Wondering what to cook this fall, when the temperatures start to dip? We have you covered!
This great collection of cozy Fall Dinner Ideas will keep you warm. We’ve compiled this list for you from GypsyPlate and around the internet.
You’ll find warm bowls of soups and stews, hearty casseroles, family friendly pastas and so much more!
Cook your way through all of these great comforting fall recipes, you’re sure to find some new favorites! Enjoy…
1. Brunswick Stew
Lets start this delicious list of fall dinner ideas with Brunswick stew. This hearty southern dish is perfect for fall nights. If you love barbecue flavors, this is sure to become one of your new favorites. It’s loaded with smoked meats, veggies and great seasonings. And best of all, it’s super easy. Only a few minutes of hands on time is all it takes.
2. Köttbullar (Swedish Meatballs)
These Swedish meatballs are the ultimate comfort food. Tender, perfectly cooked meat spheres smothered in the most delectable sauce. You’ll keep coming back for more! This is a great Fall Dinner meal…
3. Ham Bone Soup
What do you do with your leftover ham bone after you cook a ham? Whatever you do, this time DO NOT throw it out, but put that ham bone to good use. Some ham chunks and a good old ham bone is an amazing base for an amazing future pot of soup. It’s a hearty slow cooker meal loaded with veggies and great flavors!
Check out our collection of favorite Soup Recipes!
4. Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
This Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe is a great fall dinner idea and would look gorgeous on any holiday spread! These golden yellow Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash are a beauty to the eyes. These gorgeous veggie bowls with their scalloped, caramelized edges are stuffed with the most delicious sausage stuffing…
5. How to make Zuppa Toscana (3 methods)
This hearty and comforting soup is based on the version made famous by Olive Garden. But I don’t want to call it a copycat… because this home made version is much better!
6. Guinness Beef Stew (Slow Cooker or Instant Pot)
Who doesn’t like a nice steaming pot of stew? Melt in your mouth beef, hearty veggies, and an amazing Guinness stout based gravy. Such a comforting fall recipe!
7. Chile Verde
Look at this melt in your mouth tender pork chunks in a flavorful, spicy tomatillo sauce. It’s a great fall or winter warmer, but it’s so good you’ll want it all year long!
8. Southern Braised Chicken with Black Eyed Peas
Southern Braised Chicken is the newest addition to your comfort food repertoire. It’s hearty and full of cozy flavors. With just a few humble ingredients and a few minutes of hands on time, you’ll have a dish the whole family is going to love.
9. Johnny Marzetti
Who is Johnny Marzetti? One hearty and nostalgic American casserole, that’s who. You might call him by another name, but you know this one! Great fall dinner idea!
10. Chicken Provençal (Poulet à la Provençal)
Take a peek into my pot. Beautiful golden brown chicken braised in white wine, nestled between eye catching olives, plump cherry tomatoes, oh-so French shallots, tangy capers and plenty of garlic and herbs. Life can’t be more beautiful!
11. Grillades ‘n’ Grits
Grillades ‘n’ Grits, a Creole classic. Tender medallions of meat simmered in a tomato based gravy over creamy, cheesy grits. You’re in for a real treat with this one!
12. Crustless Rotisserie Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
Pot pie without the pie? Yes, if you are like me craving those comfy, cozy flavors without the extra work. This one is for those lazy days.
Check out our collection of favorite Casserole Recipes!
13. Meaty Cabbage Soup
This hearty, meaty cabbage soup is the perfect one pot dinner. It’s loaded with protein and healthy veggies. Cook it in the crock pot, instant pot or on stove top, it’ll turn out great every time.
14. Greek Meatballs (Soutzoukakia)
These football shaped Greek style meatballs, Soutzoukakia, are smothered in a cinnamon-y wine enhanced tomato sauce laced with cumin. You’re gonna keep coming back to this one!
