These 15 Minute Lunches Will Change Your Life

i think lunch is one of the hardest meals to really nail down and get right and it's the reason why so many people end up resorting to takeout in the middle of the day but i don't want you spending all of your money on takeout i want you making delicious homemade lunches that you can transport to wherever you're going that are delicious but also light so you'll stay energized throughout the day and most importantly all of these homemade lunches come together in under 15 minutes so we're starting off with a dish that i've been trying to crack the 15-minute coat on for a while now and i think i got something that you're all going to enjoy we all know this dish right here chicken and broccoli one of the most popular takeout items at least in the u.s because sometimes you're just craving those flavors your body just needs it but what your body doesn't need is the takeout version we want a homemade version and we want it quick and you know in this series i try to make pretty much everything completely from scratch so you might be wondering how am i gonna make rice under 15 minutes impossible voila finally i figured out how to make rice under 50 minutes and it's pretty damn good this right here is a pressure cooker or an instant pot and what i'm gonna do is take two cups of rice give the rice a quick wash to get off some of that starchy water into the pressure cooker with two cups of water so that's a one-to-one ratio plus a little bit more and i'm gonna set that on a high pressure cook for four minutes that's all you need it's going to take about three minutes to come up to pressure then it's gonna cook at four minutes under pressure then i'll release the steam and just let that sit there and it'll be ready to go once the rest of the dish is done now two more things to do very quickly get some type of saute skillet preheating on a low heat fill up a little saucepan with water we're going to blanch our broccoli in here so just get that on the burner and bring that up to a simmer so since this is lunch and this dish can definitely be a bit heavy i'm switching out the chicken for tofu plus i have a chicken dish coming later on i've got some firm tofu here and i'm going to cut it into about half inch slices and this stuff still has a lot of moisture so i'm going to take a clean dish towel you can use a paper towel as well get it in that dish towel and get as much moisture out of that as possible then we're going to salt and pepper both sides and at this point my pan is nice and preheated so i'll get some oil in there and start frying that tofu on one side i'm going to chop up my aromatics well oops so this just beeps our four minutes is up so what i'll do is i'll release the steam boom and i'll just let that chill out how you doing well this is frying and chop up my aromatics really simple fresh ginger garlic smash slice to the garlic slice the ginger and then i'll dice these together running my knife through them until they're super fine or fine enough for a 50 minute meal preserve that and we'll work on the broccoli slice off the florets small piece big piece we'll cut the big pieces in half so they're even with the small pieces now about half of this is good stuff it's kind of like asparagus there's a point where it gets tough that's compost or chicken and i'll just slice around i love broccoli stuffed veggies prepped all we really need to do is the sauce at this point but these are ready to be turned oh yeah it's all about that medium-low heat you don't want to burn that just nice and crispy we'll let that cook for another four minutes and we'll work on our beautiful brown sauce now disclaimer do not be discouraged if you don't have one of these pantry ingredients this right here is by no means traditional but really a good chinese brown sauce it is just some combination of what you have in your pantry we're gonna go three spoons of soy two spoons of chinese cooking wine two spoons of hoisin spoon of honey for some extra sweetness one spoon of sesame oil now it's important to bulk this sauce up a bit i'm using some chicken stock quarter cup to a third of a cup something you can't skip out on well i guess you could if you want your sauce to be liquidy about one spoon of cornstarch that's gonna thicken everything up when it hits the pan boom there's your brown sauce in like a minute okay now when that sauce is done these should be perfect and oh that just flipped over to show me that it is perfect wow you can see i've got some residual oil in there your pan is dry add some more oil but we're going to fry off that garlic and ginger and we'll take this not with one hand like an idiot right into that water to blanch for like two minutes back for more yeah and finally once that's nice and toasted right in with our sauce and that should thicken up pretty quickly watch this transformation here we go boom look at that turn that down broccoli blanch nice and green slice up our tofu quick side note the first three dishes i'm going to be saving one ingredient that is going to create a leftover final dish so for this one one piece of crispy tofu you'll