dinner time is unwrap and chew.

Want a restaurant-style dish on the table in minutes? Whip up a serve of this super-simple, super-speedy carbonara, from Sydney’s Dolphin Hotel. Chef Danny Corbett even shares his hints for ensuring a silky sauce that clings to the spaghetti – and avoids notorious carbonara pitfalls like splitting sauces and curdling eggs.

In this recipe, Ostro and A Year of Simple Family Food cookbook author Julia Busuttil Nishimura elevates canned tuna – the hero of many, many speedy meals – with thinly sliced lemon, chilli, capers, rocket and pangrattato, or crunchy breadcrumbs. It takes just 20 minutes from start to finish.

This easy-to-prepare salad from ex-Fred’s head chef and cookbook author Danielle Alvarez is full of zesty flavours, fresh spring greens and crunch from the crispy rice. You can cook fresh rice for it and dry it out in the oven, or use leftovers from the night before to save time (and waste).

Scrambled eggs are perfect for lazy dinners. To make them extra punchy with minimal effort, follow O Tama Carey’s lead and give your eggs a little razzamataz with curry leaves, turmeric and chilli.

Additional reporting by Che-Marie Trigg.