40 Easy One Pot Meal Prep Ideas that You Will love

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These easy one pot meal prep ideas are my secret weapon to saving time in the kitchen.

Break out your big pot, dump all your ingredients in, and enjoy!

One pot meal prep recipes are perfect because they are easy to make, pretty healthy, and they make tons of food without all the mess.  

Here is our mega list of the best healthy one pot meal prep recipes the internet has to offer! 

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Advice for Meal Prepping with One Pot

Over the last five years of grad school, meal prepping and cooking weeknight dinners as fast as possible was the priority. I didn’t have the time to slave over elaborate, multi-step recipes. These one pot meal prep ideas made it super simple.

But over the years we picked up a few tricks along the way that make the process even faster than normal.

1. Use meat that doesn’t need to be trimmed – Cleaning meat, trimming away fat and sinew, and breaking it down into chunks can take up extra time. We’re big fans of using chicken breast, chuck roasts, and pork shoulders. These are whole chunks of meat that don’t need trimming or breaking down like you might find with chicken thighs.
2. Prechopped veggies – The most time intensive part of cooking for us is chopping vegetables. We don’t mind spending the extra $3-4 on a week’s worth of food to buy pre-chopped onions, bell peppers, etc.
3. Keep things simple – Some one pot meal prep ideas are great, but having 20-30+ ingredients and different spices. We’re big fans of using simple recipes that still pack a punch with flavor.
4. All at once – Some recipes call for you to slowly layer in ingredients over time. We prefer recipes where we put everything in at the beginning and then when it’s done it’s done. No messing around with setting timers and adding in ingredients every 5-10 minutes.

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Easy One Pot Meal Prep Recipes

Your weeknights already feel jam-packed. Whether it’s grad classes or after-school activities with kids, it’s no wonder many people feel even busier after work. These easy one pot meals will save your time and your sanity. Plus, this round-up includes recipes to meet a variety of dietary needs, including gluten-free, vegan, paleo, or keto! Did we mention they’re downright delicious?

If you want some more ideas for your next Sunday meal prep, give one of our favorite easy meal prep ideas a try.

1. Slow Cooker Chipotle Bean Chili

What better way to kick off a one pot meal prep recipe list than with a chili? This chili is fuss-free and requires just 5 minutes of prep! It uses delicious smokey Mexican flavors. Plus, the topping options are endless, so you’ll be able to easily dress up your leftovers for lunch later in the week. This is one of our favorite healthy and cheap crockpot recipes!

2. Quinoa and Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables

This quinoa and roasted vegetable recipe is super healthy and delicious! It’s plant based and gluten free with very little clean up. This is perfect for a light, healthy lunch or dinner.

3. 12-Minute Asian Broccoli Salad

This Asian broccoli salad is perfect for your healthy meal plan. It takes just 12 minutes to make and uses delicious aromatics giving this recipe a ton of flavor. While being packed with nutrition, this recipe contains just 118 calories per serving!

4. Crockpot Glazed Chicken Teriyaki

This easy crockpot chicken teriyaki has a delicious sweet & sticky glaze that’s made with no refined sugars. It’s a healthier twist on a traditional teriyaki sauce, so you can enjoy a guilt-free pleasure. This is one of our favorite asian meal prep ideas!

5. Slow Cooker Bolognese

This tasty bolognese recipe is hands down the easiest bolognese I have ever made! It’s perfect to get started in the morning before work, taking just 5 minutes to prep. It’s high in protein, great for meal prepping, and is dirt cheap costing just $1.65 per portion.

6. Curry Vegetable Stir Fry with Zucchini Noodles: Whole30 & Paleo

This tasty curry vegetable stir fry uses zucchini noodles, making it perfect for low-carb, Whole30, or Paleo diets. It uses a rich, tasty coconut curried sauce and only takes 10 minutes to prep.

7. One Pot Beef Stroganoff

Can we even talk about easy and delicious comfort foods without including a stroganoff? I don’t think so. How about one that you can whip together in 40 minutes in a single pot? Now we’re talking. This one pot recipe is made with ground beef, so it’s fast, budget friendly, and tasty. If you like this dish, be sure to check out our list of ground beef meal prep ideas! 

8. One Pot Mushroom Rice

You won’t believe how much flavor gets folded into this dish in an hour. Then there’s the fact that it’s so deliciously creamy. This works as both a side dish or a vegetarian meal. With a slice of fresh bread, you won’t want to eat anything else. I promise it’s that good. 

9. Healthy Sesame Orange Ginger Chickpea Stir Fry

This vegan-friendly dish can easily hold its own against your favorite takeout place for taste and speed. It’s ready to go in a little more than half an hour. So now it’s healthy, delicious, and helping you save money. What can’t this dish do?

10. One Pan Tomato and Kale Pasta

What if I told you about a dish that was vegan and gluten-free, plus it could be on your table in 25 minutes? It’s not a dream; it’s this easy one pan pasta dish. Layers of flavor and a hearty serving of white beans gets you a delicious, protein-rich meal fast. This is a super easy sheet pan meal prep that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner.

