Want to know how far three ingredients will actually get you? Further than you would think, because a three ingredient recipe works by letting one thing do two jobs, a jar of salsa that is both the sauce and the seasoning, a can of root beer that tenderizes and sweetens at the same time. My kids have learned to make my recipes over the years, and the ones that stuck were never the long ones. So these are the short ones: crock pot chicken tacos that need a packet and a jar, ranch mushrooms that cook while you are at work, banana pancakes with no flour in them anywhere, and a chili that is on the table in thirty five minutes. There are easy recipes here for breakfast, quick dinner ideas for the nights nobody planned, and a few homemade appetizers for when people turn up.
1. 3 Ingredient Garlic Cheddar Biscuits
A can of refrigerated biscuits, shredded cheddar and garlic powder, and that is genuinely the list. Shake garlic powder over each biscuit, press it into a pile of cheese and more garlic powder on your work surface, flip it, press again, then roll it into a ball and bake at 375 for ten to twelve minutes. There are no measurements because the maker does not use any, which tells you how forgiving it is. Brush the hot biscuits with a tablespoon of melted butter and a little dried parsley if you want the restaurant version.
Get the full tutorial at Two Twenty One.
2. 3 Ingredient Chocolate Cookies
Cocoa powder, powdered sugar and egg whites, with no flour, no butter and no baking powder anywhere in them. A quarter cup plus a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa goes in with a cup and a half of powdered sugar, then the whites of two eggs get whisked in until smooth. The dough chills in the refrigerator before you spoon it out, which is what gives you that shiny, cracked meringue-style top. Fifteen to eighteen minutes at 320. These are the cookies to make when the pantry is bare.
Get the full tutorial at DIY Joy.
3. 3 Ingredient Perfect Brussel Sprouts
Twelve to sixteen Brussels sprouts, three tablespoons of olive oil and two to three tablespoons of soy sauce, done in ten minutes. Halve the sprouts lengthwise and lay them face down in hot oil, then put a lid on and leave them alone for the full ten minutes. That is the entire trick: the covered pan steams the inside while the cut face caramelizes against the metal. Soy sauce goes in at the very end, after the lid comes off, so it glazes rather than burns.
Get the full tutorial at The Savvy Mama.
4. 3 Ingredient Sweet Potato Spinach Breakfast Hash
Two sweet potatoes cut into half inch cubes, a big bag of fresh spinach and eggs. The cubes matter more than they sound, because anything bigger will still be hard in the middle when the outsides have gone dark. Give the potato a proper head start in the pan, add the spinach only in the last minute or two since it collapses almost instantly, then crack the eggs straight on top. It serves six and takes about forty minutes end to end.
Get the full tutorial at Homemade Home.
5. 3 Ingredient Vegan And Gluten Free Chickpea Flatbread
Chickpea flour flatbread is the one gluten free bread that does not need a single specialty ingredient beyond the flour itself, because chickpea flour binds on its own without gums or starches. The batter wants to rest before it hits the pan, which lets the flour hydrate properly and stops the flatbread tasting chalky. Cook it hot and do not move it until the edges lift. Naturally vegan, naturally gluten free, and it makes a sturdy base for anything you want to pile on it.
Get the full tutorial at Avocado Pesto.
6. 3 Ingredient Pancakes
Banana, eggs and a little cinnamon. No flour, no milk, no baking powder, which means no gluten and no leavening, so treat them differently from a normal pancake batter. Make them small, because a big one will not hold together when you turn it, and wait until the surface has properly set before the spatula goes anywhere near it. The banana does all the sweetening, so they need nothing on top at all. A good breakfast for a morning with an empty pantry.
Get the full tutorial at Zoom Yummy.
7. 3 Ingredient Tomato Tortellini Soup
Four cups of chicken stock, a 28 ounce can of fire roasted diced tomatoes with all their liquid, and ten ounces of fresh tortellini. Fifteen minutes, start to bowl. Bring the stock and tomatoes to a rolling boil, then turn off the heat before you puree it with an immersion blender, which keeps hot soup from climbing the walls. The tortellini goes in after that and needs only three or four minutes. Fire roasted tomatoes are doing all the heavy lifting here, so do not swap them for plain.
Get the full tutorial at Honey and Birch.
