As easy as frozen shrimp?

August 2, 2019 11:12 AM

I've recently started cooking frozen, shelled shrimp for dinner a lot. I'm trying to branch out, but I hate to cook and want to spend as little time/effort as possible. Can you suggest some other dinner ideas that have the same properties?

My current routine is: throw shrimp in a bowl of water, gather supplies, start cooking pasta/rice/couscous, sautee the the shrimp, and possibly throw some frozen veggies in a microwave steamer for a few minutes. Then everything is ready at about the same time and I throw it all in a bowl, possibly with some canned sauce.

Things I like about frozen shrimp

- Lean protein
- Super fast to prep
- Quick and easy to cook
- Pairs nicely with pasta, rice, couscous, etc
- Comes frozen, so I can stock up and don't have to worry about spoilage

I seem to have sort of a mental block that's preventing me from branching out. What are some other easy, quick proteins that I can make for dinner? Doesn't have to be frozen. OK with making a quick marinade the night before if it will reduce cook/prep time.

Difficulty: no soy or chili peppers (thank you, migraines!)

posted by radioamy to Food & Drink (34 answers total)

Scallops
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:15 AM on August 2, 2019 [4 favorites]

Have you tried cooking with packaged seitan? It's quite good in a stir-fry, assuming you're OK with gluten. You can also make seitan yourself, though it can be a bit labor-intensive.
posted by alex1965 at 11:16 AM on August 2, 2019

You might like searching the term “sheet pan dinners” which is combinations of things you cook all together on a sheet pan. I like this one for roasted sausages and potatoes with arugula.
posted by sallybrown at 11:18 AM on August 2, 2019 [6 favorites]

Chicken or other pre-cooked sausages (andouille, kielbasa, etc) operate in a very similar way. Just slice (if you like) and quickly saute. The most complicated part is getting them out of the package. They keep for quite a while in the fridge (compared to uncooked meat). I like Aidells and Neiman Ranch.
posted by libraryhead at 11:35 AM on August 2, 2019 [2 favorites]

You can buy a fair number of turkey or chicken based sausages now that might meet your needs. You can fry them in the time it takes to make the pasta or rice. They're sold fresh at Costco, which is where i buy them, so then I just put them in the freezer with two each in a sandwich bag, and all the bags stuffed in a freezer bag.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:36 AM on August 2, 2019 [2 favorites]

I do this with the individually packaged and seasoned frozen salmon fillets that Costco sells in packs of six (or maybe eight? i don't recall which). They have other varieties of fish too.
posted by yasaman at 11:36 AM on August 2, 2019 [4 favorites]

Salmon is super easy: thaw still in the plastic in a bowl of water in the sink. Season with salt/pepper/sugar or whatever. Oven bake at 400 for 10 minutes or so. Delicious and quick.
posted by fiercecupcake at 11:37 AM on August 2, 2019 [3 favorites]

Pan-seared frozen fish fillets (salmon, tilapia, and swai are my go-tos) work much the same way. Each fillet is individually wrapped so you can cook as much or little as you like, and it's low effort so you don't feel like you have to cook multiples and save leftovers. It can be a simple as sauteing in butter and adding a little lemon juice/salt/pepper, or you can saute in oil and add soy sauce (sesame oil will give you a bit of nice flavor), or you can spoon in a tablespoon of orange marmalade at the end, or you can top with a bit of mayo/lemon juice/dill dressing or bottled salad dressing or balsamic glaze, you can serve with rice or pasta or put it in a taco or eat it as a sandwich or let it cool for a bit and put it on a salad. If you body is telling you to eat a vegetable, break out the big pan and saute some sliced cherry tomatoes, or onions and peppers, or sturdy greens like spinach or kale right alongside.
posted by drlith at 11:37 AM on August 2, 2019 [4 favorites]

Where I am I can often find chicken or beef "for stirfry", which means a lean cut of meat that's been cut up into thin slices all ready to go. It can be a bit expensive but I'm not sure how that compares to shrimp, actually. Very similar levels of minimum prep, the only difference is maybe cooking times and temperatures - for chicken you'll want a bit longer, for beef you'll want a bit higher heat to get some good browning.
posted by Mizu at 11:39 AM on August 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

Pork medallions.
posted by Iris Gambol at 11:40 AM on August 2, 2019

Costco salmon burgers, rotisserie chicken and IKEA meatballs are my throw-in-a-bowl-with-veggies go-tos. Super quick and easy. I've also taken to sous-vide-ing chicken breasts in the instant pot, which is a bit more setup, but they microwave well and you can cook a bunch at once.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:42 AM on August 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

We do a lot of sausages. Also frozen meatballs (defrost mode in microwave for a couple minutes, finish with the rest of the ingredients; or cook from frozen in air fryer). I keep emergency frozen hamburger and veggieburger patties on hand for throwing together lunches and quick dinners.

