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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Breakfast to Snack

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What’s for Dinner TonightFeatured Dinner Recipes from 193 Countries

Showing 193–204 of 2290 dinner recipes

A pan of golden Käsknöpfle topped with crisp fried onions, served with a green salad

Liechtenstein 1h

Dinner •Liechtenstein Heritage

Käsknöpfle

This kasknopfle recipe turns a simple flour-and-egg dough into soft, pillowy knöpfle, layered while still steaming with grated hard cheese and a little sour cheese until everything melts into long, stringy strands. Crisp, dark-fried onions go on top, and the traditional partner is a spoonful of cool applesauce. One serving is about 317 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Soft egg dumplings layered with melted Alpine cheese and crisp fried onions, served hot with cool applesauce on the side.

Pairs Well With
Applesauce, green salad & sparkling water

Pasta & Noodles

A plate of golden crumbled Ribel with a spoonful of applesauce, on a red wooden table outdoors

Liechtenstein 45m

Breakfast •Liechtenstein Heritage

Ribel

This ribel recipe starts with fine cornmeal stirred into hot milk and water until it thickens into a soft mush, then rests, crumbles and fries in butter until the pieces turn golden and crisp at the edges. It is the old breakfast of the Rhine Valley farming families, served warm with a spoonful of cool applesauce. One serving is about 320 g.

Hearty & Simple

Golden cornmeal cooked in milk, crumbled and fried in butter until crisp at the edges, served warm with cool applesauce.

Pairs Well With
Applesauce, hot coffee & warm milk

Two golden-brown Krautkrapfen pasta pockets filled with sauerkraut and bacon on a white plate, sprinkled with chopped parsley

Liechtenstein 1h 20m

Dinner •Rhine Valley Heritage

Krautkrapfen

This krautkrapfen recipe turns fresh egg pasta, tangy sauerkraut and smoky bacon into golden pockets that are boiled, then fried in butter until crisp at the edges. The filling is sharp, salty and warming, the pasta is tender, and a spoonful of cool sour cream on the side makes the whole plate come together. One serving is about 295 g (four pockets with sour cream).

Comfort & Warmth

Golden pasta pockets filled with tangy sauerkraut and smoky bacon, fried in butter and served with cool sour cream.

Pairs Well With
Sour cream, crisp green salad & a cold lager

Pasta & Noodles

Two cepelinai potato dumplings with bacon bits, dill and sour cream on a plate in Kaunas

Lithuania 1h 30m

Dinner •Lithuanian Heritage

Cepelinai

This cepelinai recipe shapes finely grated raw potato and riced boiled potato into large, zeppelin-shaped dumplings around a juicy filling of seasoned ground pork, then boils them gently until tender. They arrive at the table under spirgai — crisp bacon and soft onion — with a generous spoonful of sour cream. One serving is about 750 g, two dumplings with sauce.

Comfort & Warmth

Large potato dumplings stuffed with seasoned pork, boiled until tender and served with bacon, onion and sour cream.

Pairs Well With
Sour cream, bacon-onion sauce & pickled cucumber

High Protein

A glass dish of golden-brown baked kugelis potato pudding on a table, cut into squares

Lithuania 1h 30m

Dinner •Lithuanian Heritage

Kugelis

This kugelis recipe grates raw potatoes as fine as it can go, stirs them with softened onion, butter, eggs and warm milk, then bakes the mixture in a buttered dish until the top turns deep gold and the edges pull away. It is cut into thick slices at the table and served with a sauce of crisp bacon, soft onion and sour cream. One serving is about 358 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Grated potato baked with milk, egg and butter into a golden pudding, served hot with a bacon, onion and sour cream sauce.

Pairs Well With
Bacon-onion sour cream sauce, applesauce & pickles

Moules-frites — a black pot of steamed mussels with herbs, served with golden fries at a Brussels brasserie

Belgium 1h

Dinner •Brussels Brasserie Classic

Moules-Frites

This moules frites recipe makes the plate Belgium is proudest of: a black pot of mussels steamed open in white wine, shallots and cream, served with a heap of crisp, twice-cooked fries and a pot of mayonnaise. The mussels are sweet and briny, the broth is made for dipping, and the fries stay crisp if you keep them out of the pot. One serving is about 350 g.

Seaside Comfort

Sweet mussels steamed in white wine and cream, piled next to golden twice-cooked fries.

