Best Dinner Recipes

We know how daunting it can be to plan dinner some nights, especially after a long day. So we’re incredibly excited about our list of 60+ Best Dinner Recipes we’ve curated just for you! We have a wide range of delicious and easy dinner ideas, and we promise there’s something for everyone. Quick and easy dinner ideas, healthy recipes, vegetarian recipes, chicken recipes, and much much more! We know you’ll find something you’ll love!

Our Best Easy Dinner Recipes – Perfect for Busy Weeknights!

• Pasta with Vodka Sauce is a one of our favorite easy dinner ideas! There are only a few ingredients needed and in under 30 minutes you can have a piping hot and delicious bowl of pasta. A perfect simple dinner!

• Mongolian Beef is one of our most popular dinner recipes and we totally get it. It’s quick, delicious and a better for you version of the popular takeout dish!

• One of our regular go to’s is Cacio e Pepe. It’s amazing how much flavor this sauceless pasta holds. We love adding a protein to the pasta like shrimp or chicken and serving it alongside a simple salad. This is such an easy recipe to whip up for dinner tonight.

• If you want to mix things up, while maximizing flavor our Kimchi Fried Rice is the perfect dinner idea! It’s packed with protein and we love stirring in a handful of spinach until it just wilts, to sneak in some extra greens. Leftovers are even better the next day, so always be sure to make enough for lunch the next day!

• Our Garlic Butter Lamb Chops couldn’t be easier to make and results in the most delicious, flavorful and tender lamb! We love serving this easy dinner recipe with simple roasted baby potatoes and some roasted vegetables.

• This Romesco Sauce Rigatoni is one you’ll definitely want to keep in your back pocket! The ridiculously delicious sauce comes together by blending everything up and tossing with the cooked pasta. Don’t sleep on that buttered breadcrumb topping though, it really helps to make the dish!

• We had to include one our favorite shrimp recipes ever. Our Shrimp Scampi has buttery shrimp that we love to serve with a crusty bread so you can sop up any extra sauce. Serve with some lemon wedges on the side for a refreshing little garnish.

• Pistachio Crusted Pork Chops are one of our favorite dinner ideas when we have just a little more time, but still want to keep things simple. We love the texture and flavor pairing of the crusted pistachios with the pork chops…so good!

One Skillet, One Pan, One Pot Dinners. Easy Clean Up Dinners are Our Jam!

• Beef Stroganoff is another 30 minute dinner we definitely love. Savory beef, smothered in a creamy, tangy sauce and tossed together with soft egg noodles, yes please! One of our favorite weeknight dinner ideas!

• When you can’t decide between tacos or pasta, just make our Taco Pasta Skillet! All the flavors of a delicious ground beef taco are tossed together with cavatappi pasta and piled into a skillet and baked until the cheese is melted and gooey, then its topped with as many or few taco “fixins” you want, but sour cream is a must! It’s a great dinner idea everyone will love!

• Our creamy Tuscan Chicken is a reader favorite and for great reason! It’s super quick and easy to make, delicious and can be served in a variety of ways! We love chopping the chicken up, adding some pasta and tossing everything together. We also love serving this dish over a bed of steamed rice or mashed potatoes. The options are endless!

• One Pot Fettuccine Alfredo is a dinner your kids will love (everyone for that matter). It’s simple only requiring one pot to clean up, made with milk instead of cream (but still incredibly creamy) and so tasty! Add some chicken or shrimp into the mix, stir in some spinach or mushrooms, the possibilities are endless!

• Sheet Pan Chipotle Chicken Nachos are totally an acceptable dinner! Nothing better than piling a bunch of tortilla chips and toppings onto a single sheet pan and calling it a night! We love this nacho recipe just a little more than others because we don’t just melt cheese on the chips, but drown everything in a delicious white cheese sauce! You can also use rotisserie chicken to cut down on your cooking time.

• Who doesn’t love Chinese takeout for dinner? We get so excited when we’re able to recreate some of our favorite dishes at home and in just 30 minutes! Our Cashew Chicken is a recipe that fits the bill. Loaded with so much flavor, we definitely recommend doubling the recipe so you have lunch the next day too!

• If you love Indian food, but have always been intimidated by making it at home Butter Chicken is the dish to start experimenting with! You will be shocked at how easy it is to make and we guarantee it’ll become one of your go to dinner recipes!

All the Glorious Chicken Dinner Recipes

• Our Honey Garlic Chicken is another dinner idea so many people love! The sweet and savory combination is just to die for! We love serving this dish over some steamed rice, with some roasted broccoli! The best!

• Spatchcock Chicken is 100% on rotation at least twice a month in my house! It’s enough to provide my household with 3 meals, couldn’t be easier to make and results in the most delicious chicken! Serve it with some roasted vegetables, a side of mac and cheese and call it a day!

