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Friday nights are all about relaxing, unwinding, and enjoying good food with family and friends. Whether you're looking for a quick and easy dinner after a long week at work or something a bit more indulgent to kick off the weekend, we've got you covered. We are sharing over 40 Friday Night Dinner Ideas from classic comfort foods and pastas, to stir fries and rice bowls, and everything in between. So grab a glass of wine, put on your favorite music, and get ready to indulge in some delicious Friday night dinners.
Best Friday Night Dinner Ideas
Sheet Pan Quesadillas
These Sheet Pan Quesadillas are loaded with veggies and gooey cheese, baked in the oven until crispy, and made to feed a crowd in just 30 minutes. One of our favorite Friday night dinners!
Creamy Tomato Pasta
This Creamy Tomato Pasta is a simple and delicious meal made from scratch in 25 minutes with a cream and tomato based sauce that is rich and silky smooth. A quick and easy recipe for Friday night dinner!
Chicken Chow Mein
Chicken Chow Mein is a classic Chinese noodle dish that is quick and easy to make at home in 20 minutes — faster, healthier, and better than takeout.
Salmon Bites
Salmon Bites are flavorful and delicious bite-sized pieces of salmon cooked until tender with crispy, golden edges and coated with an homemade sticky glaze.
Homemade Hamburger Helper
Homemade hamburger helper is a family favorite but you can make a cheaper, healthier, and way tastier version at home, ready in just 30 minutes.
Cashew Chicken
Cashew chicken is a quick and easy chicken stir fry ready in under 30 minutes. It's flavorful, delicious, and so much better and faster than takeout.
Turkey and Cheese Sliders
Turkey and Cheese Sliders are quick and easy, made with deli meat and Swiss cheese filled inside soft Hawaiian dinner rolls topped with a buttery sauce.
Indian Rice Bowls
These Indian Rice Bowls are flavorful, delicious, and easy to assemble. These wholesome, filling rice bowls have it all — grains, protein, and veggies.
Baked Feta Pasta
Baked Feta Pasta is a quick and easy weeknight dinner recipe that is creamy, delicious, and flavorful — the whole family will love this Tiktok pasta! One of our favorite Friday night dinner recipes!
Garlic Butter Shrimp
Garlic butter shrimp is a quick and easy dinner ready in just 10 minutes! It’s loaded with flavor and perfect for busy weeknights and special occasions.
Cauliflower Tacos
Vegetarian cauliflower tacos are loaded with air-fried or baked cauliflower, a delicious seasoning blend, and creamy lime cilantro slaw inside a tortilla.
Easy Baked Meatballs
Easy Baked Meatballs are juicy, tender, loaded with flavor, and kid-friendly. Enjoy delicious homemade meatballs in under an hour using simple ingredients.
Creamy Lemon Chicken Piccata
Quick and easy, creamy lemon chicken piccata is a simple and delicious 30-minute meal made with tender chicken breast in a light lemon sauce with capers. We love this Friday night dinner idea!
Peanut Noodles
Peanut noodles are creamy, nutty, and delicious. This quick and easy, vegan homemade takeout recipe is loaded with flavor and is ready in 15 minutes.
Italian Pasta Salad
Italian pasta salad is delicious, wholesome, and easy to make. Make it up to three days ahead for your summer picnics and cookouts. You can't get more classic than Italian Salad on Memorial Day!
Chicken Parmesan Stuffed Peppers
Chicken parmesan stuffed peppers are delicious, flavorful, healthy, and filling, and combines two all-time favorites. Great for meal prep and freezes well.
Shrimp Alfredo
Shrimp Alfredo is creamy, garlicky, and delicious! This quick and easy, under 30-minute recipe is a go-to for busy nights and a year-round family favorite.
Vegetarian Paella
Vegetarian Paella is a delicious flavorful classic Spanish rice dish that is hearty and filling — perfectly cooked rice with saffron and vegetables.
Korean Beef Bulgogi
Korean Beef Bulgogi is a tasty, quick and easy 30-minute meal made with thinly sliced beef marinated in a delicious sweet and savory garlic soy sauce.
Sesame Chicken Meatballs
Sesame chicken meatballs are quick, easy, delicious, and loaded with Asian flavor, cooked in a homemade stir fry sauce and customizable with easy veggies!
Homemade Hamburger Helper
Homemade hamburger helper is a family favorite but you can make a cheaper, healthier, and way tastier version at home, ready in just 30 minutes.
Garlic Butter Steak Bites
Garlic Butter Steak Bites are tender, juicy, and flavorful. This quick and easy appetizer or weeknight dinner takes just 15 minutes to make in one skillet.
Thai Turkey Burgers
These Thai Turkey Burgers topped with a crisp and creamy slaw are loaded with fresh and bright flavors, healthy and delicious, and quick and easy to make.
Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice
Instant pot chicken fried rice is easy to throw together, packed with flavor, and delicious. It's perfect for a weeknight family dinner or meal prep.
Greek Souvlaki Chicken Breast
Juicy, tender, and moist, baked chicken breast with the best Greek souvlaki marinade is the most flavorful and delicious chicken dinner in under 30 minutes.
Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry
Beef and broccoli stir fry is a classic Chinese-American dish that is delicious, savory, hearty, and saucy. Better than takeout and ready in 25 minutes.
Creamy Parmesan Risotto
Creamy Parmesan (No Wine) Risotto is a rich, creamy, and comforting classic Italian dish that may be intimidating but is actually quick and easy to make.
