Easy dinner party mains
Take the faff out of entertaining with our simple dinner party 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 recipes like creamy risottos, fishcakes, venison, pork and lamb. Choose from elevated chicken traybakes, comforting fish pie, or homemade gnocchi. You’ll also find plenty of vegetarian and vegan dinner party recipes, which are impressive enough to feed the whole gang.
Need help deciding on a menu? We’ve pulled together pages of 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 115 recipes
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Alternative Christmas roast recipes
Herby tamarind lamb with baked jollof rice
This tamarind and herb-stuffed lamb leg with baked jollof rice recipe is a celebratory Senegalese-inspired one-pot by award-winning author and...
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Medium
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Duck recipes
Roast duck breast with honey, sesame, orange and celeriac
Thrumming with earthy autumnal sweetness, this dish has serious duck à l’orange undertones. The celeriac – half made into a...
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Easy
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August seasonal recipes
Braised chicken with a runner bean fricassée
This is a simple and summery chicken dish which makes great use of seasonal produce (and plenty of garlic). Runner...
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Easy
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30-minute meal recipes
Grilled miso, lime and ginger mussels
Perfect for a starter or served with chips for a main, these crispy-zingy mussels come complete with their own mini...
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Easy
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New potato recipes
Summer roast chicken with holiday potatoes and courgette and peach salad
delicious. food producer Pollyanna loves roasting a chicken in the summer: “There’s nothing more universally loved than a simple, home-cooked...
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Easy
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30-minute meal recipes
Saucy romesco chicken with sautéed potatoes
Bring some sunshine to your weeknight chicken dinner with this warm romesco sauce, full of tang and sweet nutty depth....
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Easy
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Roast chicken recipes
Miso and gochujang butter roast chicken
“Miso and gochujang bring all the sweet-spicy-umami richness you need to this buttery roasted chicken dish,” says chef Lara Lee....
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Easy
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Apricot recipes
Roast pork loin with lavender honey-glazed apricots
In this lovely roast pork loin recipe, lavender honey-glazed apricots soak up the meat juices and are served with the...
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Easy
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Easy dinner party mains
Orzo carbonara
It certainly won’t please any Italians, but making carbonara with orzo instead of the more usual spaghetti or rigatoni creates...
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Easy
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'Nduja recipes
Sticky marmalade chicken with ’nduja haricot beans
This marmalade chicken dish takes sweet and zingy lemon and marmalade and uses them to marinate chicken thighs, which are...
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Easy
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Easy vegan recipes
Peppercorn mushrooms with butter bean mash
Step aside steak – these meaty oyster mushrooms provide all the umami, depth and complex savouriness of red meat, helped...
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Easy
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Paella recipes
Vegetarian paella
Paella is usually a relatively meaty affair (or fishy, depending where in Spain you are), but this vegetarian version is...
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Easy
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April seasonal recipes
Spring vegetable gnocchi with beurre blanc
Asparagus and peas are just warmed through in a silky butter sauce in this beautifully seasonal dish. The fresh spring...
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Easy
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Purple sprouting broccoli recipes
Miso-crusted pork with purple sprouting broccoli
Combining umami-rich miso with breadcrumbs to roast a pork tenderloin, and including a little in the piquant sesame-scented dressing, makes...
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Easy
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Tahini recipes
Ginger garlic chicken with broccoli and sesame chilli sauce
“It’s chicken and veg but not as you know it. The flavours here have been taken up a notch, with...
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Easy
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Fish pie recipes
Smoked haddock fish pie with parmentier potatoes
Debora Robertson transforms the classic French dish of parmentier potatoes into a filling dinner with the addition of smoked haddock....
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Easy
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