Blog

101 easy recipes to cook for dinner tonight

The answer to 'what should I cook for dinner tonight?' is 'many, many fabulous things.'

Oven-baked chicken thighs with olive, tomato and lemon

Oven-baked chicken thighs with olive, tomato and lemon Source: Adam Liaw

--- Need more dinner inspiration? Binge all episodes of  free and any time on . Tune in live, weeknights at 7pm on SBS Food. ---

 

What a rush  has been. Almost as big a rush as a family trying to put dinner on the table every night.

Thanks to Adam and his entertaining guests, things are now much calmer in kitchens across Australia. What's for dinner tonight? A quick skim through The Cook Up recipes and that question is finally solved. Not just what to serve for the main meal, but how to win favours by dishing up dessert, too.

Here are 101 meals that are sure to please your gang. Night after night after night.

Nail the main

Umami bolognese
Stop it: it's vegan. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
This is fusion-cooking done so right it's practically nuclear. Its Japanese and Italian flavours are given a Vegemite bomb to make .
Oven-baked chicken thighs with olive, tomato and lemon
A simple, tasty dish of chicken with olives, cherry tomatoes and lemon. Source: Adam Liaw
Every home cook needs a decent one-pan, oven-baked dish they can pull together fast and then just whack into the oven while life goes on. .
There's something about snow peas that are irresistible. Kids who run a mile from any other vegetable will happily dive into a bowlful of .
Schnitzel with kale slaw and oven chips
Adding kale makes it a health food, right? Source: Adam Liaw
!
Udon with miso and Asian vegetables
The day feels much better just looking at this dish. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Nourishing, nutritious, full of goodness. An  at the end of a long day.
Atkilt alicha
This vegan stew is delicately spiced with everything nice. Source: Adam Liaw
For a fresh take on an age-old family dinner, give a whirl one night.
Whole spice-roasted pumpkin
Do pumpkin differently with a roasted version dressed with spices and served with a homemade buttermilk curd. Source: Adam Liaw
Slow-roasted pumpkin . Colin Fassnidge packs in the spices and tops the whole thing off with a tangy buttermilk curd.
Pan-seared white fish with sautéed kale
'Fish and green veg are a bit of a staple in my house,' says Hayden Quinn. Source: Adam Liaw
'Fish and vege' make the . Fast to make and fresh to eat.
Corn pokoras with chaat masala
Basically an extra-super-fancy corn fritter. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Chaat is India’s favourite genre of snacking street food for a reason. has a long ingredients list, but is as quick to make as you'd expect from a street favourite.
Jacket potato party
Keep your potato size generous and your topping selections even bigger. Source: Adam Liaw
Put the .
Singapore noodles
Source: Danielle Abou Karam
For maximum enjoyment, dinner should be a 'street food favourite'. They're the kind of dishes that are so tasty they .
Quinoa poke bowl
Particularly welcome if you have kids obsessed with sushi. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Bowl food is . Even when it's this healthy.
All-veg tomato sauce
More is more when it comes to veggies. Source: Adam Liaw
that contains onion, carrots, capsicum, celery, zucchinis, garlic, basil and, of course, tomatoes. Colin Fassnidge has kids. He gets it.
Sausage and brown rice minestrone
Everything that's good is in this bowl. Source: Adam Liaw
Adam turns the already comforting minestrone into with minced Italian sausage and rice.
The answer to 'should we have ?' is always, 'yes please!'.
Chicken pot pie
There's little more comforting, or satisfying, than sinking into a fresh, hot chicken pie. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
The other correct answer to 'what should we have for dinner?' .
TV spaghetti
Even the TV won't distract you from the gloriousness of this dish. Source: Adam Liaw
Naming this dish 'TV spaghetti' does not do it justice. It's actually a anchovies, parsley and chilli to conquer the summit of your pasta mountain.
Another zippy favourite, zhushed by Adam to be . Is it the brioche burger bun? The Japanese mayo? Or the carefully placed dill pickle? All of the above.
Easy butter chicken
