What should I cook for dinner tonight? That forever question we have every single day, when contemplating what to cook for your family tonight.
That’s why we have compiled this list of easy Dinner Ideas for Tonight. All of these easy dinner recipes make great weeknight meals, and there’s something for every taste.
Craving pasta? Stir fry? Tacos? We have that, and so much more!
So go through this dinner idea list, and be sure to save it, because it’s going to be your new go-to whenever you’re wondering what’s for dinner!
What’s for Dinner: 35 Easy Dinner Ideas for Tonight
1. Steak Tacos
These Steak Tacos are going to be the newest addition to your weekly dinner menu.
Tender, juicy steak piled high in tortillas with all of your favorite toppings. What could be better than that?
They’re a super easy weeknight meal the whole family will love!
2. Thai Cashew Chicken
Give your stir fry night a new twist with this Thai Cashew Chicken. It’s an easy dish that’s bursting with layers of flavor and texture.
Just a little chopping, mix up a sauce, and a quick stir fry is all the effort needed to put this tasty and nutritious dinner on the table.
Sounds like a great weeknight dinner option for busy nights!
3. Jambalaya Pasta (Pastalaya)
What’s for dinner? How about Jambalaya Pasta! It’s a super tasty dish featuring shrimp, chicken and sausage smothered in a creamy, cheesy sauce full of Louisiana flavors.
It’s like everyone’s favorite jambalaya, but with pasta instead of rice. How cool!
4. Easy Creamy Chicken Skillet
If you are on the lookout thinking “I want an easy chicken recipe tonight”… here it is. I’m not only giving you easy, but a lot more.
It happens in flash (start to finish in less than 30 minutes) with super simple everyday ingredients. Yet it’s decadently indulgent in nature.
5. Cheesy Tortellini Bake
How about something really easy for dinner tonight? This cheesy tortellini bake is it!
Even your pickiest eaters are going to love this hearty and comforting pasta dish. Saucy, meaty, cheesy… yep, this one checks all the boxes!
If you have a few minutes to spare, and an oven, you’re going to love this one-pan weeknight dinner.
6. Sesame Chicken Bowls
These Sesame Chicken Bowls are the easy answer to your weeknight Chinese food cravings. In less than half an hour, you can have your own, customizable dish that’s so much better than takeout.
They’re a breeze to make, and are a great meal prep option to prepare in bulk. You’ll just love these leftovers for lunch.
7. Mushroom Stroganoff
This easy Mushroom Stroganoff is a lighter and healthier take on your traditional beef stroganoff. It’s also super quick, and super tasty!
With just a handful of basic ingredients, you can have this meatless dinner on the table in under half an hour. It’s one of our favorite dinner ideas!
8. Clam Linguine (Linguine alle Vongole)
Clam Linguine, or Linguine alle Vongole, is an elegant restaurant quality dish. But don’t be intimidated, it’s super easy to make.
It’s a gorgeous, yet light, pasta in a lemony, garlicky wine sauce that can be whipped up in minutes when you don’t know what to cook for dinner.
9. Mongolian Ground Beef
Mongolian Ground Beef is a 20 minute stir fry bursting with sweet and savory Asian flavors. It’s a perfect weeknight meal to come back to again and again.
Give this easier, ground beef version a try in your kitchen tonight!
10. Ham and Cheese Gnocchi Skillet
This Ham and Cheese Gnocchi Skillet is a super easy one pan meal that is absolute comfort food.
It’s a great use for leftover ham, and it only takes a few simple ingredients to make this magic happen.
Best of all, it can be on the table in about 20 minutes. Sounds like a winner to me!
11. Greek Chicken Souvlaki
Chicken Souvlaki – Sometimes, all you need is a few simple ingredients to create some amazing flavors. These Greek skewers are one of those recipes.
Bite sized chunks of chicken are marinated with lemon juice, oregano and garlic and can be grilled, baked or cooked on the stovetop.
And, all you need is about 20 minutes of hands on time for these delicious Greek flavors to happen tonight !
12. One Skillet Mexican Casserole
Need a break? Yet want to put dinner on the table tonight? This is when this One Skillet Mexican Casserole come into play.
10 minutes of active cook time on your part, with simple pantry staple ingredients, and this amazing casserole full of Mexican flavors happens. And did you hear one skillet? Yup music to my ears, for easy clean up later.
13. Thai Basil Fried Rice
Here’s a little spin on your regular fried rice with a huge flavor upgrade!!