8. 3 Ingredient Black Bean Soup Recipe
Three cans and ten minutes, and that is the entire ingredient list: black beans, chicken broth and diced tomatoes. Everything goes in one pot, comes to a boil, simmers for ten minutes and then gets blended smooth. The whole pot, not half of it. The upgrade that costs nothing is grabbing diced tomatoes with chiles instead of plain ones, since they do the seasoning work a longer ingredient list usually does. One swap to vegetable broth makes it vegan. Then let the toppings show off: sour cream, shredded cheese, green onions and jalapenos.
Get the full tutorial at Honey and Birch.
9. 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Ranch Mushrooms
A pound of fresh mushrooms, one stick of butter and an envelope of ranch dressing mix. Do not wash the mushrooms, which is the one instruction people ignore and regret, because they soak up water and go grey; wipe them with a damp paper towel instead. Melt the butter, stir the ranch into it, pour that over the mushrooms and cook on low for three to four hours or high for one to two. Take the lid off at the end to let some liquid cook away and the flavor concentrate.
Get the full tutorial at Simply Sherryl.
10. 3 Ingredient Tempura Batter Recipe
Good tempura batter is about temperature and restraint more than the ingredient list. The liquid has to be ice cold, the batter has to be mixed as little as humanly possible, and lumps are not a mistake but the point, because overmixing develops gluten and gives you a heavy coating instead of a lacy one. Mix it right before you fry, never ahead. If the batter sits and warms up, the crust goes soft and greasy no matter how hot the oil is.
Get the full tutorial at The Typical Mom.
11. 3 Ingredient Cheddar Broccoli Egg Muffins
Four eggs, a cup of steamed broccoli and half a cup of shredded sharp cheddar, baked at 375 for twelve to fifteen minutes. Use a silicone muffin tin and oil it anyway, because egg welds itself to metal and you will lose the bottom of every one. Chop the broccoli small so each muffin holds together instead of breaking around a big floret. It makes six, they reheat in a microwave in thirty seconds, and they are the most useful thing on this list for a week of breakfasts.
Get the full tutorial at Fit Mama Real Food.
12. 3 Ingredient Paleo Naan Bread
Half a cup of blanched almond flour or a quarter cup of coconut flour, half a cup of tapioca flour and a cup of coconut milk. Mix it all in one bowl, pour a quarter cup of batter into a hot nonstick pan at least nine and a half inches across, and spread it out with a spoon. Wait two or three minutes until the batter puffs and looks firm before you flip it, and be patient about that; if the outside is catching, turn the heat down rather than rushing it. Makes six.
Get the full tutorial at My Heart Beets.
13. Easy 3 Ingredient Chicken Wings With Herbs And Honey
Two pounds of thawed frozen wings, three tablespoons of Italian seasoning and honey to drizzle at the end. Oven at 450, single layer on a non-stick sheet, and the maker’s note is worth repeating exactly: hers were crisp at twenty two minutes on the dot, inside a twenty to thirty minute window. The honey goes on after they come out, never before, because honey in a 450 oven burns black long before the wings are done. Serves eight as a snack.
Get the full tutorial at The Roasted Root.
14. 3 Ingredient Chicken Salad
A cup of shredded chicken, two tablespoons of mayonnaise and a third of a cup of cranraisins, mixed in one bowl. The ratio is the useful part, because most chicken salad recipes drown the chicken and this one does not. Two tablespoons of mayo to a cup of chicken is just enough to bind it, and the dried cranberries bring the sweetness and the chew that would otherwise come from celery and grapes. Five minutes. Scale it up to whatever size bowl you need.
Get the full tutorial at Stockpiling Moms.
15. 3 Ingredient Portobella Mushroom Chicken
A pint of baby bella mushrooms, a pound and a half to two pounds of chicken tenderloins and one can of cream of chicken soup. Everything goes into the slow cooker in layers, chicken on the bottom, mushrooms over it, soup poured across the top, and it cooks four hours on high or six on low. Season it before it goes in and then taste it again at the end, because a recipe this short depends entirely on the salt and pepper to lift it. Serves four over rice or noodles.
Get the full tutorial at Cutefetti.
