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 985–996 of 2321 dinner recipes

Golden mung bean cakes cut into small blocks on a paper tray

Vietnam 1h 10m

Snack & Tea •Hai Duong Classic

Banh Dau Xanh

This banh dau xanh recipe soaks split mung beans, steams them soft, then blends them with sugar and a little oil and dries the paste in the pan until it holds together. Pressed into small golden blocks, the cakes are dry and powdery on the outside and melt the moment they touch your tongue — the famous specialty of Hai Duong province, made to be eaten slowly with hot tea. One serving is about 70 g, two cakes.

Gentle & Melt-in-the-Mouth

Golden mung bean cakes from Hai Duong, pressed from sweet bean paste — dry, powdery and melting on the tongue.

Pairs Well With
Hot green tea, lotus tea & fresh fruit

Mexican red rice, arroz rojo, served in a traditional clay cazuela

Mexico 45m

Lunch •Mexican Everyday Classic

Arroz Rojo

This Mexican rice recipe toasts long-grain rice in oil, then simmers it in a blended tomato, onion and garlic sauce with vegetable stock until every grain is fluffy and orange-red. It is the rice that sits next to tacos, enchiladas and grilled meats all over Mexico. One serving is about 340 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Fluffy tomato rice with garlic and cumin, cooked in one pot.

Pairs Well With
Grilled chicken, tacos, enchiladas, or beans

Chicken marsala — golden chicken cutlets in a mushroom Marsala sauce with parsley

Italy 40m

Dinner •Sicilian Wine Classic

Chicken Marsala

This chicken marsala recipe pounds chicken cutlets thin, sears them golden, then simmers them in a sauce of Marsala wine, mushrooms and shallots finished with butter. It is the Italian-American classic named after the fortified wine of Marsala in Sicily. One serving is about 270 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Golden chicken cutlets in a Marsala wine and mushroom sauce, made in one pan.

Pairs Well With
Buttered pasta, mashed potatoes, or crusty bread

High Protein

Gratin dauphinois — golden layered potatoes baked in cream in an oval dish

France 1h 20m

Dinner •Dauphiné Alpine Classic

Gratin Dauphinois

This gratin dauphinois recipe layers thinly sliced potatoes in a buttered dish, covers them with cream, milk and garlic, and bakes them slowly until the top is golden and the layers are meltingly tender. It comes from the Dauphiné in the French Alps, and the classic version has no cheese — this one adds a light Gruyère top, a common later variation. One serving is about 310 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Thin potatoes baked slowly in cream and garlic until golden and tender.

Pairs Well With
Roast chicken, green salad, or grilled steak

Arroz a la cubana — white rice topped with a fried egg and tomato sauce

Spain 35m

Lunch •Spanish Home Classic

Arroz a la Cubana

This arroz a la cubana recipe piles fluffy white rice on a plate, tops it with a fried egg and a spoonful of tomato sauce, and serves fried plantain alongside. It is one of Spain's best-loved home dishes — quick, cheap and eaten by everyone from schoolchildren to grandparents. One serving is about 430 g.

Comfort & Warmth

White rice with a fried egg, tomato sauce and fried plantain, on one plate.

Pairs Well With
A green salad, or simply on its own

Sliced raw salmon sashimi arranged in a black tray, glossy orange-pink with white fat lines

Japan 25m

Lunch •Japanese Sashimi

Salmon Sashimi

This salmon sashimi recipe shows how to choose sashimi-grade salmon, slice it cleanly against the grain and serve it the Japanese way, with soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger and shredded daikon. One serving is about 220 g — about 10 slices of salmon with the accompaniments.

Light & Fresh

Sashimi-grade salmon sliced and served cold with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger — light, fresh and protein-rich.

