- Home >
- Recipes >
- Easy dinner party mains
Planning a dinner party can be exciting but also daunting. If you’re not sure what to cook, take the faff out of entertaining with our simple recipes. These delicious main course ideas are all easy to assemble and cook. Some can be made ahead, some are quick to prepare on the night, and all of them offer maximum flavour for minimum effort.
Take your pick from classic dinner party ideas like creamy risottos, fishcakes, venison, pork and lamb. Choose from elevated chicken traybakes, a whole sea bass with a tomato sauce, or homemade gnocchi. You’ll also find plenty of vegetarian and vegan dinner party mains, which are impressive enough to feed the whole gang.
Need help deciding on what to serve with your lasagne, or looking for an idea for a full menu? We’ve pulled together dinner party menu ideas – from vegetarian to seasonal options.
For those nights when hosting isn’t on the cards…check out our easy midweek dinner recipes.
Showing 1-16 of 116 recipes
Filter This Page
Save recipe
This tamarind and herb-stuffed lamb leg with baked jollof rice recipe is a celebratory Senegalese-inspired one-pot by award-winning author and...
Dairy-freeGluten-free
Medium
Save recipe
Thrumming with earthy autumnal sweetness, this dish has serious duck à l’orange undertones. The celeriac – half made into a...
Gluten-free
Easy
Save recipe
This is a simple and summery chicken dish which makes great use of seasonal produce (and plenty of garlic). Runner...
FreezableGluten-free
Easy
Save recipe
Perfect for a starter or served with chips for a main, these crispy-zingy mussels come complete with their own mini...
Easy
Advertisem*nt
Save recipe
delicious. food producer Pollyanna loves roasting a chicken in the summer: “There’s nothing more universally loved than a simple, home-cooked...
Gluten-free
Easy
Save recipe
Bring some sunshine to your weeknight chicken dinner with this warm romesco sauce, full of tang and sweet nutty depth....
Gluten-free
Easy
Save recipe
“Miso and gochujang bring all the sweet-spicy-umami richness you need to this buttery roasted chicken dish,” says chef Lara Lee....
Easy
Save recipe
In this lovely roast pork loin recipe, lavender honey-glazed apricots soak up the meat juices and are served with the...
Easy
Save recipe
It certainly won’t please any Italians, but making carbonara with orzo instead of the more usual spaghetti or rigatoni creates...
Easy
Save recipe
This marmalade chicken dish takes sweet and zingy lemon and marmalade and uses them to marinate chicken thighs, which are...
Gluten-free
Easy
Save recipe
Step aside steak – these meaty oyster mushrooms provide all the umami, depth and complex savouriness of red meat, helped...
Dairy-freeGluten-freeVegan
Easy
Save recipe
Paella is usually a relatively meaty affair (or fishy, depending where in Spain you are), but this vegetarian version is...
Dairy-freeGluten-freeVegetarian
Easy
Advertisem*nt
Save recipe
Asparagus and peas are just warmed through in a silky butter sauce in this beautifully seasonal dish. The fresh spring...
Vegetarian
Easy
Save recipe
Combining umami-rich miso with breadcrumbs to roast a pork tenderloin, and including a little in the piquant sesame-scented dressing, makes...
Easy
Save recipe
“It’s chicken and veg but not as you know it. The flavours here have been taken up a notch, with...
Dairy-free
Easy
Save recipe
Debora Robertson transforms the classic French dish of parmentier potatoes into a filling dinner with the addition of smoked haddock....
Freezable
Easy
Related guides
Features
8 chocolate mousse ideas for a dinner party
- Delicious. team
Guides
The one-hour dinner party menu
- Delicious. team
Features
How to throw a stress-free dinner party
- Delicious. team
Drinks
5 classic co*cktails to make at home
- Delicious. team
Sunday lunch menus and ideas
The celebration Sunday lunch menu
- Delicious. team
Drinks
Decadent dinner party co*cktails on tap
- Delicious. team
Guides
A traditional Chinese dinner party menu
- Delicious. team
Learn
How to cook a whole fish
- Delicious. team
Save this collection
Share this collection
Advertisem*nt