Back-to-school season brings packed schedules, busy mornings, and the daily challenge of getting delicious meals on the table fast. Between school drop-offs, homework, and after-school activities, having easy go-to recipes can make mealtime so much less stressful. That’s why we’ve rounded up these simple and family-friendly back-to-school recipes that are perfect for busy weekdays. From quick wraps and hearty dinners to satisfying snacks and make-ahead favorites, these recipes are designed to save time while keeping everyone happy and well-fed all season long.
1.Best Southwest Chicken Wrap – Fresh, Flavorful & Easy!
Ingredients For Southwest Chicken Wrap
- Chicken Tenders: To keep this southwest wrap recipe simple, I love to buy frozen crispy breaded chicken breasts and pop them in oven. To cut back on calories, you can use grilled chicken tenders.
- Flour Tortillas: You can use your favorite flour, whole wheat, protein, low carb or spinach tortillas for these southwest chicken wraps.
- Lettuce: I love to use romaine lettuce in this wrap, but you can use your desired one.
- Tomato: Choose a couple of medium-large sized tomatoes and cut them into slices. If you don’t like them, then you can skip them.
- Black Beans: These are good source of fiber and protein. Drain and rinse black beans before adding them into the wrap.
- Corn: You can use canned or frozen corn.
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese: I love to keep it simple and use the shredded cheddar cheese and other great options are Mexican, Colby Jack and Monterey Jack cheeses.
Southwest Dressing
- Mayonnaise: I love to use lite mayo to cut down on calories and fat.
- Milk: You can use any kind of milk will work for this homemade southwest dressing, i usually use 1% milk.
- Salsa: You can use homemade salsa or any kind of it will works for this dressing.
- Taco Seasoning: It adds such great flavor to this south dressing.
How To Prep The Best Southwest Chicken Wrap
- Preheat oven and bake chicken strips.
- Take a small mixing bowl and add mayonnaise, milk, salsa, taco seasoning and cumin. Mix well and set aside.
- During chicken was baking, place thawed corn into a small skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil and cook until corn gets light browned.
- Remove Chicken from the oven, then cut into small strips.
- Start assembling chicken wraps by adding a couple tablespoons of southwest dressing to lower half of tortilla. Add romaine lettuce, sliced tomatoes, black beans, corn, chicken strips and drizzle more southwest dressing on top.
- Roll the tortilla tightly, and cut it half and serve with a side of southwest dressing. Enjoy!
2.Healthy Asian Chicken Salad with Tangy Ginger Dressing For Back-to-School Meals
Key Ingredients for Healthy Asian Chicken Salad
Coleslaw mix: It will available in produce section of grocery store. I’ll use slaw mix because it makes salad more easy because I don’t have to slice cabbage. Mostly mixtures has nice assortment of both green and purple cabbage and a bit of carrot are added for color.
Green Leaf Lettuce: It adds little textural difference.
Cilantro: This can really adds a fresh herbaceous flavor to salad.
Chicken: You can also use leftover cooked chicken or shred rotisserie chicken for this chicken salad.
Sliced almonds: Add toasted sliced almonds which is a great crunch to the salad.
Sesame seeds: You can add this to enhance the taste of salad.
Mandarin oranges: Use fresh or jarred Mandarin oranges.
Garlic: It adds great flavor to dressing.
Ginger root: Use fresh ginger root which gives dressing amazing flavor.
Olive oil: It balances the tanginess of vinegar.
Rice vinegar: It’s a mild flavor vinegar, there are different flavors but I get plain variety.
Soy sauce: It adds a bit of salty umami flavor to dressing
Honey: This adds natural sweetness to dressing.
Red pepper flakes: This adds a bit of spice. You can also add a small amount of Sriracha to dressing instead.
Chow mein noodles: This are crunchy noodles which enhances flavor.
Step-by-step instructions for Asian Chicken Salad
Heat skillet over medium flame. Dry toast sliced almonds, sesame seeds to bring out their flavor.
It will take around 5 minutes.
During almond seeds, sesame seeds are toasting add chicken, coleslaw mix, lettuce, cilantro, and sliced green onions to a mixing bowl.
To prepare salad dressing, add olive oil, rice vinegar, honey, soy sauce, red pepper flakes and sesame oil to a small bowl.
Use fine grater to grate ginger root and garlic clove into dressing. Stir it well to combine and pour on the salad mixture and toss well.
Add Mandarin oranges and crunchy dried chow mein noodles top to the salad and serve immediately.
Make Ahead
Are you planning to make this ahead, it is the best store the salad separate from dressing. So Salad stays nice and crunchy.
After mixing all the salad ingredients portion in to individual airtight containers for 3-4 days. Then this is a great salad for meal prep.
3.The Best Lasagna Roll Ups Recipe – Easy, Cheesy & Irresistible!