This Thai Basil Fried Rice is infused with such amazing spicy and umami flavors that you will wonder how simple fried rice can be so tasty.
14. Creamy Sausage Pasta
This Creamy Sausage Pasta is a perfect example of creating an absolutely delicious dish out of simple, ordinary ingredients.
Nothing fancy… nothing complicated… ready in 20 minutes. Yet I promise, you will get hooked on these amazing flavors in one bite. Perfect contender to cook when you don’t know what to make for dinner.
15. Baja Fish Tacos
These Baja Fish Tacos are one of our new favorite handheld meals. Soft tortillas packed full of beer battered fish, pico de gallo, avocado and chipotle mayo. Serious YUM!
They’re a fun weekend meal, or a great dish to serve to guests. And you can have your taco bar on the table in about 20 minutes.
16. Honey Garlic Chicken Bites
Dinner ready in 20 minutes? Honey Garlic Chicken Bites… Music to the ears… And when you look into the pan, the sticky delicious honey garlic sauce laced chicken bites, they look so tempting to dig in to.
This is one of our favorite weeknight dinner ideas, that happens with regular every day pantry ingredients. Nothing fancy… nothing difficult… just simple good old flavors.
17. Tortellini al Forno
This Tortellini al Forno recipe is inspired by the popular Olive Garden dish. Plump, tender tortellini smothered in an amazing creamy sauce that’s enhanced by bacon and a variety of cheeses.
We decided to add some veggie power to the original dish, in the form of spinach and mushrooms, plus we’ll share some other great variation ideas.
This is a great easy dinner idea for you to cook up any night of the week!
18. Caprese Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms
Your meatless night never looked so fancy and tasty! These Caprese Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms are what my dream looks like when I steer away from protein some days.
These big ol’ mushrooms are tender, fleshy goodness stuffed to the brim with everyone’s classic favorite… Caprese!! A simple mix of vibrant cherry tomatoes, gooey mozzarella balls and fresh basil.
19. Tonkatsu (Japanese Pork Cutlet)
Tonkatsu is a simple fried pork cutlet, popular in Japanese cuisine. It’s crispy outside, tender inside, and comes with a beautifully flavorful katsu sauce.
It’s so easy to make, with only a few simple ingredients, yet it ends up so delicious. If you have 20 minutes, you can have this crispy treat on your table!
20. TikTok Salmon Rice Bowl
This Salmon Rice Bowl is a great way to use leftovers, and it only takes moments to prepare.
If you have some leftover salmon and rice in the fridge, this is the best and easiest way to repurpose it for another quick and different meal all together. The answer to “what’s for dinner?” has never been so easy!
21. Sicilian Pasta
Sicilian Pasta – If you’ve been on the lookout for a tasty new pasta recipe, here it is! This Sicilian Pasta is bursting with flavor from mixed olives, capers, artichoke hearts, cherry tomatoes and some great flavor enhancers!
It’s a light meal, perfect for meatless nights, and comes together super fast. This gorgeous dish can be your easy weeknight dinner or a meal for special occasions.
This simple, rustic pasta can be on your table in about 20 minute. We’re sure you’ll be coming back to this one!
22. Pork Stir Fry (How to Velvet Pork)
Are you ready to get woking? This easy Pork Stir Fry will have dinner on the table in a flash! It’s loaded with fresh veggies and has a great homemade stir fry sauce.
This one is also customizable. You can use any cut of pork you have handy, plus any veggies you fancy that day. Perfect dish for when you’re wondering what to cook tonight.
23. Ground Beef Tacos
Taco, Taco! How many can you have at one time? These ground beef tacos are a fun, super easy dinner the whole family will love. You won’t even want to wait till Tuesday!
Perfectly seasoned ground beef wrapped in soft tortillas with all your favorite fixings. Everyone will be asking for these great tacos again and again.
And best of all, you can have this tasty meal on the table in about 20 minutes. Perfect weeknight dinner contender!
24. Firecracker Salmon
This Firecracker Salmon is a super easy and super delish meal that must become part of your rotation. It has an amazing Asian sauce and whips up in about 20 minutes.
If you’re looking for a new recipe to really jazz up your salmon, this is it! It’s salty, it’s sweet, and it’s a little bit spicy! Firecracker salmon just may become one of your favorite easy dinner ideas.
25. Creamy Ground Chicken Pasta
This delicious creamy pasta is so good and so easy that you will be coming back to this one every now and then.
