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 1513–1524 of 2311 dinner recipes

Golden-brown dampfnudeln piled in a black pot, one turned over to show its crisp caramelised base

Germany 1h 50m

Snack & Tea •Southern German Steamed Dumplings

Dampfnudeln with Vanilla Sauce

This dampfnudeln recipe steams soft yeast dumplings in sweet milk and butter until their bases turn golden, then serves them warm with a light vanilla sauce. One serving is about 339 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Soft yeast dumplings steamed in milk and butter until golden underneath, served warm with vanilla sauce.

Pairs Well With
Vanilla sauce, stewed plums and a cup of coffee

A platter of carne de porco à alentejana with golden pork cubes, open clams, fried potatoes and a lemon wedge

Portugal 3h

Dinner •Alentejo Surf and Turf

Carne de Porco à Alentejana with Clams

This carne de porco a alentejana recipe marries garlicky marinated pork with fresh clams in a white wine and coriander sauce, finished with lemon and fried potatoes. One serving is about 327 g.

Hearty & Satisfying

Marinated pork cubes and fresh clams cooked together in white wine, garlic and coriander, served with fried potatoes.

Pairs Well With
Fried potato cubes, crusty bread and a glass of white wine

High Protein

Two wooden bowls of creamy pale bissara soup with cumin and olive oil, served with bread, olives and ground cumin

Morocco 1h 15m

Breakfast •Northern Moroccan Breakfast Soup

Bissara — Moroccan Fava Bean Soup

This bissara recipe simmers dried fava beans until soft, blends them into a smooth soup and finishes each bowl with cumin, paprika and olive oil. One serving is about 351 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Dried fava beans simmered soft, blended smooth and finished with cumin, paprika and olive oil.

Pairs Well With
Crusty bread, olives and mint tea

Soups & Broths

Green beans simmering in a rich red tomato sauce in a pot

Egypt 1h 40m

Dinner •Egyptian Home Stew

Egyptian Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

This egyptian green beans recipe stews green beans and beef in a rich tomato sauce with garlic, cumin and coriander, the Egyptian fasoolya served over rice. One serving is about 396 g.

Hearty & Satisfying

Green beans and beef stewed slowly in a garlic and coriander tomato sauce, served over rice.

Pairs Well With
White rice, warm baladi bread and a lemon wedge

A white bowl of Lebanese meghli topped with desiccated coconut, cashews, golden raisins and chopped nuts

Lebanon 45m

Snack & Tea •Lebanese Celebration Sweet

Lebanese Meghli

This lebanese meghli recipe makes a silky, spice-scented pudding from rice flour, water, sugar, caraway, anise and cinnamon — no milk at all, which is what sets meghli apart from every milk pudding. It is poured into small bowls, chilled until set, and finished with a generous blanket of coconut, chopped nuts and golden raisins. One serving is about 206 g.

Comfort & Warmth

A warmly spiced rice-flour pudding, made without milk and crowned with coconut and nuts — Lebanon's classic sweet for welcoming a new baby.

Pairs Well With
Lebanese coffee or mint tea, served in small cups alongside the pudding

A plate of round Argentine sorrentinos filled with ham and cheese, topped with a savoury meat and tomato sauce

Argentina 1h 25m

Dinner •Mar del Plata Classic

Argentine Sorrentinos

This argentine sorrentinos recipe makes the big round pasta pockets of Argentina from scratch: egg dough rolled thin, filled with ham, mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan, sealed into circles, then boiled and served in a simple tomato sauce. They are larger and rounder than Italian ravioli, and the ham-and-cheese filling is the classic. One serving is about 308 g, with roughly 8 sorrentinos per plate.

Comfort & Warmth

Big, round pasta pockets filled with ham and melted cheese, boiled and served in tomato sauce — Argentina's answer to ravioli, and a Sunday-lunch favourite.

Pairs Well With
A green salad, crusty bread and a glass of Argentine Malbec

Pasta & Noodles

A close-up of golden fried jalea mixta seafood topped with red onion salsa criolla, tomato and cilantro

Peru 45m

Lunch •Northern Coast Classic

Jalea Mixta

This jalea mixta recipe fries a mix of white fish, shrimp, calamari and mussels in a light flour-and-cornstarch crust until shatteringly crisp, then piles them high with salsa criolla — red onion, tomato, lime and ají — and fried yuca. Where ceviche cures the seafood in lime juice, jalea fries it: same sea, opposite technique. One serving is about 446 g.

Comfort & Warmth

A mountain of crisp fried fish, shrimp, calamari and mussels with sharp salsa criolla and fried yuca — the fried, golden counterpart to ceviche from Peru's northern coast.

