Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and this year it’s all about cozying up with an extra-special dinner at home, whether it’s with your spouse, significant other, best friend, or just yourself. Cooking a romantic dinner doesn’t have to be an all day affair. We like to keep it simple and uncomplicated, but opt for something that feels a little more indulgent and luxurious than usual. Steak is a classic, but you also can’t go wrong with a bowl of creamy risotto, tender braised lamb shanks, roast chicken, or even a home-cooked pizza. Whatever you choose, just don’t forget dessert. Here are 40 romantic dinner ideas to inspire your Valentine’s Day menu.
Romantic Vegetarian Dinner Ideas
This rustic savory pie features an easy homemade crust and is filled to the brim with deeply caramelized onions and melty Gruyère cheese.
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It’s everything you love about a classic, slow-cooked Bolognese — without the meat (and in a little less time, too).
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Everything you love about classic eggplant Parm, stuffed into a hollowed-out eggplant shell and topped with melted mozzarella.
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This vegetarian tart has vinegar-roasted onions, mushrooms, and ricotta cheese, making it a great appetizer for a group, or a dinner for two when served with a side salad.
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Herbed Couscous & Goat Cheese Stuffed Tomatoes
The tomatoes in this dish release their tangy juices into the couscous salad. The olives provide a salty, umami hit, and the light sprinkle of panko crumbs over top adds texture to this dish.
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Romantic Chicken Dinner Ideas
Braised chicken and bursting-with-flavor potatoes are the stars of this impossibly easy and delicious recipe.
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Bursting with flavor, this oh-so-creamy pasta dish is an easy weeknight meal.
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There may be a million ways to roast a chicken, but there is one in particular that truly stands head and shoulders above the rest: the Zuni chicken.
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This version of Coq au Vin takes a whole lot of the legwork out of the equation and transforms it into a weeknight dinner that couldn’t be easier to pull off
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Chicken Tagine with Apricots, Almonds & Chickpeas
The dish has so much going on—the fragrant and heavily-spiced sauce, the jammy apricots, the crunchy almonds—and yet it totally works. There’s good reason why this Moroccan dish is a classic.
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Skillet Creamy French Mustard Chicken
A mix of shallots, white wine, and two kinds of mustard turn basic chicken thighs into a French-inspired dinner that’s easy enough to pull off any night of the week and feels fancy.
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Romantic Seafood Dinner Ideas
Parmesan Risotto with Roasted Shrimp
Stirred meditatively, cooked slowly, with a glass of wine in one hand and the music turned up, this risotto is as enjoyable to make as it is to eat.
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Whether we’re talking about a dinner party or a quick weeknight meal, it doesn’t get much better than a giant bowl of steamed mussels.
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A quick shuck, a little dab of chili-butter, and a brief spell in the sauna of the grill. Smoky, tender, and a little spicy: they’re perfect every time.
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Shrimp Pasta with White Wine Sauce
Succulent shrimp and linguini are tossed with a super-quick tomato cream sauce — one that’s fragrant with aromatic garlic, shallots, and white wine.
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Artichoke Risotto with Seared Scallops
This recipe is the perfect blueprint for switching up the ingredients. Try swapping the artichokes with peas or the scallops with seared shrimp.
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Nobu’s Miso-Marinated Black Cod
This cod recipe makes a very light yet filling meal that is elegant and looks like it took a lot of work, but it really doesn’t. The miso marinade adds a sweetness to the silky and buttery black cod.
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Other Easy Romantic Dinner Ideas
Steak au poivre has become a bistro mainstay for good reason. Lean, mild-flavored filet mignon might appear to be center stage, but make no mistake: This dish is all about the peppercorns and Cognac cream pan sauce.
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This steak dish is prepared by marinating and then broiling flank or top round.
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Sausage Ragù over Creamy Polenta
This ultra-comforting weeknight dinner skips the pasta in favor of a cheesy, creamy bowl of polenta as the base for a blanket of hearty sausage ragù.
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Boeuf bourguignon is so much more than just another beef stew. This classic French dish, made so popular by a certain Ms. Julia Child, is the kind of stew that moves you from one level of home cooking to the next
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Warning: You’re going to want to drink this sauce. Instead, serve the pork over rice or quick-cooking polenta to soak up every last drop of the sauce.
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Veal Meatballs in Red Wine Sauce
A recipe for tender, velvety meatballs that are guaranteed to make whoever you cook them for feel extra special, yourself included.
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Topped with a layer of chewy, crisp-edged prosciutto and finished with a couple of handfuls of fresh, peppery arugula, this pizza comes together in a flash — no chopping or precooking necessary.
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Kristin Appenbrink
Contributor
Kristin is the co-founder of Part Time Vegan and Silent Book Club. As a former editor at Real Simple, she is compulsively organized and loves solving people’s problems. She has a weakness for desserts, especially ice cream.