Any ground meat on hand (I used chicken today) and voila, one delicious meal ready in no time. Plus it has all the goodness of spinach and cherry tomatoes to add in more flavors.
26. Steak Gorgonzola Flatbread
Flatbread anyone?? Trust us when we say YOU want THIS…
This Steak Gorgonzola Flatbread not only looks gorgeous (making it a perfect contender for all entertaining and special occasions), this happens super fast. About 20 minute fast…
27. Gigi Hadid Pasta (Spicy Pasta Alla Vodka)
What is Gigi Hadid Pasta? Simple… Pasta made by Gigi Hadid, which broke the internet when it went viral on instagram and tiktok.
If you look closely, it’s the same delicious creamy and cheesy pasta alla vodka, with a slight makeover – it gets pleasantly spiked with heat from red chili flakes.
28. Sausage Potato Casserole
Casserole days, AKA traybake days…Those are our favorite cooking days. They are possibly the easiest dishes you’ll ever cook and eat. The combinations are endless.
Load that tray, season generously, shove it into the oven, set the timer… and dinner is ready.
29. Mediterranean Zucchini Boats
Feast your eyes! This is Squash Satisfaction…
These zucchini boats are the perfect low carb vehicles for any of your favorite protein stuffing. What if it has Mediterranean vibes? This is one of our favorite dinner ideas.
Healthy can be stunning and gorgeous, just take a look at my platter…
30. Thai Basil Chicken (Pad Krapow Gai)
Are you looking for a really, really fast meal tonight that’s really, really tasty? Not only is this Thai Basil Chicken, AKA Pad Krapow Gai, bursting with flavor, you can whip it up in 15 minutes or less.
31. Creamy Lemon Chicken
Easy and delicious! This chicken can make for a relatively easy week night meal, but looks and tastes so good it will impress guests as well.
We love it with orzo, pearled couscous or bread! On it’s own, great for the keto crowd!
32. Loco Moco (Hawaiian Beef Patty with Gravy)
Say Aloha to this Hawaiian Favorite, Loco Moco… Now who wouldn’t be a little intrigued by a dish named “Loco Moco”? Let’s get a little taste of Hawaii going on in your kitchen.
Loco Moco is a fun, yet delicious, thing where a heap of rice is topped with a beef patty, smothered with gravy, and finished with a sunny side up egg. How cool!
33. Kung Pao Chicken
When everyone’s asking “what’s for dinner?”, you want something on the table fast!
Kung Pao Chicken is savory, sweet, and tangy. Best of all, you can whip this up in half-hour or less. Perfect weeknight dinner idea!
34. Tomato Basil Chicken
Would you make this chicken dish if I say just three things? Super easy, super quick and super delicious!! It’s actually quite brilliant and good looking too!!
Those gorgeous looking cherry tomatoes in a slightly buttery-orangey sauce with hints of basil are just too good on otherwise plain chicken breast. The perfect answer to end a rather busy day is this Fast Flourish!!
35. Baked Honey Mustard Chicken
Juicy, tender, succulent, fall of the bone meat with crispy golden brown skin, covered in a sweet and savory honey mustard glaze. This one pan wonder of chicken is an absolute you-need-in-your-life kind of thing.
Just save it for those lazy, tired, don’t want to cook yet need to eat days. This Quick, Sticky, Saucy, Sweet, Savory and Soy-Honey-Mustard with garlic infused Chicken… it’s a game changer!
No matter what ingredients you have on hand, there’s something here to cook. So now we’ll ask you… what’s for dinner?
Check out these other great recipe collections!
Chicken Recipes
Beef Recipes
Pork Recipes
Fish Recipes
Shrimp Recipes
Vegetable Recipes
Pasta Recipes
Casserole Recipes
What's for Dinner: 35 Dinner Ideas for Tonight
If you're wondering what to cook for dinner tonight, you're in the right place! This collection of easy dinner ideas has something for every craving. We love this super quick ground beef stir fry:
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1.5 lbs ground beef
- 6-7 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp ginger, finely chopped
- 6 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp sambal oelek
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking up with a spoon. Add ginger and garlic and cook until beef is browned and no more liquid remains in the pan.
- Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, chicken stock, corn starch sambal and pepper in a bowl. Add to the meat and combine well. Simmer a couple of minutes, until sauce thickens.
- Garnish with diced green onions and sesame seeds. Serve over hot rice or Asian noodles.
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very nice food