Brrr… when the temperatures drop, sometimes something cozy to eat is just what you need. That’s why we compiled this list of great Winter Dinner Ideas to keep you and your family warm.
All of these winter comfort foods are sure to satisfy your cravings. Whether you’re looking to fire up the oven, or maybe have something simmering low and slow, this collection of Winter Dinner recipes has you covered.
You’ll find steaming pots of soups and stews, hearty casseroles, comforting pastas and so much more winter dinner ideas.
Cook your way through all of these great winter recipes, you’re sure to find some new favorites!
1. Brunswick Stew
We’re starting this list with Brunswick stew, a hearty southern dish that’s perfect for chilly nights. It’s loaded with smoked meats, veggies and great seasonings. And best of all, it’s super easy.
A big pot of this will keep you warm all winter long!
Check out our collection of favorite Stew Recipes!
2. Swedish Meatballs
These Swedish meatballs are the ultimate comfort food. Tender, perfectly cooked meat spheres smothered in the most delectable sauce. Traditionally eaten with mashed potatoes, they’re also great with egg noodles or rice.
3. Ribollita Soup
Zuppa Ribollita is for all the bread lovers out there, looking for a soul warming bowl of comfort in the winter. This hearty rustic soup is a classic Tuscan dish that has been cooked in peasants’ kitchens for centuries, all over Tuscany.
4. The ULTIMATE Chili
This list wouldn’t be complete without chili. This giant batch is loaded with three types of meat and three types of beans. Go ahead and have seconds, there will still be plenty for leftovers!
5. Crustless 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 winter days.
6. Carbonnade Flamande
Carbonnade Flamande is a super hearty beef and beer stew from Belgium. This is one pot sure to keep you cozy in the winter!
7. 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! This is one of our favorite winter dinner ideas.
8. Avgolemono Soup
Meet your new go to winter comfort food. This Avgolemono Soup is your chicken noodle soup taken to the next level. It’s silky and smooth and oh so delicious!
Check out our collection of favorite Soup Recipes!
9. Chile Verde
Chile Verde – Melt in your mouth tender pork chunks in a flavorful, spicy tomatillo sauce. It’s a great winter warmer, but it’s so good you’ll want it all year long!
10. Zuppa Toscana
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!
11. Johnny Marzetti
Who is Johnny Marzetti? One hearty and nostalgic American casserole, that’s who. Ground beef, sausage and macaroni noodles in tomato sauce and covered in plenty of melty cheese. YUMMM.
12. Ham Bone Soup
Put your holiday leftovers to good use with this Ham Bone Soup. It’s a hearty slow cooker winter meal loaded with veggies and great flavors!
13. Chicken Paprikash
Chicken Paprikash… Out-of-this-world Delicious! Paprika basks in the limelight here, in a rich, comforting Hungarian Chicken Stew, Paprikas Csirke, as it’s known belovedly in Hungary.
14. 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. Perfect winter dinner idea.
15. Japanese Beef Curry
This Beef Curry is regarded as one of the national dishes of Japan. It has a milder and sweeter flavor than the curries of India and the Caribbean, but it’s equally packed with flavor.
16. Fasolada
Fasolada is the ultimate Greek comfort food. This white bean soup is notable for a very generous drizzling of olive oil. Yum!
17. Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash
This Sausage Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe is a great winter dinner idea and would look gorgeous on any holiday spread!
18. Smothered Chicken
Smothered Chicken… Classic Soul Food that will warm you up in the winter. This is a comfort food that generations have grown up on.
19. Gigi Hadid Pasta
What is Gigi Hadid Pasta? Simple… Pasta made by Gigi Hadid, which broke the internet when it went viral on instagram and tiktok.
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.
20. Albondigas Soup
Albondigas Soup – This one is legit Delicious. This is the soup for your soul. Plump meatballs floating in a hearty tomato infused flavorful broth, loaded with tons of veggies. That’s sopa de albondigas for you.
21. Stamppot
Stamppot – Now here’s a twist on your mashed potatoes! This national dish of the Netherlands is a comfort food you need in your life. Potatoes mashed with other veggies and topped with smoked sausage. Such a great winter dinner idea!
22. Creamy Tortellini Soup
This super cozy and hearty Creamy Tortellini Soup get great flavors from sausage and sundried tomato pesto. You’ll keep coming back to this one all winter!
23. Grillades and 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!
24. Creamy Parmesan Chicken Meatballs
This pot is the ultimate in cozy comfort. Tender, juicy meatballs smothered in one of the most decadently creamy and deliciously cheesy sauces. And it all comes together in about 30 minutes!