• We love a great dinner salad, truly. Our Loaded BBQ Chicken Salad is so hearty and filled with so many delicious ingredients like bbq chicken, creamy black beans, crunchy jicima, bright tomatoes, sweet corn, and so much more! It’s big enough to keep you satisfied all night!

• We couldn’t be more obsessed with these Chicken Lettuce Wraps! They’re packed with an incredible amount of flavor, make a great low carb dinner idea and the recipe makes lots!

• Crispy Chicken Thighs in Creamy Mushroom Sauce never disappoints! The skin on these thighs gets incredibly crispy, the meat stays super moist and juicy and the creamy mushroom sauce is made with yogurt, not cream, for a lighter but equally delicious sauce!

• Garlic and Ginger Braised Chicken is another flavor packed dinner recipe that’s too easy not to make all the time! The chicken soaks in all the delicious garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and brown sugar for some of the most incredible chicken you’ll ever taste.

• Our Baked Nashville Hot Honey Chicken Sandwich is the perfect recipe for those times when you are in a bit of a rut. Juicy chicken breasts are covered in a crisp and flavorful coating and baked for a healthier chicken sandwich!

• These Honey-Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowls are the perfect chicken dinner. Lots of toppings ensures this won’t be a boring chicken dinner. If you have picky eaters on your hand, this recipe is great because people can build their own bowls!

Pasta and Noodles for Dinner – Yes, Please!

• Our Cajun Shrimp Pasta Recipe is everything we love thrown into a decadent pasta dish! It has plump, buttery shrimp, a creamy sauce with a kick, and is packed with bright cajun flavors! It’s pretty unconventional, but that’s one of the reasons it’s one of our favorite pasta dinner ideas!

• We love our hearty Bolognese Sauce tossed with pappardelle. It’s a simplified version of the classic, but with all the delicious flavors intact. Our recipe makes enough to feed 6 to 8 people and it makes the best leftovers!

• These Garlic Noodles might be one of both our favorite recipes on the blog! They’re so simple to make and just filled with so much umami goodness. While we can both inhale these noodles and call it a day, we do occasionally throw some broccoli florets and chicken into the mix to make it a complete meal!

• Cacio e Pepe Pasta Pie is another carb loading dinner we adore. It’s so easy to make and is amazing paired next to some mixed greens.

• We are always down to make our Chile Oil Garlic Noodles! They’re so good and another dish we can just inhale as is, or beef up with some protein and veg. Either way, this noodle recipe is a real winner!

• When we realized how easy it is to make Chow Mein we couldn’t believe it! We love making this popular noodle dish at home all the time for dinner now!

• We love Thai food and one of our favorite dishes is Pork Pad See Ew. This is another dish we’re so happy to have been able to make at home! It’s such an easy and delicious dinner idea that we get so excited to make and enjoy!

• We love a good stir fry dish and our Singapore Noodles with Shrimp hit the spot every.single.time. The combination of the curry infused noodles, sautéed shrimp, snow peas and bell peppers make this complete meal something we can eat all the time!

• When we’re craving pasta, but also want something simple with maximum flavor we turn to our Capellini with Garlic, Lemon and Parmesan. It’s the deliciously low maintenance diner idea that everyone loves!

Soup for Dinner? – Absolutely!

• Broccoli Cheddar Soup is so hearty and one of our favorite chilly weather soups to enjoy! You can make it in just 30 minutes with only a handful of basic ingredients, making it the best weeknight soup!

• Our Creamy Chicken and Farro Soup is a rift off of Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. We love the pops of texture the farro provides in this ridiculously delicious and creamy soup! It’s a reader favorite and a favorite in both our households as well!

• Spicy Red Curry Noodle Soup with Shrimp is super cozy, warming and packed with so much bright flavor. It’s also fun to switch it up from time to time and swap shredded chicken in for the shrimp or even tofu for a simple vegetarian friendly, healthy dinner idea.

• We love baked potatoes, so it was no surprise to either of us that Loaded Baked Potato Soup quickly became our jam! We love loading the soup up with ALL the toppings!

• Our Corn Chowder might be one of our favorite soup recipes on the entire site! This chowder is seriously the best and only gets better with time. If fresh corn isn’t in season, frozen works just fine, so you can enjoy this hearty soup for dinner all year long!

• Cheese filled pasta in soup?! Sign us up! We love our simple Tortellini Soup very much. Its hearty and filling, but the broth based soup also won’t weight you down. Delicious!

• Our Hearty White Bean and Kale Soup is just that, hearty! It’s another broth based soup filled with all the delicious things like creamy white beans, torn kale leaves, cubes of ham, and diced white sweet potatoes! This can easily be turned into a delicious vegetarian dinner recipe by simply omitting the ham!

