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.

Countries

193

Cuisines Covered

Meal Times

4 Slots

Breakfast to Snack

Nutrition

100%

Recipes with Nutrition

Category:

Meal Time

Choose the meal you are cooking for

Region

2301 dinner ideas matching filters

Reset Filters ×

What’s for Dinner TonightFeatured Dinner Recipes from 193 Countries

Showing 625–636 of 2301 dinner recipes

Ga kenkey balls wrapped in dried corn husks on a white plate, one unwrapped showing the pale fermented corn dough

Ghana 3h 20m

Lunch •Ga Home Table

Ga Kenkey

This ga kenkey recipe ferments white corn dough for two to three days, partially cooks it, then wraps it in dried corn husks and steams it for two hours — never kneaded in a pot like banku. The result is firm, sour and sliceable, peeled open at the table and eaten with fried tilapia and shito. One serving is about 390 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Firm, sour fermented corn dough steamed in husks, served hot with fried fish and shito.

Pairs Well With
Fried tilapia & shito

Fermented / Gut Health

Two golden baked chicken thighs served with sesame garlic green beans, potato salad and baked beans on a white plate

Barbados 1h 10m

Dinner •Barbados Heritage

Bajan Baked Chicken

This bajan baked chicken recipe is the Sunday-lunch chicken of Barbados: bone-in pieces rubbed all over with Bajan seasoning — fresh thyme and marjoram, garlic, spring onions, mustard, lime juice and a Scotch bonnet — then left to marinate and baked until the skin turns crisp and golden. The marinade is the whole point: it perfumes the meat right down to the bone and gives the chicken a herby, tangy heat that plain baked chicken never has. One serving is about 294 g.

Comfort & Protein

Chicken pieces marinated in fresh-herb Bajan seasoning and oven-baked until golden, the main dish of the Bajan Sunday lunch.

Pairs Well With
Macaroni pie & garden salad

High Protein

Thin slices of dark red-brown biltong, air-dried cured beef flecked with coriander spice, piled on a white plate

South Africa 96h 45m

Snack & Tea •South African Heritage

Biltong

This biltong recipe is the South African way of turning lean beef silverside into a snack that keeps for weeks: thick whole-muscle strips are rubbed with a vinegar, salt and coriander cure, left overnight, then hung in moving air for four to five days until the outside is dry and the middle is still soft and rosy. It is not jerky — nothing is smoked or cooked, and the meat is never minced — and it is not droëwors, the dried sausage made from minced meat in a casing. Biltong is sliced thin from the dried slab and eaten as it is, dark and chewy, with a warm coriander-pepper edge. One serving is about 50 g.

High-Protein Snack

Thick strips of lean beef cured in vinegar, salt and coriander, then air-dried for days until chewy-tender — South Africa's most famous snack.

Pairs Well With
Cold beer or rooibos iced tea & a cheese board

High Protein

A bowl of dark red Nigerian tomato-pepper stew with pieces of beef, served with leaf-wrapped eko on a tray

Nigeria 1h 35m

Dinner •West African Classic

Nigerian Tomato Stew

This Nigerian tomato stew recipe blends fresh tomatoes, red bell peppers, Scotch bonnet and onions, then fries the base down in oil until it turns deep red and the oil separates and rises to the top. Tender beef is simmered in the finished stew, which is the foundation sauce that so many Nigerian dishes are built on. One serving is about 450 g. It takes about 95 minutes and serves 4, with white rice or a swallow on the side.

Comfort & Warmth

A rich tomato-pepper stew fried down until the oil rises, simmered with tender beef — the base sauce of Nigerian cooking, ladled over rice or scooped with a swallow.

Pairs Well With
Serve hot over white rice, or with pounded yam, eba or amala for scooping — the stew is the sauce, so let the rice or swallow carry it.

A white bowl of githeri — whole maize kernels and kidney beans stewed together in a light broth, topped with chopped spring onion

Kenya 2h 45m

Dinner •Central Kenya Staple

Githeri

This githeri recipe makes Kenya's beloved one-pot meal: whole maize kernels and red kidney beans boiled together until tender, with potato, onion and tomato. Every kernel and every bean stays whole in the bowl — unlike muthokoi, where the maize is dehulled and pounded, githeri never mashes or grinds its two main ingredients. It is the humble, hearty staple of Central Kenya, filling enough to stand alone at dinner. One serving is about 407 g.

Hearty & Wholesome

Whole maize kernels and kidney beans, boiled together in one pot until tender — simple, filling and naturally plant-based.

Pairs Well With
Soft Kenyan chapati, sukuma wiki and a cup of milky Kenyan chai

Ghanaian light soup, a thin red tomato broth with pieces of meat and fufu, served in a dark earthenware bowl

Ghana 1h 10m

Dinner •Akan Home Cooking

Ghana Chicken Light Soup

This ghana chicken light soup recipe makes the thin, spicy tomato broth Ghana is famous for: bone-in chicken simmered in a blended base of tomato, onion, ginger and Scotch bonnet, with no palm oil, no groundnut paste and nothing to thicken it. The broth stays clear and light, and the chicken cooks in it rather than beside it, so every spoonful tastes of tomato, ginger and gentle heat. One serving is about 600 g of soup, ladled hot into a bowl with fufu on the side.

