The title for this cookbook is SPOT ON. #BareMinimumDinners is a great cookbook for anyone looking for simple and clear guidance for making quick weeknight dinners. I think it would make a great gift for a young person starting out on their own, new parents, or anyone who wants to get more comfortable and confident in the kitchen. The book is well organized, and I think the section before the recipes start may be the the most valuable for kitchen newbies. It has great advice for must have vs. nice to have gear, staples to keep on hand, meal planning, and how to shop your pantry and fridge and improvise with what you have. The recipes themselves seem straightforward and within the abilities of any novice home cook.

My husband and I are pretty well versed in weeknight cooking. I don't think there are any truly revolutionary or original recipes here. Many seem to be basic versions or riffs on dishes that have been in our repertoire for awhile. There are a couple instant pot recipes I'm looking forward to trying, in particular the Lemony Shrimp Risotto and the "Pae-Sotto."

I don't think this is the cookbook for me, but I would absolutely gift it to a novice home chef.

I received this as an advance reader copy from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cookbook worth your time! It is now my go to as author, Jenna Helwig shares not only her no-fail recipes, but so many valuable tips that make all the difference and actually entice the reader to get in the kitchen and try it out. Thanks to reading this wonderfully organized cookbook chock full of winning recipes, I am using it for the week and incorporating vegetarian recipes and her MVPs which are both noted throughout. By prepping the reader first with kitchen gear and items to have on hand, as well as addressing time, then offering recipes with 7 ingredients or less and tips for cleanup, the author has me hooked. I was delighted when she revealed her ingredient all-stars and the forthcoming nature of this cookbook makes me realize that every time I pick it up, I am in for solid insider information so helpful in the kitchen! And, Instant pot and slow cooker recipes are included, too. Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers for the opportunity to read this advanced copy for my review.

This cookbook is best for anyone who either is looking to get more comfortable in the kitchen or who just wants to spend less time there. I find myself to be some combination of the two.

I didn’t find as much inspiration in these recipes as I was hoping to, though there were a handful that caught my eye (Zucchini Herb Pancakes, Provini Pasta, and Teriyaki Tofu and Broccolini to name a few) The accompanying pictures are lovely, and I appreciate how succinct each recipe is.

The 9 commandments of dinner as well as the non-negotiable dinner rules at the beginning are very cute. I especially like rule number three: “there must be at least one part of the meal you’re really looking forward to eating.”

Thank you NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for the ARC.

I'm sorry, but this book just did not do it for me. I found the recipes to be more suitable for a Good Housekeeping or such magazine. Or perhaps a Buzzfeed article on cooking simple dishes. It just did not peak my interest, and I had a hard time remaining engaged with it. I realize that this is just my opinion, and that many others may find the book to be great. Therefore, I do not want to rain on the author's efforts, so I will not be leaving a review in any of my normal sites. Good luck to the author.

I got so excited when I saw this title on NetGalley. A cookbook that advocates for less effort in the kitchen? I am in favor of it! I was still really excited when I looked through the cookbook – great organization and lots of different kinds of recipes. The more I looked at it and the more recipes I tried (I tried a lot of recipes), I came to the conclusion that this cookbook is not for me, but it might be fine for someone else.

Most of the recipes I tried are some version of fine. There is one egregiously bad recipe in the advance reader copy I received and I hope it gets taken out before publication. Of the recipes I tried, the best was the Saucy Chicken in the Bare Minimum Hands on Time: Recipes for the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker section. It’s formula with several different variations of store bought sauce and skinless boneless chicken thighs. It’s great and exactly the kind of thing I would want to see in a bare minimum cookbook – you pick a sauce you like with chicken, cook them together in the InstantPot, and pair with the carb of your choice (or not). I cooked chicken thighs with a fire roasted tomatillo salsa and had tacos for a couple of dinners.

I was disappointed that a lot of the recipes were bland or dominated by one flavor. I am all for quick food that doesn’t have to be worthy of Instagram or a restaurant. But, it can’t just be fuel. I want to enjoy my food. I love onions, but the Any Onion Frittata was a lot of bland egg (I did add the onion powder to the egg) on top of a thin layer of tasty onions. My issue with a lot of her egg recipes was there wasn’t enough seasoning for the amount of egg. The Ginger-Scallion Turkey Burgers were all ginger, no scallion, and nothing to balance the ginger. I was going to talk about how I’ve been making the Spicy Oven Fries a lot, but I realized that I abandoned Helwig’s seasoning for the fries a couple of weeks ago. The idea and the methodology are great and I love the nutritional yeast on the fries.

