18 Practical Five-Ingredient Dinner Ideas

We recently asked the Tasty and BuzzFeed communities to share their go-to dinner ideas that only need five ingredients or less. (Not counting salt, pepper, or olive oil!) Below you'll find their picks — along with several of our own favorites.

Ingredients: Ramen, bacon, egg, green onions.

Instant ramen is super versatile if you're looking for a quick dinner base. Spruce it up by adding crispy bacon, a runny egg, and green onions to garnish. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Naan, tomato sauce, cheese, any toppings of choice.

You can go as simple as tomato sauce + cheese, or upgrade with combos like sausage + peppers, or rotisserie chicken + BBQ sauce. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Sweet potatoes, eggs, cheese.

For even faster prep, use a julienne peeler to get the sweet potato base all set. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Chicken breasts, bell pepper, onion, broccoli, tomatoes.

Feel free to mix and match ingredients depending on your taste or what's in your fridge. Don't eat meat? Ditch the chicken. Not a broccoli fan? Toss in zucchini or cauliflower. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Steak, potatoes, garlic, spices, herbs.

Ready in 30 minutes, and cleanup is a breeze. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Chickpeas, tomato sauce, spinach, red pepper flakes.

You could also try this over rice or stuffed into a pita. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Chicken, broccoli, red pepper, ginger dressing.

This version calls for a from-scratch ginger sauce, but you can save time with a premade version as well. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Bread, lettuce, tomato, mayo, giardiniera.

Giardiniera — or pickled veggies in vinegar or oil — can be found in the condiment aisle of any grocery store. Stock up! Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Fish, diced tomatoes, lemon, basil.

This version calls for cod or halibut, but it would work with just any about flaky white fish. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients: Chicken breasts, flour, butter, asparagus, lemon. (Optional garnish: honey.)

This goes from prep to plate in about 20 minutes flat. Here's the recipe.

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