Comfort & Warmth

A thin, spicy tomato broth with tender chicken, served steaming hot with fufu.

Pairs Well With
Hot fufu, torn by hand and dipped into the thin tomato broth.

Soups & Broths • High Protein

Two golden triangular samosas on a white plate with green mint chutney, red tamarind chutney and fresh green chillies

India 1h 20m

Snack & Tea •Punjabi Heritage

Samosa

This samosa recipe makes the classic Punjabi potato-pea samosa: a stiff wheat dough rolled thin, folded into a cone, packed with cumin-scented potatoes and peas, and fried slowly until the crust turns deep golden and shatteringly crisp. Serve it hot with tamarind chutney and mint chutney, the way it is eaten at every Indian tea stall. One serving is about 250 g, three samosas.

Crispy Snack

Crisp triangular wheat pastry filled with spiced potatoes and peas, fried golden and eaten hot with tamarind and mint chutneys.

Pairs Well With
Tamarind chutney, mint chutney & masala chai

A bowl of thick, smooth Pakistani haleem porridge topped with fried onions, coriander and green chilli, with a plate of lemon wedges, ginger, fried onions and chillies beside it

Pakistan 5h 45m

Lunch •Hyderabad Heritage

Haleem

This haleem recipe is Pakistan's great slow-cooked porridge: whole wheat, barley and three lentils simmered for hours with spiced lamb, then pounded and stirred until the grains disintegrate into a thick, smooth, sticky porridge — never a chunky stew. It is finished with a sizzling ghee tarka and served with fried onions, ginger, green chillies, coriander and lemon. One serving is about 450 g.

Pakistan's Slow-Cooked Ramadan Porridge

Wheat, barley and lentils slow-cooked with spiced lamb for hours, then pounded and stirred into a thick, smooth porridge — the dish Pakistani families break their Ramadan fast with.

Pairs Well With
Warm naan, garnish plate & sweet lassi

High Protein

Pancit bihon — a plate of thin translucent rice vermicelli stir-fried with pork, cabbage and carrots, with a whole calamansi on the side

Philippines 40m

Lunch •Filipino Heritage

Pancit Bihon

This pancit bihon recipe is the Filipino birthday noodle: thin, translucent rice vermicelli (bihon) stir-fried with pork, chicken and shrimp, cabbage, carrots and green beans in a savoury soy-calamansi sauce. One serving is about 430 g.

Celebration & Comfort

Thin rice vermicelli stir-fried with pork, chicken, shrimp and garden vegetables — the Filipino birthday noodle, made for sharing.

Pairs Well With
Lumpia & Calamansi Juice

Pasta & Noodles

Golden turmeric Jamaican beef patties on a white plate, one cut open to show the spiced beef filling, with a small bowl of dip

Jamaica 1h 50m

Snack & Tea •Kingston Heritage

Jamaican Beef Patty

A Jamaican beef patty is a half-moon of flaky, turmeric-gold pastry wrapped around spiced ground beef cooked with Jamaican curry powder, thyme and scotch bonnet, then baked until crisp and golden. This Jamaican beef patty recipe makes 8 patties with a dry, crumbly filling that never leaks and a crust that shatters when you bite it. One serving is one patty, about 175 g.

Flaky & Filling

A handheld snack of flaky turmeric pastry and curried beef that fills you up without needing a plate or cutlery.

Pairs Well With
Coco bread & a cold ginger beer

A stewed turkey piece in rich brown gravy with peppers, served with white rice on a white plate

Barbados 2h 30m

Lunch •Barbados Heritage

Bajan Stewed Turkey Wings

This bajan stewed turkey wings recipe is the Sunday-lunch turkey of Barbados: big bone-in turkey wings rubbed with Bajan seasoning — fresh thyme and marjoram, garlic, spring onions, mustard, lime juice and a Scotch bonnet — then browned in the pot and braised low and slow in a rich onion, pepper and tomato gravy until the meat slips from the bone. It is not baked chicken and it is not a quick stew: the browning builds the colour, and the long, gentle braise builds the gravy. One serving is about 459 g.

Comfort & Protein

Bone-in turkey wings marinated in fresh-herb Bajan seasoning, browned, then braised low and slow in a rich onion-herb gravy until fall-off-the-bone tender.

Pairs Well With
Rice, macaroni pie & garden salad

High Protein

A brown crock of thick red conch chowder with pieces of potato and carrot in a tomato broth, with a spoon resting in the bowl

Bahamas 1h 25m

Lunch •Nassau Heritage

Bahamian Conch Chowder

This bahamian conch chowder recipe is the red, tomato-based soup you will find on menus all over Nassau: cleaned conch, pounded tender and chopped small, simmered slowly with potato, carrot, celery, onion and green pepper until the broth turns thick and rich. It is a soup through and through — the conch cooks in the broth, never fried like cracked conch and never served raw like conch salad — and one bowl with a piece of warm johnny cake is a full Bahamian lunch. One serving is about 480 g (one generous bowl).

Hearty Island Soup & Comfort

Tender conch simmered with potato, carrot and tomato into a thick, warming soup that eats like a full lunch.

Pairs Well With
Warm johnny cake, pepper sherry & lime wedges

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

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)

Dinner Ideas by Meal

Breakfast Lunch Dinner Snack & Tea

Dinner Ideas by Region

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