The air fryer has been a real game-changer for us in terms of quick meal components, protein and otherwise, to the point that I put away my toaster oven and the air fryer gets its spot now. It sits next to my Instant Pot, which I have stopped using for non-saucy chicken (so I still prep a lot of curries in the IP, but now I use the AF for stuffed chicken breasts, roasted thighs, etc). I can do fish from frozen in the air fryer in 8-10 minutes depending on thickness, then take it out and let it rest for the 5-8 minutes it takes to do a green veg. The air fryer also makes good tofu.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2019 [3 favorites]

When I'm very lazy: Rotisserie Chicken (ideally purchased on whatever day it's discounted). Tear off desired amount and toss onto a salad, mix in with rice, or onto a tortilla with desired toppings (hummus, ranch, salsa). If I want hot food then I'll bring some stock (homemade or store bought) to boil, throw in some frozen veggies and noodles. Then once their done toss in the chicken.

I also find boneless chicken tenders cook up pretty quickly and with minimal prep. Usually I'll toss them in some olive oil+salt+desired herbs/seasonings for a bit (I never remember to do it the night before) then slap them on my Foreman. I've also just marinaded them in Italian dressing. Pretty much all the same options as above existing.

I also use frozen tillapia much like you do. I just take it out the night before and thaw in the fridge.
posted by ghost phoneme at 11:58 AM on August 2, 2019 [4 favorites]

Eggs. Just do the veggies first and incorporate them.
posted by praemunire at 12:03 PM on August 2, 2019 [2 favorites]

Those packaged marinated pork tenderloins you can get at the grocery store are really good and easy to cook.
posted by sallybrown at 12:17 PM on August 2, 2019 [2 favorites]

Sometimes I grab those Indian/Thai sauce packets (you'd want the mild kind) and make a butter-chicken sort of dish. You really just need chicken thighs, onions, and the sauce. Some of them are powder that you mix into oil or butter.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 12:30 PM on August 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

We do this with Trader Joes chicken sausages and sprouted tofu; not frozen but usually good for at least a month in the fridge, both basically heat and eat and reasonably versatile (the tofu probably moreso than the sausages which come in pretty distinctive flavors like apple, hot italian, garlic, or whatever).
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 1:33 PM on August 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

Frozen mussels (they often come prepared with garlic butter sauce) are in many grocery store seafood freezers. They are even easier than shrimp. You can even pop the tray in microwave if you don't feel like cooking them in a skillet. Pair with a loaf of french bread and some wine and it's actually kind of classy. Or add rice to take advantage of all the rich sauce that comes with the dish.
posted by caveatz at 1:35 PM on August 2, 2019

Ikea frozen meatballs — beef, chicken or vegetarian. The beef balls are best, I think, but the chicken balls are good. I haven't tried the vegetarian balls. They meet all your criteria. You can microwave them or cook them in the oven, but the only difference is time, as the recipe is "dump into a container, cook until done." We usually serve them with rice or pasta.
posted by ubiquity at 1:42 PM on August 2, 2019

From your local Chinese supermarket:
- frozen wan-tans
- frozen fish balls
Chuck into boiling water and wait a few minutes
posted by moiraine at 2:17 PM on August 2, 2019

You might like searching the term “sheet pan dinners” which is combinations of things you cook all together on a sheet pan.

Seconded. I think these are useful partly because they are the easiest way to get the traditional Anglo "meat and two veg" type meal, but mainly because they give confidence that that you can take a very wide range of ingredients and treat them the same way to get a reliable but varied result. If you don't like cooking, having one process that you can use over and over again without getting too stuck in a rut is handy, because it takes the thinking out of it so you can listen to podcasts instead.
posted by howfar at 2:53 PM on August 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

You are exactly Trader Joe's target demographic. Half their meat section is prepared meats just waiting for you to simply toss then in a pan or pot to cook them up and they have a crap load of sauces to help flavor lean proteins.

