Savvy Dinner Plan: Taste.com.au’s 10 most searched dinner recipes

The crew at Taste.com.au rounded up the most searched-for dinner recipes. Then the expert food team redesigned them to make them easier and more affordable.

…and we’ve made them even cheaper!

With summer fun slowly coming to an end and the back-to-school chaos now well and truly upon us, we’re all returning to our usual routines (we’ll miss basking in the sun eating kilos of cherries). And, as the reality of early morning wake-ups and time-squeezed evenings hits, all thoughts are turning to that most pressing of food dilemmas: what to make for dinner for the whole year ahead.

This year, with the cost-of-living pressures rising, many Aussies are planning to cook more meals at home in 2024. According to a recent taste.com.au survey, an increasing number of cooks are eating more home-cooked meals compared to five years ago, with the average ‘from scratch’ meal being made 5.8 nights a week.

If the thought of cooking 301.6 meals over the next 12 months (yep, we did the maths) fills you with dread, we’ve got all the dinner inspo you need for 2024. And, even better, you could save on your groceries, too.

We’ve rounded up 28 of our most searched-for dinner recipes and asked our expert food team to redesign them to make them easier and more affordable. The result is the Taste.com.au + Coles Savvy Dinner Plan: 4 weeks of the meals you love - all planned out to help save you time and money.

Which dinners are most in demand right now? Check out the top 10 below.

Taste.com.au’s top 10 most searched-for dinners

Beef stroganoff

Beef stroganoff is a taste.com.au community favourite for good reason - it’s flavour-packed and perfect for those nights when you’re in need of some extra comfort. We made beef stroganoff a more affordable option by turning it into an easy midweek beef stroganoff pasta bake, which included some savvy swaps like replacing traditionally-used steak with beef strips, omitting the wine and bulking out the dish with Coles Simply Pasta Spirals, which hold their shape well when baked.

We made beef stroganoff a more affordable option by turning it into an easy midweek beef stroganoff pasta bake.

Cottage pie

Cottage pie is one of our most popular recipes all year round. Digital Food Director Amira Georgy redesigned our classic cottage pie to slash the cook time by half, so it’s ready in 25 minutes. Plus, she decreased the meat, increased the veg, and used frozen mashed potato and Coles Simply Tomato Paste to make this a flavour-packed, yet affordable meal.

Check out the recipe for our speedy cheesy cottage pie

Pasta bake

Pasta bakes are an incredibly popular dinner option. Not only are they family friendly (and oh-so-cheesy) but they’re a great option for those who can’t (or don’t want to) spend hours in the kitchen. Our new dump-and-bake creamy chicken pasta is an even cheaper and easier alternative to our classic chicken pasta bake. All you do is chop up a few ingredients, chuck it in a baking dish and pop it in the oven.

This dump-and-bake creamy chicken pasta is an even cheaper and easier alternative to our classic chicken pasta bake.

Fish tacos

With the nation’s obsession with Mexican food ramping up over the last few years, fish tacos have become one of the most popular dinner searches on taste.com.au. They’re super colourful, filling and simply delish. However, classic fish tacos often come with an extensive ingredient list, so we’ve used some hacks to lower the cost and have them on the table in 20 minutes!

Our recipe for quick weeknight tuna tacos

Classic fish tacos often come with an extensive ingredient list, so we’ve used some hacks to lower the cost and have them on the table in 20 minutes!

Lasagne

Thanks to Australia’s Italian community, lasagne has become one of Australia’s favourite dinners. While traditionally made with meat, vegetarian lasagne has been trending as more and more people switch to meat-free lifestyles (or increase their meat-free days). Vegie lasagnes often require a lot of ingredients, but Amira created a one-pan vegetarian lentil and pumpkin lasagne which uses Coles Simply Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce to reduce the grocery list while still providing that rich and herby hit all good lasagnes have. Plus, to reduce costs, she used canned lentils to make the filling stretch further while delivering an extra serve of vegies.

Savvy dinners: This one-pan vegetarian lentil and pumpkin lasagne which uses Coles Simply Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce to reduce the grocery list.

Beef stir-fry

The taste.com.au audience loves stir fries - from chicken to tofu, pork to prawn, we’ve got a stir fry for everyone. Stir-fries are nutritious, flavour-packed and can be ready in under 30 minutes, but they can have a lengthy grocery list. So, taste.com.au’s Food Director Michelle Southan was tasked with creating a budget-friendly beef stir-fry. Instead of beef steak, she used sausages to bulk up the dinner and keep the costs low. To keep it even more savvy, Michelle used a combined honey-soy sauce, canned baby corn and fresh noodles, which cut down on cooking time!

Grab our quick beef sausage stir-fry recipe

Butter chicken

Without a doubt, butter chicken is Australia’s favourite curry - in fact, it’s the #1 chicken dinner search on taste.com.au. A classic butter chicken (while delicious) can take a while to make, so Amira created a version that only takes 40 minutes and is a little more cost-effective, too. This budget-friendly butter chicken combines the chicken and rice into one fluffy pilaf, so all the delicious flavours of the sauce infuse through.

Find our easy butter chicken rice pilaf here

This version of butter chicken takes 40 minutes and is a little more cost-effective, too.

Meatballs

From Swedish meatballs à la IKEA to Thai red curry turkey meatballs - meatballs have long been a favourite on taste.com.au. But if we were to pick one go-to meatball for families on a budget, it would have to be the porcupine meatball. If you thought this hearty dish couldn’t get any smarter, think again. As part of the Savvy Dinner Plan, we’ve created super-veg porcupine meatballs, which use a ton of grated veg to stretch the meat mixture further at a low cost.

Ratatouille

When you’re in need of something comforting yet still super nutritious, there’s nothing better than ratatouille. With its colourful vegies and tangy tomato sauce, it’s no surprise that a classic ratatouille is a firm favourite on taste.com.au. So to create a savvy dinner version, Michelle has redesigned our 55-minute ratatouille into a 35-minute one-pan ratatouille risoni. The addition of the risoni helps bulk out the ratatouille and make it more filling - all without stretching the grocery budget too far. Plus, the best part? It’s freezer-friendly so you can save the leftovers for another time!

We've redesigned our 55-minute ratatouille into a 35-minute one-pan ratatouille risoni.

Curry

Aussies love a midweek curry for dinner, specifically a good ol’ chicken curry. So, we’ve created a budget-friendly chicken curry that’s still stacked with aromatic flavours. Our chicken mince keema is a hearty curry that only takes 25 minutes to cook. Plenty of rice, sweet potato and frozen peas help stretch this curry further, while flavour hacks like adding tomato paste create a richer depth of flavour.

Savvy Dinner Plan

The Savvy Dinner Plan includes 28 new budget-friendly dinner ideas based on our most searched-for recipes, as well as tips to help you use ingredients across multiple meals. You can find each meal plan below:

WEEK 1 - CLICK HERE

WEEK 2 - CLICK HERE

WEEK 3 - CLICK HERE

WEEK 4 - CLICK HERE

For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.

Originally published as Savvy Dinner Plan: Taste.com.au’s 10 most searched dinner recipes