What's for Dinner? 22 Recipes Just Right for Busy November Weeknights

We're serving up a comforting vegetarian dinner on this first Meatless Monday of the month and it's so easy to make. The elemental combination of chickpeas, marinara sauce, and mozzarella is topped with wedges of roasted broccoli and a crunchy mix of Parmesan-and-panko. The entire meal is cooked in an ovenproof skillet, making cleanup a cinch.   

One-pan dinners for the win! Pork tenderloin, sliced mixed mushrooms, and quartered artichoke hearts braise in a creamy mustard sauce for maximum flavor.

This 30-minute pasta stars creamy, salty feta melted into the sauce and folded in with the wilted chard. A touch of orange juice and dried currants add sweetness while capers and anchovies give the dish a briny Mediterranean flavor.

This healthy entrée comes together in just 25 minutes. Lemony sumac powder is a staple in Middle Eastern cooking and its tart flavor pairs so well with seafood, like the salmon filets here.

A fun, filling dinner for the end of the week, that's this "pizza" that's anything but your regular tomato-and-cheese pie. It starts with store-bought pizza dough but veers from the usual slice with an irresistible and hearty topping of ground beef (or lamb) and eggs that cook on top of the pie. Using a skillet gives the dough a crisp, chewy crust similar to what a traditional pizza oven would do. Serve with a big green salad or your favorite roasted vegetables. A glass of wine would be nice, too!

There are just seven ingredients in this streamlined dinner, and ease is what everyone needs during the busy month of November. Diced squash and fresh sage leaves shine with orecchiette pasta, and creamy ricotta is the finishing touch. It's a perfect weeknight dish when you want a taste of autumn.

Thanks to store-bought helpers like pre-peeled shrimp, prepped pineapple, and apricot jam, this tangy stir-fry takes just twenty minutes to make. Be sure to start the accompanying rice before you begin the shrimp!

A British favorite, this dish is classic comfort food. The key to super flavorful bangers (pork sausage) and mash (potatoes) is selecting good bangers and serving them with a rich gravy made with red wine, chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and sliced onions.

The prize for most colorful meal of the week goes to this one-pan winner dinner, which swaps potato for finely chopped cauliflower and broccoli. In short, this simple plant-based bake as nutritious as it is delicious.

Sliced pre-cooked polenta and chicken cutlets are prepared in a skillet before being topped with olives, capers, and marinara sauce for this easy weeknight recipe.

Make this meatless chili for a hearty dinner on a cool night. It gets its might from a combination of black and kidney beans. Garnish with a variety of colorful, flavorful toppings—try jalapeños, sliced avocado, cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream.

A creamy, comforting, and filling one-pan meal you can make in 45 minutes, this is a recipe you'll have on repeat this fall and beyond. It's as simple as searing the chicken breasts, then cooking the mushrooms and shallots, stirring in mustard, broth, egg noodles, and finally adding cream cheese, which quickly creates a rich sauce. 

Inspired by the classic pasta and bean soup, this 25-minute pasta dish is totally genius. You can use any short pasta you love most, but we suggest reaching for whatever's already in your kitchen cabinet. Once the pasta is cook, it gets tossed with red onion, escarole, tomato paste, chickpeas, and pasta water (reserved from cooking that gemelli or cavatappi). Plenty of Parmesan makes for an extra flavorful finish.

This delicious ground meat-and-vegetable stir-fry is Minnesota-based home cook Ma Halima's recipe for a traditional Somalian dish. It comes together in just about 30 minutes, and the ground cumin and turmeric bring warmth and a little bit of heat.

If you love sweet potato fries (and who doesn't?), then you'll love these crispy sweet potato burgers. The vegetarian patties are actually slices of sweet potato that are coated in a mixture of sour cream and chipotles, then panko for crunch. They're baked, not fried, and served in sandwiches spread with refried beans and shredded cabbage.

Meaty mushrooms add plenty of substance to this vegetarian main, and fresh dill brightens spicy horseradish. Give it a twirl!

Maybe you haven't seen this dish since the 1980s, but you know it deserves a comeback, especially in this easier-than-ever multi-cooker version. Cooking bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs on the pressure cooker setting keeps them juicy and tender.

What do you make for dinner the night before Thanksgiving? If you haven't already pulled something out of the freezer to reheat for dinner (and create space for bags of ice!), and you aren't ordering takeout, give this 30-minute ground beef dish a try. It's sweetly spiced rather than hot and spicy, which makes it delightfully different. Plus, it's easy to make, which is important when your mind is on stuffing and sides for tomorrow.

If you're looking for a different turkey recipe this year, we humbly suggest this bright and earthy roast that's flavored bay, rosemary, and lemon. Serve the bird on a platter over branches of bay leaves for a dramatic presentation.

In our opinion, leftover turkey is never a bad thing. Rather than layering it on a sandwich with all the fixings, we suggest you create a delicious curry stew.

In addition to being colorful and delicious, this tasty dinner come together in one skillet and requires less than an hour of your time. If that doesn't sound like a perfect meatless Monday meal, we don't know what does. Corn tortillas are topped with sliced poblano peppers, red onion, green salsa, and plenty of ooey-gooey mozzarella cheese in this family-friendly recipe.

A 25-minute dinner that's all made in one pan, there's a lot to like about this shrimp entrée. If you're totally over turkey leftovers, this recipe is worth trying instead. It relies on pantry and freezer favorites like frozen shrimp, couscous, and canned mild green chiles.