It is 5pm, dinner is undecided, and the list of things you are willing to buy on the way home is short. Every dinner below has a recipe on picksbyrecipe.com whose ingredient list is five lines or fewer, counted straight off the recipe page. Where the page lists salt or oil as a line, that line is counted. The times come from each recipe's method.
Fish and prawns, the fastest of all
Honey Teriyaki Salmon
Honey Teriyaki Salmon lists salmon, olive oil, soy sauce, sake and sesame seeds. Whisk the glaze, coat the fish, and pan-fry both sides over medium-low heat until it is cooked through and the glaze has thickened. The honey in the name is not on the list, so add a spoonful if you want it sweet. Rice on the side is the sixth thing, and it is optional.
Get the recipeHoney Teriyaki Salmon
Gambas al ajillo
Gambas al ajillo is raw king prawns, garlic, olive oil, three cayenne chilies and parsley. Garlic and chilies go into the oil over high heat; when the garlic turns golden, in go the prawns for one to two minutes a side. Bread to mop up the oil is the sixth thing.
Get the recipeGambas al ajillo
Garlicky prawns with sherry
Same idea, different bottle. Garlicky prawns with sherry is olive oil, garlic, prawns, dry sherry and parsley: garlic for a few seconds, prawns until they turn pink, sherry for a couple of minutes more. It is on the table in under ten minutes.
Get the recipeGarlicky prawns with sherry
Fresh sardines
Fresh sardines is four lines: sardines, flour, oil and salt. Roll the fish in flour, fry until crisp, drain on paper, squeeze lemon over. The site files it as a side, but a plate of them with bread and a salad is dinner.
Get the recipeFresh sardines
Beef, sausage and burgers
Thai beef stir-fry
Thai beef stir-fry is oil, beef strips, one red chili, oyster sauce and basil. Smoking-hot pan, beef and chili for about three minutes, oyster sauce until it coats the meat, basil stirred in off the heat. The recipe serves it with plain rice.
Get the recipeThai beef stir-fry
Aussie Burgers
Aussie Burgers is lean minced steak, cooked beetroot, small naan breads, rocket, and a soured cream and chive dip. Season the mince, shape four patties, give them two to three minutes a side on a griddle, and build them on toasted naan halves. The beetroot is the point, so do not skip it.
Get the recipeAussie Burgers
Choripán
Three ingredients. Choripán is chorizo, crusty rolls and chimichurri. Grill the sausages slowly over medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes so the skins stay whole, toast the rolls, split the chorizo lengthwise, and spoon chimichurri over the top. A jar of chimichurri keeps for weeks.
Get the recipeChoripán
Bean and Sausage Hotpot
The slowest dish here, and almost all of it is hands-off. Bean & Sausage Hotpot is sausages, a jar of tomato sauce, butter beans, black treacle and English mustard. Brown the sausages for about ten minutes, stir in everything else, cover and simmer for 30. Bread or rice on the side.
Get the recipeBean & Sausage Hotpot
Chicken, tortillas and beans
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Four ingredients: two chicken breasts, a jar of enchilada sauce, corn tortillas and shredded Monterey Jack. Chicken Enchilada Casserole poaches the chicken in the sauce for about 20 minutes, shreds it, then layers tortillas, chicken, sauce and cheese and bakes at 375F. It reheats well, so it is a good one to double.
Get the recipeChicken Enchilada Casserole
Vegetarian Chilli
Vegetarian Chilli is roasted vegetables, a can of kidney beans, a can of chopped tomatoes and a pouch of mixed grain. Fifteen minutes in the oven for the vegetables, 10 to 15 more with the beans and tomatoes, one minute in the microwave for the grain. A bag of frozen roasted vegetables makes this a no-chopping dinner.
Get the recipeVegetarian Chilli
Eggs and tofu
Tortang Talong
The Filipino eggplant omelette. Tortang Talong is eggplant, eggs, salt and oil. Char the eggplants until the skin blackens, peel, flatten with a fork, dip in beaten egg and fry three to four minutes a side. Rice and a spoon of ketchup or hot sauce is how it is usually eaten.
Get the recipeTortang Talong
Bread omelette
Bread omelette is bread, eggs and salt, the shortest list on the site that still counts as a hot meal. Dip the bread in beaten, salted egg and fry until golden on both sides. It sits under breakfast on the site and makes a fine nine o'clock dinner.
Get the recipeBread omelette
Silken Tofu with Sesame Soy Sauce
There is no cooking at all in this one. Silken Tofu with Sesame Soy Sauce is a block of silken tofu, soy sauce, Chinese sesame sauce, scallions and sesame seeds. Slice the tofu into slabs, fan it out on a plate, dress it, and eat it cold or warmed through. Rice turns it into a meal.
Get the recipeSilken Tofu with Sesame Soy Sauce
Pasta and potatoes
Squash linguine
Squash linguine is butternut squash, garlic, olive oil, linguine and sage. The squash and garlic roast for 35 to 40 minutes, then get blended with pasta water into a sauce, with the sage fried crisp on top. Most of that time belongs to the oven, not to you, but plan on 45 minutes door to door.
Get the recipeSquash linguine
Poutine
Potatoes, cheese curds and a can of beef gravy, plus oil for frying: four lines on the Poutine page. Fry the potatoes for about five minutes at 365F, pile on the curds, ladle hot gravy over. It is dinner in the sense that nobody will ask what is for dinner afterwards.
Get the recipePoutine
Two five-ingredient sides
Turkish rice (vermicelli rice) is rice, oil, vermicelli, butter and chicken stock, toasted then simmered, and it belongs under the beef stir-fry or the salmon. Sukuma Wiki is oil, red onion, kale, salt and cream, about 15 minutes in one pan, and it sits well beside the hotpot or the sardines. A five-ingredient main with a five-ingredient side is still a ten-item shop, so pair them on purpose.
How to read a five-ingredient list
The counts above are the lines on each recipe page, nothing hidden. Most of the methods assume you already have salt, pepper and a lemon in the house; a few of the pages list salt or oil as one of the five. Where a recipe suggests rice or bread on the side, that is extra, and it is noted.
The five-ingredient habit
The constraint changes how you cook. With five things you pick one direction and commit, you season more carefully because seasoning is a bigger share of the plate, and you taste as you go because there is nothing to hide behind. Salt and acid at the end (lemon, lime, vinegar, hot sauce) do most of the work of making a simple dinner taste finished.
Keep oil, soy sauce, canned tomatoes, canned beans, pasta, rice, garlic and onions in the house, and every dish above is one short stop from the table.
The site sends five recipes every Sunday morning; the signup box is on the home page.