18 Easy Make-Ahead Meals Perfect for Busy Weeknights

Tender chunks of beef and hearty bites of carrots and potatoes make this slow cooker stew the ultimate make-ahead dinner.

Inspired by the iconic flavors of French onion soup, this beef stew is even more flavorful the day after it is prepared. Be sure to serve it with mashed potatoes or a hunk of crusty bread so that you can savor every drop of the rich and savory gravy.

Alfredo fans, this one's for you. This pasta bake comes together with just 15 minutes of prep and tastes extra-creamy and cheesy, plus it makes pretty delicious leftovers. No wonder its our readers' #1 pasta recipe.

Mechado is a slow-cooked beef stew with potatoes and carrots simmered in a tomato-based sauce. Make a big batch and curl up with a bowl of this hearty stew all week long.

Smoky green sauce, crispy bacon, tender beef, and creamy beans come together in this classic Mexican stew. It's a labor of love but the flavors deepen over time, making leftovers even more delicious.

A classic comfort food, this gooey and cheesy dish is a great make-ahead meal and a crowd peaser that everyone's sure to enjoy.

Inspired by Tuscan Chicken, one of our most popular dinner recipes of all time, this baked pasta has a creamy sun-dried tomato sauce you’ll want to make again and again.

Mixed with ground beef, beans, tomatoes, and warm spices, this classic beef chili is a dinner staple. Serve with classic chili side dishes, like baked potatoes or sweet cornbread.

Marinara and cheese set this recipe apart from traditional meatloaf. Serve with your favorite meatloaf side dishes, like classic mashed potatoes and green beans.

A one-pot dinner with ground beef and cheddar cheese that channels all the Hamburger Helper vibes.

Tender pieces of beef slowly braised in a rich and savory gravy. It’s perfect for serving over fluffy mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or a piece of crusty bread — anything to sop up that savory sauce.

An easy recipes for baked ziti that doesn't call for boiling the pasta before baking. Tightly covering the baking dish in aluminum foil forces the pasta to steam-cook in the marinara sauce, which eliminates the need to pre-boil the noodles.

Unlike lasagnas made with marinara, you won’t find a drop of red sauce in sight. Here you get layers of hearty pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, Italian sausage crumbles, and an entire pound of fresh spinach. But what makes white lasagna so special and totally irresistible is the impossibly creamy white sauce that’s blanketed throughout the casserole.

Flavored with an unlikely combination of seasoning packets, pepperoncini peppers, and butter, this weeknight-friendly dinner is like no other pot roast you've ever tasted. Spoon it over fluffy mashed potatoes, egg noodles, or cauliflower rice, or even piled on a sandwich.

This retro chicken and broccoli casserole is ultra-comforting.

Inspired by the iconic French onion soup, this skillet dinner has it all — caramelized onions, juicy meatballs, and gooey, browned Gruyère cheese.

Layer buttery mashed potatoes over French-inspired chicken pot pie filling for the ultimate comfort food.

Whether you toss it with pasta or serve it over creamy polenta, you can't go wrong with this cozy Italian-style meat sauce.

If you like eggplant Parmesan, then this eggplant casserole is a must-try and a fun switch-up from the expected. With layers of herbed ricotta cheese, quick homemade marinara, meaty yet super creamy and tender eggplant, and a gooey cheesy top, it's one of our favorite make-ahead dinners.

This beefy dish is the best thing that ever happened to egg noodles, creamy polenta, or mashed potatoes.

Everything you love about classic layered lasagna, only way easier. This classic dinner includes the same tender sheets of pasta, meaty marinara sauce, and creamy ricotta filling, but it’s more fun to make and much easier to serve because every person gets their own saucy spiral.

This one-pot weeknight dinner will remind you of Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup, and it’s so much better.

When you are looking for a dinner that will be a hit with the whole family and can be prepared in just one pot, look no further than American goulash.

A step-by-step guide to making a simple beef and cheese lasagna. Since this recipe starts with a jar of marinara for ease, make sure it’s one that tastes great.

Flavorful marinara, tender meatballs, and a blanket of melted mozzarella cheese bake up into a comforting casserole everyone will love.

This ultra-comforting casserole is packed with lots of melty cheddar and topped with a crispy layer of tater tots.

Guess what - baked ziti freezes like a charm! So eat half now, and freeze the rest for another week.

Tender beef stew made in the Instant Pot in less than an hour.

Everything you love about spaghetti and meatballs made so much easier in this one-pot, no-chop dinner.

Plump gnocchi are baked in an easy Alfredo sauce that’s loaded with Parmesan cheese.

From the sauce-slicked macaroni to the crumbles of ground beef and pockets of melted cheddar, one-pot beef goulash is as comforting as it is easy to get on the table.

