5 Easy Recipes You Should Know By Your 20s
Cooking is something that arouses mixed feelings among many 20-year-olds. Some find joy and calm like me and some remember their student dorm days when they survived on frozen pizzas and instant noodles.
As a 20-something-year-old, you don’t have much time or energy to cook because you’re either busy preparing for your finals or applying for jobs. This is why knowing how to cook good food that’s not your average overboiled pasta might come in handy if you have a busy schedule.
My mom would rarely allow us to eat out, so she instilled in me the love for home-made food. She taught me a handful of recipes that anyone can make and the best thing is that you can change the ingredients to your own preference.
The recipes I’m about share are not those high-carb foods that have no nutritional value. They’re proper delicious meals that you can make every day or meal prep in advance.
1) Egg Omelet
What can be easier than omelets? While this recipe has many variations, this super quick one was very handy for me when I had early 9 am classes and had to cook something up very quickly.
The base is, of course, eggs and you can choose to add whatever toppings you want. I love adding veggies to my omelet, so my recipe goes like this:
- 2 eggs
- Splash of milk
- ½ tomato
- 3 mushrooms
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
1. Cut up the tomato and mushrooms into small cubes. Heat your pan over medium-high heat and add some oil. Once the oil is hot enough for frying, add your vegetables and fry for about 3–4 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and brown.
2. Break 2 eggs into a bowl and mix with milk until the mixture is fluffy.
3. Put your pan over high heat and add your egg mixture. The bottom of the omelet should start forming right away, while the top will still be liquid. Grab a spatula and start moving the edges of your omelet to the center, so that the liquid would move underneath and start cooking too.
4. Once the eggs are all cooked, add some salt and pepper. Carefully slip the spatula under one half of the omelet and fold onto the other half. Plate and eat with a buttery toast or some sausages.
2) Oatmeal
Oatmeal is something that warmed me up during the cold winter months. It’s very easy to make and is super filling especially when you have a long day ahead. I don’t really like quick oats, so I usually used rolled oats — but you can also choose steel-cut oats for a more nutty flavor. The cooking time might vary depending on the type of oats.
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup milk or water
- Pinch of salt
1. Pour milk or water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
2. Right before it boils, reduce the heat and add your rolled oats. Mix them and cook for about 3–4 mins, stirring frequently. Let the oats soak up the liquid and become porridge-like, and then add some salt.
3. Now you can start adding your favorite toppings — I love mixing plain yogurt and peanut butter, along with some banana and blueberries. But you can add whatever you like — berries, honey, maple syrup, chocolate, protein powder, etc.
4. And all that’s left is to enjoy this warm and hearty goodness before you start your busy day.
3) Soup
Soup is probably the most customizable dish there is. You can add some chicken and make a hearty chicken soup; you can cut up some veggies and make a minestrone; and if you want something different, you can blend everything and you get a fancy cream soup.
Here’s my go-to soup recipe that I make whenever I feel sick or just want something that reminds me of my mom’s food.
- 2 chicken thighs and 2 legs, skin on
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 large potatoes
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3–4 cups of water
- Herbs of your choice (dill, parsley)
- Salt, pepper and spices of your choice (I like cumin, garlic powder, onion powder)
1. Cut up the onion and carrot into small 0.5cm cubes, slice the garlic and cut the potatoes into 2cm pieces.
2. Put a large pot on high heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, put the chicken thighs and legs skin down first and fry for about 2–3 mins until the skin is golden brown and add salt and spices of your choice. Flip your chicken and spice the other side too. Remove the chicken from the pot (it won’t be all cooked yet) and reduce the heat to medium.
3. Add the carrot, onion and garlic, and fry them in the pot for 3–4 mins until the onions are translucent and the carrots are a little softer — they don’t have to be all cooked yet.
4. Put the chicken back in the pot and add water. It should cover the chicken and veggies fully and have some room for potatoes. Add about 1 tbsp of salt and cover the pot with a lid.
5. Let the soup simmer on medium heat for about 20 mins or until the chicken is cooked. You’ll see that it’s cooked when it will start peeling off the bone (oh yeah). Taste the soup again for salt and add more if needed. If you feel like the soup is too salty, add some fresh water on top and let it simmer for another 5 mins.