11. One Skillet Mexican Quinoa

Let’s cut to the chase here. This dish is amazing. It is a protein powerhouse (20 grams per serving!), and it’s vegan and gluten free. But the very best part? It’s downright tasty, especially if you add the easy homemade guac to the top. 

12. Cuban Sweet Potato Picadillo Bowls

This vegan one pot meal prep recipe makes me feel like a gourmet. Just look at the name! If you’re worried that gourmet is a French-inspired word for over-the-top or unrecognizable ingredients, don’t sweat it. The stewed tomatoes come right from your supermarket shelf. Still, with surprise ingredients like raisins, you’ll delight in how unusual this dish is and celebrate the fact that it’s done in half an hour. 

13. One-Pot Sesame Noodles and Veggies

The veggies in this Asian-inspired pasta dish get so tender, it will quickly become a vegetarian favorite. It’s no problem if your family requests it often because you can cook it up in 25 minutes.  

14. 30 Minute Red Beans and Cauliflower Rice

This is another fast and fantastic gluten-free and vegan meal prep dish. My favorite thing about this meal is how creative I feel after making it. You can use it to top nachos, dress up a bed of lettuce, or even use it to top your tortilla shells for tacos or burritos. 

15. 30-Minute Gnocchi Enchilada Skillet

Who says gnocchi is only for Italian cuisine? This vegetarian one pot meal can go toe-to-toe with any traditional enchilada recipe. The gnocchi replaces tortillas, so if you’ve got dinner guests, you’ve got a built-in conversation starter to boot. 

16. One Pot Thai Peanut Veggie Pasta 

An easy pad thai? We’ve got the perfect one pot recipe for you. Serve it with whole wheat pasta, but rest assured that no one will notice thanks to the creamy peanut sauce. Whether you’re looking to try out Meatless Mondays during the school year or you follow a vegetarian diet all the time, this meal is perfect for you.

17. Pork and Prawn Jambalaya

This delicious one-pot Pork and Prawn Jambalaya is a healthier version than your typical Jambalaya. Its low fat, making this recipe completely guilt-free; it has a delicious smoky flavor that will make you want more.

18. Carne de Res Guisada (Dominican Braised Beef)

This traditional Dominican beef stew is super tender and easy to make. It’s high in protein and packed with veggies, perfect for people following a low carb diet. This recipe only takes 10 minutes of prep and 1 hour to cook, which is great because it doesn’t take a large amount of time out of your Sunday prep!

19. One Pot Healthy Cajun Chicken Orzo

I love this recipe when I’m looking to kick up the flavor fast on a weeknight. The cajun seasoning makes this dish anything but boring. Plus, it’s packed with vegetables like bell peppers and zucchini. You’ll have this meal plated in a half hour, and I guarantee dinner guests will be looking for seconds. This is one of our favorite healthy chicken meal prep ideas. 

20. One Pot Creamy Chicken Alfredo

The creamy sauce will make this a family favorite even with the pickiest eaters sitting at your table. Plus this dish lets you cook the chicken and pasta in the same pot, so you know it’s going to be fast. You’ll have this kid-friendly dish on your table in 30 minutes, and it’ll be no time before you get requests for seconds. If you’re looking for a great meal prep with pasta, this is the one for you!

Healthy One Pot Meal Prep Ideas

21. Sheet Pan Skinny Chicken Parmesan

The broccoli and cauliflower cut the carbs and calories, but this dish does not skimp on flavor. In fact, the melted cheese on top makes sure that no one misses any of the less-than-healthy traditional chicken parm toppings. This is another meal to keep in heavy rotation if you’re looking for a healthy, family-friendly meal that you can make in 30 minutes.

22. One Pot Spanish Chicken and Rice

This colorful dish harkens to a paella you might order at a fancy tapas restaurant. But considering you can make this one pot meal in 25 minutes, that’s less time that it would take for you and your family to pile into the car and drive over. Though it calls for chicken thighs, you can easily substitute chorizo. As an added perk, it’s also gluten free!

23. One Pot Vegetarian Chili

This vegetarian chili has a delicious, rich tomato sauce and uses a homemade ancho chili paste to give it a subtle spice. It’s packed with vegetables which gives it a nutritious kick, making it perfect to add to your vegetarian diet plan.

24. One Pot Chicken and Dirty Rice

In under an hour, you can have this Cajun-inspired dish on your plate. The recipe calls for bone-in chicken thighs, which is just about as budget-friendly as you can get. As an added bonus, you can play around with the heat in this dish to make it as spicy as you’d like. 

25. Teriyaki Chicken Stir Fry

No matter how busy your evenings are, you can definitely fit in this 20-minute dish. There’s tender chicken, savory veggies, and a homemade teriyaki sauce that will have you feeling like a master chef. Also, this meal is low carb and paleo. 