Ingredients Required For Meat Lasagna Roll Ups Recipe
To prepare these melty lasagna roll ups, here is the quick overview of all ingredients you will need to prepare this recipe.
- Lasagna Noodles: To cook the noodles properly, follow the instructions on the package. If you want gluten-free, then you can easily swap them out for a gluten-free option.
- Ground Beef: I like to use 80/20 beef but you can use 99% lean for healthier lasagna. You can use ground Italian sausage or turkey instead of ground beef as an alternative.
- Marinara Spaghetti Sauce: I have delicious sauce recipe which I make all time and keep on hand for quick meals. But, can use your store bought jarred sauce to save time.
- Onions and Garlic: I’ll try to use fresh onion and garlic when possible. It enhances the flavor of marinara sauce and overall just tastes better.
- Seasonings: To enhance flavor to this dish, I use salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper. If you don’t want spice, then you can leave crushed red peppers and add little bit of black pepper.
- Cheese: I use 3 kinds of cheeses for this lasagna roll ups recipe: ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
- Egg: Eggs helps to bind all ingredients for lasagna filling together.
- Parsley: This is optional but it gives a pop of color to this dish when serving.
Equipment Needed
- White Baking Dish
Instructions To Make Lasagna Roll Ups Recipe
- Initially preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat and cook until no longer pink, and breaking apart with a spatula for 3-4 minutes. Later add ½ cup of yellow onions and cook until they transparent for 3 minutes.
- And add ¼ cup of crushed red pepper, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning, ½ teaspoon of salt and garlic. Then mix well and saute for 1 minute.
- Now pour 24 oz of your favorite marinara sauce, then bring it to a simmer cook for 5 minutes, later set aside. Now, pour water in a large pot to boil and add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Cook lasagna noodles according to directions listed on package.
- Later drain noodles and put them back in pot and cover with cold water.
- During pasta is cooking, make the cheese mixture. By adding ricotta cheese, 1 large egg, ½ parmesan cheese, 1 ½ cups of mozzarella cheese, parsley to a large bowl, then mix until fully incorporated.
- Divide cooked noodles and ricotta cheese mixture over noodles and spread them evenly. Add a large spoon of meat mixture to each noodle, spread evenly. Now spread ⅓ cup of meat sauce on bottom of a baking dish. Then roll noodles up jellyroll style and place seam side down in baking dish.
- Later cover roll-ups with remaining meat sauce then sprinkle remaining 1 ½ cups of mozzarella cheese over them. Now, cover with foil and bake for 38 minutes in preheated oven. Later remove foil and bake for an additional 2 minutes, serve garnished and chopped fresh parsley.
4.Creamy Avocado Chicken Pasta Salad – Light & Fresh Recipe
Ingredients Required For Chicken Pasta Salad Recipe
- 2 medium cooked chicken breasts
- 2 ripe avocado
- 1 pound of cooked rotini pasta
- ½ cup of chopped red onion
- 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup of freshly chopped basil
- Salt and fresh cracked pepper
For Dressing
- ½ cup of white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp of Italian seasoning
- ¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
How To Make Simple Pasta Salad Recipe
- This chicken pasta salad recipe is so easy to make and it’s ready in under 20 minutes. This pasta salad can keep in refrigerator for about 3 days.
- Use rotisserie chicken to make this pasta salad but you can use grill or roast chicken breasts.
- Make all ingredients put together in a large salad bowl and make vinaigrette-style dressing.
What Is The Best Pasta For This Chicken Pasta Salad?
Rotini holds dressing well, so I like a classic rotini pasta salad, but any pasta will work well. You can avoid spaghetti and long pasta such as tagliatelle. Rotini, bow tie, penne, and macaroni are always good alternatives for this chicken pasta salad recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Pasta Salad Recipe
This chicken pasta salad is so easy to make and requires minimal effort for cooking, to make it perfect for a quick and simple meal.
Combining fresh veggies, flavorful herbs and protein packed chicken makes a delicious and nutritious dish
Homemade dressing makes a burst of tangy and herby flavors which perfectly compliments other ingredients, it takes this chicken pasta salad to next level.
Dressing For Chicken Pasta Salad
- Dressing plays an important role to this salad recipe. This chicken pasta salad dressing has only five ingredients.
- Dressing is pretty simple which includes whisk white wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil, italian seasoning and a pinch of salt and pepper. But when mixed with pasta, chicken, tomato, avocado and other ingredients will flavor well.
Directions
- Initially, add salad ingredients, shredded chicken, pasta onion, avocado, cherry tomatoes and basil in a large bowl.
- Then combine vinegar, italian seasoning, olive oil, salt and pepper for dressing in a jar.
- Later drizzle your chicken pasta salad with dressing and toss gently until all ingredients combined well. That’s it, serve your chicken pasta salad immediately, enjoy.