Pairs Well With
Crisp Belgian lager & mayonnaise

High Protein

Belgian waffles — a golden Brussels waffle topped with whipped cream and icing sugar on a white plate

Belgium 1h 35m

Breakfast •Brussels Bakery Classic

Belgian Waffles

This Belgian waffles recipe makes the light, yeasted kind: a risen batter cooked in a hot iron until the outside is crisp and golden and the inside stays soft and airy. The deep pockets hold butter, syrup or berries, and a dusting of icing sugar is all they really need. This recipe makes 8 waffles; one serving is 2 waffles, about 210 g. Nutrition is for the plain waffles, before toppings.

Weekend Breakfast Treat

Light, yeasted Brussels waffles with deep pockets, crisp outside and soft inside.

Pairs Well With
Strong coffee & fresh berries

Carbonade flamande — dark beer-braised beef stew with fries and a small salad on a white plate

Belgium 2h 55m

Dinner •Flemish Farmhouse Classic

Carbonade Flamande

This carbonade flamande recipe is Flanders' answer to the French beef stew: chunks of beef braised for hours in dark Belgian ale with sweet caramelised onions, thyme and bay, thickened the old way with slices of bread spread with mustard. The sauce turns dark, glossy and sweet-sour, and the beef goes spoon-tender. One serving is about 250 g, not counting the fries or potatoes served alongside.

Slow Sunday Comfort

Beef braised low and slow in dark Belgian ale with onions and mustard bread.

Pairs Well With
Dark Belgian ale & fries

High Protein

Ćevapi — grilled minced-meat fingers in lepinja flatbread with chopped raw onion, Sarajevo style

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1h 40m

Dinner •Sarajevo Grill Classic

Ćevapi

This Bosnian cevapi recipe makes Bosnia's beloved grilled minced-meat fingers: beef, lamb and pork mixed with onion, garlic and a pinch of baking soda, kneaded until silky, shaped into small sausages and grilled until browned and juicy. They are served five or ten at a time in warm lepinja flatbread with raw onion and kajmak. One serving is about 360 g, including bread and toppings.

Grill-Night Favourite

Small grilled fingers of seasoned minced meat, tucked into warm lepinja with onion and kajmak.

Pairs Well With
Lepinja, raw onion & kajmak

High Protein

Tufahije — four whole poached apples in syrup, each topped with a dollop of whipped cream, in a glass dish

Bosnia and Herzegovina 45m

Snack & Tea •Sarajevo Dessert Classic

Tufahije

This tufahije recipe is Bosnia's most loved dessert: whole Golden Delicious apples, peeled and cored, poached gently in a lemon-scented sugar syrup until just tender, then filled with ground walnuts, sugar and egg white and served chilled in their syrup with a cloud of whipped cream. It is simple, old-fashioned and quietly elegant — the apples stay whole, the filling stays nutty, and the syrup does the sweetening. One serving is about 330 g.

Sweet & Gentle

Whole apples poached in lemon syrup, filled with walnuts and crowned with whipped cream.

Pairs Well With
Strong Bosnian coffee & a glass of cold water

Bosnian burek — golden rolled meat filo pie on a metal plate with a cup of ayran, Sarajevo style

Bosnia and Herzegovina 1h 20m

Lunch •Buregdžinica Classic

Bosnian Burek

This Bosnian burek recipe is the real thing: in Bosnia, burek always means meat. Thin filo is brushed with butter, spread with seasoned minced beef and onion, rolled into long ropes and coiled into a spiral, then baked until the pastry is golden and shattering and the filling is juicy. It is sold by weight in buregdžinice, cut into wedges and eaten with yoghurt. One serving is about 175 g.

Bakery Lunch

Golden filo rolled around spiced minced beef and coiled into a spiral.

Pairs Well With
Plain yoghurt & ayran

Shopska salad — diced tomatoes, cucumber and peppers covered in grated white sirene cheese in a blue bowl

Bulgaria 20m

Lunch •Sofia Table Classic

Shopska Salad

This shopska salad recipe makes Bulgaria's most famous salad: ripe tomatoes, cucumber, peppers and onion, diced and lightly dressed with sunflower oil and vinegar, then buried under a thick layer of grated sirene, the white brined cheese that makes the dish. It is fresh, salty, crunchy and ready in twenty minutes. One serving is about 325 g.

Fresh Garden Lunch

Crisp tomatoes, cucumber and peppers under a snowdrift of grated sirene.

Pairs Well With
Grilled meats & rakia

Quick Prep (<30m)

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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Antigua and Barbuda

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Armenia

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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

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.

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