26. Salsa-Simmered Fish

A recipe that’s paleo and done in under 10 minutes–what kind of culinary magic is this? The trick is using a jar of your favorite salsa. It features cod filets, but you can easily swap in whatever white fish you like. 

27. Salt and Pepper Shrimp

Here’s another protein-rich paleo recipe you’ll love. Serve this delicious 10-minute dish with cauliflower rice or ginger green beans. You can also plate it on a bed of lettuce and smother it in salsa for a Mexican-style dish. 

28. One Pan Baked Salmon Asparagus & Sweet Potato

This dish pan does it all: you’ve got your meat, your veggies, and your potatoes in under 30 minutes. It’s paleo, gluten free, and perfect for busy weeknights. The fact that it only requires a handful of ingredients is just one more thing to love about this one pan dish. 

29. Easy Sheet Pan Shrimp Fajitas

A 20-minute recipe like this might actually convince you to ditch your favorite Tex Mex place. The shrimp absorbs all the different seasonings to make a meal that is perfectly flavored and a breeze to make and clean up. This is one of our favorite pescatarian meal prep ideas!

30. One-Pot Slimming World Chickpea Curry

A hearty, warming curry is a dish sure to help you cosy up in the midst of a surprise storm outside. Most chickpea curry recipes employ a lot of different, high-fat ingredients to ensure they deliver flavour, but this one doesn’t!

31. One Pan Easy Baked Fish and Chips

This dish crisps up in 30 minutes in your oven. It’s also healthier than your favorite restaurant fish and chips since it’s baked. If you opt for the homemade tartar sauce–it only takes five minutes to whip up!–you might think you’re eating out. 

32. Easy Chicken and Rice Soup

If you’re looking for comfort food in a hurry, this recipe is for you. You can either boil and shred chicken breasts in advance if you meal prep on weekends, or you can pick up a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket to make this weeknight meal even faster. 

33. One Pot Vegan Tortilla Soup

There’s something really magical about the way that bowls of soup can make you forget falling temperatures. The best soups, though, seem like they’d be too difficult to ever attempt at home. One pot soup recipes to the rescue. This soup calls for just 10 ingredients, and it’s so smoky and savory, you’ll never miss the meat. The fact that you can churn it out in under an hour will keep this on heavy rotation all fall and winter. 

34. Easy One Pot Quinoa Corn Chowder

This one pot soup recipe is the perfect weeknight meal. It’s quick and satisfying. There’s quinoa and beans in this chowder, so it’s loaded with protein and fiber. You can eat this soup as a meal on its own or serve it up with a salad and some crusty bread. 

35. One Pot Curried Butternut Squash Soup

There’s curry, cumin, cinnamon, and ginger in this soup. Prep and cook time for this soup clock in at 60 minutes, which means your kitchen will smell divine for at least an hour. Additionally, you can get as creative as your tastebuds desire with the toppings, like cilantro or coconut milk. There’s even a link for steps to make your own roasted chickpeas to sprinkle on top. This is one of the tastiest one pot meal prep recipes on this list!

36. Smoky Black Bean and Sweet Potato Soup

This soup is vegan and gluten-free. It’s also utterly delicious. With the addition of sweet potatoes, you get fiber, protein, and tons of vitamin A in this Mexican-inspired meal. You can dress it up with avocado slices, tortilla chip crumbles, or some cilantro and salsa on top. 

37. One Pot French Onion Soup

French onion soup feels downright fancy as far as soups go. Fortunately, you can put this soup together in an hour and a half. You can also be fairly flexible with the ingredients. For instance, use Gruyere cheese if you’re feeling fancy or mozzarella if you want to use cheese you already have. As an added bonus, French onion soup is the perfect way to use up any bread that you might have lurking around in your cabinets. Serve it with a salad to make a complete meal for your family. 

38. Easy 10-Minute Wonton Soup 

The most fun part about this recipe is that you can actually make the chicken and cilantro wontons yourself or get the kids involved. Still, if you’re pressed for time, you can absolutely use wontons from the supermarket as well. With wonton soup that is this filling, this good, and this fast, you might never use DoorDash again. 

39. Classic Tomato Soup

Whether you have kids or simply are a kid at heart, there’s nothing better than a steaming bowl of tomato soup. Unless you add grilled cheese. Then, it’s definitely better. This family favorite takes about 90 minutes to make, but you’re only active for about 25 of those minutes. 

40. Green Goddess Vegan Broccoli Soup

If you haven’t jumped on the green goddess meal train yet, what are you waiting for? This soup is the perfect way to test drive the trend. Topped with crunchy kale chips, you won’t even notice that this recipe is dairy-free. You can either make your own chips following this recipe or opt for store-bought. Combined, you won’t spend more than 30 minutes making this dish, but you will need one extra sheet pan if you make your own chips. They’re so good, it’s worth it!