5.Easy Homemade Egg Foo Young Recipe – Chinese-Style Omelet
How To Make Egg Foo Young?
Ingredients For House Egg Foo Young:
- 8 ounces of Fresh Beans Sprouts
- 1 Cup of cooked small shrimp
- 4 eggs
- ⅓ cup of thinly sliced green onions
- ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
- 3 cups of chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or Chinese cooking wine Sherry
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
Instructions To Prepare Easy Egg Foo Young:
Mix well sprouted beans, shrimp, green onions, garlic powder and eggs together in a bowl.
Now, place the skillet on the stove and pour oil and wait until it gets heated over medium flame.
Add ½ cup of egg mixture to skillet to make a patty, and more eggs patties to skillet, fry this patties until it gets golden brown about 4 minutes in each side.
Now prepare sauce for Veggies Egg Foo Young, to make sauce – whisk chicken broth, soy sauce, corn starch, sugar, cooking wine together in a sauce pan on low flame, wait until sauce thickens about 5 minutes.
Now spoon this sauce over egg patties.
6.Garlic Butter Chicken With Lemon Asparagus
Ingredients Required
For Garlic Butter Chicken Bites And Asparagus Recipe
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 2 bunch of asparagus, rinsed and trimmed
- ½ cup of butter, softened
- 1 tsp of olive oil
- 2 tsp of minced garlic
- 1 tsp of Italian seasoning or herbes de province
- 1 tbsp of hot sauce, optional
- ½ cup of low sodium chicken broth
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp of minced parsley
- Crushed red chili pepper flakes, optional
- Slices of lemon for garnish
For Chicken Seasoning
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp of fresh cracked blank pepper
- 2 tsp of onion powder
Garlic Butter Chicken Recipe With Asparagus
Are you looking for a quick and easy 30 minutes chicken dinner, this delicious garlic butter chicken recipe will be your new family favorite.
This recipe can make in just one skillet. Diced chicken breasts are sauteed on stovetop and result is super juicy, tender, rich and some buttery with crisp asparagus on side.
How To Make Garlic Chicken Bites With Asparagus
Preparation method of this chicken bites recipe is pretty simple: first, cut chicken breasts into cubes and season generously.
During the chicken is sitting, you can blanch asparagus in boiling to precook them so they cook faster in the skillet.
Stir fry chicken bites until golden later add minced garlic and Italian seasoning, stir and cook with chicken bites until fragrant.
Now, deglaze your skillet with chicken broth, and add remaining butter, lemon juice, hot sauce, parsley. Then you can add blanched asparagus and toss to finish cooking asparagus. Later add chicken back to skillet, reheat, season and serve.
7.Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing For Busy Weeknights
Ingredients For Crock Pot Chicken
- 4 boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- 1.5 tbsp of Italian Seasoning
- Salt
- Pepper
- 10.5 oz of cream of chicken soup, low sodium
- 8 oz of sour cream
- 6 oz of box stuffing mix
- ¾ cup low sodium chicken broth
- 2 cups of fresh green beans
Optional Stuffing Additions
- ½ cup onions
- ½ cup celery
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup crumbled sausage
- 2 tsp of dry rosemary
Sour Cream Substitutes
- Plain Greek Yogurt
- Mayonnaise
- 1 cup of evaporated milk + 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice. Stand it for 5 minutes to thicken.
- Optional veggies are carrots, corn, baby potatoes and broccoli.
Equipment Needed
Serving Suggestions: You can serve this with gravy and mashed potatoes.
Stuffing Consistency
For Firmer Stuffing
If you want to have your breadcrumbs still very much instant and firm, then use more stuffing up to 12 ounces.
If your stuffing is too moist then you can leave lid off for last 30-40 minutes of cooking to let some of moisture evaporate. And you can also pop stuffing in 400° oven for 10-15 minutes to brown up top.
Instructions For Crock Pot Chicken
- 2 sections are mentioned below, one is crockpot method and other is instant pot cooking method.
Crock Pot Method
- Initially, season chicken with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. And place on bottom of lightly greased crock pot.
- Mix the soup, sour cream, stuffing mix and half of chicken broth together in a large bowl.
- Add your stuffing and green beans to crockpot.
- Now, cook on high flame for 4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours.
- You can serve this with mashed potatoes, gravy and buttermilk biscuits.
- If you want more moisture then add rest of chicken broth, and stir well, heat for an additional 10 minutes.
- If you want firmer stuffing, leave lid off crockpot for last 30-40 minutes of cooking, and use foil cover to keep chicken moist.
- You can pop it in 400 degree oven for 10-15 minutes to brown up the top.
Instant Pot Method
- Season your chicken with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
- Then pour ¾ cup of chicken broth into instant pot and top with chicken and overlap as needed.