They also even sell precooked frozen chicken strips

I am a fan of their chicken shawarma. I'll cook the whole whack and eat it for a week in lunches and dinners as a main, in a salad, for lunch in wrap, mixed in pasta, in a grilled cheese sandwich...on and on. Same for the carne asada.
posted by srboisvert at 3:53 PM on August 2, 2019

Also if you want fresh cooked meals buying unfrozen prepared food is actually an advantage because you can then portion it and then freeze it uncooked in freezer bags without having to defrost/thaw a large piece of meat and then you have ready to go meal amounts you cook whenever you want.
posted by srboisvert at 3:58 PM on August 2, 2019

Nthing numerous other people. We use the individual frozen fish fillets, specifically tilapia and swai. Frozen meatballs. Rotisserie chicken. I'll buy boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts when they're on sale and cut them into strips for stir fries. I cut them up, arrange them on a baking sheet and freeze. When frozen, portion them out into individual serving size packages (or however big you want). Also flavored chicken sausages. I tend to buy this stuff on sale and chuck it in the freezer.
posted by kathrynm at 4:15 PM on August 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

Marinated tofu is also super easy. You can buy it pre-marinated then just cut into strips and then cook in a frypan for 3 - 4 mins each side. [Not frozen, sorry, but keeps well in the fridge]
posted by latch24 at 4:48 PM on August 2, 2019 [3 favorites]

Spaghetti and meatballs. While the pasta water is heating, put store bought meatballs in a pan to heat with some bottled sauce.

We use turkey meatballs. Refrigerated are better than frozen in out market.

We use talapia loins from Costco. Melt a tbsp of butter in a non-stick pan. Add thawed fish. Cook 5 min per side or a little less. Three minutes before done, add a little more butter at the side of the pan. When melted, add sliced almonds for garnish.

Slice chicken andouille sausage into coins. Slice an onion, and some mushrooms. Saute onions 5 min. Add mushrooms and cook until they release their water. Add sausage, cook until hot or browned to taste. Serve sandwich-style in you favorite roll. Good with mustard.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:01 PM on August 2, 2019

Something for your shrimp:

Boil water for spaghetti
Chuck a couple handfuls if shrimp into a shallow baking dish
Chuck in a fist full of chopped bacon
Add a chopped onion if you like
Drizzle with lots of nice olive oil
Stick it in the oven, no need to preheat, cook in hot oven, like 220c
Boil your spaghetti
Chop lots of parsley
When pasta is cooked, drain and toss through your shrimp w parsley.
Parmesan.

Takes as long as pasta, hardly any clean up.
So delicious. I eat it out of the baking dish.
posted by stellathon at 5:26 PM on August 2, 2019

Costco parchment paper, double pack. Makes sheet pan, or baking pan dinner mess, go away. Almost any less than one inch thick thing is cooked through in 18 minutes at 425°. Home made pizza, home sliced and oiled potato wedges, fish, and so forth. Toaster ovens are way good for meals for one or two. In Asian food stores and some bigger retailers you can buy udon noodles. They are shrink wrapped and already cooked. You can take a larger sauce pan, sautee garlic, onion, fresh basil, summer squash, then chunks of rotisserie chicken, you can go east or west from here. Throw in marinara, done in less than 5 minutes; or throw in a wine and parmesan cheese burst and done in five minutes, or summer squash, and broth to have more traditional udon bowl.
posted by Oyéah at 6:07 PM on August 2, 2019

Keep an eye out for 'Tiger Prawns' - they're bigger and have dark stripes, sometimes the big ones have a few yellow spots/ stripes. They are the monarch of "shrimp." They freeze very well (head off) and are meaty and flavourful, like a miniature giant lobster but shrimp flavoured and as delicate.

Fish fillets/ steaks can be nice. Pro-tip, mix 1tsp: 1tbsp salt: corn starch (maybe a small portion of white pepper or onion powder or garlic powder, or cayenne or what-have-you) in a sealed tupperware, dump on a plate, and press the fish into it and coat evenly until it feels dry to handle. Increase amounts depending on how much fish you want to coat. Then fry in your fatty acid of choice.

Works for shelled prawns, too.