see that later let's make one thing let those seeds rain oh good we're done check on this rice all right the moment of truth what do we have under the lid 15-minute rise oh all right not bad slightly overcooked i would say take that lid off maybe at 10 minutes don't let it steam for that long i'll take that and i will improve next time i swear so i've been back on the intermittent fasting so this is the first thing to hit my belly today so we've got breakfast and we've got lunch and dinner could be breakfast lunch or dinner it's a good way to break a fast my goal with this dish was to create something that was just as flavorful and umami as the takeout version but much lighter i think i accomplished that because nothing about this dish right here makes me mistake out at all and it's made in 15 minutes good stuff [Music] so i like getting outside in between recipes because i need to reduce a little bit gain my energy back plus i can take care of a few chores and there's a few updates around the house first one look at that there was a huge walnut tree right here that was leaning towards the house and it was blocking a lot of sun in this little mini orchard plus the garden back there plus it was just causing a mess with the walnuts falling on the house so i had a company come by and chop this baby down this is my favorite wood this is black walnut you can see this ring of white around the outside and then this is all that classic walnut color on the inside on monday i have a guy coming over who has a portable milling machine and we're gonna slice up all of this walnut here now that will give me about i don't know 10 years maybe a lifetime of walnut for me and my dad to turn into furniture to turn into bowls like this this isn't walnut but this is an example of a bowl so i've got some big plans but it takes about a year or two to dry so a little bit of patience on that now we're pretty much winterized over here but there are a few last things i want to grab for the recipes today here's some nice cilantro that actually grows pretty well into the winter i need that for two of the recipes i planted a bunch of radish from seed pretty small but it'll be nice and tasty here's a good bunch should be good for this salad and this is some purple cabbage i don't think i'll get cabbage this late into the winter but i can harvest some of these leaves before the day and lastly totally forgot about this it's got some wild mint growing on the outside of the bed that will be perfect for the last recipe all right not a bad winter harvest [Music] check that out let's say 99.9 of people throw this stuff away that's just beautiful organic goodness you can use this mulch for anything but right now i'm just mulching out the chicken run i was feeling pretty low energy after that first recipe a little bit of yard work i'm ready to go all right lunch number two something i make all the time is a chicken salad now i'm not talking a chicken salad with mayo and celery and all that we're talking a fresh salad with a delicious dressing topped with a crispy piece of chicken all under 15 minutes it's on other salad videos but this recipe is specifically crafted for quickness now i'm going to be using chicken breasts because it cooks quickly coat it in your favorite seasoning you can also just use salt or pepper shout out dudes local long island represents as they're flipping the birds oh yeah preheat your pan throw it in a bag and what to smash with this will work yeah now that chicken is nice and even and will cook a little quicker if your spice mix doesn't have salt of course salt your chicken boil in the pan get that chicken going i've got a few tortillas here three of them and like that cut little strips now we've got chicken we've got tortillas so you can see the mexican theme starting to build and this avocado dressing is really going to bring everything together really simple from one cod ski make sure it's nice and ripe garden cilantro stems and all yo globe on the run trying to get this finished before i flip that chicken one clove of garlic two limes juicy juice salt where are you pepe hey time is taken tiny bit of oil you don't need much because of the fattiness of the abby what else what else will blend i think that's it so this right here is pretty much just a really creamy guac turn it into a dressing i'm just gonna add water super flavorful nice and creamy one of my favorite quick dressings just in time [Music] now we've got our tortillas all we have to do is chop up our salad ingredients radish from the garden pedal through those boom cucumber cut it in those spheres whatever you call them so the chicken if you just push it and it feels nice and firm should be cooked through just let that chill there we're not gonna cut into that yet now all this flavor boom boom boom take advantage of that strips if you need more oil just to tad just fry that up got some of these pea shoots nice crunchy romaine shred that mix ah damn it we ran out of fuel over to the induction these definitely need some salt and we'll just fry these for another two or three minutes until they get crispy and i'll clean in the