6. Put your heat on medium-high, add the potatoes and close the lid again. The smaller the pieces are, the quicker they’ll get cooked. Mine usually takes about 10–12 mins.
7. Check the salt again at the end and if everything tastes good, add some herbs on top and you’re ready to serve. Enjoy your soup with a piece of bread or eat as it is.
4) Frittata
This is the most forgiving recipe that I’ve ever tried because you literally can experiment with it all you want, and it’s going to taste amazing. You can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner because all it has is just eggs and toppings.
My favorite way of making a frittata is with some cooked salmon and veggies, but you can add whatever ingredients you have.
Just make sure that your toppings are not too watery — e.g., tomatoes are not the best choice because they might make your frittata moist. And if you add meat, cook it in advance before adding it to your dish.
- 6 eggs
- 1/3 cup whole milk or heavy cream
- 1 salmon steak, skinless and boneless
- 1 bunch of broccoli
- ½ bell pepper
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- ½ salt
- Pepper and spices to taste (I like adding smoked paprika and garlic powder)
1. Preheat the oven to 180’C.
2. Cut up all vegetables into small 1–2cm pieces.
3. Put a pan over medium-high heat and add some oil. Once the pan is hot, put your salmon in and fry it for about 3–4 mins. Put some salt on top, flip the salmon and fry it for another 3 mins until it’s cooked. Remove it from the pan to cool down. Add the vegetables into the pan, fry them for 3–4 mins and set aside.
4. Get a large bowl and mix the eggs with milk and spices until they’re all blended.
5. Meanwhile, your salmon should have cooled down and you can now cut it up into 2 cm cubes.
6. Oil the bottom of a round baking dish or a cast-iron skillet. Put your cooked veggies and salmon. Pour your egg mixture into the dish — it should cover all veggies and fish fully.
7. Bake your frittata for 20–25 mins or until the eggs are fully cooked.
8. Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for about 30 mins. You can add some herbs on top before serving.
Meal prep this delicious dish in advance and heat it during the week. Experiment with different toppings to find your favorite way of making a frittata.
5) Crepes
And now it’s time for my favorite dessert. “Bliny” or crepes were something I always asked my mom to make for the holidays.
There are millions of recipes for making the right crepes, and to be fair, every cook kind of makes up their own go-to recipe after some practice.
The one I’m going to share is based on a fermented milk drink popular in Russia and post-soviet countries — kefir. It tastes like plain drinking yogurt and is one of the most versatile products used for baking.
- 2 eggs
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1 cup kefir
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp butter (optional)
1. Break 2 eggs into a bowl, add a pinch of salt and mix it with a whisk or a hand mixer until the mixture is very fluffy. While whisking, very slowly pour water and then kefir.
2. Sift in the mix of flour and soda into the bowl, constantly whisking, to avoid clumps. The batter will be very runny. Let the batter sit for about 5–10 min and then add vegetable oil.
3. Put a large pan on high heat — the pan should be steaming hot before you start frying your crepes so that you can get those little holes that indicate a well-made crepe.
4. Frying the crepes is quite a technical process because the hand that holds the pan should move very quickly to spread the batter around. But once you get a hang of it, you’ll get the most beautiful and aromatic crepes that will lure everyone in the house to the kitchen.
5. Fry them on one side for about 1–2 mins and then flip and cook for another minute. You can then grease the crepes with butter but I like serving them as is.
The toppings for crepes can vary from sweet to salty, from fruits and berries to meats and fish. My childhood favorite was adding some condensed milk — the taste just brings you to heaven.
Like a frittata, you can have crepes at any time of the day. While they require some practice to make, you will be delighted with the most delicious tasting food that your family and friends will be asking you to make again and again.
I hope these recipes made your mouth water as much as mine while I was writing this post. The best thing about them is that you can adjust them to your liking and come up with the most unique meals to please yourself and your loved ones.
The 20s is the period of transformation and change. And I want these dishes to help you make cooking a little less intimidating and make you feel better about your journey into adulthood.