25. Maafe (African Peanut Stew)
This West African peanut stew, Maafe (or Mafe), is loaded with rich savory flavors. Any meat of your choice goes great in this perfectly spiced peanut butter and tomato based sauce. Serve with a pile of white rice for a great winter supper.
26. Sausage Potato Casserole
This hearty casserole combines two comfort food staples, sausage and potatoes. Add in a generous helping of veggies and you have one great complete meal for winter nights!
Check out our collection of favorite Casserole Recipes!
27. Pork Menudo
Are you ready for a big bowl of the most delicious, melt in your mouth pork stew? You’ve come to the right place! This Filipino Pork Menudo is bursting with soul-satisfying flavors!
28. Grilled Cheese Tomato Soup
What is Grilled Cheese Tomato Soup? Nostalgia in a bowl! Hearty tomato soup topped with crunchy croutons and molten gooey cheese. You’re going to love this cozy soup in the winter!
29. Mediterranean Braised Chicken
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!
30. Eggplant Parmesan
Do you like Italian food? Do you like comfort food? This Eggplant Parmesan is the perfect combination of both! There are healthier ways to cook it, but why spoil perfection?
31. 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!
Check out our collection of favorite Pasta Recipes!
32. Shrimp Creole
This Shrimp Creole with Andouille Sausage is a flavor bomb! Plump shrimp and hearty sausage in a great Creole seasoned tomato sauce. If you’re a fan of New Orleans style food like us, this one is going in your rotation!
33. Kedjenou Chicken
Kedjenou is a beloved stew in the Ivory Coast. It’s so simple, yet so spectacularly tasty. Do you want it spicy? Oh, I will show you how to make it spicy!
34. Jägerschnitzel
Jägerschnitzel is crispy fried pork cutlets topped with one of the tastiest and creamiest mushroom gravies you can cook. It is a very rustic and classic traditional dish all the way from Austria.
35. Dal Tadka
Dal, a staple in every Indian household. There are countless varieties. This is one of the most popular, it is always found in any Indian restaurant.
36. Creamy Lemon Chicken
It’s creamy… it’s buttery… it’s smooth and silky… The Sauce… THE SAUCE IS THE KING HERE. Try this on some chilly winter night, you’re going to love it!
37. Blackened Shrimp and Grits
A Lowcountry classic. For this version, we use Cajun spices to give the shrimp a little kick, then they’re served atop a bowl of creamy, cheesy grits. YUMMM.
38. Oyster Stew
Oyster Stew is creamy, buttery and sooo delicious. This is a perfect winter warmer that you’ll want to come back to again and again.
39. Chicken Caldereta
Chicken Caldereta… Try this mild yet tasty coconut based Filipino stew. It’s packed with loads of veggies and tons of flavor. This cozy dish makes a great winter dinner idea.
40. Guinness Beef Stew
We’re wrapping up this list of winter dinners with a cozy, steaming pot of stew. Melt in your mouth beef, hearty veggies, and an amazing Guinness stout based gravy. So comforting!
So there you go, forty cozy winter dinner ideas. Don’t they all look so warm and comforting? Which ones will make their way into your regular rotation?
Take a look at these other great recipe collections!
Chili Recipes
Mac and Cheese Recipes
Mashed Potato Recipes
Baked Chicken Recipes
Crockpot Recipes
Spring Dinner Ideas
Summer Dinner Ideas
Fall Dinner Ideas
40 BEST Winter Dinners
This cozy collection of Winter Dinner Ideas is sure to keep your family warm and satisfied when the temperatures dip. We love this ultimate chili:
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb beef stew meat
- 1 14oz smoked sausage
- 3 15.5 oz cans of beans (kidney, black and great northern)
- 3 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil
- 1 onion
- 10 cloves garlic
- 1 jalepenõ
- 4 Tbsp tomato paste
- 4 Tbsp chili powder
- 2 Tbsp cumin powder
- 1 Tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- Salt, to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in large dutch oven over medium high heat.
Chop onion, garlic and jalepenõ. Add to dutch oven and sauté 5 minutes. - Add stew meat, sauté until browned.
Dice sausage into 1/2 inch slices and add to pot. Sauté until slightly browned. - Move everything to perimeter of pot and add ground beef to middle. Stir regularly and cook until cooked through.
- Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Bring to low boil and simmer 1 hour. Adjust salt to taste.
Notes
- Let me know which recipes you try, I love hearing from you!
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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