This cozy soup celebrates the flavors of roasted tomatoes for the ultimate comfort food. Make it a meal with easy soup side dishes, like garlic bread or grilled cheese sandwiches.

The beef brisket that makes the whole house smell like a cozy day perfect for snuggling on the couch.

This stuffed pepper casserole is easier and faster than classic stuffed peppers but brimming with all the wholesome goodness of the iconic dish.

Similar to Salisbury steak, this recipe shapes ground beef into steak-like patties blanketed in rich mushroom gravy.

This easy, cheesy spinach lasagna is total comfort food for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

It doesn’t get more comforting than buttery mashed potatoes baked over a savory, veggie-packed filling.

Never cook your chili and macaroni cheese separately again. Learn how to make one-pot chili mac in your Dutch oven.

Baked in creamy salsa verde sauce and topped with gooey Oaxaca cheese, these chicken enchiladas are unbelievably delicious.

A pork shoulder, slow-cooked and pulled into succulent little shreds, can become a thousand different meals. Mix in some barbecue sauce and make pulled pork sandwiches, scatter it on top of tortilla chips for pulled pork nachos, or use it as a filling for pulled pork lettuce wraps.

Swapping in ground turkey for the usual ground beef makes for a lighter yet equally satisfying lasagna.

This hearty, comforting pot of beef stew is simmered low and slow in a Guinness-spiked sauce.

This budget-friendly family meal is a modern-day tuna casserole that keeps the classic, comforting flavors but loses the can of condensed soup.

This slow cooker stew is inspired by sausage and white bean soup, but we gave it a Southern twist by adding a pack of Andouille chicken sausage. Best of all, there’s next to no prep work needed, meaning your slow cooker does all the heavy lifting to bring dinner to the table.

This hearty casserole easily feeds a hungry crowd and is an all-in-one protein, vegetables, and tots.

This shepherd’s pie is a complete meal in a single skillet, and just the kind of dinner you want to tuck into as the weather cools.

This simple, slow-cooked brisket is tender and rich, with plenty of juice to drizzle over roasted potatoes.

This slow cooker twist on classic potato soup is the perfect make-ahead dinner for your family.

Cook up tender chunks of beef, carrots, and potatoes in a rich gravy in less than hour with an Instant Pot.

Chicken soup with vegetables and herbs is pure comfort food, and this version takes it up a notch with a luxe, creamy broth.

This 5-ingredient, shortcut slow cooker recipe is going to completely change how you think about pot roast.

The slow cooker yields tender, fall-off-the-bone short ribs swimming in a savory broth, made deeper and richer thanks to several glugs of Cabernet.

An easy, cheesy crowd-pleasing casserole made with savory ground beef and baked with tender rigatoni noodles. This baked rigatoni is easier to assemble than lasagna, packed with just as much flavor, and is a perfect freezer meal that reheats well.

A brightened-up version of the classic comfort food, featuring the flavors of Greek spanakopita: spinach, feta cheese, fresh dill, and lots of lemon.

Greek pastitsio features layers of pasta, homemade meat sauce, and the most delicious topping of creamy bechamel.

This saucy shredded chicken is loaded with smoky, sweet, and spicy flavor. It's delicious served alongside corn tortillas or crunchy tostadas, refried beans, arroz rojo, and salad.

Crustless quiche is similar to a traditional quiche where it has savory egg custard loaded with cheese and mix-ins, but it’s baked without a pie crust.This easy egg bake comes together with whatever meat, cheese, or veggies you have in the fridge. And best of all, it keeps for days and it's just as delicious eaten straight from the fridge as it is warm.

This recipe is everything you love about classic ground beef tacos baked into a big-batch casserole, then topped with lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheddar. Serve the leftovers over a salad of wrap them in a soft tortilla.

A gentle soup, chock full with wild rice and shredded chicken, that is creamy enough without being too light or too rich.

Similar to lasagna in construction, this Puerto Rican casserole is made with layers of sweet plantain, meat sauce, and shredded cheese.

Classic corned beef and cabbage gets an easy slow cooker makeover.

With a smoky flavor and subtle heat, this cozy chili will make you think it has the richness of meat even though (spoiler) it's totally vegan. Inspired by white chicken chili and creamy white bean and kale soup, this comforting one-pot dinner is packed with protein.

To make this comforting dinner more weeknight-friendly, a single skillet is all your need to take them from start to finish.

The ultimate comfort food, cottage pie is made with ground beef and topped with fluffy mashed potatoes.

This leftover-friendly recipe turns this classic chicken dish into a cheesy casserole.

This warming beef stew is ultra fragrant thanks to lemongrass, star anise, ginger, and cinnamon.

This one-pot casserole channels the nostalgic favorite with ground beef and pasta in a creamy cheddar cheese sauce.