Pairs Well With
Miso soup, steamed rice and a pot of green tea

Stir-fried morning glory on a white plate — glossy green hollow stems and wilted leaves with red chilli in a brown sauce

Thailand 15m

Lunch •Thai Home Cooking

Thai Morning Glory

This Thai morning glory recipe shows how to stir-fry water spinach the Thai way — pad pak boong — with garlic, chilli, soy sauce and fermented soybean paste in a fiercely hot wok. One serving is about 240 g, a generous plate of glossy green stems and leaves.

Quick & Green

Water spinach flash-fried in a blazing wok with garlic, chilli and fermented soybean paste — crisp stems, wilted leaves, ready in minutes.

Pairs Well With
Steamed jasmine rice, grilled chicken and a cold drink

Quick Prep (<30m)

A golden-brown mooncake cut open on a white plate, showing lotus paste and a bright orange salted egg yolk

China 1h 55m

Snack & Tea •Mid-Autumn Festival Classic

Mooncakes

This mooncakes recipe shows how to make classic Cantonese-style mooncakes at home — a golden syrup dough wrapped around lotus seed paste and a salted egg yolk, pressed in a mould and baked until glossy. One serving is about 111 g — one whole mooncake.

Festive & Rich

Golden baked pastries with a thin syrup crust around dense lotus seed paste and a salted egg yolk — the taste of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Pairs Well With
Hot Chinese tea, fresh fruit and good company

A bowl of bibim guksu — orange-red spicy noodles topped with cucumber, kimchi and sesame seeds

South Korea 30m

Lunch •Korean Summer Classic

Bibim Guksu

This bibim guksu recipe shows how to cook thin somyeon noodles, chill them until chewy, and toss them in a sweet, spicy gochujang sauce with cucumber, carrot, kimchi and a halved egg. One serving is about 415 g — a full, cooling bowl.

Cool & Spicy

Thin wheat noodles served cold and tossed in a sweet-spicy gochujang sauce with cucumber, carrot, kimchi and egg — Korea's summer lunch.

Pairs Well With
Kimchi, pickled radish and iced barley tea

Pasta & Noodles • Quick Prep (<30m)

A bowl of kuru fasulye, white beans in a red tomato sauce with chopped parsley

Turkey 1h 30m

Dinner •Turkish Home Classic

Kuru Fasulye

This kuru fasulye recipe turns dried white beans, onion, tomato paste and olive oil into Turkey's beloved bean stew, simmered until the beans are creamy and the sauce is thick and brick-red. It is made without meat, so the beans and olive oil do all the work. One serving is about 450 g, a generous bowl best eaten with rice pilaf.

Comfort & Warmth

Slow-simmered white beans in tomato sauce, rich in plant protein and fibre.

Pairs Well With
Rice pilaf and pickled peppers on the side.

Two melomakarona honey cookies topped with chopped walnuts on a white napkin

Greece 1h

Snack & Tea •Greek Christmas Classic

Melomakarona

This melomakarona recipe makes soft Greek honey cookies from olive oil, orange juice, cinnamon and cloves, baked until golden and dipped hot into cool honey syrup. Chopped walnuts pressed on top give each cookie its crunch. One serving is one cookie, about 64 g, and the batch makes 24.

Festive Sweet Treat

Olive-oil spice cookies soaked in honey syrup and finished with walnuts.

Pairs Well With
A small cup of strong Greek coffee.

A pan of tutu de feijao, dark bean and cassava flour mash, with a spoon

Brazil 40m

Dinner •Minas Gerais Classic

Tutu de Feijao

This tutu de feijao recipe mashes cooked black beans with toasted cassava flour, smoky bacon and sausage until it holds a soft, crumbly mound — the Minas Gerais classic. Onion, garlic and scallion cook in the bacon fat first, so the whole pan tastes of smoke and garlic. One serving is about 333 g.

Comfort & Warmth

Black beans mashed with cassava flour, bacon and sausage into a rich, spoonable mound.

Pairs Well With
White rice, sautéed kale and a fried egg.

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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Vietnam

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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)

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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