4 Easy Weeknight Dinners
This week I partnered with Cape Herb & Spice to put their new liquid seasonings to the test across five weeknight dinners. The lineup: garlic, ginger and chilli. No peeling, no grating, no microplane disasters. Just squeeze and cook.
I prepped on Sunday (about 20 minutes of dicing onions, shredding chicken and portioning vegetables) and then used the liquid seasonings across every dinner that week. Here’s what I made and how each one turned out.
The Sunday Prep
Before the week starts, spend about 20 minutes getting ahead:
- Dice all the onions for the week.
- Shred the chicken for Monday’s fried rice.
- Chop any vegetables that keep well prepped.
- Cook the rice for Monday (cold rice makes better fried rice).
This small investment makes every weeknight dinner noticeably faster.
The Recipes
Monday: Chicken Fried Rice
The ginger and garlic liquid seasonings go straight into the pan and the flavor they give is ridiculous for zero effort (I used 1 tbsp of each in place of fresh ginger and garlic). With the chicken already shredded and the rice already cooked from the Sunday prep, this was on the table in about 15 minutes.
Tuesday: Tomato Pasta with Garlic Bread
I used the garlic liquid seasoning in both the pasta sauce and the garlic bread butter. The pasta is simple and saucy and exactly what you want on a Tuesday. The garlic bread is just butter, the garlic seasoning and a baguette in a hot oven or the air fryer. No peeling and grating garlic makes this prep a breeze!
Wednesday: Potato Taco Bowls
Air fried potato cubes until golden, seasoned the filling with the chilli liquid seasoning for a smoky kick and let everyone build their own bowls with guacamole, pico de gallo and sour cream. Build-your-own dinners are a weeknight hack in themselves because nobody complains about food they assembled.
Thursday: Chickpea Curry
All three liquid seasonings went into this one. Garlic, ginger and chilli straight into the pan with the onions and spices. The flavor base was done in about 30 seconds and the curry simmered away while I did absolutely nothing useful. Comfort food with minimal effort.
About Cape Herbs and Spices Liquid Seasonings
The Cape Herbs and Spices liquid seasonings come in three flavours: garlic, ginger and chilli. They’re designed to replace the tedious prep of peeling, grating and mincing fresh aromatics. A squeeze straight from the bottle into whatever you’re cooking and you’re done.
I used them across four completely different cuisines this week (Asian, Italian, Mexican and Indian) and they worked in every single one. The garlic was the most versatile and the one I reached for most often. The ginger was a standout in the fried rice and the curry. And the chilli added a clean, consistent heat that’s easier to control than dried chilli flakes.
This post is in partnership with Cape Herbs and Spices. All opinions are my own.