6 easy dishes for beginners
The first dishes you learn should be short, forgiving and good enough that you want to cook them again. These are the simplest beginner dishes in Cookpath, the ones with the fewest ingredients.
CThe Cookpath kitchen9 min read · 6 recipes
Chicken Tikka Kebabs
- 1 htotal
- 47 gprotein
- 290kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: The most protein on this list. 16 g of protein for every 100 kcal, which is very lean.
3 ingredients · 6 steps
Three ingredients: chicken breast, yogurt and tikka curry paste. That is the whole recipe, which makes it a good first dish. The yogurt marinade carries the flavour, and you end up with 47 g of protein for 290 kcal.
Dice the chicken into pieces of a similar size so they cook evenly, and let it sit in the marinade for at least 30 minutes. Air fry for 20 to 25 minutes at 180 °C, and cut one piece open to check there is no pink. Most of the 60 minutes is waiting.
Egg Bread Sandwich
- 5 mintotal
- 25 gprotein
- 360kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 1serving
Why it's here: The fastest one here.
5 ingredients · 5 steps
The fastest way to learn what a hot pan does: 5 minutes, two eggs, two slices of bread and a little cheese. Pour the beaten eggs into a hot non-stick pan and spread them thin, then press the bread into the egg and flip it so both sides take up egg and brown.
Lay on the cheese, tomatoes and lettuce and fold the egg sheet over. It has 25 g of protein and 360 kcal, so it is a proper breakfast as well as a first recipe. Make it when you are hungry and have 5 minutes.
Cucumber Dill Salad
- 15 mintotal
- 1 gprotein
- 50kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 4servings
Why it's here: One of the strongest on the list.
5 ingredients · 5 steps
Four ingredients, no cooking, and a lesson about salt. Slice the cucumber so thin it is almost see-through, then mix olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and dill into a dressing. It is light at 50 kcal a serving.
The lesson: for a crunchy salad, salt it at the last moment. For a soft one, salt the cucumber first, leave it about 10 minutes, and drain off all the water. Same salad, two results. Make it 15 minutes before anything rich.
Creamy Chocolate Lovers Oatmeal
- 15 mintotal
- 16 gprotein
- 400kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 1serving
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
5 ingredients · 5 steps
A bowl of creamy chocolate oatmeal from five things in one saucepan: oats, chia seeds, cocoa, milk and maple syrup. It has 16 g of protein and 400 kcal, and every step is stirring.
Heat on medium-high until it just starts to boil, watching that it does not catch, then turn it down and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until thick and creamy. It is a first lesson in watching a pan. Make it on a morning when you want something warm and sweet.
Watermelon Feta Salad
- 20 mintotal
- 6 gprotein
- 190kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 3servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
5 ingredients · 4 steps
No knife skills needed beyond cubing, and one small pot: watermelon, feta and basil under a balsamic glaze. It is 190 kcal and 6 g of protein, for 3 servings.
The glaze is the only cooking. Boil the balsamic vinegar and maple syrup, lower the heat a little and simmer about 10 minutes until it has reduced by half, then let it cool before it goes over the salad. Make it when you need a side dish in 20 minutes.
Frika (Potato and Cheese Hash)
- 40 mintotal
- 35 gprotein
- 640kcal
- Beginnerlevel
- 2servings
Why it's here: A good one to have in the rotation.
5 ingredients · 6 steps
The ambitious one on a list of easy ones: grated potato fried with pancetta and two cheeses until crisp and golden, at 35 g of protein and 640 kcal. Nothing is difficult, but you have to stay by the pan.
Rinse the grated potatoes in cold water 2 or 3 times until it runs clear, then drain. Stir them constantly over medium heat for 15 to 18 minutes. To flip it, slide it onto a plate and turn it back into the pan. Make it on a weekend morning when you have 40 minutes.
Most people who say they cannot cook have only been given recipes that are too long. A beginner dish should have a short list, a few clear steps, and room for error. If the onion is cut a bit uneven or the heat is a bit high, dinner should still work.
We picked these by ingredient count, so the shopping is short too. That matters more than it sounds: half of quitting is standing in a shop looking for the one thing you do not have.
Cook them in any order, but cook them more than once. The second time you make a dish you stop reading and start tasting, and that is when you actually learn it.
Do not skip the habit of reading the whole recipe before you turn on the stove. It is the single thing that separates a calm dinner from a panicked one.
Three things that help
Read every step before you start. Most beginner mistakes are surprises that the recipe already mentioned.
Cut and measure everything first. Once the pan is hot, things move faster than you expect.
Taste at the end and add salt or lemon a little at a time. Most flat food just needs one more pinch.
Every dish here is in the app with timers inside the steps, servings you can change and a shopping list that builds itself.
