Private chefs share their 9 best tips for elevating weeknight meals

A few extra ingredients can turn pantry basics, like pasta or instant ramen, into an interesting, exciting meal.

For example, Natalia Rudin, a former private chef, dresses up instant ramen using ingredients like chili crisp, lime, fried eggs, scallions, or cheddar cheese.

“Throw some sesame seeds on top, and it’ll look like a gourmet meal,” Rudin told Business Insider.

Overall, her upgrades vary based on what she has on hand and what sounds good that night.

For elevating a basic pasta dish, she recommends using fresh ingredients, like asparagus, garlic, or peas, and simple proteins, like chickpeas, lentils, ground beef, turkey, or chicken.

Even “a little bit of white wine” can elevate and balance a sauce, she added.

A kitchen full of flavorful ingredients that can be added to just about any recipe is key to making weeknight dinners that stand out.

Rudin suggested trying miso, gochujang, and harissa paste because they can add umami and spice to a wide variety of meals. Capers, olives, or peanut butter can also add a punch of flavor to a dish.

Brooke Baevsky, a celebrity private chef, said she uses hot sauces to punch up a meal or tahini to add a creaminess and umami flavor to just about anything.

“Don’t go shy on using your seasonings,” Baevsky told BI. “You should be able to really see your seasoning on your food before you prep it.”

Emily Ruybal, a professional private chef who works on charter yachts, said planning meals at the start of your week can help you save time later.

Think about what you’re craving and plan to use some of the same ingredients in more than one meal so they don’t go to waste.

For example, chicken is one of Rudin’s favorite ingredients to use on repeat — it can easily be worked into three or four meals.

“You could roast it on a Monday and have just roast chicken with potatoes,” she said. “The next day, you can take all the chicken off the bone and shred it and have it either in salads or put it in a wrap, in a sandwich, or in a pasta. Then, you can cook the bones with loads of vegetables and make the bone broth, and use that as a base for a chicken noodle soup or just a veggie soup.”

If roasting a whole chicken sounds like too much effort, getting a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store works just as well, she said.

Setting aside time on the weekends to meal prep for the days ahead can also help make busy weeknights smoother, Baevsky said.

Plus, you may feel less tempted to order takeout or eat unhealthy snacks if you have precut veggies or balanced meals waiting for you in the fridge.

Baevsky told BI she meal preps about once every five weeks, dedicating a full day to cooking enough food for herself. Her prep days include at least three breakfast options, four to five dinners, and a couple of lunches she can eat throughout the month.

You can make your prepared meals last longer by freezing them.

“My fridge, weirdly enough, is always empty,” Baevsky said. “I will make something for meal prep for myself and put it directly into the freezer.”

That way, she said, she doesn’t have to worry as much about her food going bad before she has time to eat it.

Some of her go-to meals to keep in the freezer include turkey meatballs, chicken burgers, egg bites, chia puddings, smoked salmon, and cooked grains.

When freezing meals and ingredients, she recommends dividing them into individual portion-sized containers with labels.

To save time in the kitchen, use mise en place, which is French for “everything in its place.” It’s a popular process chefs use for organizing, measuring, and preparing ingredients before they begin cooking.

Rudin said you’ll want to keep all of your ingredients “lined up and ready” so you can stay on task and potentially make less of a mess.

If you’re worried this technique will require too many dishes, try using a big chopping board to divide and organize your ingredients instead of individual bowls.

Although it’s not always cost-effective, buying pre-chopped vegetables or pre-cooked grains can significantly reduce the time you spend in the kitchen without compromising the quality of a meal.

“Time savers like that are really helpful,” Rudin said.

That said, not all premade and homemade ingredients are created equal.

When it comes to elevating your weeknight meals, knowing when to spend extra time making something from scratch and when to opt for a store-bought item is key. It might take some trial and error.

“One thing that I will say I never skip on for myself is always making my sauces and dressings from scratch,” Ruybal said. “I just think they always taste better.”

Finally, one of the best ways to make your weeknight dinner feel more elevated and meaningful is to turn the cooking process into a nice experience for yourself.

Ruybal said this can be as simple as giving yourself an hour to plan and cook a meal. For some, cooking can even be a form of self-care.

“It’s kind of an escape from your 9-to-5, too,” she said. “You put your phone down and just start cooking in the kitchen, and you might make mistakes along the way, but that’s kind of how you learn when you cook.”