22 Restaurant Quality Meals for Date Night Dinner at Home - PinkWhen (2024)

Save your money and ditch the fancy restaurants for date night! These delicious and easy-to-make meals are guaranteed to impress your special someone. Cooking together can be a fun activity too, and who knows, you might look forward to date night dinners every week with these tasty recipes on hand!

Creamy Lobster Risotto

If you want to make a special Valentine’s Day dinner at home, then look no further than this creamy lobster risotto. It’s studded with lobster chunks and has all of the velvety creaminess you expect from risotto. Serve it with some delicious vegetables or a salad.
Get the recipe: Lobster Risotto

Air Fryer Lobster Tail

Valentine’s day is the perfect time to go all out for dinner, so why not have something super special like lobster tails? And lucky for you, the air fryer makes cooking lobster tails perfectly really easy!
Get the recipe: Air Fryer Lobster Tail

Shrimp Linguine with Lemon Garlic Breadcrumbs

Shrimp linguine with lemon garlic breadcrumbs would be an amazing choice for a romantic dinner at home. It’s a delicious meal full of chewy pasta, tender shrimp, and crunchy breadcrumbs.
Get the recipe: Shrimp Linguine

Lemon Risotto

You are going to love this creamy risotto that is just bursting with fresh lemon flavor. This elegant dish is perfect for serving alongside roast chicken, your favorite steak, or even lobster tails.
Get the recipe: Lemon Risotto

Bucatini Cacio e Pepe

Bucatini Cacio e Pepe is a delicious dish for special occasions or just a regular dinner at home. It’s easy to make with just a few ingredients, but it is so delicious.
Get the recipe: Cacio e Pepe

Best Lobster Grilled Cheese

Want the lobster but in a more casual meal? This is the recipe for you. These sandwiches are so easy to make but they are decadent and delicious too!
Get the recipe: Lobster Grilled Cheese

Copycat Olive Garden Alfredo Recipe

This deliciously easy Copycat Olive Garden Alfredo recipe tastes just like the restaurant’s favorite and is on the table in under 30 minutes!
Get the Recipe: Copycat Olive Garden Alfredo Recipe

Scallop Linguine

Scallop lovers, this is the pasta for you! You will love the flavors of this simple but elegant dish that’s made with bay scallops, a simple sauce, and crunchy breadcrumbs.
Get the recipe: Scallop Linguine

Fresh Oyster Mignonette

If you are looking for something special to serve for a Valentine’s day meal and you are a fan of fresh seafood then check out this recipe for fresh oyster mignonette. Fresh oysters, champagne, blood orange juice, and fresh basil are all you need for this delicious dish!
Get the recipe: Oyster Mignonette

Date Night Gnocchi

Date night gnocchi is an excellent choice for a Valentine’s Day dinner at home. It looks beautiful, tastes amazing, and only takes 30 minutes to prepare. Butternut squash, chicken, fresh kale, and gnocchi with a creamy Alfredo sauce to top it all off.
Get the recipe: Date Night Gnocchi

Instant Pot Coq au Vin Blanc

This Instant Pot recipe is perfect for Valentine’s day or for a spontaneous date night at home, because you can have it on the table so quickly. Traditionally coq au vin uses a red wine, but trading it out for white wine gives it a beautiful flavor that you are going to love. Serve the juicy chicken over smashed potatoes.
Get the recipe: Instant Pot Coq au Vin Blanc

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

This delicious dish is easy enough to make that it could be a weeknight dinner, but it is also “fancy” enough to pull out for special occasions like Valentine’s day. This juicy, pork tenderloin served over a creamy polenta with roasted cherry tomatoes is BIG on flavor without having to spend the whole day in the kitchen preparing it.
Get the recipe: Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

Black Truffle Pasta

Black truffle pasta is an elegant and simple vegetarian dish that is perfect for a quiet, romantic dinner at home. The pasta sauce is actually a cashew cream sauce. It gets a lot of big flavor by adding truffles to this pasta dish.
Get the recipe: Black Truffle Pasta

Cream Cheese and Smoked Salmon Vol au Vents

Puff pastry shells stuffed with mustard, cream cheese, and smoked salmon are an amazingly tasty choice for a Valentine’s day main course! Show your sweetheart how much you care with this delicious dish.
Get the recipe: Smoked Salmon Vol au Vents

Tender London Broil

Tender, juicy London broil takes a little bit of time to prepare, but only a few minutes to cook. The trick to this fail proof London broil is to dry brine it and allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour before cooking it. This dish is perfect for a delicious date night at home!
Get the recipe: Tender London Broil

Steak Ranchero

This steak ranchero recipe features tender flank steak cooked to perfection with a blend of Mexican spices and vegetables. It’s the perfect steak for any Mexcian food lover.
Get the Recipe: Steak Ranchero

Lamb Shanks Braised in Red Wine

This main dish is easy to prepare and it looks, smells, and tastes fantastic! It’s perfect for special occasions like Valentine’s Day or a date night at home.
Get the recipe: Braised Lamb Shanks

Cioppino

Cioppino is a fancy way of saying fish stew, but this delicious dish deserves a fancy name! Lobster tails, mussels, shrimp, and fresh fish filets come together with a few other ingredients for a fantastic meal.
Get the recipe: Cioppino

Lobster Gratin

Lobster gratin may sound difficult to make, but it’s really not. The lobster is the star of this dish, but it pairs beautifully with potatoes, fresh herbs, and of course delicious cheeses!
Get the recipe: Lobster Gratin

Lamb Leg Steak with Shallots and Red Wine Sauce

Lamb leg steak is elevated with a simple sauce made from caramelized onions and red wine. Add some mashed potatoes and a veggie.
Get the recipe: Lamb Leg Steak

Sheet Pan Crab Legs

You will be surprised by how easy crab legs are to make at home. Serve with lemon butter for dipping and a veggie side.
Get the recipe: Sheet Pan Crab Legs

Savory Braised Short Ribs

If you want a mouth-watering meal to remember this Valentine’s Day, try these delicious braised short ribs. The meat will melt in your mouth!
Get the recipe: Braised Short Ribs