36 Family-Friendly Dinners You'll Want to Make This Spring (2024)

These recipes pack in spring produce like spinach, broccoli, carrots and asparagus for a healthy, nutritious meal that everyone at the table will want to dig into. There's something for every palate in this mix of dinners that serve at least four, from creamy casseroles to quick pastas and easy sheet-pan meals. With recipes like Garlic Butter-Roasted Salmon with Potatoes & Asparagus and Easy Chicken & Broccoli Soup on the menu, family dinner just got even more delicious.

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Chicken & Spinach Skillet Pasta with Lemon & Parmesan

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This one-pan pasta that combines lean chicken breast and sautéed spinach for a one-bowl meal is garlicky, lemony and best served with a little Parm on top. I call it "Mom's Skillet Pasta" and she called it "Devon's Favorite Pasta." Either way it's a quick and easy weeknight dinner we created together and scribbled on a little recipe card more than a decade ago, and it remains in my weekly dinner rotation to this day. It's a simple dinner the whole family will love.

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Sheet-Pan Balsamic-Parmesan Chicken & Vegetables

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This flavorful dish--with the combination of balsamic vinegar and Parmesan cheese--makes a great weeknight meal since it requires little legwork (and only one pan!). The marjoram adds a distinct earthy aroma. If you don't have marjoram in your spice arsenal, you can use dried oregano instead. Both have a woodsy flavor that complements the dish beautifully.

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Garlic Butter-Roasted Salmon with Potatoes & Asparagus

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This spring-produce-packed one-pan meal makes a healthy and satisfying weeknight dinner. Melted garlic butter coats the salmon and vegetables, adding depth of flavor and richness to the dish.

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Spinach & Artichoke Dip Pasta

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If you've ever wanted to make a meal out of warm spinach and artichoke dip, this creamy pasta is for you. And here's what's almost as good as the flavor of this comforting dish: the fact that this healthy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare.

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Spinach & Artichoke Casserole with Chicken and Cauliflower Rice

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This high-protein chicken casserole clocks in right around 400 calories to help you end your day feeling satisfied—not starved or overly full.

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Sheet-Pan Shrimp & Asparagus

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This sheet-pan shrimp and asparagus is a complete meal all on one pan! The shrimp and asparagus cook perfectly together. Crushed red pepper adds a dash of heat while lime juice brightens the dish.

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Easy Chicken & Broccoli Soup

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This easy chicken and broccoli soup is creamy and luscious, but still light. The broccoli florets absorb the creamy soup base, while the chicken stays tender. This is the perfect soup to make on a busy weeknight when you have leftover roast chicken or rotisserie chicken on hand. While the recipe calls for chicken breasts, if thighs are what you have on hand, feel free to use those.

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Broccoli & Quinoa Casserole

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This broccoli-quinoa casserole makes a hearty vegetarian main dish. As the quinoa absorbs water and cooks, it creates the perfect amount of steam for cooking the broccoli. Swap in tricolor quinoa, if you prefer.

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Spinach & Artichoke Dip Pasta with Chicken

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If you love warm spinach and artichoke dip, then you'll love that we turned this classic dip into a creamy pasta dish with chicken. And here's what's almost as good as the flavor of this comforting dish: the fact that this healthy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare.

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Grilled Chicken Tacos with Slaw & Lime Crema

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36 Family-Friendly Dinners You'll Want to Make This Spring (10)

In this easy and healthy chicken taco recipe, we top grilled chicken tenders with a crunchy and colorful vegetable slaw and a simple blend of sour cream, lime juice and cilantro. The chicken is cooked on a grill pan, so these crowd-pleasing chicken tacos make for a great 25-minute weeknight dinner year-round.

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Sheet-Pan Salmon with Sweet Potatoes & Broccoli

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The vibrant combo of cheese, cilantro, chili, and lime—inspired by Mexican street corn—makes this salmon sheet-pan dinner burst with flavor.

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One-Pan Chicken & Asparagus Bake

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In this chicken and asparagus recipe, we use one baking sheet to whip up dinner quickly, veggies included. Pounding the chicken thin helps it cook quickly alongside the carrots and potatoes, with asparagus rounding out the meal. This is one quick dinner recipe you'll be returning to again and again.

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Sheet-Pan Steak & Potatoes

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One pan = less cleanup. To make this sheet-pan dinner work, the potatoes are roasted for 15 minutes before the asparagus and skirt steak are added. Finished with rosemary and blue cheese, it's our easy--and healthy--take on steak frites.

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Sweet & Sour Chicken with Broccoli

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This easy chicken and broccoli recipe makes a delicious, healthier alternative to Chinese takeout--and it takes just 20 minutes to make, so it's ideal for an easy weeknight dinner. When toasted, ramen noodles make a tasty, crunchy topping for a stir-fry or salad.

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Rosemary Roasted Salmon with Asparagus & Potatoes

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Yukon Golds are great here because they get crispy on the outside but completely creamy on the inside. A brush stroke or two of balsamic glaze provides a rich color and a sweet finish to the roasted salmon.

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Chicken & Broccoli Casserole

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This one-pan chicken-and-broccoli recipe comes out of the oven all browned, cheesy and bubbling like a casserole, but is really prepared more like a skillet meal on the stovetop. Serve with a crunchy green salad.

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Cauliflower Tikka Masala with Chickpeas

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In this vegetarian riff on a popular Indian dish, we swap in cauliflower and chickpeas for the chicken in tikka masala. The cauliflower's nooks and crannies are particularly good at soaking up all the intense flavors of the sauce. Serve over rice for an easy healthy dinner that's ready in just 20 minutes.

