15 Family Dinner Ideas Under $15

As The Kitchn's Food Editor Patty Catalano puts it, "If you aren’t serving nachos for dinner every week, you’re missing out on a guaranteed weeknight win." These protein-packed nachos — topped with seasoned ground beef, refried beans, melty cheese, and more — are low-cost, low-effort, and just plain fun.

Hello, cheeseburger casserole; goodbye, dinnertime blues. This beloved combination of ground beef, cheese, and noodles (a homemade take on Hamburger Helper) is one of my favorite easy ground-beef recipes because my family always goes back for seconds — and that just feels really good.

Thanks to this brilliant hack, you can make enough cheese-, black bean-, corn-, and salsa verde-stuffed quesadillas to feed your whole family on just a single sheet pan.

This veggie-packed frittata includes both spinach and bell peppers, which gives it a lovely, robust flavor. But it’s the tater tots on top that will have your kids asking for seconds of this frugal, one-skillet meal.

My kids love any dinner that they can wrap in a pita, and they give bonus points for meals they can assemble themselves, so this sheet pan chicken shawarma is heavy in our meal plan rotation. The shawarma-seasoned chicken cooks quickly in the oven while you assemble the rest of your pita fillers, and then everyone gets to put their own spin on their pita.

Maybe you’re skeptical that you can enjoy a delicious fish dinner for under $15, but this one, with just five ingredients, makes it possible. You might also be skeptical that you can get your kids on board, but hear me out: The combination of lemon, garlic, and butter is pretty easy for just about anyone to love.

This is one of those rare, magical dinners that my entire family loves equally, but I love it the most because it’s easy to make, uses just five simple ingredients, and doesn’t break the bank (not even close!). I pull this one out whenever I need a quick, reliable path to the Clean Plate Club.

There’s a reason spaghetti dinners are a familiar stalwart for churches and community dinners — they’re a reliably smart way to feed a crowd for not a lot of money. This one, with ground beef, oregano, and a splash of balsamic vinegar, tastes like a ragù that’s been bubbling away on the stove all day (and not the roughly 40-minute dinner it actually is).

A simple butter and cheese pasta is a nice blank slate for choosy kids. Set some of the plain noodles aside before adding asparagus, peas, and arugula to the pan (or just go ahead and give them the green stuff — they can pick it out if they need to!). This affordable, versatile pasta dish is an essential back-pocket recipe for an easy weeknight dinner.

A large-format pasta dish is a smart way to feed a crowd on a budget, and when it’s mac and cheese it’s practically guaranteed to please the youngest eaters at the table — even with the inclusion of Brussels sprouts.

This weeknight-friendly, five-ingredient dinner is bright and zesty, thanks to the combination of lemon and garlic. You can serve feta cheese and extra herbs on the side so each family member can make it how they like it.

You can bet that pretty much any recipe that starts with a can of tuna is going to be on-budget, and this classic casserole is just that. Here, the typical cream-of-mushroom soup is omitted in favor of a quick, homemade cream sauce that combines with the flaky tuna, tender vegetables, and egg noodles to create a hearty, filling meal that serves six to eight hungry family members.

Okay, your kids might not love broccoli, but I think it’s a tired cliché to insist that all kids hate broccoli. Maybe they just haven’t found the best broccoli for them yet. Well, here it is — a creamy, cheesy one-pot meal that makes a serious case for loving those little green trees. If you’re looking for more protein, stir in some shredded rotisserie chicken toward the end of the cooking time.

I used to prep noodles and chili separately for chili mac, and then this brilliant recipe came into my life and I’ve never looked back. It’s the perfect protein-packed, super-satisfying dinner for a hungry family — we always make it on Halloween to fuel up before trick-or-treating.

When I’m looking for a comforting, inexpensive family dinner, I look to my favorite soups. This homemade chicken noodle soup is a bowl full of comfort — with silky egg noodles, tender vegetables, and savory shredded chicken — and it’s as easy to make as it is to love.