meantime crispy so for the last recipe the mystery recipe i will be saving a few of these crispy tortilla strips the rest i'll go right now this is rested for a few minutes those juices set i'm going to cut this into strips one way turn it cut it the other way so i have these nice cubes beautiful juicy chicken it's going right in three next i've talked about this in the past but some type of hearty salad like this definitely my go-to lunch probably 50 of the days because it's satisfying a lot of different food groups protein carbs fresh veggies fat from the avocado but most importantly it's not going to weigh you down in the middle of the day which is why i love something like this those crispy tortillas do not skip that and i really loved how quickly this one came together so this next one i've been making a lot recently actually last night i honed it in just a bit more it's a peanut noodle and it works great as dinner but also a wonderful leftover dish for lunch the next day and to get this dish rolling we've got to do two quick things fill up a saucepan with water for your noodles get that on the heat and then any type of saute pan we'll do this is a 10 incher get that on like a medium low all right now let's make this sauce which is so easy and very forgiving because all of these flavors are powerful obviously your peanut butter first ingredient three fat tablespoons of that i've got some sambal right here there you go any chili paste will do this is loaded with flavor though really nice balanced spice about three tablespoons of that depending on your heat preference and then soy you're salty one two three some type of sweetener i'm using honey i think one tablespoon will be fine look at that just slip right off sesame oil strong stuff so just one of that now we definitely need the tang i'm using a lime you can use any type of vinegar rice wine vinegar will work great whatever you have on hand now to make this really simple ow lime juice in my cut i'm gonna use ginger and garlic and i'm just gonna grate it right in one clove of garlic pretty much the same amount of ginger and then finally we just have to thin it out a little bit with some water maybe six tablespoons boom boom boom it's really that simple now this flavor right here that's got a serious kick from that ginger and garlic this right here is a fine dipping sauce but i do like cooking it down a little bit just to mellow out and mend all of those flavors together we'll just put that to the side and we'll start working on the pasta the noodles the whatever this is like all of these recipes the veggies are super customizable at least that's what i try to push or you can just do what i'm doing totally up to you i've got these button mushrooms here cremini mushrooms whatever you want to call them sometimes i'll just kind of break them up right into the pan i don't even cut them obviously they're all different sizes different textures and i like that get those going remember these purple cabbage leaves give these a roll like a cigar boom so i'll just cook these for about another minute until they get some nice color then i'll go in with my cabbage all right let's talk nude skis i've got some soba i love the combination of soba noodles with a peanut sauce but the sauce is so versatile any noodles are going to be great got some rice noodles right here those would work ramen noodles any type of wheat noodle whatever floats your boat my friends these only take four minutes to cook so i'm gonna hold off on them until i would say the sauce goes into this pan you can see some nice brownage there some crispy bits that's what i'm looking for purple cabbage leaves hit it with some salt love how those are frying up so what i'm going to do is reserve all of these veggies so in my case four minutes to cook the noodles four minutes to cook the sauce there we go just a little water in the bowl too to get all of that residual out of the bowl nothing goes to waste just put that on a low heat start slowly reducing it oh the smell is incredible that's what i'm talking about now there's one more thing this dish needs i think it's so vital to the balance of everything because that sauce is super creamy it's fatty with the peanut butter we need to freshen it up i've got some scallions some of that cilantro from the garden i'm talking like a lot of herbs to top this dish it's so vital do not skip cut off the ends and just slice and dice got a nice sunray right on my face coming in just about four minutes i'll check one of these perfect taste this yes much more mellow everything is toned down that's what we're looking for there's one thing i want to do for our last recipe from this dish i'll be stealing some peanut sauce can you guess what i'm making should be a little more obvious at this point just enough for a dipper look at these beautiful soba noodles if you get some water in there that's totally fine think of it like pasta water veggies now soba noodles can be pretty delicate you don't want them breaking apart on you so just be gentle in this face heat on a medium low oh my god that looks amazing is that not just a luxurious creamy looking