20 minutes, no ‘fancy’ ingredients: Jamie Oliver wants to transform your dinners

After a long day, slaving away over dinner is likely the last thing you feel like – especially if it’s a dish involving a lot of time, steps and (shudder) a supermarket pitstop to pick up extra ingredients.

Jamie Oliver is back to remind us that often, the tastiest home-cooking revolves around basic kitchen staples and doesn’t require hours over the stove.

Following in the footsteps of his 15-minute and 30-minute meals, the superstar chef’s new cookbook offers 20-minute recipes – a timeframe he describes as a “sweet spot” – involving a maximum of 10 ingredients per dish.

What you won’t find in 20 Minute Meals: Real Fast Food, Oliver promises, is “fancy [ingredients] you need to hunt out.”

“I’m bigging up store-cupboard items, I love the convenience of frozen, and I’ve embraced a lot of what I like to call ‘flavour boosters’ – curry pastes, spice mixes, condiments,” he adds.

“Cooking from scratch is still the single best way to stretch your budget further.”

Read more

Say hello to breakfast potatoes: your new favourite weekend brunch dish

From tinned sardines, beans and tomatoes to pasta and stale bread, the following recipes make use of some of the most basic staples you might already have sitting in the pantry.

Sardine linguine

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 onion (160g)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tin of sardines in olive oil, from sustainable sources (120g)
• 1/2 bunch of flat-leaf parsley (15g)
• 1/2–1 fresh red chilli
• 1 tablespoon baby capers in brine
• 150g dried linguine
• 1 small bulb of fennel (160g)
• 1 lemon
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts

Method

1. Boil the kettle. Peel and coarsely grate the onion, peel and finely grate the garlic, then place it all in a frying pan on a medium-high heat with the oil from the sardine tin. Finely slice and add the parsley stalks, reserving the leaves. Finely slice the chilli and add half to the pan, along with the capers, a splash of their brine and 100ml of water. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring regularly.
2. Meanwhile, cook the linguine in a pan of boiling salted water for 2 minutes less than the packet instructions, until al dente. Use a speed peeler to finely slice the fennel, reserving any herby tops. Toss with the parsley leaves and the remaining sliced chilli, and finely grate over the lemon zest.
3. Break the sardines into the onion pan and add the pine nuts. Cook on a low heat, stirring regularly and giving it some love, until the pasta is ready.
4. Squeeze half the lemon juice over the sardines, then use tongs to drag across the linguine. Feed it with enough cooking water to create a silky sauce, cooking for another 2 minutes, or until the pasta is perfect. Season to perfection, then serve with the salad, and lemon wedges, for squeezing over.

Nutrition information

Energy: 584kcal, fat: 25.6g, sat fat: 3.7g, protein: 24.2g, carbs: 68.9g, sugars: 8.4g, salt: 1.2g, fibre: 7.1g

Bread and borlotti bean soup

Serves 2

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 bunch of sage (20g)
• 500g frozen chopped mixed onion, carrot & celery
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 300g stale sourdough bread
• 2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
• 2 x 400g tins of borlotti beans
• 700ml veg or chicken stock
• 25g Parmesan cheese
• 1 x 125g ball of mozzarella cheese
• extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Turn the grill on to high. Put a large shallow ovenproof casserole pan on a medium-high heat with 4 tablespoons of olive oil and pick in the sage leaves. Fry until crispy, then remove to a plate, leaving the fragrant oil behind.
2. Add the chopped mixed veg to the pan, then peel, finely slice and add the garlic, along with a splash of water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Chop the bread into 3cm chunks. Turn the heat up to high and pour the tomatoes into the pan, breaking them up with your spoon, then go in with the beans, juice and all the stock and the bread. Stir and mash it up together for 5 minutes, then finely grate in the Parmesan and season to perfection.
4. Tear over the mozzarella, then carefully transfer to under the grill for 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the soup is bubbling away. Sprinkle over the crispy sage, and finish with a few drips of extra virgin olive oil, if you like.

Easy swaps: Try cannellini or butter beans, chickpeas, or even broad beans in place of the borlotti here. Use what you love!

Nutritional information

Energy: 393kcal, fat: 15.5g, sat fat: 5.1g, protein: 18.4g, carbs: 44.1g, sugars: 11.8g, salt: 0.8g, fibre: 8.5g

Chicken and sausage stew

Serves 2

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 1 x 150g skinless free-range chicken breast
• 2 rashers of higher-welfare smoked pancetta
• 2 higher-welfare sausages (130g)
• 1 x 400g tin of cherry tomatoes
• 1 x 400g tin of borlotti beans
• red wine vinegar
• 160g purple sprouting broccoli
• ½ a bunch of rosemary (10g)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 lemon
• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 large slices of sourdough bread (100g each)

Method

1. Turn the grill on to high. Put a large shallow casserole pan on a high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Adding it all to the pan as you go, chop the chicken into 6 equal pieces and halve the pancetta and sausages. Cook for 9 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until golden.
2. Tip the tomatoes into the pan, then add the beans, juice and all, and 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar. Bring to the boil, then trim and add the broccoli, halving any thicker stalks lengthways. Leave to simmer while you make the topping.
3. Strip the rosemary into a pestle and mortar and pound with a small pinch of sea salt, then peel and bash in the garlic. Finely grate in the lemon zest, then muddle in half the juice and 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and season to perfection. Tear the bread into bite-size chunks and scrunch with the mixture.
4. Season the stew to perfection, then scatter the herby dressed bread over the top. Carefully transfer to the grill for 5 minutes, or until golden, bubbling and cooked through, then serve with lemon wedges, for squeezing over

Nutritional information

Energy: 862kcal, fat: 43.5g, sat fat: 10.3g, protein: 48.4g, carbs: 67.3g, sugars: 9.5g, salt: 2.2g, fibre: 14.4g

20 Minute Meals: Real Fast Food by Jamie Oliver is published by Penguin Michael Joseph © Jamie Oliver Enterprises Limited (2026, 20 Minute Meals: Real Fast Food).

Recipe photography: © David Loftus, 2026