Your body needs a supply of lipids, so they taste good. The fried cornstarch dusting delivers a few more lipids. It's got a pleasant slightly crunchy mouthfeel. It adheres the flavouring spices more evenly. If you want to add additional flavouring sauces, they stick better to the cornstarch coating.

Are you open to grilling?

I adore the Weber portable propane grills. I have the last generation of this - I'd like to get a new one, but there is no compelling reason why I'd want to replace my 8 yo grill. There are adapters for full-sized (20lb?) propane tanks.

Steaks/ breasts/ thighs/ (even fish) are very fast on these. 5 minute warmup to 300F, adjust flame down to maintain 300F, 2 min, flip, 2min, flip, 2min, flip, 2min = lightly crusted medium rare steak.

If you learn how to butterfly a chicken thigh, this is a low cost boneless basic-protein-unit. I can do 3 large thighs, including removing the big fat bundle, in a couple of minutes. Make a Y incision at one joint, another Y incision at the other. Cut down the middle of the bone. Book open the narrow end, book open the thick end, cut out the large vein, cut above and below the fat sack, scopp it out.

If you want skinless, peel it off once you've got the bone out (before you butterfly/ book-cut it) and cut away the row of fat on either end of the X-boned thigh. Then open it up (or not, if you want to maximize chunk size).

For kebabs, slicing the butterflied thigh lengthwise with a larger (9"+) knife into thirds or in half is really convenient to string onto skewers. There is an entire constellation of satays that one could explore.

If you're using grills near-daily, the cleaning procedure consists of turning the heat to high, turning off the gas, let it burn off and cool. The 5 minute warmup the next time you use it is enough to carbonize most things, and you can do a scrape before starting a new session. ymmv depending on how much fat your putting through your grill.
posted by porpoise at 9:31 PM on August 2, 2019 [1 favorite]

I bought a counter-top grill and I use it ALL the time because it cooks meat so fast. Some of the things I cook on it (most done in 10 minutes or less):

Boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets
Boneless pork chops
Small steaks
Burgers
Sausages
Pork tenderloin (I butterfly the loin, season & grill)
Hot dogs

When working from home (and thus cooking lunch for only myself) I discovered I could cook two hot dogs and a serving of tater tots in about 10 minutes.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 10:13 PM on August 2, 2019

I would say keep in mind you can do pasta anything with any protein. If it would go on our plate with a side of mashed potatoes that would work as a pasta. If it would work as a salad that will generally work as a pasta. If you have a pasta dish, that will generally work as a rice bowl, separate sides with rice or potatoes, etc.

A quick protein is sausage. I squeeze it from its casing into a pan and quickly search it while breaking it up and then stir that into pasta. I'll cut up meat while cooking it in a pan to get it to cook faster. Cut up proteins cook quickly. Nuts work surprising well in pasta. I especially like walnuts. No cooking there. Canned tuna fish or clams or Trader Joe's has an excellent tinned smoked trout can go straight from the can and stirred in. Or, cook your pasta, and then crack an egg into it and stir it in. It'll cook just from the heat of the just cooked pasta.
posted by xammerboy at 3:57 AM on August 3, 2019

Frozen tilapia or other fairly thin fish. Thaws pretty quickly and if it's vacuum sealed you can throw it in a bowl of running water to thaw.

Get a casserole/baking dish that's a bit bigger than your piece(s) of fish.
Preheat oven to 350F
Drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of the pan (or smear butter around on the bottom)

Pat the thawed fish dry, over each side of the fish, zest a lemon and sprinkle some salt and pepper
Slice that zested lemon into fairly thin slices put a few in the bottom of the baking dish
Put the fish on top of the lemon slices
Slice some cherry tomatoes in half, I don't know, a dozen? A big handful? Place them around the fish piece(s)
Cut whatever other veg you want to eat with the fish into bite size pieces, stick the vegetable pieces around the fish
Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the top of the fish and veg. I use a silicon brush to spread the oil around evenly to prevent dried out spots.
Pop the dish in the oven for 15 minutes, check to see if the fish is flaky. Heat longer if it's not yet.

If there's dill around I'll add some of that to the pan.
posted by bilabial at 6:37 AM on August 3, 2019

Frozen squid works just like frozen shrimp!
posted by yarntheory at 9:54 AM on August 3, 2019

There is a Kindle book called Cooking is Awful you may find helpful.
posted by Enid Lareg at 10:39 AM on August 3, 2019