12 Budget-Friendly Dinners You Can Make with Pantry Staples

When you’re trying to stretch your grocery budget or just don’t feel like running to the store, pantry staples can save the day. With a little creativity, simple ingredients like pasta, rice, beans, and canned goods can be transformed into hearty, satisfying meals.

These 12 budget-friendly dinner recipes are easy to make, packed with flavor, and perfect for those nights when you want to keep things simple without skimping on taste. Let’s dive into some delicious, wallet-friendly inspiration!

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Green Chicken Chili

This Green Chicken Chili brings cozy, Southwestern warmth to your table with each spoonful. The soup is creamy yet light, filled with tender chicken, green chilies, and just the right blend of spices.

Spaghetti Pomodoro

When it comes to comfort food, Spaghetti Pomodoro hits all the right notes. With just a handful of ingredients—tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil—you can create a sauce that’s bright, fresh, and packed with flavor. This dish is a great go-to for busy weeknights, but it’s also elegant enough to serve for a cozy dinner party.

Pretzel Crusted Chicken

Pretzel Crusted Chicken is total comfort food. The crispy, salty pretzel coating on the chicken complements the homemade honey mustard sauce that is made for dipping. Eat it on it’s own or make it into a delicious chicken sandwich.

Easy Meatballs & Mashed Potatoes

These Meatballs & Mashed Potatoes are straight up comfort food. Easy to make meatballs on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes and a rich gravy that brings it all together for one satisfying meal. When you’re running low on time to get dinner on the table, or just looking to use up some of your pantry staples, this meal is a great solution.

Vegetable Orzo Soup

This Vegetable Orzo Soup has a delicious aroma of onions, celery, and carrots mixed with diced tomatoes, seasonings, and orzo pasta to make a hearty filling soup. This is a good hot soup for a cold day. We love using orzo in soup because it’s so easy to eat, with a little bit of everything in each spoonful.

Baked Ravioli Casserole

This Baked Ravioli Casserole is a comforting dish that’s as easy to prepare as it is delicious. Packed with ravioli, tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella cheese it’s a perfect weeknight meal. Who can resist the comfort of a quick and easy casserole? There’s something so satisfying about pulling a dish from the oven that’s bubbling, warm, and irresistibly gooey.

Southwestern Chicken Soup

Southwestern Chicken Soup uses pantry ingredients for a quick and satisfying meal that’s incredibly easy to make. For anyone who has plenty of pantry staples, like beans and canned corn, this is a go-to soup that is in both filling and delicious.

Skillet Lasagna

Lazy Skillet Lasagna is just as good as the classic but it takes a lot less time to make in a skillet. Instead of spending all that time delicately layering your lasagna, just throw it all in the skillet and watch it bubble into a delicious meal.

Quick & Easy Coconut Curry Chicken

This Coconut Curry Chicken uses just six ingredients that you likely already have at home to make a delicious curry dish that packs a ton of flavor. You can make great coconut chicken curry at home very quickly and it tastes as good as take out. The best part is it’s done in just 25 minutes.

Stovetop Chili

Stovetop Chili is a true comfort food, packed with meat, beans and so much flavor. You don’t have to make it in large quantities to enjoy it. This recipe makes just 4 servings on the stovetop in just over 2 hours.

Easy Homemade Sloppy Joes

This easy homemade Sloppy Joe recipe has a zingy tomato sauce that will bring you right back to eating these iconic sandwiches as a kid. They’re very easy to make at home with just a few simple ingredients. You’ll never buy another can of Sloppy Joe sauce again after you see how easy it is to make at home. 

Instant Pot Ham & Bean Soup

This Instant Pot Ham and Bean Soup is a breeze to make with dried navy beans, celery, carrots, onion, and seasonings. It’s the perfect warm, hearty winter soup. If you have a ham bone that you need to use up, this is the perfect soup to make. It’s so delicious cooked in the Instant Pot because all the flavors from the bone mix into the broth and turn simple ingredients into something so incredibly tasty.