• Creamy Tomato Soup is such a classic childhood soup for so many of us! We’re absolutely in love with this soup recipe where the fresh tomatoes are roasted to perfection and impart an overall rich flavor. Pair it with your favorite grilled cheese sandwich for a bit of comfort and nostalgia.

• Clam Chowder, especially served up in a crusty bread bowl is a surprisingly easy dinner recipe for the family to enjoy. It’s rich, savory, comforting and everyone will want to dive right in!

• Chicken Noodle Soup is another dinner recipe for the family to enjoy! We love making a big batch over the weekend, to enjoy throughout the whole week, especially on chilly nights.

The Best Healthy Dinner Recipes

• Pozole Verde with Chicken is one of my favorite healthy, quick and easy dinner ideas to make throughout the year. It’s a flavor packed soup that reheats really well, so leftovers make the best work lunch!

• Our Turkey Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups is the perfect low carb dinner version of our more classic lasagna sheet filled version, but equally as delicious. It makes for a great healthy dinner that you can feel really good about.

• Soba Noodles with Shrimp is not only an easy dinner recipe, but a recipe you can also enjoy for lunch. e provide a little trick to help keep the dish saucy and prevent the noodles from clumping up. So good!

• We love a good Buddha Bowl and we like to think ours is top notch! It’s loaded with tons of veggies, over a bed of grains and doused in a ridiculously delicious cashew cream sauce. This dish is vegetarian and vegan dinner recipe that everyone can get on board with!

• Our Turkey Bolognese with 50/50 Spaghetti and Zucchini Noodles is for when you’re craving that big, hearty bowl of pasta bolognese, but also want to try and keep things just a little lighter. The 50/50 pasta to zucchini split will keep your pasta cravings satisfied without weighing you down.

• Our Spicy White Bean Chili is a lighter take on the more classic thick, tomato and spiced based chili. We still load ours with beans, but give it a more soupy vibe with the broth base and shredded chicken. It’s a great healthy dinner idea that makes incredible leftovers!

• We have a soft spot for really good falafels and our Falafel Salad Hummus Bowls always hits the spot. They’re simple, filling, delicious, and healthy!

Easy Dinner Ideas for the Family

• Browned Butter Fettuccine Alfredo is an extra savory and nutty version of a classic fettuccine alfredo. It’s crazy how browned butter makes everything (and we seriously mean EVERYTHING) better! It’s such a simple swap from regular butter to browned, but it takes this dinner to the next level! Everyone will be running back for seconds.

• Chicken and Dumplings is our go to cozy, comfort meal to feed our families and ourselves. It couldn’t be easier to make and everyone is a fan of the fluffy dumplings swimming in the creamy chicken soup.

• We love this vegetarian dinner recipe so much. Our Honey Garlic Cauliflower will make even the pickiest meat eater happy and you’ll feel good knowing that your family is being fed a vegetable heavy meal!

• Our Oven Baked Chicken Thighs NEED to go into regular rotation in your home. Seriously. It’s such an easy dinner to make, has so much delicious honey mustard flavor infused into it and takes almost zero effort to make. Serve it with some roasted potatoes and broccoli for a complete meal your family will be asking for again and again.

• If you’re looking to spice things up from the typical weekly dinners, try our Korean Beef Bulgogi. Thinly shaved ribeye steak is marinated in a sweet and savory sauce and grilled or sautéed to mouthwatering perfection. It’s a dinner idea that will keep everyones tastebuds excited and wanting more!

• Swedish Meatballs over Mashed Potatoes is pure comfort and we’re all about it! Mini flavor packed meatballs are nestled into creamy, buttery mashed potatoes and swim in a savory gravy. We promise it will become a family favorite dinner idea for sure!

Lets Get Cozy with Baked Pasta Dinner Ideas!

• Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Roll Ups are one of our most popular recipes and we totally get it. These delicious carb filled spirals are so good, make great make ahead meals, freeze incredibly well…really, what’s not to like? It’s a pasta recipe that everyone will enjoy!

• Our Baked Ziti is truly a cozy dinner idea that we love making on busy weeknights, we make this delicious dish even more simple by using our favorite store bought tomato sauce, instead of making our own. This dish also freezes really well, so bake one now and make an extra for your freezer!

• We couldn’t have a baked pasta section without including out Sausage and Kale Baked Gnocchi. The soft and pillowy gnocchi swims in a cream sauce that’s nicely balanced out by the salty turkey sausage and the hearty kale. Use your favorite store bought gnocchi or make your own, either way you’re in for a treat!

