One-Pan Dinners With Barely Any Washing Up

This vibrant skillet dish is proof that a quick dinner does not need to be a boring one. Succulent prawns and creamy butter beans simmer together in a rich tomato sauce, finished with a generous scattering of tangy feta.

The whole thing comes together in around fifteen minutes flat, all in the one pan, so there is barely any washing up before you can sit down to eat. Serve it with crusty bread to scoop up the sauce, or spoon it over rice for a slightly heartier plate. A squeeze of lemon at the end brightens everything up.

A genuinely sophisticated dinner that only asks for one pan and twenty minutes of your evening. Tender salmon and wilted spinach nestle into crisp potatoes, all brought together with a light, creamy sauce.

It manages to feel indulgent without being heavy, which makes it a brilliant one for a weeknight when you want something that feels like a bit of an occasion. Everything cooks through together, so there is no juggling a separate pan of vegetables or potatoes on the side. Works just as well with trout if that is what you have to hand.

Crispy-skinned chicken nestles among tender potatoes and plenty of fresh thyme in this simple, French-inspired traybake. Everything roasts together in one dish, so the potatoes soak up all the chicken juices as they cook.

A final squeeze of lemon at the end lifts the whole thing and stops it feeling heavy, even after fifty minutes in the oven. It is an easy one to prep ahead of time and leave to look after itself while you get on with something else. Leftover potatoes are excellent reheated for lunch the next day.

Tender lamb chops roast alongside potatoes, onions and tomatoes in this warmly spiced traybake, with a Middle Eastern spice blend doing most of the flavour work while the oven does the rest.

It is a proper one pan dinners success story: everything from the meat to the vegetables cooks in the same dish, so there is minimal fuss and even less to wash up afterwards. Give it a good forty five minutes in the oven and you will have a satisfying, harmonious plate with barely any effort. A dollop of yoghurt on the side is a good idea.

Tender chicken thighs simmer in a creamy leek and bean sauce in this comforting one-pan dinner, with wilted spinach stirred through at the end for a bit of freshness against the richness.

It is a heartier dish than some of the others here, best suited to a proper appetite or a chillier evening, but it still only needs the one pan from start to finish. The sauce thickens beautifully as it cooks, so you are left with something rich enough to eat with just a spoon and some crusty bread. A splash of white wine in the sauce is a lovely addition.

The richest dish on this list, and worth the wait. Chicken thighs roast among colourful vegetables, briny olives and chorizo, so the fat from the chorizo bastes everything else as it cooks.

It takes a little longer, around an hour, but almost all of that time is hands-off, which is really the whole point of a good one-pan dinner. The result is deeply savoury and just a little bit smoky, ideal for a weekend when you have a bit more time but still do not want a sink full of pans. Great served straight from the dish with some crusty bread.