- Seal vent and press manual or pressure cook button and set timer to 14 minutes for frozen chicken or set 8 minutes for fresh or defrost chicken. You can ensure the pressure seal value is secured in place and closed.
- As your chicken cooks, then you can gently combine stuffing mix, cream of chicken soup and sour cream in a separate bowl until just combined and don’t over mix it.
- Once chicken timer goes off, turn quick release valve on pressure cooker and wait for steam to escape. And press cancel button to turn off unit.
- Now, open lid and ensure chicken is fully cooked. You’ll find moisture content at bottom, this will needed for stuffing to cook.
- If you use frozen green beans, then place them on top of chicken, and seal pressure valve, press manual or pressure cook button again and set timer for about 2 minutes. Then release valve let steam escape and then add stuffing on top.
- Replace lid and seal pressure valve. And press manual or pressure cook button and set timer for 4 minutes, this will heat stuffing.
- Once finished, release valve once again and let steal escape, remove and serve.
8.Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta – A Spicy & Comfort Dinner Favorite
Ingredients For Cajun Chicken Pasta Recipe
- Bow Tie Pasta: I use bow tie pasta for this Cajun chicken pasta recipe but you can also use any pasta you like, such as penne, rotini, linguini.
- Unsalted Butter: I recommend to use unsalted butter because you can control salt content in your recipe.
- Minced Garlic: I use minced garlic in a jar because of how easy it to use. But you can also use fresh garlic for this chicken pasta recipe.
- Chicken Breasts: Use boneless skinless chicken breasts or chicken tenders.
- Cajun Seasoning: This is a Cajun spice blend of paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, pepper and oregano. You can also use blackened seasoning for this spicy chicken pasta recipe instead of Cajun seasoning.
- Salt and Pepper: You can add more or less of them to your taste.
- Cream Cheese: Use soften cream cheese in microwave about 30 seconds prior to adding it to skillet.
- Milk: I prefer to use 1% milk in this chicken pasta recipe. But you can use any type of milk.
- Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese: It adds the most flavor to this recipe.
- Yellow Bell Pepper: You can remove seeds and slice into this slices. You can also substitute one red or yellow pepper for a green bell pepper.
How To Make Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta Recipe
You can cook pasta according to package directions until they become al dente. Then, drain pasta rinse it with cold water and set pasta aside.
Take a large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat. Later add minced garlic and continue cooking about 30-45 seconds.
Now, add cubed chicken, sliced red and yellow bell peppers, Cajun seasoning, salt and pepper to skillet and stir ingredients until seasoning has coated chicken and peppers well. Cook it about 4-5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and peppers become soft.
Later, add milk and softened cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese has melted and the sauce becomes creamy.
Now, add cooked pasta and freshly grated parmesan cheese and stir well to combine all ingredients and coat the pasta well.
And serve immediately with garlic bread or a green salad. Enjoy!
9.Easy Baked Balsamic Chicken Breast Recipe
Ingredients You’ll Need For Balsamic Chicken
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- ½ cup of balsamic vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon of black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon of salt
How To Tenderize And Flatten Chicken Breast?
There are 2 options, depending on how thick was the chicken breast is and how thin the final result should be.
- Cut each chicken breast in half through middle lengthwise.
- Cover with plastic wrap and using a meat mallet pound to desired thickness, Be gently so the meat doesn’t get smashed.
- Second option is just to tenderize whole breast without cutting it through middle.
How To Prepare Baked Boneless Skinless Balsamic Chicken Breast
- Flatten the Chicken: If breasts are thick, place them between plastic wrap and gently pound with a meat mallet or rolling pin until for ½ inch thick.
- Make Marinate: Whisk olive oil, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, oregano, black pepper and salt together in a bowl.
- Marinate: Add chicken to bowl and marinate evenly. And let it sit for 10-15 minutes for marinating.
- Bake: Preheat oven at 400F and bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes.
- Reset and Serve: Let chicken rest for a few minutes before slicing, drizzle with pan juices for extra flavor.
10.Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread Recipe For Back-to-School Meals
Ingredients Required For Blueberry Cream Cheese Bread
- A cup of butter
- 8 oz of cream cheese
- ¾ cup of sugar
- 2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon of baking powder
- ½ tsp of salt
- 2 cups of blueberries
How To Make This Bread
- Preheat and Prepare Pans: preheat oven at 350 degrees and grease 2 loaf pans (9*5)
- Mix Ingredients:Mix cream together the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl.
And in vanilla extract and eggs. Then you can add in the flour slowly, baking powder and salt.
Once combined, you can fold in the fresh blueberries carefully. - Bake:Later pour batter (which will be quite thick, that is okay) into the prepared pans evenly. And place into preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean once when you inserted into the centre of bread.
Then remove it from your oven and allow it to cool slightly before removing from pan and slicing it.
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