Easy, Impressive Dinner Recipes

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Lasagna, like this butternut squash version, is a labor of love — there's no way around the lengthier prep time — that said, it's very impressive, can serve a crowd, and is hard to mess up, even as a novice cook. For another decadent option, try wild mushroom lasagna.

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Individual Chocolate Fudge Cakes

Image Source: America's Test Kitchen

Bust out your measuring spoons and your slow cooker (yes, you read that right). These individual chocolate fudge cakes are baked inside a slow cooker, making for one of the most hands-off, hard-to-mess-up cake recipes you'll find.

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Roast Chicken With Vegetables

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Lauren Hendrickson

Roasting a whole chicken might seem daunting, but it's actually an easier technique to master than cooking chicken breasts (which are prone to overcooking). Here, chicken is set atop a bed of vegetables for a complete meal.

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Marcella Hazan's Iconic Tomato Sauce

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Nicole Perry

Yes, it's just tomato sauce, but it's also the best tomato sauce you may ever taste. This iconic recipe only requires three ingredients and is velvety and rich, and it will dress up anything from pasta to pizza.

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Prosciutto-Wrapped Feta-Stuffed Dates

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Nicole Perry

Like bacon-wrapped dates, these feta-stuffed, prosciutto-wrapped dates are so much greater than the sum of their parts and are ridiculously simple to assemble.

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Steamed Mussels

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Sarah Lipoff

Steamed mussels might seem like a dish best left to restaurants, but they're shockingly simple (and fast) to make at home. Try this lime-leaf-perfumed version — sub parsley or other leafy green herbs if you can't find lime leaf — or this classic Julia Child recipe.

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Pasta Carbonara

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Nicole Perry

Like many pasta recipes, carbonara is a relatively simple affair and crowd-pleasing to boot. Making pasta carbonara also serves as a good cooking lesson, as having your mise en place set up is crucial to correctly executing the eggy sauce.

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Post-Grill Marinated Steak

Image Source: POPSUGAR Photography / Nicole Perry

The beauty of this grilled skirt steak recipe is that the meat is marinated after cooking, as it rests (an absolutely crucial step that many novice cooks skip). Do be sure to follow the instructions closely, erring on the side of grilling the steak for a shorter time, as skirt steak (a thin cut) is prone to overcooking.

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Chicken Picatta

Image Source: Cooking For Keeps

Five ingredients, 20 minutes, and one pan are all you need to make this Italian classic.

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