Silly-Easy Meal Prep With Coco Morante

Streamlined, simple recipes to kick off your year.

Happy new year and welcome to The Dinner Plan! If you’re new around here and want to dig into the archives, I recommend starting with my conversations with Meera Sodha, Joanne Lee Molinaro, Dorie Greenspan, Tamar Adler, Rosie Kellett, and Molly Baz.

My kid’s holiday break is 17 days(!) and I’m honestly not quite ready to think about getting back into the scramble of our regular weeknight routine. Sometimes I wish I could just hand off the dinner planning—if you’ve felt similarly, a book like Coco Morante’s Instant Kitchen Meal Prep Cookbook might be your answer.

Coco’s latest—she’s written eight cookbooks—shares ten weekly plans with shopping lists, advice for each Sunday prep session, and all the recipes you need to cook and assemble each dinner.

She’s streamlined and simplified every meal, keeping budget and busy schedules in mind. In today’s podcast conversation, Coco calls some of these recipes “silly-easy;” the book also includes a section of shortcut-heavy last-minute dinners, in case you just couldn’t make that weekend meal prep happen.

Coco says she hasn’t always been a big meal planner, but found herself struggling with stress from the 5 p.m. chaos in her household. Planning and prepping for the week with “makes dinnertime a lot more fun—for me and for my family,” Coco tells me. “The afternoon is less hectic when everyone comes home from school. I’m not trying to think of something [to eat] and also managing all the chaos of that.”

Getting organized in advance has also helped Coco hand off the weekly shopping to her husband: “We just needed some order in our grocery shopping and in our cooking. Having a plan makes it possible for some of that mental load and some of that effort to be on Brendan’s plate instead of mine,” Coco says.

Coco’s generally not recommending you cook proteins in advance; but often a marinade on Sunday will make dinner taste better on Monday. A chicken meatball mixture—you’ll find the recipe below—gets seasoned and stashed in the fridge, and doing that in advance will actually help those meatballs hold their shape.

“It’s sort of like mise en place meets meal prep,” Coco explains. She’s not suggesting you cook on Sunday and eat the same thing over and over all week.

Coco shares a list of ingredients that hold well after slicing—sweet potatoes are a yes, fresh herbs a no—but also emphasizes that it’s okay if you can’t suddenly become the kind of person who gets things planned and prepped every single weekend: “Give yourself permission to start small,” she says.

Scroll down for a few recipes from the book and tune in for all of Coco’s meal-prep tips. While you’re there, I’d be so grateful if you hit “follow” wherever you listen and leave a review to help other home cooks find The Dinner Plan.

Win a copy of The Instant Kitchen Meal Prep Cookbook

Let someone else make dinner decisions this winter, thanks to this week’s book giveaway. There are two different ways to enter:

1. Sign up as a paid subscriber to this newsletter by end of day Sunday, January 4, 2026. That’s all you need to do. Signing up as a paid subscriber also gives you full access to the 99+ Dinner Ideas list.

2. Free subscribers can still enter to win. Here’s how: Just send in a “what’s in my pantry/fridge/freezer” voice memo. My guest will come up with a dinner idea just for you! Follow the instructions here by end of day Sunday, January 4, 2026.

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Want an extra chance to win? Hit that ❤️ at the bottom of this post, then Restack in the Substack app by hitting the circular arrow symbol 🔄 at the top or bottom.

Giveaway winner will be alerted by Substack DM and email—be sure to check your messages. U.S. and Canada addresses only, 18+. Giveaway not sponsored or administered by Substack. Ends Jan 4, 2026. This newsletter includes affiliate links—I may receive a small commission from your purchase.

Coco mentioned:

• Soy-Ginger Chicken Thighs (excerpted from The Instant Kitchen Meal Prep Cookbook)

• Coco’s recipes on Simply Recipes

• Megan Scott’s Sonker (Simply Recipes)

• Skylight All-in-One Family Calendar

• OXO Cookie scoop for meatballs

• Guide to cooking rice with pot-in-pot method (Amy + Jackie)

• 2-ingredient pizza dough

• Ina Garten’s Broccoli and Bow Ties

• Colu Henry’s Creamy White Beans With Herb Oil (NYT Cooking; gift link)

• Michelle Tam’s Egg Roll in a Bowl

• Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg’s The Flavor Bible (Bookshop here)

• The Cheese Board: Collective Works (Used on AbeBooks here)

• Coco’s Instant Pot Chili (Simply Recipes)

• Coco’s Copycat Russian Cabbage Soup from Max’s Opera Cafe appears in The Instant Kitchen Cookbook but she also recommends this meatless version

• Coco’s blog, LeftySpoon

• Instant Pot Recipes Facebook group

From the ad break:

• The Zero Proof: Use code DINNERPLAN20 for 20% off

• Aunt Fannie’s cleaning supplies are available on Thrive Market and Amazon

• LaBelle Patrimoine: Find these heritage-breed chickens at Whole Foods and GrownasPromised.com

• Made In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.

Maggie mentioned:

• Hetty Lui McKinnon’s Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Maple-Soy Caramel (Bon Appétit)

• The Dinner Plan’s cookbook recommendation list

• Mollie Katzen’s The Moosewood Cookbook (Bookshop here)

• Jonathan Kauffman’s Hippie Food (Bookshop here)

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Photo: Dana Gallagher

Greek-Inspired Air-Fryer Chicken Meatballs with Spinach Orzo and Tzatziki

Excerpted from The Instant Kitchen Meal Prep Cookbook © 2025 by Coco Morante. Reproduced by permission of Harvest, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

Note these recipes for tender chicken meatballs served on a satisfying bowl of spinach orzo with an herby tzatziki are presented in two sessions: a weekend prep day and the steps to air-fry and serve during the week.

Prep the Tzatziki:

Makes about 1⅓ cups

1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
1 Persian cucumber (or ½ English cucumber), grated on a coarse grater
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1 tablespoon olive oil
Grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Add all the ingredients to a pint jar. Stir to combine, label “Tzatziki,” and store in the fridge.

Prep the Chicken Meatball Mixture:

Makes 4 servings (about 20 meatballs)

1 pound 96% lean ground chicken
1 large egg
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
½ cup panko breadcrumbs
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
¾ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ teaspoon kosher salt

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Use your hands to mix everything together until well combined.

2. Transfer to a tightly lidded container, label “Chicken Meatball Mixture,” and store in the fridge.

Prep the Spinach Orzo:

Makes 4 servings

8 ounces (1¼ cups) orzo
2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (5- to 6-ounce) bag baby spinach

1. Add the orzo, broth, and olive oil to the pressure cooker. Pressure-cook the orzo for 5 minutes at HIGH pressure, with a QUICK pressure release.

2. Stir in the baby spinach, let sit for 2 minutes, then stir again—the spinach should have wilted down from the heat of the pasta.

3. Let cool to room temperature, transfer to a tightly lidded container, label “Spinach Orzo,” and store in the fridge.

To Serve: Greek-Inspired Air-Fryer Chicken Meatballs with Spinach Orzo and Tzatziki

Serves 4

Chicken Meatball Mixture
Spinach Orzo
Tzatziki

1. Preheat an air fryer to 400°F. Use a 1½-tablespoon scoop to portion out the meatballs directly into the air fryer basket or onto the baking sheet of an air fryer oven, lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Air-fry for 10 minutes.

2. While the meatballs are cooking, reheat the orzo in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave for 3½ minutes, stirring once halfway through.

3. Transfer the meatballs and orzo to serving plates or bowls. Serve right away, with the tzatziki on the side.