Delicious Dinner Dishes That Don't Require An Oven

Most dinner recipes require a full kitchen (and by "full" we don't mean tons of gadgets), but there could be plenty of times you need a great recipe that doesn't involve an oven. Maybe your oven broke and it can't be repaired for a few days — or maybe it's the hottest part of the year, and you definitely don't want the added heat from turning on your oven. But perhaps, you're just aware that avoiding an electric oven means using less energy and helping the environment, and possibly your bank account, in the process. Whatever the situation, you need recipes, and oven-less ones can be hard to find.

Just because you aren't using an oven doesn't mean your only option is take-out. You can still have delicious, home-cooked meals full of flavor and healthy ingredients without an oven, and of course, they also don't have to be cold meals: Take advantage of your crock pot and grill, and don't forget that a crock pot uses even less energy than a lightbulb, which makes it a great energy-saving option!

Here are some tasty, filling dinners that you can make without ever once touching your oven.

The best part about these slow-cooker enchiladas, besides the taste, is that they only take ten minutes of prep time. That's because there's only six ingredients total: chicken, black beans, onions, cheese, tortillas, and enchilada sauce.

After mixing the chicken, beans, onion, and enchilada sauce, you'll be able to layer the enchiladas right in your crock pot. The order should be as follows: sauce, tortillas, your mix, and cheese, and then repeat until you have three layers. Top it off with more sauce and cheese, then throw the top on the crock pot and cook on high for an hour.

Take salad from a side dish to a filling main course with this cobb salad recipe. You likely won't make the mistake of thinking that you'll be hungry again in an hour, because this hearty salad is packed with protein that will fill you up, not to mention protein's many other benefits.

You'll start by cooking the bacon and the chicken on your stovetop, but if you want to avoid stove use also, you can dig through your freezer and pull out whatever pre-cooked meats you have. The nice thing about a homemade cobb salad is that you can customize it in so many ways. If you don't have cooked chicken, trade it out for steak, turkey, or whatever leftover cooked meat you've got. You can also mix in some spinach or kale with the lettuce for added nutrients. Pick your preferred cheese or dressing, add carrots or onions and whatever else you like make this your next favorite oven-free dish.

Grilling is a great option when you don't feel like cooking, and this grilled chicken recipe is a deliciously flavorful one. Plus, getting some outside cooking time can make all the difference when it comes to turning dinner into something a little more special. Plus there's the unmistakable taste that you can only get from grilling.

The trick to a great piece of grilled chicken is to infuse it with flavor before you start up the grill. This recipe has a great marinade that includes rosemary, fennel, and thyme, as well as soy sauce and orange juice for some acidity. The only downside is you have to plan ahead to give your chicken time to marinate, but this one can be done in as little as two hours or up to 24 hours before grilling.

This recipe for slow-cooker chili is perfect for a cold day or any day you want a hearty meal. Start by browning the meat on the stove. Again, you can dive into your freezer for cooked beef, turkey, chicken, or pork. Alternatively, leave out the meat entirely and have a strictly bean chili. Beans are themselves a great source of protein for vegetarians.

This is another recipe that can be even better with some advanced planning, as chili needs time for all the flavors to merge. You can cook it for just four hours on high, but cooking it for longer will give you more flavor. Letting it sit refrigerated overnight will also make it taste even better when you reheat it the next day.

These grilled shrimp can be ready almost as soon as you can get your grill heated up. Garlic, butter, and lemon are the classic flavors for seafood. and mixed with the grill flavor, they make these shrimp pure magic. And they only have to cook for 3 minutes per side, providing almost instant gratification. While shrimp isn't usually a complete meal by itself, you can throw these on a salad or in a tortilla.

What kind of shrimp you buy will determine your prep time for this recipe. Some shrimp come already prepped and ready to eat, while others leave the work up to you. Deveining a shrimp is not too difficult, but it can be time consuming to do on every single shrimp. Plus, that "vein" that you are removing from the shrimp is actually the shrimp's intestine. While it's not toxic for people to eat, the "ick" factor leads most people to prefer deveined shrimp.

This pot roast recipe requires no oven, but it does require some extensive pre-planning — and yes, it's worth it. You'll want to start prepping your roast one to three whole days before you even pull out the crockpot. That's so you'll have time to dry brine the meat. Dry brining is when you sprinkle salt over the meat and then let it rest in the refrigerator. The process locks in juices, so you get a more juicy and flavorful roast.

To get the most flavor out of this dish, take the time to caramelize the vegetables. Heating them up on the stove before you add them to the crock pot brings out the natural sugars, which will take the flavor of your vegetables to the next level.