15. Crockpot Tuscan Chicken
This crock pot Tuscan chicken is drenched in a creamy sauce loaded with great Mediterranean flavors. It’s one easy and delicious make ahead weeknight dinner!
16. Gigi Hadid Pasta (Spicy Pasta Alla Vodka)
This is a delicious creamy and cheesy pasta alla vodka, with a slight makeover – it gets pleasantly spiked with heat from red chili flakes. Now who could say no to something this tasty on any fall night?
17. Creamy Tuscan Soup
This Creamy Tuscan Soup is the ultimate bowl of cozy. Hearty sausage, sun dried tomatoes and kale in an amazingly flavorful creamy broth… so, so good.
18. Hungarian Chicken Paprikash
Chicken Paprikash… Out-of-this-world Delicious! Paprika basks in limelight here, in a rich, comforting Hungarian Chicken Stew. One of our favorite fall dinner ideas!
19. Dublin Coddle
Some cold, chilly winter night would you like to cuddle up with this warm, hearty, rich, sumptuous Irish stew? This Dublin coddle is cozy beyond COZY!! It’s made with rashers, aka bacon, and bangers, aka sausages, and layered with onions and potatoes and slow cooked for hours.
20. Smothered Chicken
Smothered Chicken… Classic Soul Food that will warm up your body and soul. This is a comfort food that generations have grown up on. Perfectly seasoned chicken gets a little bit of beautiful golden brown color first. Then it gets smothered till fall of the bone tender in the most delicious, luscious creamy and rich gravy.
21. Islander Pork
These crock pot pork chops, AKA Islander pork, are your new weekday best friend. Melt in your mouth tender meat in a delectable sauce. If you can spare 10 minutes, your crock pot or instant pot will do the rest!
22. Lasagna
This one is such a classic comfort food that you need to perfect it. Tender sheets of pasta, a cheese filling, and a rich meaty tomato sauce will take you there. Luckily, such great flavors are so easy to create to bring that joy to everyone in your family.
23. Baked Mac and Cheese
This beautiful Baked Mac and Cheese is cheesy, creamy and topped with panko-parmesan crunch bits. The panko gets mixed with parmesan, butter, and paprika to make for a beautiful golden-brown bake.
24. Mediterranean Braised Chicken with Apricots
This gorgeous Mediterranean braised chicken is your coq au vin taken to the next level! So many layers of flavor, yet so easy. Impress your guests or save it for yourself, the choice is yours! Perfect fall dinner idea!
25. Loaded Cauliflower Soup
This loaded cauliflower soup is cozy in a bowl. Hearty, creamy soup loaded with cheese, scallions and bacon. You won’t even miss the potatoes when slurping down this low carb treat!
26. Jambalaya Soup
Jambalaya Soup! This hearty soup is boldly flavored with great Creole seasoning and is loaded with meats and veggies. It’s great on the stovetop, or in a slow cooker or instant pot.
27. Eggplant Parmesan
Do you like Italian food? Do you like comfort food? This Eggplant Parmesan is the perfect combination of both! Bake it in the oven, or try my crock pot method.
28. Jägerschnitzel (Hunter’s cutlet with mushroom gravy)
Jägerschnitzel, translated as Hunter’s Schnitzel, is about as “comfort foody” as you can get. It’s rich. It’s fried. And, oh, that gravy! Originating in Austria, though also commonly associated with Germany, this treat will leave a satisfied smile on your face!
29. The Ultimate Chili (3 methods)
It’s big. It’s bold. It’s… ultimate. This chili is jam packed with everything. You better have a big appetite, and a big couch to plop down on after a heaping serving of this chili.
Check out our collection of favorite Chili Recipes!
30. Italian Sausage Bake
This Italian Sausage Bake is a simple and easy dish and requires only a few basic ingredients. A side of pasta or crusty bread and your meal is complete!
31. Pork Pinwheels
Stuffed and roasted pork loin with spinach and mushrooms… with plenty of feta cheese. How can it not turn into one of the most gourmet, sophisticated and elegant looking thing on your platter? These pork pinwheels will impress your family and guests this coming fall.