The truly reprehensible recipe is the Black Bean Burger in the Bare Minimum Time section. I made this knowing it was going to be awful because Helwig says “no more seasoning required” about using canned refried black beans. I don’t know what canned refried beans she has access to, but in my experience, canned refried beans are bland. They don’t need more salt, but they do need more flavor. Or they should be applied in a thin layer, with other things with flavor and texture. My other issue with the recipe was texture – soft bread, soft refried bean “burger”, soft mashed avocado topping for the burger. The reality was much worse. The patties were fairly think and the panko didn’t give them any texture. Biting into the burger was an unpleasant mouth experience. This recipe made me angry. I tried it because I wanted to give Helwig a chance to prove me wrong. In the end, I mashed the patties up with some salsa and made molettes (an open face bean and cheese sandwich), which would have been a much better 30 minutes or less use of canned black refried beans.

I still like the concept of Bare Minimum Dinners, and I know we all have different palates. What I found bland and one note, someone else will enjoy. It’s a very usable rather than aspirational cookbook. I’ve rounded this up to a three star from a 2.5 because I support the concept if not the execution.

I received this as an advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a cookbook for anyone who wants to minimize their time in the kitchen.
Recipes are divided into:
Bare Minimum Time: Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less
- recipes include Fish Stick Tacos, Black Bean Burgers and Shortcut Salmon Burgers.
Bare Minimum Ingredients: Recipes with Seven Ingredients (or Less)
- recipes include Miso Avocado Toast with Fried Eggs, Simple Tomato Soup and Chicken Tender Fajitas
Bare Minimum Cleanup: Dinners that Come Together in a Single Pot or Pan
- recipes include Skillet Pizza and Chicken Tortilla Soup
Bare Minimum Hands-On Time: Recipes for the Instant Pot or Slow Cooker
- Instant Pot Smoky Beef Chili and Slow-Cooker Salmon with Lemon and Dill
Bare Minimum Sides: Easy Add-Ons to Round Out Dinner
- Cheesy Cauliflower Rice and Quinoa Pilaf

The book also includes a nice section on kitchen equipment, time-saving tips and shortcuts and a list of the most common ingredients used in the recipes in the book. The photos in the book are appetizing and each recipe includes number of servings, a short list of ingredients and easy to follow instructions. A great gift for a college student, someone who spends a lot of time out of the house or an on-the-go family.

True to its name, Bare Minimum Dinners gives you super simple and delicious recipes. The best part is that many of the recipes consist of pantry staples most home cooks usually have available so almost any of the recipes don't require a special trip to the grocery or specialty market for that one ingredient that you'll only use once! The photography is lovely too. It's a great gift for anyone you know who is always busy and could use some help to whip up something simple and quick on a daily basis, but it might not be the best for someone who is more advanced in the kitchen.

Lol, I try not to be snarky when I review but apt cover for a bare minimum look. Kudos to the author for a great cookbook!

What did I like? For one... the chapters had catchy titles like set it and forget it, and bare minimum. I found myself really looking at the recipes in those chapters since I have times I can spend hours cooking and times when I’ll eat anything but hate clean up. The recipe books caters to all sorts of different palates from vegan, to vegetarian or meat eaters. It also gives you great pantry tricks and how to switch out ingredient options. I was pretty impressed.

Would I recommend or buy? This is a gorgeous book and a wonderful cookbook. I would love a copy and I could also gift a copy to pretty much anyone. Five stars! I really enjoyed the book.

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review!

I'm loving this cookbook! One of the recipes photos has a bottle of my favourite wine so I'm definitely excited to try that pairing! Lots of really good recipes that I can't wait to try!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review!

Great cookbook for people who are just starting out or don't have a lot of time.. There's a helpful chapter in the beginning, with tips to organize and prepare for cooking. The recipes are simple and clearly written for both new cooks and experienced ones who are short on time. They are well organized into categories such as number of ingredients, or amount of time necessary, rather than meal type or occasion. There are a few recipes written specifically for an Instant Pot (which I don't have) or a Crock Pot, but that is pretty much the extent of the special equipment necessary. All in all, Bare Minimum Dinners is definitely a worthy addition to any kitchen bookshelf, and one that you will find yourself coming back to time and time again.

Thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing me with an ARC in return for my honest opinions.

They aren't kidding with the title! These recipes came together quick and easy (though in some cases, "recipe" felt generous -- see Spring Rolls and Lettuce Roll Ups). Reading through this book, there were more than a few recipes I was excited to try. I made the Korean Sloppy Joes and the Skillet Harissa Beef and Cabbage, both of which were tasty and surprisingly quick. The book is beautiful to look at and I appreciated how it was laid out. I don't think I'll come back to this book much right now, with all the time I have on my hands in quarantine, but I would have loved to have something like this in grad school, and I would expect to come back to it with young kids and no free time.
Something that is unclear and/or needs editing-- the Za'atar Roast Chicken was marked as vegetarian; I don't think it's possible to sub a plant-based option for a whole chicken.

With recipes categorized as Bare Minimum Time, Ingredients, Cleanup, Hands-on Time, and Sides, this cookbook is great for those that want simple, relatively easy recipes to cook during the week. There are also some great tips about what ingredients should always be on hand, as well as beautiful pictures of many of the recipes.

The division in this book is genius. Chapter one is pretty standard, getting your kitchen and pantry ready for what you’re about to cook, but the rest of them are divided by how you wanna fix things. Need an ACTUAL 30 min recipe? Check out chapter 2. Chapter 3 is all about ingredients, specifically not many, even MORE specifically 7 or fewer. Chapter 4 provides recipes for which cleanup is minimal in case you don’t wanna spend your entire night doing dishes. Need some recipes for that Insta Pot and or slow cooker life? Chapter 5 says “set it and forget it.” Finally, chapter 6 is all about the best part of Thanksgiving dinner, the sides. Oh well, that may just be me. These recipes will give you one shot items that you can throw on the side of any meal.

One of my favorite things, right off the bat in this book, is the option to “Make it Meatless,” in which Helwig explains that many of these recipes have just a little meat and that you can go without or substitute non meat things like tofu eggs. Yes, more meatless please and thank you. There’s a joke in there somewhere.

These meals are so simple, and yet, I cannot accurately explain to you how tasty they look. With vibrant, rich greens (bare minimum rule is that there must be at least one vegetable), they look healthy and like something I might actually stick with eating for more than one meal. When you cook for one, whatever you cook lasts a minimum of four days.

Best part of this one? You can get it now. It’s been out since September, and 2021 doesn’t look like it’ll be much different, at least at first from 2020, so stay home and cook! Check this one your at your local, indie bookstore, or request from your library.

Bare Minimum Dinners by Jenna Helwig is a good cookbook with many delicious, yet basic recipes for those "bare minimum dinners." Whether you have limited amount of time or limited amount of ingredients, there are good recipes for all sorts of dinners. The book also has a section on instant pot and slow cooker recipes. This book comes with beautiful photos, making the dinners look even more appetizing.

Love this take on easy recipes. This will be a great cookbook resource and I can’t wait to share it with readers.

Really enjoyed the recipes and am excited to try these with my family. The recipes seem very favorable and I love the amount of time needed to prepare these for my family especially after working all day. I would highly recommend this book to friends and family!!

This book has beautiful pictures of finished recipes and well described instructions. The recipes are simple to make and have ingredients that I can find at my local grocery store. That is a huge bonus. There is nothing worse than wanting to try something new and your local store does not offer the ingredients you need. Well done.

Beautiful cookbook! Very clean and organized with lots of recipes for everyone. The recipes are divided by a 'doing less in the kitchen' concept so there are recipes that are ready in 30 min or less, some with seven ingredients or less, single pot recipes, instant pot or slow cooker recipes and some add ons recipes. Very good book! I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

No doubt this will be a family favorite cookbook!! The recipes are super simple and easy to follow. Perfect for busy families and individuals that want to make a good meal without spending all the time making it. My favorite part is the author takes the stress out of following her recipes. Oh you don’t have/like kale? No problem use spinach. She also has ways to complete the meal at the end of some recipes. (Any green salad or xyz side dish). This book takes away the excuse of I don’t have enough time I’ll just go through a drive-thru. I cannot wait to order a hard copy for my family!