Jessica Rowe does not muck around when it comes to easy dinners. Source: Adam Liaw
' sounds less like a recipe title and more like a chorus of family dinner bells echoing across the suburbs.
Shepherd's pie with sweet potato mash
Healthy food and delicious meals should be mutually exclusive things. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
When it works this well, there's nothing quite like the .
Vegetable confit risotto
With a slow-cooked vegetable confit and tender arborio rice cooked in stock and white wine, this is a deluxe vegetarian risotto. Source: Adam Liaw
Meatless Monday .
Sheikh el mehshi (stuffed baby eggplants)
Creamy baked eggplant stuffed with lamb and pine nuts, topped with herbs and served with Greek yoghurt. Source: Adam Liaw
brings Middle Eastern comfort food to your weeknight menu.
5-ingredient tofu
How can just five ingredients taste so good? Source: Adam Liaw
in Lizzy's share house back in the day. They'd eat it three or four times a week, but cooking it tonight for dinner would be a great start.
Another 'crumbed-delight', but . One for the low-carb schnitty lovers.
Hokkaido salmon chanchan
This is one of the easiest and fastest dinners you could imagine. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
The combination of buttery vegetables, tender salmon and savoury miso is .
Fillet steak diane
With deep, rich flavours you know and love, it's time to bring back this classic. Source: Adam Liaw
Throw it back to the sixties with . Follow it up with a bomb Alaska dessert is you truly want to set the nostalgia on fire.
Pork belly one tray roast and roast potatoes
PS - this dish is worth making for the crunchy roast potatoes alone. Source: SBS
Dishwashing fact: any dish with the world 'one-tray' in it's title is instantly 50 per cent .
Sukiyaki
Sukiyaki is traditionally cooked at the table, making it both meal and entertainment in one. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Chase Kojima served up this and we all dived in, mouth-first.
Roast rosemary tomato soup with rosemary cheese flatbreads
And it's all cooked in the oven. Source: Adam Liaw
meets homemade bread. #wholesome
Emphatically  thanks to an 'enchanting' Chinese-inspired gravy.
Red wine and rosemary teriyaki roast lamb
Roast lamb travels well. Source: Adam Liaw
A simple roast lamb , turning red wine and rosemary into a rich teriyaki glaze.
Kid-friendly dhal
This is a great base recipe that isn’t confronting for kids at all. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Because feeding your kids a bowl of lentils for dinner is the .
Fried tofu with spring onion and red chilli
Tuck into tofu for an easy, satisfying dinner option. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
An easy one-pan (there's that magical phrase again!) that will take 15 minutes to get on the table.
Whole baby snapper with chorizo, tomato and peppers
Another sterling dish that politely cooks itself in the oven. Source: Adam Liaw
A from chorizo, tomato and capsicum somehow manages to balance the delicate fish, not overpower it.
Lemon chicken
Adam's version of the Chinese takeaway classic includes a rice wine and ginger sauce instead of the usual gluey marinade associated with the dish. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
The restaurant family .
You simply can't go wrong with one of the .
Avocado green goddess
The green goddess dressing is a must in any fridge. Drizzled over this salad, slathered on jacket potatoes, or dipped onto vegetables, it's good. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Bring on the . Throw everything you've got in there for maximum flavour and nutrition.
Baked heirloom tomatoes
Take a trip to Southern France one evening soon. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
When tomatoes are in season, there is .
Trofie al pesto
The Ligurian city of Genova is the home of true pesto Genovese made with basil, salt, oil, garlic and pine nuts. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Pesto pasta has long been the of many a family. Now it's time to ditch the jar.
Beef and broccolini with oyster sauce
Drawing on the 'holy trinity' of Chinese cooking, Adam shares his simple steak stir-fry with ginger, onions and garlic. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
This looks exactly like a dinner most families . Fortunately, it's prepared in much the same amount of time.

