Eggs for dinner make a lot of sense on a tight evening. They’re cheap, they keep for weeks in the fridge, and they cook in a few minutes. The recipes collected here use eggs in different ways: set into a sliceable frittata, poached in sauce or set on garlicky yogurt, boiled and simmered in curry, scrambled through rice, or fried and set on top so the yolk becomes part of the sauce.
How eggs feature in each recipe
- Spinach and feta frittata: eight eggs set over wilted spinach, cherry tomatoes and feta on the stove, then puffed under the broiler. Slice it into wedges; leftovers are good cold.
- Quick shakshuka: the eggs are the main event, gently cooked in wells of cumin-spiced tomato and pepper sauce and finished with feta. Bring bread for mopping up.
- Turkish eggs (çılbır): poached eggs set on cool garlic Greek yogurt and drizzled with Aleppo pepper butter. Twelve minutes, plus bread for dipping.
- Quick egg curry: hard-boiled eggs, slit so the sauce seeps in, simmered in a spiced onion and tomato masala. Made for scooping up with chapati or spooning over rice.
- Egg drop soup: beaten eggs drizzled into a gently swirling, lightly thickened ginger broth, where they set into silky ribbons in seconds. The whole pot takes 12 minutes.
- Egg fried rice: beaten eggs are scrambled in the pan and tossed through chilled rice with peas, carrots and soy sauce. It’s vegetarian and costs very little.
- Shrimp fried rice: the same method with shrimp added, so the egg plays a supporting role alongside the seafood.
- Thai basil chicken: a crisp-edged fried egg sits on top of the rice. It’s technically optional, but the runny yolk is how the dish is most often served.
A few egg habits worth having
Crack eggs into a small bowl before adding them to a pan, especially for shakshuka. It’s easier to slide them into place and to fish out any shell. For fried rice, push the rice to one side and scramble the eggs on the bare part of the pan before mixing; they cook in seconds and stay in soft pieces rather than coating every grain.
Fresh eggs hold their shape better when poached or fried, so save older ones for scrambling into rice.
Which to choose
If you want a meat-free dinner with almost no prep, start with egg fried rice. For something light and warming, the egg drop soup is the quickest recipe here. For something to share at the table, shakshuka is the one; for a budget curry night, the egg curry; for a fast, elegant plate for two, the Turkish eggs; and if you’d like leftovers for lunch, make the frittata. And if you’d like eggs as a finishing touch rather than the star, make the Thai basil chicken.
More meat-free ideas live in our easy vegetarian dinner recipes, and both fried rice dishes appear among our quick rice recipes.