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Lemon-Garlic Chicken with Green Beans

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This easy lemon-garlic chicken recipe calls for cutlets, which cook in less than 10 minutes! Can't find them? Make your own from chicken breasts. Place each breast on a cutting board and, with your knife parallel to the board, slice into the skinny side of the chicken breast in a single smooth motion. The side of green beans is cooked right in the same pan as the chicken, so this 20-minute easy, healthy dinner is not just a snap to prepare--the cleanup is a cinch too.

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Creamy Spinach Pasta

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This might be one of the creamiest light pasta dishes you've ever had! The mascarpone cheese adds a richness to the spinach pasta that's unexpected--especially in a healthy pasta recipe.

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Easy Sesame Chicken with Green Beans

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Sweet-salty hoisin sauce and nutty sesame team up in this easy meal that's cooked on one baking sheet. Serve this sesame chicken with brown rice and sliced cucumbers, drizzled with sesame oil and rice vinegar.

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Sheet-Pan Maple-Mustard Pork Chops & Carrots

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You need just one pan for this satisfying weeknight dinner. A sweet and savory maple-mustard glaze livens up baked pork chops, while the carrots are jazzed up with flavor-boosting and anti-inflammatory garlic, ginger and turmeric. Rainbow carrots add colorful pizazz, but regular orange carrots are a just-as-tasty substitute. Pork dries out easily--using an instant-read thermometer ensures meat is cooked safely, but still moist.

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Smoked Gouda-Broccoli Soup

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Smoked paprika and smoked Gouda give this broccoli-and-cheese soup recipe a double hit of smoky flavor. If you can't find smoked Gouda, smoked Cheddar gives delicious results as well.

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Salmon & Asparagus with Lemon-Garlic Butter Sauce

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Looking for a recipe to help you eat more heart-healthy fish and veggies? Add this salmon and asparagus dinner to your rotation. Not only is it healthy and delicious, this sheet-pan dinner is also easy to make and a breeze to clean up.

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One-Pot Chicken Pesto Pasta with Asparagus

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This healthy chicken pesto pasta recipe is easy to make thanks to convenience ingredients like rotisserie chicken and store-bought pesto. The addition of fresh asparagus brightens up the look and flavors of this easy one-pot dinner. Fresh basil, if you have it on hand, is a nice finishing touch.

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Lemon-Garlic Steak & Green Beans

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For a steak that's deliciously tender, flavorful and not too fatty, we reach for strip (also known as New York strip or shell steak). It has less than half the saturated fat of a rib-eye but is more tender than leaner sirloin. Here, we cook green beans in the same pan used to sear the spiced steak. All those delicious drippings add richness to the beans—plus there's one less pan to wash!

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Creamy Mushroom, Chicken & Asparagus Bake

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This comforting weeknight casserole recipe features plenty of mushrooms and asparagus combined with chicken and brown rice and a creamy Parmesan cheese sauce. Whip this up anytime you have leftover chicken or cooked brown rice to spare.

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Spinach, Feta & Rice Casserole

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This one-pan recipe is the casserole version of spanakopita! It's hearty enough to enjoy as a vegetarian lunch or dinner, yet versatile enough to serve alongside just about any protein. To make it extra creamy, top each serving with a dollop of sour cream.

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Crispy Lemon-Garlic Chicken Thighs with Roasted Potatoes & Carrots

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Panko breadcrumbs make this healthy lemon-garlic chicken super-crispy on the outside, while a bit of mayonnaise amps up the juiciness of the thighs. And everything--including fingerling potatoes and carrots--cooks on one sheet pan, so this healthy dinner is super-easy to prep and clean up after too. You can swap out the potatoes and carrots for other vegetables, such as broccoli and parsnips, but just be sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

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Spicy Orange Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry

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With fresh broccoli, ginger, red bell peppers and plenty of fresh citrus, this healthy beef stir-fry is sure to become a favorite. And it's ready in 30 minutes, making it the perfect healthy weeknight dinner. Serve with brown rice.

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Ginger Roasted Salmon & Broccoli

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This quick Asian salmon recipe uses the sauce for both glazing the salmon and tossing with the broccoli. Serve over rice noodles or brown rice tossed with sesame oil and scallions.

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Skillet Broccoli-Cheddar Mac & Cheese

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Broccoli—just like pasta—makes a tasty pairing with sharp Cheddar. Here, we've combined all three ingredients in a homey casserole that's baked in a cast-iron skillet. Replacing some of the pasta in the dish with vegetables makes it more nutritious and helps you cut down on carbs.

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Fruit, Veggie & Cheese Plate

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This healthy fruit, veggie and cheese plate is easy and affordable to pull together for a fun snack-style dinner at home or can be packed up and enjoyed as an outdoor picnic.

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Sesame-Garlic Beef & Broccoli with Whole-Wheat Noodles

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A savory marinade with garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil infuses flavor into sirloin steak pieces in this healthy beef and broccoli stir-fry recipe. Tip: Partially freeze the beef for easier slicing.

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Shrimp & Broccoli Pasta

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The corkscrew-shaped rotini pasta and broccoli florets do such a great job of holding the cream cheese sauce in this easy shrimp-and-broccoli pasta.

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Easy Shrimp Tacos

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These easy shrimp tacos are inspired by the seafood tacos in Baja California.

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Cilantro Bean Burgers with Creamy Avocado-Lime Slaw

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Lighten up your burger! Bean patties have less saturated fat and more fiber than beef patties. They're also cheaper and easier to cook indoors--and we promise they're just as satisfying, especially with the mouthwatering creamy slaw on top.