Check out our favourite quick and easy student recipes!
Designed by Guy Sinnott and costing under €5 we’ve got breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes to get you through freshers' week and beyond that’s #friendlyfinance
Smashed Cheeseburgers
Ingredients
- 150g minced beef (divided into 2 even balls)
- 1 burger bun
- 1 slice cheddar cheese
- 1 tsp sunflower oil
- Mayonnaise
- Yellow mustard
- Ketchup
- Sliced pickles from a jar (optional)
- Thinly sliced onion (optional)
- Lettuce (optional)
- Salt
- Pepper
Firstly, throw your burger buns on to a pan or toaster to gently toast them. Next, make your burger sauce by combining 1 tbsp of mayonnaise, 1 tsp of ketchup, a dash of mustard and 1 tsp of that lovely pickle juice you get in the jar. Give it a good mix with a spoon to combine it all.
Take your nicely toasted bun and add some of your new sauce to each side. Lay your toppings - sliced onion, pickles, lettuce) on the bottom bun.
Next, preheat your pan for 4 mins on a high heat. Then, add 1 tsp of oil. Place the balls of beef in the pan and press down on them with a spatula. Give it a good push using as much pressure as you can, so they get well flattened out.
Season them with a bit of salt and pepper and cook them for around 90 seconds. Using your spatula, carefully flip them over and cook them for another 30 seconds. Before you’re finished, throw a slice of cheese on 1 of the beef patties. Then, simply stack the other patty on top for a few seconds. Remove them and add them to the bun.
Gobble immediately.
Breakfast Burrito
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 1 white potato (washed and diced)
- 1 tortilla
- 1 pieces chorizo (half a ring - diced)
- 1 avocado (peeled and sliced)
- 2 scallions (sliced)
Throw your diced chorizo into a non-stick pan and cook them for 7 mins on medium low heat. Remove the chorizo and put them to one side for the moment.
Next, add the potatoes to the same pan with the chorizo oil still in it and cook them for 15 mins. Make sure to stir them occasionally until they’re nice and crisp. Then put them to one side too.
When you’ve done that, take a small bowl and mix the 3 eggs. Add them to the pan on a medium/low heat. Use a spatula to gently mix them until they’re scrambled, which should take about 4 mins.
In a flour tortilla, add the scrambled egg with chorizo, followed by the crunchy potatoes, avocado, scallions and hot sauce. Fold the burrito by tucking the sides in, then rolling it over and gently tucking in the other ends.
Place the burrito fold side down on the pan on a medium heat, for 1 minute. This seals it and stops it spilling all over the pace.
Slice it in half and serve with even more hot sauce, because you can never have too much nomnomnom.
Quick & Easy Fried Rice
Ingredients
- 200g white rice
- ½ small onion (diced)
- 1 small carrot (peeled and diced finely)
- 2 scallions (sliced thinly)
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 egg
- 50g frozen peas
- 20ml sunflower oil
Firstly, cook your rice by combining the 200g of white rice with 350ml of water in a saucepan. Bring it to a simmer, then just before the water boils, stir the rice vigorously, cover the pot and lower the heat to its lowest. After 15 mins, turn off the heat and remove the pot. Spread the rice on a tray and allow it to cool for 10 mins.
Next, add some oil to a non-stick pan on a high heat. Add the rice and cook it all for 4 mins, stirring it frequently. Press the rice to the side of the pan and add 10 ml of oil to the space left over. Add the scallions, onion and carrot and cook it all for 2 more minutes until it’s all softened. Add some soy sauce, salt and pepper and mix it all together.
Take a small bowl and beat the egg with a fork. Push the rice to side of the pan again and add the beaten egg to the space left over. Use a spatula to quickly mix and scramble the egg. Then just toss the egg and the rice in together.
Finally, add the frozen peas on top and mix it all together until the peas are thawed, which should take about 45 seconds.
Gobble immediately.
Spaghetti Carbonara
Ingredients- 100g spaghetti
- 1 egg
- Black pepper
- Small pack (80g) pancetta or bacon lardons
- Parmesan cheese
In a bowl, use a fork to mix the egg with a small handful of parmesan and 1 tbsp of black pepper. Next, add the pasta to a pot of salted boiling water.
Put the pancetta in a pan on a low heat and cook it for 7 mins until it’s slightly crisp. You’re looking for the bacon fat to render down in the pan.
1 minute before the pasta is cooked, add a ladle of pasta water to the pan along with the pancetta. Mix it thoroughly before adding your pasta to the pan. Keep tossing and mixing it for 30 seconds, until the mixture has absorbed.
Turn off the heat and mix in the egg, cheese and pepper mix. Keep working it, as the hot pasta will cook the sauce mixture. Continue to mix, adding more cheese and black pepper.
If your elbow can take it, keep mixing everything until it firms up slightly. You can put the pan back on the heat briefly but be careful you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.
Add a final bit of cheese and black pepper before gobbling immediately.
15 Minute Tomato Soup With A Cheese Quesadilla
Ingredients- 1 tin whole plum tomatoes (crushed by hand in a bowl)
- ½ onion
- 30ml cream
- Pinch chilli flakes
- Pinch oregano
- 1 tsp flour
- 1 tsp butter
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 flour tortilla
- 2 cheese slices
- 1 tsp butter
Take a small pot and add 1 tsp of butter on a medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook it for 6 minutes. Stir it frequently to soften but make sure you don’t brown the onion.
Add a pinch of chilli flakes and oregano and cook it for 30 seconds. Then, add a tsp of flour and stir it for 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes, stirring it all together. Now add the cream and bring it to a gentle boil. Then reduce it to the lowest heat and cook it for another 4 mins. Season it with some all-important salt and pepper.
For the quesadilla, add the tortilla to a plate. Add the cheese slices to one side of the tortilla and fold it in half so there’s a seal.
Melt 1 tsp of butter in a pan on a medium heat. Add the quesadilla and cook it for 3 mins per side or until it’s toasted and golden on both sides. Finally, garnish the soup with a few drops of olive oil and serve it with the toasted quesadilla.