Hamburger Soup with Macaroni
Hamburger soup with macaroni is a quick and easy weeknight dinner that‘s wholesome, filling, comforting and nutritious. Prep, cook and serve under an hour.
Beef Kofta Kebabs
Mediterranean Beef Kofta Kebabs are juicy, tender, flavorful, and well seasoned . These grilled ground beef skewers are quick and easy to make in 30 minutes.
Coconut Curry Salmon
Coconut curry salmon is a delicious, flavorful, and healthy weeknight dinner. It’s 30-minute dinner that is a game changer on busy weeknights.
Creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta
Creamy Chicken Pesto Pasta is a delicious 30 minute recipe that is packed with flavor, quick and easy to make, and will satisfy the whole family.
Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
Sheet pan chicken fajitas are quick and easy to make, loaded with flavor, delicious, and ready in less than 30 minutes. Great for meal prep too.
Instant Pot Beef Curry
Instant pot beef curry with potatoes and carrots is delicious, hearty, comforting, and flavorful. It's made quick and easy in the pressure cooker.
Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
Air fryer chicken tenders are juicy and moist inside while crispy and golden brown outside. A healthy, delicious, and quick kid-friendly recipe.
Tiktok Ramen
Tiktok ramen is savory, sweet and loaded with umami flavor. It's a quick and easy viral ramen hack with instant noodles, eggs, butter, garlic and soy sauce.
Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Chicken
Vietnamese noodle bowl with lemongrass chicken, fresh vegetables and herbs, tossed in a homemade Vietnamese sauce is healthy, delicious, light, and filling.
White Bean Soup with Kale
White Bean Soup with Kale is a hearty and nourishing one-pot meal that is flavorful and easy. Make this healthy soup in 30 minutes using simple ingredients.
Skillet Lasagna
This one pan Skillet Lasagna has all the same ingredients and flavors as a traditional meat lasagna but with minimal prep and is ready in just 40 minutes.
Salmon Burgers
These Salmon Burgers made with real fresh salmon, are crispy on the outside and flaky inside, juicy and thick, and healthy and packed with protein.
Mediterranean Chicken Patties
Delicious, moist and juicy Mediterranean chicken patties have everything you want in one bite: protein, veggies, herbs, and they're quick and easy to make.
Mexican Chicken Caesar Salad
Mexican Chicken Caesar Salad is a delicious, flavorful twist on a classic Caesar salad with Mexican flavors and ingredients tossed in Caesar dressing.
Garlic Shrimp Stir Fry
Better than takeout garlic shrimp stir fry is saucy, sticky, flavorful, and delicious. It's quick and easy to make in 15 minutes and great for meal prep.
Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and Dumplings is a classic chicken soup that is hearty, comforting, and nourishing. Plus, it is quick and easy to make in one pot in 40 minutes.
More Dinner Recipes
- 50 Sunday Dinner Ideas
- 60+ Easy Dinner Ideas
- 50 Date Night Dinner Ideas
- 60 Vegetarian Dinner Recipes
- 60 Best Chicken Recipes
- 40 Best Pasta Recipes
Did You Make Any of These Friday Night Dinner Recipes?
Please leave a comment and rating below, and let me know what you thought of this round up of easy Friday night dinner ideas. Be sure to snap a picture and tag me on Instagram @aheadofthyme or share it on the Pinterest pin so that I can follow along.
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Recipe
40 Friday Night Dinner Ideas
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- Author: Sam Hu | Ahead of Thyme
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Over 40 Friday Night Dinner Ideas from classic comfort foods and pastas, to stir fries and rice bowls, and everything in between that's quick and easy! One of our favorite Friday Night dinner recipes are these Sheet Pan Quesadillas.
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 1tablespoonolive oil
- 1 mediumonion,chopped
- ½ mediumred bell pepper,diced
- ½ mediumgreen bell pepper,diced
- 1jalapeño pepper,cored and diced
- 3clovesgarlic,minced
- 1(15 ounce) canblack beans,drained and rinsed
- 1cupcornkernels,frozen, canned or fresh
- 1teaspoonchili powder
- 1teaspoonground cumin
- 1teaspoonsmoked paprika
- ½ teaspoonsalt
- ¼ teaspoonground black pepper
For the quesadillas:
- 3tablespoonsmeltedbutter,divided
- 8 largeflour tortillas,10-inch burrito size
- 1 ½cupsMonterey jack cheese,shredded
- 1 ½cupssharp cheddar cheese,shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion and bell peppers until they start to soften, about 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in the beans, corn, and seasonings including chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Stir and cook until warmed through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Lightly brush the bottom of a 13x9-inch sheet pan with 1 and ½ tablespoons of melted butter.
- Arrange 6 tortillas overlapping around the perimeter of the pan so that half of the tortillas overhang the rim, with one additional tortilla layered in the center so that the entire bottom surface of the pan is covered.
- Spread the veggie filling over evenly over top of the tortillas (covering a rectangle where the center of the pan is and not on the overhang pieces). Top with the shredded cheese.
- Place the last tortilla in the center (on top of all fillings), then fold each overhanging tortilla towards center. Brush the tops evenly with the remaining melted butter.
- Place a second baking sheet on top of tortillas and press down a bit. Bake for 20 minutes, until the tortillas are beginning to turn crispy. Remove the top sheet pan and continue baking for another 5 minutes until the tortillas are golden brown and crispy.
- Remove from the oven and allow the quesadillas to cool slightly before slicing, about 5 minutes. Slice into 12 pieces (4 rows and 3 columns) and serve.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Mexican
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