• Chicken Tetrazzini is such a deliciously retro dinner recipe and we’re here for it! You can’t beat spaghetti, shredded chicken, mushroom, and peas tossed together in a creamy bechamel and baked until everything is bubbling and hot!

• Baked Bucatini and Meatballs is our take on classic spaghetti and meatballs, casserole style. It’s a great potluck dish that can be made several days ahead of time and baked right before you’re ready to serve it!

• We think mascarpone is so underrated and we’re here to change that. Our Baked Turkey and Mascarpone Stuffed Shells make this dish ultra rich and creamy and a nice balance to the sweet and acidic tomato sauce. It’s a stuffed shell dish we can really get behind.

Vegetarian and Vegan Friendly Dinner Ideas? – We’ve Got You Covered!

• This Vegetable Loaded Vegan Korma is truly a dish for everyone! We love the bold flavors, smooth and creamy texture of the sauce and wide variety of vegetables included in this dish. We love serving it over a bed of steamed white or brown rice and a side of grilled naan bread.

• Our baked Buffalo Cauliflower is a vegetarian friendly version of the ever popular buffalo chicken. While we love snacking in these little bites, we also love eating them for dinner over a salad or putting them into tacos or in a grain bowl. So many possibilities and easy dinner ideas can be made with this recipe. Bonus points because we’ve included air fryer instructions for anyone that has an air fryer they want to put to good use!

• Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli Alfredo is a lower carb, vegetarian friendly, vegetable heavy dish and we love it so much. We’re able to satisfy all our creamy pasta alfredo cravings without the pasta, and honestly we don’t miss it here!

• We love our Mini Swedish Meatballs so much (mentioned earlier!), we decided to make an equally delicious vegan version! Our Vegan Swedish Meatballs over Mashed Potatoes and Gravy are just as good as the meat and dairy version, but slightly healthier. It’s a vegan dinner idea that we promise even non-vegans will become obsessed with!

• Our Roasted Chickpea Stuffed Sweet Potatoes are goooood. It’s a simple and filling dinner recipe that you’ll feel good about. We also won’t blame you if you want to swim in the cilantro cashew sauce..it really is THAT good!

• With so many meat alternatives out there these days, we wanted to go back and highlight an old classic and favorite of ours, our Spicy Black Bean Burgers! These black bean patties have so much flavor, a great ‘meaty’ texture and will satisfy all the burger cravings you have. You can also crumble it for vegan ground “beef” and toss it into tacos. These patties can produce so many different dinner ideas!

In the Mood for a Fancy-ish Dinner? – Here You Go!

• Our Roasted Rack of Lamb with Rhubarb- Sour Cherry Gastrique dinner recipe sounds way more complicated than it really is, we promise. While there are a few different components to this dish, it’s all very well worth it for the tremendous flavors this easy dinner puts out!

• Chicken and Tarragon Poached Yolk Stuffed Ravioli is our go to for a fancy-ish dinner that everyone loves. Cutting into the giant ravioli and seeing the oozing yolk will truly impress your guests. They won’t be able to resist the creamy chicken and tarragon filling too! It’s definitely one of our favorite special occasion dinner ideas to make!

• We like to think of our Beef Ragu over Polenta as a mix of both a comforting and fancy-ish dinner recipe. It’s not something you would make all the time, but it’s definitely well worth the time it takes to braise and simmer into a soft, savory sauce. Don’t have the time, but want to make this dish? No problem, we’ve included instant pot instructions, so you can cut your cook time down tremendously. Enjoy with a glass of red wine!

• We LOVE this Capellini with Smoked Salmon Cream Sauce. It’s such a easy dinner recipe to make that’s also totally delicious. Throw a little caviar on top and you’ve instantly fancied up a simple dish! Well worth it!

• Maple Balsamic Roast Duck is definitely an indulgent, special occasion dinner recipe that yields super crispy skin and juicy meat. Replace your turkey or ham over the holidays for this roast duck, or just go all out on a random weekend! We all deserve to treat ourselves every now and then.

• My parents request I make them this Seared Scallops over Roasted Butternut Squash Purée recipe almost every time they’re in town. The perfectly seared scallops are briny, delicious and they pair really well with the creamy squash puree. Add the “couldn’t be easier to make” pickled mustard seeds to almost any dish for an instant flavor boost!

We hope this list of our best dinner recipes is as helpful to you as it is for us! It makes dinnertime so much easier when you have a variety of options laid our for you. If you love this roundup of dinner ideas and thought it was helpful, you’ll also love some of our other roundups!

• Delicious Breakfast Ideas
• The Best Shrimp Recipes
• Best Cauliflower Recipes
• The Best Summer Recipes
• Best Christmas Appetizers
• Best Soup Recipes
• Best Potato Recipes
• Best Shrimp Recipes
• 40+ Delicious Breakfast Ideas