Dinner Ideas • Recipes from 193 Countries

Dinner Ideas from 193 Countries — What to Cook Tonight

Stuck on what to cook for dinner? Dinner Ideas brings easy dinner recipes from 193 countries — signature dishes with ingredients, steps, nutrition and pairings.

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193

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4 Slots

Breakfast to Snack

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100%

Recipes with Nutrition

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What’s for Dinner TonightFeatured Dinner Recipes from 193 Countries

Showing 1201–1212 of 2321 dinner recipes

Camarao na moranga — a whole roasted orange pumpkin filled with creamy shrimp and palm hearts

Brazil 1h 45m

Dinner •Brazilian Party Classic

Camarao na Moranga

This camarao na moranga recipe fills a roasted whole pumpkin with creamy shrimp, catupiry-style cream cheese and palm hearts — the Brazilian party dish that arrives at the table still in its shell. One serving is about 465 g.

Rich & Festive

Plump shrimp in a creamy sauce, served inside a roasted whole pumpkin — Brazil's showpiece party dish.

Pairs Well With
White rice, farofa, a cold beer

A tray of loaded nachos with melted cheese, jalapeños, olives and tomato, with small bowls of guacamole, salsa and sour cream beside it

Mexico 27m

Snack & Tea •Piedras Negras Border Classic

Nachos

This nachos recipe layers crisp corn tortilla chips with black beans and two melted cheeses, then bakes them until bubbling and finishes them with fresh tomato, red onion, pickled jalapeños, salsa, sour cream and guacamole. One serving is about 240 g.

Crowd-Pleasing Snack

Crisp tortilla chips baked under melted cheddar and Monterey Jack with black beans, tomato, onion and pickled jalapeños, finished with salsa, sour cream and guacamole.

Pairs Well With
Cold Mexican lager, lime wedges and extra salsa

A bowl of creamy zuppa toscana soup with sausage and kale on a wooden table

Italy 50m

Lunch •Tuscan-Style Cream Soup

Zuppa Toscana

This zuppa toscana recipe simmers crumbled Italian sausage, potatoes and kale in chicken broth, then finishes the pot with cream and a pinch of chilli for a rich, warming soup. One serving is about 550 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Crumbled Italian sausage, tender potatoes and kale simmered in chicken broth and finished with cream and chilli flakes.

Pairs Well With
Crusty bread, grated Parmesan and a green salad

Soups & Broths

A salade lyonnaise with a poached egg, crisp lardons, green leaves and tomato on a white plate

France 30m

Lunch •Lyon Bouchon Classic

Salade Lyonnaise

This salade lyonnaise recipe tosses bitter frisée with crisp lardons, garlicky croutons and a warm Dijon vinaigrette, then crowns each plate with a poached egg whose yolk runs into the leaves. One serving is about 175 g.

Fresh & Satisfying

Bitter frisée, crisp pork lardons, garlicky croutons and a poached egg, tossed in a warm Dijon and shallot vinaigrette.

Pairs Well With
Crusty bread, a glass of Beaujolais and Dijon mustard on the table

A long golden flamenquin roll with thin chips and salad on a terracotta plate in Córdoba

Spain 35m

Lunch •Córdoba Bar Classic

Flamenquin

This flamenquin recipe rolls thin pork loin around Serrano ham, coats the rolls in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, and fries them until deep golden and crisp. One serving is about 195 g.

Hearty & Crispy

Thin pork loin rolled around Serrano ham, breaded in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, and fried until deep golden.

Pairs Well With
Thin chips, green salad and a glass of red wine

Thin slices of seared rare beef tataki with ponzu sauce, garlic chips and spring onions on a white plate

Japan 25m

Dinner •Japanese Izakaya Classic

Beef Tataki

This beef tataki recipe sears a centre-cut piece of beef tenderloin hard on every side, chills it, and slices it thin, then serves the rare, rosy slices with a bright ponzu sauce, garlic, ginger and spring onions. The outside is caramelised and smoky, the inside stays cool and tender, and the citrus-soy dressing cuts through the richness. One serving is about 210 g.

High Protein & Light Eating

Beef tataki is thinly sliced beef that is seared hard on the outside and left rare inside, dressed with citrusy ponzu — rich in protein and light on the plate.

Pairs Well With
Steamed rice and a small bowl of miso soup

High Protein

Golden khanom buang, Thai crispy pancakes folded around white meringue and topped with golden foi thong egg threads, on a cooling rack

Thailand 1h

Snack & Tea •Thai Street Food

Khanom Buang

This khanom buang recipe makes Thailand's iconic crispy pancakes: a paper-thin rice-flour crepe cooked flat on a hot griddle, folded taco-style around sweet meringue cream and topped with golden foi thong egg threads. One serving is about 155 g (6 pieces).

Sweet Comfort

Paper-thin crispy crepes filled with cloud-light meringue and golden egg threads — Thailand's classic sweet street snack.

