Easy student recipes
Student recipes needn’t be boring. We’ve selected easy recipes that are cheap, quick and tasty, to help you eat well as you study or if you’re heading off to university for the first time. Some of our favourite cheap student meals include tuna and broccoli pasta bake, spaghetti bolognese and a warming veggie chilli.
Get some basic student recipes under your belt, including a classic tomato sauce, smashed avocado on toast and traditional pancakes for Shrove Tuesday – plus chocolate cookies to share with new friends.
With a few ingredients, you can transform cheap student meal staples like rice, pasta and eggs into dishes like sausage, fennel and mascarpone orzo, smoky jollof or turmeric eggs with spinach. Lentils are another great option – try our red lentil dal or coconut dal – and you can swap the packaged stuff for the real deal with our easy chicken ramen bowls.
Lucky enough to have an air fryer at university? Our air fryer chicken breast salad is a must-make, along with a speedy marinated air fryer salmon.
If you need to stretch that student budget, check out the rest of our budget recipes and cheap healthy ideas, too.
Showing 1-16 of 128 recipes
Tomato pasta recipes
Pasta pomodoro
Pasta pomodoro is the original – and best – tomato pasta. This recipe is quick and easy but uses a few tricks to really amp up the flavour.
Italian pasta recipes
Classic pasta puttanesca
One of the most famous classic pasta dishes of all time, pasta puttanesca includes anchovies, garlic, capers, olives and tomatoes.
Creamy pasta recipes
Chicken alfredo
Creamy and rich with a hint of garlic and dried herbs, this easy chicken alfredo pasta is the ultimate in Italian-American comfort food.
Tofu recipes
Nori-wrapped tofu
Crisp nuggets of tofu are coated in a spicy soy dressing, but the real pop of flavour comes from the strip of nori wrapped around each one.
Beetroot recipes
Beetroot houmous
This beautiful pink dip offers up everything we love about houmous but with a sweet earthiness from beetroot. And it takes minutes to make!
Recipes with tinned beans
Butter bean cacio e pepe
Cacio e pepe is one of those classic pasta dishes that combines just a couple of ingredients but results in a meal that's so much greater than the sum of its parts. Here, we've added creamy butter beans for extra fibre and goodness.
Tuna recipes
Sicilian tuna pasta
This quick and easy tuna pasta is ready in under half an hour and brings the fresh, vibrant flavours of the southern Italian coastline right into your kitchen.
Fried rice recipes
Lap cheong (Chinese sausage) fried rice
Fried rice is the ultimate use-it-up dish. Frying lap cheong sausage before the rice goes in means every grain is coated in its aromatic oils.
Leftover lunch recipes
Leftover pasta frittata
Leftover spaghetti is the carb hero of this robust omelette. This versatile frittata is the perfect vehicle for any leftover pasta and veg.
Pickled recipes
Cabbage asazuke (Japanese pickled cabbage)
Kenji Morimoto shares his easy recipe for cabbage asazuke. This light Japanese pickle has a fresh bite and makes a great intro to pickling.
Scone recipes
Cottage cheese and chive scones
Cottage cheese gives these deliciously savoury scones a subtle tang, amped up with a little kick of chilli.
Air fryer recipes
Air fryer pork chops
Pork chops are underrated – and an air fryer can cook them to perfection. Our top tips ensure tender, juicy pork with perfectly rendered fat.
Air fryer recipes
Air fryer bacon
Air fryer bacon couldn’t be simpler, and with our tips the results are – dare we say it – better than the traditional method.
Air fryer recipes
Air fryer yorkshire puddings
You can make cracking Yorkshire puddings in an air fryer – freeing up priceless oven space when making a roast dinner.
Air fryer recipes
Air fryer pork belly strips
Kept succulent with our water trick, these air fryer pork belly strips have a beautiful contrast of soft, yielding fat and juicy meat.
Air fryer recipes
Air fryer chips
Air fryer chips are the reason many of us bought the gadget. After painstaking research and testing, we’ve found the ultimate air fryer chip.
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