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 2221–2232 of 2290 dinner recipes

A tall glass of red salpicón de frutas being poured from a jug, with chunks of fruit visible in the pink-red juice

Colombia 40m

Snack & Tea •Caribbean Coast Heritage

Salpicón de Frutas Colombiano

This salpicon de frutas recipe dices papaya, pineapple, banana, melon and watermelon into small pieces, chills them in red Colombiana soda with lime, and serves the mix in tall glasses with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a crisp wafer. It is the cold, sweet cup sold by street vendors across Colombia on hot afternoons. One serving is about 510 g.

Light & Refreshing

A tall, ice-cold glass of diced tropical fruit in red soda, topped with ice cream — the sweet, refreshing cup Colombian street vendors pour on hot afternoons.

Pairs Well With
Serve the cold salpicón with a wafer and a long spoon, straight from the fridge

Quick Prep (<30m)

A close-up of shredded salt cod simmered in a red tomato and pepper sauce with green olives and potato

Cuba 1h 5m

Dinner •Basque-Cuban Classic

Cuban Bacalao a la Vizcaina

This cuban bacalao vizcaina recipe simmers desalted salt cod in a tomato and roasted red pepper sauce with potatoes, green olives and capers. One serving is about 450 g. It is the Basque stew that became a Cuban Lent favourite, and it is best served with white rice.

Comfort & Warmth

Desalted cod simmered with tomato, peppers, olives and capers in the Basque-style sauce Cuba adopted.

Pairs Well With
White rice and crusty bread to mop up the sauce

Two whole golden fried fish with a lime on top, served with tostones, rice, tomato and onion on a white plate

Dominican Republic 45m

Lunch •Boca Chica Heritage

Pescado Frito Dominicano

This pescado frito dominicano recipe fries whole red snapper the Boca Chica way: scored so the seasoning gets in, rubbed with lime juice, garlic and oregano, dusted lightly with cornstarch, and fried in hot oil until the skin is golden and crackling and the flesh flakes cleanly off the bone. It is beach food at its simplest — best eaten hot, with tostones, lime wedges and a green salad. One serving is about 280 g.

Crispy & Satisfying

Whole red snapper scored, rubbed with lime, garlic and oregano, dusted with cornstarch and fried until golden and crisp.

Pairs Well With
Serve the hot fish with tostones, lime wedges and a green salad

High Protein

A white bowl of creamy corn soup with sweetcorn kernels, cubes of avocado, a slice of lime and drops of red hot sauce

Ecuador 1h

Lunch •Ecuadorian Andean Classic

Sopa de Choclo Ecuatoriana

This sopa de choclo ecuatoriana recipe simmers fresh corn kernels and potato in water and milk, then stirs in cubes of queso fresco that soften into chewy morsels in the warm broth. It is built on a refrito of onion, garlic and annatto, the same golden base as Ecuador's locro soups, and it is served hot with avocado and lime. One serving is about 613 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Sweet corn simmered in milk with potato and queso fresco — a creamy, golden soup from the Ecuadorian highlands.

Pairs Well With
Serve hot with crusty bread and a squeeze of lime

Soups & Broths

A whole round chocolate cake with swirled chocolate frosting on a white plate

Haiti 1h 10m

Snack & Tea •Haitian Heritage

Haitian Chocolate Cake

This haitian chocolate cake recipe bakes a dark, moist chocolate sponge with cocoa, coffee, dark rum and warm Haitian spices — cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice — then soaks it with a brown-sugar rum syrup and finishes it with a glossy chocolate-rum ganache. One serving is about 130 g, one slice. It is the celebration cake Haitian families bake for birthdays and holidays, rich enough to need nothing more than coffee beside it.

Sweet Treats & Celebration

A dark chocolate sponge with rum, coffee and warm spices, soaked in rum syrup and finished with chocolate-rum ganache.

Pairs Well With
Serve one slice with strong Haitian coffee or a glass of cold milk; the coffee's bitterness balances the cake's richness.

A bowl of golden vegetable soup with carrot and tomato pieces in a white bowl on a plate, with a spoon and fork beside it

Paraguay 1h 5m

Lunch •Paraguayan Heritage

Paraguayan Vegetable Soup

This paraguayan vegetable soup recipe simmers pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, carrot, sweetcorn, tomato, onion and celery in a light vegetable broth with garlic and oregano, until every piece is tender but still holds its shape. It is a bean-free, meat-free bowl, finished with fresh cilantro and served very hot with bread. One serving is about 533 g and carries about 215 calories.

Comfort & Warmth

A chunky, golden soup of pumpkin, sweet potato, potato, carrot and corn in a light vegetable broth — a gentle, filling lunch bowl.

Pairs Well With
Serve the hot soup with crusty bread or chipa, and a spoonful of fresh cilantro on top.