16. 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Chicken Tacos
A pound and a half of boneless skinless chicken breasts, a 1.25 ounce packet of low sodium taco seasoning and a 16 ounce jar of salsa. Chicken in the bottom, seasoning sprinkled over, salsa poured on top, then six to eight hours on low or four on high. Shred it with two forks just before serving and stir it back through the sauce so every piece picks up salsa rather than sitting in a puddle of it. It makes about five cups, which is a lot of tacos for three things.
Get the full tutorial at Two Healthy Kitchens.
17. 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken
Balsamic in a slow cooker behaves differently from balsamic in a pan, because nothing evaporates under a lid and the vinegar stays sharp instead of reducing down sweet. That is worth knowing before you serve it: if it tastes too acidic at the end, take the lid off for the last half hour and let it cook down. Chicken breasts will go stringy over a long cook, so this is a low and slow recipe rather than a leave-it-all-day one.
Get the full tutorial at Skinny Ms.
18. Taco Lime Grilled Chicken
Two tablespoons of taco seasoning, a quarter cup of lime juice, which is about two limes, and a pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts. Mix the seasoning into the juice, coat the chicken and leave it anywhere from thirty minutes to overnight. Grill over medium high for three to five minutes a side, then rest it five minutes before slicing, which is the step that keeps the juice in the meat instead of on the board. Make a double batch, because it is better cold in a burrito the next day.
Get the full tutorial at Closet Cooking.
19. 3 Ingredient Crock Pot Meatballs
An 18 ounce jar of grape jelly, an 18 ounce jar of barbecue sauce and a 32 ounce bag of frozen cooked meatballs, which is roughly fifty of them. Stir the jelly and sauce together first so the jelly actually dissolves, then fold the meatballs through and cook two to three hours on high or three to four on low. Grape jelly sounds wrong and is completely right, because the sugar and the pectin turn thin barbecue sauce into a glaze that clings. Turn the cooker to warm and leave it out.
Get the full tutorial at I Heart Naptime.
20. 3 Ingredient Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches
A three pound pork shoulder, a 12 ounce can of root beer and an 18 ounce bottle of barbecue sauce. The instruction people miss is that the root beer gets drained off and thrown away once the pork is tender, and only then does the sauce go on. If you leave it in, you get sweet, watery pork instead of proper pulled pork. Eight to ten hours on low, or about thirty five minutes at high pressure in an Instant Pot. Feeds eight on buns.
Get the full tutorial at The Girl Who Ate Everything.
21. 3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
A four pound Boston butt, 24 ounces of root beer and nine ounces of a vinegar based barbecue sauce. Fat side up in the cooker, which matters because the fat renders down through the meat as it goes rather than pooling under it. Roughly six hours on low, until it shreds with a fork. Drain the liquid off, pull out any bone and excess fat, then toss the shredded pork with the sauce. Vinegar based sauce is the right choice here against all that sweetness.
Get the full tutorial at The Blond Cook.
22. 3 Ingredient Bacon Wrapped Maple Pork Tenderloin
Bacon wrapped anything has one real failure mode, which is bacon that stays flabby while the meat finishes. Wrap it in a single overlapping layer rather than piling it on, and give it a blast of high heat at the end to crisp the outside once the tenderloin is at temperature. Maple and pork is a genuinely good pairing, but brush the syrup on late rather than early, because sugar in a hot oven goes from glossy to burnt very quickly.
Get the full tutorial at My Real Food Family.
23. 3 Ingredient Crescent Sausage Bites
A pound of hot sausage, an eight ounce package of cream cheese and two packages of crescent rolls. Brown and drain the sausage, then blend the cream cheese into it while the pan is still hot so it melts rather than sitting in lumps. Unroll one package of crescents, press the seams closed with your fingers, spread the filling over it, lay the second package on top and seal the edges. Bake at 375 for fifteen to twenty minutes and cut it into squares with a pizza cutter.
Get the full tutorial at The Kitchen Is My Playground.
24. Easy 3 Ingredient Chili
A pound of cooked ground beef, a 15 ounce can of chili beans left undrained and a 10 ounce can of diced tomatoes with green chiles. Do not drain those beans, because the liquid in the can is the sauce; drain it and you have a dry skillet of beef and beans. Bring it to a boil, drop the heat and simmer about thirty minutes so the flavors settle, which they will not do in ten. Thirty five minutes total, feeds six, and toppings do the rest.
Get the full tutorial at I Heart Naptime.