like alfredo sauce just slightly more brown all right let's plate this baby up i'm serious my friends let those herbs rain it's going to really balance this dish out freshness peanut noodle served cold as well great lunch good dinner whatever you want it certainly feels like a pasta experience really good sauce love the lime in there something about the buckwheat in the soba noodles just ah it's the perfect balance with the peanut butter this is the type of dish it almost confuses your mind like it takes a few bites because you think you're eating pasta especially when it's served warm and then after like three or four bites it's just the greatest thing ever all right i'm gonna eat this and i'll meet you back for the final mystery dish so did you figure it out yet the final recipe we've got crispy piece of tofu jack crispy little tortilla pieces peanut sauce maybe these fresh ingredients give it away we're making summer rolls you can throw anything fresh in here and get a delicious summer roll but these ingredients just happen to work out perfectly well this actually that's a wild card the crispy tortilla strips i've never tried that in a summer roll but i thought i'd give it a try maybe you'd add some nice crunch so this is as easy as it gets most of the preparation is done if you don't have a piece of crispy tofu you can just go straight freshies or throw in some leftover meat or some steak other protein sources are excellent really the key is having a delicious dipping sauce like this so let's quickly prep these ingredients start off with some cucumber slice it so it fits nicely inside the summer roll then slices like this yeah i like getting out of plate and just organizing all of my ingredients wait where's the peeler my friend i think i have a peeler somewhere you know i thought i had a peeler but i can't find it with this carrot pretty fresh as long as it's washed it'll be fine same size on the carrot slices stack tofu thin strips that's nice you can see that crust tofu on these are some pea shoots i used for the salad just slice those right in half add them to the actions with some wild mint growing outside any herbs will do cilantro is great as well crispies and then i've got a bag of just some random lettuce leaves who are these i'm ripping off the bottom pieces of the stem which can mess up the rolling because they're a little tough and there you go fill up a bowl with cold water now there's really only one thing you need to know when you're wrapping a rice paper like this take your water and just give it a quick dip it's not a soak in the water it's just oh that one's wrapped we can get rid of that round two just turn it in the water so it's completely coated take it out you can kind of give it a little shake you're not soaking them in water this is gonna slowly start to soften with just that dip so that's all you need carrots let's start that over with lettuce on the bottom carrots and cucumber tofu strips and crispies some pea shoot a little bit of mint on top that's everything we wrap over like this pull in hole pull pull pull pull pull tuck in the corners continue to tuck in the corners while rolling up tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck tuck little hole there from the tortillas that's all right i'm actually gonna cut it right there probably gonna roll three or four more to get a nice lunch all right i got a bit lazy plus it's just me three will do and slice slice wow peanut sauce oh i wish i had some peanuts in there and then just stack those around the outside that looks pretty nice to be honest i don't know why i cut them on an angle they work a lot better if you just cut them straight you can see it's starting to sort of fan open a little bit so straight cut much better [Music] not for a second does that crispy tortilla feel out of place it's a great textural element you could do that with like a little crispy wonton strip too i find that lunch time is for me the best time to consume raw ingredients because they burn quickly they don't weigh you down they just give you good energy so you can continue on doing your work whatever you're doing and a summer roll is one of the best ways to consume raw ingredients like trick yourself into consuming all of these raw ingredients you throw a little peanut sauce in there wrapped in this rice paper it's just one of the easiest ways to eat a salad and they're so tasty again these are some of my go-to lunches but they work great as dinners as well if you want to see more 15-minute dinners eight more recipes right here all crafted to come together in 15 minutes that's it my friends

Channel: Pro Home Cooks

Views: 3,109,285

Keywords: 15 minute meals, quick meals, lunch ideas, what to make for lunch h, fast lunch ideas, kids lunch, what to make for kids lunch, perfect lunch, chicken and broccoli, tofu and broccoli, Chinese brown sauce, peanut noodles, summer rolls, salad lunch, easy lunch, mike g, pro home cooks, 15 minute dinners, healthy lunch, healthy lunch ideas, packed lunch, how to pack lunch

Id: 7Yo54RiBUx0

Length: 20min 31sec (1231 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 23 2021