Pairs Well With
Thai iced tea, hot jasmine tea & fresh mango

A bowl of chao long, Vietnamese pork-offal congee, with fried dough sticks, sliced offal and fresh herbs

Vietnam 2h 10m

Breakfast •Vietnamese Breakfast Classic

Chao Long

This chao long recipe simmers broken rice in a pork broth until the grains break down into a silky, savoury porridge, then ladles it over slices of pork, liver, kidney, intestine and blood sausage, with ginger, herbs and fried dough sticks on top. It is Vietnam's hearty breakfast porridge — rich, warming and deeply savoury, quite different from the lighter chicken congee. One serving is about 585 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Chao long is Vietnam's pork-offal rice porridge: rice simmered slowly in pork broth until silky, served with sliced offal, ginger and herbs — a rich, warming breakfast.

Pairs Well With
Fried dough sticks (quay) and pickled garlic

Soups & Broths

A bowl of Chinese almond tofu with white jelly cubes, canned peaches, fruit cocktail and a cherry

China 20m

Snack & Tea •Chinese Banquet Dessert Classic

Chinese Almond Tofu

This Chinese almond tofu recipe — xing ren dou fu — sets sweetened almond milk into silky white jelly cubes, then serves them cold with canned fruit in juice. The jelly is delicate and cool, with a gentle almond fragrance, and the fruit on top adds colour and sweetness. This version is set with agar-agar instead of gelatin, so it stays vegetarian. One serving is about 320 g.

Light & Refreshing Dessert

Chinese almond tofu is almond-flavoured milk set into silky jelly cubes and served cold with fruit — a light, refreshing dessert from the Chinese banquet table.

Pairs Well With
Hot jasmine tea

A plate of dakgangjeong, glossy bite-size pieces of glazed fried chicken sprinkled with chopped peanuts, sesame seeds and herbs

South Korea 45m

Snack & Tea •Sokcho Market Heritage

Dakgangjeong

This dakgangjeong recipe makes small, shatteringly crisp bites of boneless chicken coated in a sticky, sweet-spicy glaze of gochujang, rice syrup and soy sauce, finished with chopped peanuts and sesame. Unlike the larger pieces of Korean fried chicken, dakgangjeong is cut small enough to eat with a toothpick, and the glaze is thick like candy rather than a thin sauce. One serving is about 240 g.

Snack & Sharing

Bite-size pieces of twice-fried chicken in a thick, sweet gochujang glaze, made for sharing straight from the bowl.

Pairs Well With
Serve hot in a bowl with pickled radish and a cold beer or barley tea.

Two rolled tantuni wraps with yogurt sauce, fries, sumac red onion and a lemon wedge on a white plate

Turkey 1h

Lunch •Mersin Heritage

Tantuni

This tantuni recipe is the Mersin street-food classic: thin strips of beef first simmered until tender, then fried on a hot griddle in cottonseed oil with tomato, red pepper and paprika, and rolled in warm lavash with sumac onion, tomato and parsley. It is not doner kebab — there is no spit-roasted meat here, only small pieces of beef cooked on the sac, the shallow metal griddle with a hollow centre that gives tantuni its name and its flavour. One serving is about 240 g.

Street Food & Quick Lunch

Julienne beef sauteed on a hot sac griddle with tomato and spices, rolled in lavash with sumac onion.

Pairs Well With
Serve the wraps hot with pickled peppers, a lemon wedge and a glass of salgam or ayran.

Quick Prep (<30m)

A tray of golden diples, folded fried pastry strips dusted with cinnamon, in paper cases

Greece 1h

Snack & Tea •Peloponnese Heritage

Diples

This diples recipe makes the Peloponnese festive favourite: thin sheets of egg dough rolled out until almost transparent, folded and fried in hot oil until they puff into crisp golden ribbons, then dipped in warm honey syrup and sprinkled with walnuts and cinnamon. They are not loukoumades — those are round dough balls, while diples are flat strips folded in the oil — and they are not churros either, because the dough is an egg pastry, not a choux, and the finish is honey, not plain sugar. One serving is about 115 g.

Festive Sweet & Sharing

Paper-thin strips of egg dough fried into crisp folds, dipped in honey syrup and dusted with walnut and cinnamon.

Pairs Well With
Serve diples at room temperature with Greek coffee and a small glass of sweet wine.

Find Dinner Ideas by Country

Every one of the world's 193 countries has a signature dish — browse the full directory to find tonight's dinner, or jump straight to a cuisine with recipes.

