Amazon Shoppers Swear by These 5 Items for Easy, Speedy Weeknight Meals, Starting at $20

The weeknight dinner is its own category of cooking. On weekends, when there’s time, it can be lovely to spend hours making gumbo, whipping up some pasta from scratch, or chilling in the backyard, drinking a cold beer while grilling. But on a Wednesday night, when you’ve had a long day at work, crammed in a gym session, and want nothing more than to scarf some hot food while watching your favorite TV show and having a glass of wine, it’s important to know which tools are going to get you there quickly and efficiently.

Luckily, there are some appliances and pieces of cookware that are especially suited to weeknight cooking. If you want to harness the power of the microwave, Anyday bowls can help you whip up tasty dishes; or, if you’re a one-pot meal enjoyer, having a serious cast iron skillet will open the door to countless amazing recipes. Read on some Amazon shopper-loved solutions for quick, tasty weeknight meals. 

Best Cookware and Appliances at Amazon for Easy Weeknight Meals

• Ninja 4-Quart Air Fryer, $89, originally $130
• Lodge 10.25-Inch Cast Iron Skillet, $20, originally $34
• Anyday Microwave Cookware, Medium Shallow Dish, $40
• Breville Smart Pro Countertop Oven, $270
• Lodge 6-Quart Enameled Dutch Oven, $80

Ninja 4-Quart Air Fryer

Air fryers are notoriously easy to use, and this highly rated option from Ninja — it’s got over 69,000 five-star ratings at Amazon — has a 4-quart nonstick basket to hold plenty of tasty food. People love how much this appliance can do. “This has been an absolute game-changer,” one shopper wrote, pointing out that they enjoy it for fries, veggies, salmon, and desserts. “One of the standout features is its versatility. From frying and baking to grilling and roasting, the air fryer does it all.” 

Lodge 10.25-Inch Cast Iron Skillet

The cast iron skillet is the president of one-pan meals. Truly, you can do so many things in a single skillet, like skillet pizza, casseroles, pasta, pot pies, fried rice, and so much more. This masterpiece from Lodge is sitting at just under 100,000 five-star ratings on Amazon, with shoppers calling it “the main workhorse of my kitchen” and loving it for “steak, eggs, noodles, veggies, cinnamon rolls,” and more.

Anyday Microwave Cookware, Medium Shallow Dish

Anyday’s microwave cookware is backed by David Chang, and it really elevates microwave cooking to a new level. These glass and silicone bowls can cook and steam countless dishes, dips, and desserts. People use these for all sorts of cooking, with one shopper using them for cooking spaghetti, steaming veggies, and heating soup and casseroles.

Breville Smart Pro Countertop Oven 

If you want the one superior appliance to rule them all, look no further than this Breville oven, which can toast, bake, broil, roast, reheat, and more. “There are many times a full-sized oven is too large and a toaster oven too small to cook or warm up some food,” one shopper writes. “The Breville is the perfect size that does it all while conserving energy and time, with great results using convection heating.”

Lodge 6-Quart Enameled Dutch Oven

Dutch ovens are powerful tools that can heat food evenly, retain heat for long periods, and offer enough space to make many servings. Whether it’s soup, stew, pasta, bread, or braised proteins, the Dutch oven is a great one-stop piece of cookware. “I am a cook that tends to like to make single pot dishes, or hardy sauces and soups,” writes one shopper. “For me, it’s one of the best if not the best pots I have ever owned.”