32. One Pot Mexican Beef & Rice Casserole
This one pan casserole dish has all of your Mexican flavors. Beef and rice cooked together with corn and all the Mexican seasonings and it gets the cheesy treatment in the end. Super delish and easy.
Get the Recipe @ damndelicious
33. Bacon Cheeseburger Pot Pie
Bacon cheeseburgers have a lot of fans, and this recipe will bring together lovers of bacon cheeseburgers and pot pies! It’s super quick and easy to make, which makes it a perfect meal for a school nights or a hungry family.
Get the Recipe @ thecookierookie
34. Italian Stuffed Shells with Meat and Cheese
Stuffed Shells with Meat and Cheese is a delicious pasta dish you can make for dinner any night. These Italian stuffed pasta shells are baked together with meat sauce and plenty of cheese to make an easy casserole. The perfect family dinner!
Get the Recipe @ thecookierookie
35. Chicken Cacciatore
This classic rustic Italian dish is extremely flavorful. Chicken is cooked to fall off the bone tender low and slow along with onions, tomatoes, Italian fresh herbs, vegetables, and wine. Your whole family is going to love this delicious Italian meal.
36. Irish Stew
This classic Irish stew never disappoints anyone. Tender meat, carrots and potatoes simmered slow and low in perfectly seasoned beer broth and you end up with one delicious pot. This stew is a MUST for chilly winter nights.
Get the Recipe @ dinneratthezoo
37. Cottage Ground Beef Pot Pie
This cottage ground beef pot pie uses potatoes and parsnips, and it’s a super easy meal to make, because it only uses one pan. It’s got hearty, rich flavors, and it’s filled with lean ground beef, peas, carrots, parsnips, and potatoes.
38. Ropa Vieja (Cuba’s National Dish)
This Ropa Vieja, Cuba’s national dish, is slow cooked tender shredded beef in an amazingly flavorful sauce. So good! Tender and juicy beef in authentic tomato-wine sauce along with veggies is cooked slow and low for hours till it’s shredded easily by the mere touch of a fork. It’s finished with briny olives and capers to spike the flavors up a notch.
39. Gorgonzola Portobello Steak Skillet
This Gorgonzola Portobello Steak Skillet is sure to become a new family favorite. It’s a super easy restaurant quality meal that is an absolute flavor bomb!
40. Korean Style Ground Pork Soup
This Korean inspired soup happens pretty fast for all those rewarding comforts. It’s full of Asian flavors. Ground pork prepped with plenty of aromatics. That unmistakable heat coming from their gochujang chili paste, though tamed down by a creamy coconut milk based broth.
So there you go, forty great fall dinner ideas. Don’t they all look so cozy and comforting? Which ones will make their way into your regular rotation?
40 BEST Fall Dinner Mains
This collection of cozy and comforting Fall Dinner Ideas will keep you warm when the temperatures start to dip! We love a steaming bowl of this Creamy Tuscan Soup:
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes, cut into strips
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp crushed red chili flakes
- 5 cups chopped kale
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Fresh parsley and parmesan cheese, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy soup pot over medium high heat. Add onion and sauté until translucent, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add in garlic, stir, and cook for one minute.
- Add in sausage, break into chunks with a spoon, and cook until browned, about 4-5 minutes.
- Stir in chicken stock, sundried tomatoes, thyme, oregano, chili flakes and salt and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.
- Add in kale and cook until it wilts, about a minute or two.
- Stir in cream, heat the soup until hot.
- Serve in bowls and garnish with parsley and parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Let me know which recipes you try, I love hearing from you!
Check out these other great recipe collections!
Dutch Oven Recipes
Rotisserie Chicken Recipes
Family Dinner Ideas
Roast Chicken Recipes
Comfort Food Recipes
Crockpot Beef Recipes
Acorn Squash Recipes
Stew Recipes
Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.
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