Soups & Broths

A plate of red beans stewed with sliced chorizo and a mound of white rice, topped with grated cheese

El Salvador 1h 55m

Lunch •Salvadoran Heritage

Frijoles con Chorizo

This frijoles con chorizo recipe simmers small red beans with onion, garlic and a bay leaf until tender, then stirs in sliced chorizo cooked with tomato, green pepper and cumin. It is the bean pot of El Salvador and its neighbours, served over white rice with grated hard cheese on top. One serving is about 348 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Small red beans simmered with sliced chorizo, tomato and cumin, served over white rice — a hearty, homely Salvadoran lunch.

Pairs Well With
Serve the beans and chorizo over white rice with grated hard cheese and warm corn tortillas

Colourful bell peppers stuffed with seasoned minced beef and topped with melted golden cheese

Uruguay 1h 20m

Lunch •Montevideo Heritage

Morrones Rellenos

This morrones rellenos recipe fills sweet bell peppers with a savoury picadillo of ground beef, cooked rice, onion and tomato, tops them with mozzarella and parmesan, and bakes them standing in tomato sauce until the peppers are tender and the cheese is golden. Each pepper is a complete lunch on its own. One serving is about 450 g.

Hearty & Satisfying

Sweet peppers packed with beef, rice and melted cheese in tomato sauce — a complete lunch in one dish.

Pairs Well With
Serve the peppers hot with white rice and a green salad

Four sugar-dusted bars of huevos chimbos, golden egg-yolk sweets, arranged on a brown plate

Venezuela 1h 20m

Snack & Tea •Zulia Heritage

Huevos Chimbos

This huevos chimbos recipe makes the convent sweet of Zulia, in western Venezuela: egg yolks beaten for twenty minutes until pale and doubled in volume, set gently in a bain-marie, then soaked in a vanilla and rum syrup. Each little golden sponge drinks up the syrup and turns soft, sweet and fragrant. One serving (one chimbo with syrup) is about 108 g. The photo shows the same sweet in the bar-cut form sold in La Antigua, Guatemala; the Venezuelan version is set in small moulds.

Sweet Comfort

Whipped egg yolks baked into light little sponges, then soaked in a vanilla-and-rum syrup until glossy and tender.

Pairs Well With
Strong black coffee or a glass of cold milk

Whole roast guinea pig (cuy asado) with golden crisp skin, boiled potatoes and shredded carrot and cabbage salad on a white platter

Bolivia 1h 30m

Dinner •Bolivian Andes Heritage

Cuy Asado

Cuy asado is the celebratory roast of the Bolivian Andes: a whole guinea pig rubbed with garlic, cumin, paprika and lime, roasted until the skin turns golden and crisp, and carved at the table. This cuy asado recipe serves it the traditional way, with boiled potatoes, a smooth peanut sauce and a crunchy salad. One serving is about 530 g.

Festive & High-Protein

A whole roasted cuy with boiled potatoes, peanut sauce and salad — rich in protein and made for sharing.

Pairs Well With
Boiled Andean potatoes, peanut sauce and a cold beer or chicha.

High Protein

Two glass pitchers of borgoña, deep red wine with ice and chopped strawberries, on a red patterned tablecloth

Chile 1h 30m

Snack & Tea •Chilean Summer Classic

Borgoña

This borgona recipe turns a bottle of Chilean red wine and a box of ripe strawberries into the ruby-red punch of a Chilean summer. The berries are sugared and left to soften into a syrup, then cold red wine is poured over them and the whole pitcher is chilled until icy. One serving is one glass, about 310 g. It is the drink of the Fiestas Patrias and of long summer afternoons - sweet, fruity and much easier to drink than it looks.

Chile's Strawberry Wine Punch

Chilled red wine poured over strawberries macerated with sugar - sweet, ruby-red and made for sharing.

Pairs Well With
Empanadas de pino, pebre and grilled choripán, with water on the table

A tall glass of pale green lulada, a frothy lulo drink with visible pulp, on a wooden table

Colombia 10m

Snack & Tea •Valle del Cauca Heritage

Lulada

This lulada recipe starts with ripe lulo, the tangy green-gold fruit of Colombia's Valle del Cauca, and crushes the pulp by hand — never blended smooth — into a limeade base with sugar and plenty of crushed ice. One serving is a tall glass, about 399 g. It tastes like lime and pineapple with a floral edge, and it is the drink Cali reaches for on a hot afternoon.

Tart & Refreshing Fruit Drink

Ripe lulo pulp crushed by hand into a limeade base with sugar and crushed ice — tart, fragrant and ice-cold.

Pairs Well With
Pandebono or a cheese arepa on the side, and anything fried and salty

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

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Belize

Benin

Bhutan

Bolivia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Botswana

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Brunei

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Burkina Faso

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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

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Indonesia

Iran

Iraq

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

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Kiribati

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Kyrgyzstan

Laos

Latvia

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Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

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Lithuania

Luxembourg

Madagascar

Malawi

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Maldives

Mali

Malta

Marshall Islands

Mauritania

Mauritius

Mexico

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Mozambique

Myanmar

Namibia

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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

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South Africa

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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)

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