71. Peanut butter curry

Step aside butter chicken, there's a .
Foul mudammas
Fava beans and chickpeas seasoned with tahini, lemon and garlic make for a light and fresh vegan meal. Source: Adam Liaw
Perhaps some of the appeal of this is lost in translation, but don't let the name stop you. It's a tasty-as vegan classic that's healthy to boot.
Frying pan kabab khashkhash
This Syrian kabab is made from lamb mince and served on roasted tomatoes. Source: Adam Liaw
Skip the barbecue and fry your kabab in the pan on the stove. Those  and some.
Chicken and mushroom doria
Think of a gratin of béchamel over rice. Source: Adam Liaw
Doria is an Italian-inspired dish that originated in France, but now only seems to exist in Japan .
American hot wings with ranch dressing
Dipping wings into sauce is such a fun way to eat. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Chicken wings may be cheap and cheerful, but when they're they're also spectacular.

Dish these desserts

Tofu doughnuts
Deep-fry your sweet tofu batter then dust with cinnamon, icing sugar or sweetened kinako powder. Done. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
Dessert-inject some protein with Adam's . They take a tiny 15 minutes from whoa to go.
Adam nails a . Five minutes of prep for an evening of 'you're the best cook ever's.
Crispy banana split
As if a banana split wasn't already amazing, now there's a deep-fried version. Source: Adam Liaw
A banana split is always a good idea, particularly when the . Do try this one at home.
Hot chocolate tart
A shortcut way to a knockout tart using everyone’s favourite ingredients. Source: Adam Liaw
 filled with a blend of chocolate, Tim Tams and mini marshmallows is always going to make the list.
Cherry clafoutis
This extremely simple dish from southern France is no more difficult than cherries set in a sweet base. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
It's French, so it has to be complicated and fiddly, right? Wrong! But it does have to be luxurious and special and .
We .
Super vanilla ice-cream
This ice-cream is a labour of love, and very much worth the wait. Source: Adam Liaw
Sometimes it just .
Sticky banana and white chocolate puddings with butterscotch sauce
The rich butterscotch sauce is a giveaway that this is a take on the perennially popular sticky toffee pudding. Source: Adam Liaw
A good pudding is . Sweet, comforting and endlessly satisfying.
Emergency apple crumble
This dish is beyond easy to make and super-easy to cook. Store the leftover raw crumble in the freezer for later pressing pudding emergencies. Source: Adam Liaw
If you've never , you're doing everything right. Make this one anyway.
Whipped ricotta with charred peaches
Sweet peaches, creamy ricotta and tangy pickled shallot come together for a beautiful (and different) dessert. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
A fruity dessert ends the meal just right. In this one, Adam adds a pickled shallot .
Toasted marshmallow
If you've never tried a homemade marshmallow, you've never tried a marshmallow. Source: Adam Liaw
This is the kind of sweet that would really  (see above).
Vegan black sesame and coocnut ice-cream
All you need is a blender. Source: Adam Liaw
A quick that will be on high-rotation in no time at all.
Vegan snickers
This recipe is the healthy version of a Snickers bar, without the lack of flavour that comes with some 'tastes like' desserts. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
This is exactly how you , right?
Strawberry and white chocolate and crème fraiche galette
Make your own pastry to really send this dessert into the taste stratosphere. It's a texture thing, too. Source: Danielle Abou Karam
The French love a good pastry dessert, and dishes like .
Loukoumades
Loukoumades are equal-parts savoury and sweet. Much like many yiayias. Source: Adam Liaw
Once you get the hang of them, delicious . Just ask any yiayia.
Biscotti
Biscotti or lady fingers are wildly popular in Italy and pretty much the entire world. Source: Adam Liaw
We'll let biscotti . Because biscuits really are the best way to end both meals and mammoth favourites lists.

Share
SBS Food is a 24/7 foodie channel for all Australians, with a focus on simple, authentic and everyday food inspiration from cultures everywhere. NSW stream only. Read more about SBS Food
Have a story or comment? Contact Us

Cooking and conversation are a bridge to understanding people and their culture. On The Cook Up with Adam Liaw his guests - world renowned chefs, entertainers, sports and social media stars - prepare food, eat, laugh and give us a glimpse into their lives.
Watch nowOn Demand
Follow The Cook Up with Adam Liaw Series
7 min read
Published 8 February 2023 10:03am
Updated 17 February 2023 11:32am
By Bron Maxabella


Share this with family and friends