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Andorra

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina

Armenia

Australia

Austria

Azerbaijan

Bahamas

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Barbados

Belarus

Belgium

Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

Brazil

Brunei

Bulgaria

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cabo Verde

Cambodia

Cameroon

Canada

Central African Republic

Chad

Chile

China

Colombia

Comoros

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Republic of the Congo

Costa Rica

Croatia

Cuba

Cyprus

Czechia

Côte d'Ivoire

Denmark

Djibouti

Dominica

Dominican Republic

Ecuador

Egypt

El Salvador

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Estonia

Eswatini

Ethiopia

Fiji

Finland

France

Gabon

Gambia

Georgia

Germany

Ghana

Greece

Grenada

Guatemala

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Guyana

Haiti

Honduras

Hungary

Iceland

India

Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kenya

Kiribati

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

Lebanon

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Nicaragua

Niger

Nigeria

North Korea

North Macedonia

Norway

Oman

Pakistan

Palau

Panama

Papua New Guinea

Paraguay

Peru

Philippines

Poland

Portugal

Qatar

Romania

Russia

Rwanda

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa

San Marino

São Tomé and Príncipe

Saudi Arabia

Senegal

Serbia

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore

Slovakia

Slovenia

Solomon Islands

Somalia

South Africa

South Korea

South Sudan

Spain

Sri Lanka

Sudan

Suriname

Sweden

Switzerland

Syria

Tajikistan

Tanzania

Thailand

Timor-Leste

Togo

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Tuvalu

Uganda

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

United States

Uruguay

Uzbekistan

Vanuatu

Venezuela

Vietnam

Yemen

Zambia

Zimbabwe Browse all 193 countries →

Dinner Ideas by Category

Soups & Broths Pasta & Noodles High Protein Fermented / Gut Health Quick Prep (<30m)

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The Dinner GazetteFresh Dinner Ideas from the Journal

All news →

A bowl of tagliatelle with rich ragù sauce

Ingredient Guides

The Pantry Staples Every World Kitchen Shares

From a market in Bangkok to a farmhouse in Tuscany, cooks reach for the same handful of staples: rice, dried beans, good oil, salt, garlic, chillies and something sour. Stock these, and dinner in any cuisine is suddenly within reach.

November 5, 2026 • 725 words

A hearty autumn stew served in a rustic bowl

Seasonal Cooking

Autumn’s Best: Cooking with Squash and Root Vegetables

When the air turns cool, the garden answers with squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips and beets. Roasted low and slow, these autumn vegetables turn sweet, caramelised and deeply satisfying — here is how to cook them well.

November 5, 2026 • 597 words

Fresh herbs rolled into Vietnamese spring rolls

Kitchen Techniques

How to Store Fresh Herbs So They Last Two Weeks

Fresh herbs wilt in days when they are tossed loose into the fridge. The jar method — a little water, a loose bag, and the right shelf — keeps parsley, cilantro, mint and dill bright and fragrant for up to two weeks.

November 5, 2026 • 658 words

Food Pairing Guide

What to Eat With What

Some foods taste better — and do you more good — together. Here is what to serve with each dish, and what to skip, with the science in plain words.

Tested in the Dinner Ideas kitchen

Phở Bò (Vietnamese Beef Broth)

Iron & Collagen Dynamics

EAT TOGETHER: Fresh Lime & Sawtooth Coriander

The ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in freshly squeezed lime converts the non-heme and heme iron from thinly shaved beef into its bioavailable ferrous form (Fe²⁺), escalating iron assimilation by up to 300%. Fresh culantro supplies carotenes that ignite digestive bile acids.

AVOID IMMEDIATELY AFTER: Condensed Milk Iced Coffee

Drinking condensed milk coffee (Cà Phê Sữa Đá) directly following Phở binds active polyphenolic chlorogenic acids and milk casein directly to the beef iron molecules, forming unabsorbable insoluble complexes that severely stunt nutrient uptake. Wait at least 90 minutes.

Metabolic window: Breakfast (07:00 – 09:30) • Optimal Gut Transition: 3.5 Hours

Tomatoes & Wild Summer Greens

Carotenoid Unlocking

EAT TOGETHER: Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Aged Feta

Lycopene is an intrinsically lipophilic (fat-soluble) antioxidant compound bound tight inside tomato skin cells. Pairing ripe heirloom tomatoes with the monounsaturated fats of raw cold-pressed olive oil boosts vascular lycopene absorption by nearly 4.4-fold.

AVOID TOGETHER: Fat-Free Industrial Dressings

Consuming vine tomatoes with zero-fat or high-sugar artificial vinaigrettes prevents the body from emulsifying fat-soluble Vitamins A, E, and K, passing essential restorative nutrients unabsorbed through the gastrointestinal tract.

Metabolic window: Lunch or Aperitivo • Lycopene Uptake: +440%

Turmeric + Black Pepper

Piperine in coarse crushed pepper amplifies active curcumin bioavailability by 2000%.

Green Tea + Lemon Twist

Citric acid preserves delicate EGCG catechins through acidic stomach transit intact.

Calcium Rich + Iron Stews

Heavy dairy cheese interferes with non-heme iron absorption channels if consumed simultaneously.