Pairs Well With
Fried yuca, salsa criolla and an ice-cold beer or chicha morada

Two glass mugs of frothy Malaysian teh tarik, golden-brown pulled milk tea, on a dark table

Malaysia 20m

Breakfast •Malaysian National Drink

Teh Tarik

This teh tarik recipe brews strong black tea, sweetens it with condensed milk and evaporated milk, then pulls it back and forth between two jugs from a height until it turns silky and frothy on top. The pulling cools the tea to drinking temperature and whips in the foam that makes it teh tarik — pulled tea — rather than ordinary milk tea. One serving is about 345 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Strong black tea pulled between two jugs until frothy, with condensed and evaporated milk — Malaysia's national drink, made at home in minutes.

Pairs Well With
Roti canai, nasi lemak or kaya toast for a Malaysian breakfast

A plate of lontong sayur: white rice cake cubes in golden coconut vegetable soup with a boiled egg, long beans, jackfruit and pink tapioca crackers.

Indonesia 55m

Breakfast •Jakarta Breakfast Classic

Lontong Sayur

Lontong sayur is Indonesia's beloved breakfast: soft cubes of compressed rice cake ladled over with a fragrant coconut-milk vegetable soup of chayote, long beans, young jackfruit, tempeh and tofu, finished with a boiled egg, sambal and crisp crackers. One serving is about 706 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Warm coconut vegetable soup over soft rice cakes — a filling, gentle start to the day.

Pairs Well With
Serve hot in deep bowls with extra sambal and crackers on the side, and hot sweet tea.

A plate of white asparagus spears with rolled slices of cooked ham and a dollop of pale sauce, with a glass of white wine beside it.

Netherlands 45m

Dinner •Limburg Spring Classic

Dutch White Asparagus

Dutch white asparagus is the Netherlands' spring celebration: tender white spears, gently boiled, served with slices of cooked ham, halved boiled eggs, parsley potatoes and a jug of warm melted butter. One serving is about 503 g.

Fresh & Seasonal

Tender white asparagus with ham, egg and melted butter — the short Dutch spring season on a plate.

Pairs Well With
Serve warm on a big shared platter with the butter in a jug, and a glass of dry white wine.

Six golden hand-shaped butter cookies on a white plate with a pink rose and gold-leaf rim, seen from above.

Belgium 45m

Snack & Tea •Antwerp Classic Since 1934

Antwerpse Handjes

Antwerpse handjes are Antwerp's hand-shaped butter cookies, tender and golden, with a fine, melt-in-the-mouth crumb from cornstarch and a whisper of vanilla. One serving is about 69 g, two cookies. Cut into little hands after the legend of Brabo and the giant Antigoon, they are the city's edible souvenir — baked for coffee, for tea, and for giving away in boxes.

Buttery Baking

Tender, golden butter cookies cut into the shape of a hand.

Pairs Well With
Black coffee, tea & Elixir d'Anvers

A bowl of Bündner Gerstensuppe: creamy barley soup with strips of ham and chopped herbs, served at a restaurant in Lenzerheide.

Switzerland 1h 30m

Lunch •Graubünden Alpine Classic

Bündner Gerstensuppe

Bündner Gerstensuppe is the barley soup of Graubünden in the Swiss Alps: pearl barley simmered with smoked bacon and ham, potatoes, carrots, celery root, cabbage and leek in beef stock, finished with a swirl of cream. One serving is about 508 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Slow-simmered barley, root vegetables and smoked meat finished with cream — a hearty Alpine bowl.

Pairs Well With
Serve hot with dark rye bread and butter, and a glass of apple juice.

Soups & Broths

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

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Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

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Armenia

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Niger

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North Korea

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Portugal

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Russia

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Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

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Zambia

Zimbabwe Browse all 193 countries →

Dinner Ideas by Category

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

Dinner Ideas by Meal

Breakfast Lunch Dinner Snack & Tea

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Mediterranean & Italy East & South Asia Latin America & Caribbean Middle Eastern Nordic & European African Heritage North America Oceania & Pacific

The Dinner GazetteFresh Dinner Ideas from the Journal

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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.

Dinner Ideas from 193 Countries — What to Cook Tonight

What’s for Dinner TonightFeatured Dinner Recipes from 193 Countries

Find Dinner Ideas by Country

Dinner Ideas by Category

Dinner Ideas by Meal

Dinner Ideas by Region

The Dinner GazetteFresh Dinner Ideas from the Journal

What to Eat With What

Iron & Collagen Dynamics

Carotenoid Unlocking

Never wonder what’s for dinner again