Our great Sunday dinner ideas include the absolute best beef Stroganoff recipe – trust me: you won’t find a beef Stroganoff more deliciously authentic than mine – to a super easy salmon pasta recipe that despite its simplicity feels fancy; easy yet flavourful tapas that’s fab for feeding a crowd; and perfect pub-style parma. They’re the makings of a great Sunday dinner.
This round-up of great Sunday dinner ideas includes a handful of my favourite Sunday night dishes that will make you some truly great meals. Yet the recipes are straightforward, not too time-consuming – a few are a cinch to make and come together quickly – and the results are truly delicious Sunday night dinners.
If you’d like to try a Stroganoff tonight but not necessarily beef, see my best Stroganoff recipes, and if my great Sunday dinner ideas don’t inspire, browse these round-ups of our best Sunday dinner recipes, from Sunday night dinner ideas for comfort food to Sunday dinner ideas starting with soup, bread and wine, food for the soul for challenging times.
Before I share my great Sunday dinner ideas, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve cooked our recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo by supporting our epic Cambodian cuisine history and cookbook on Patreon, which you can do for as little as the price of a coffee.
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Lastly, you could browse our Grantourismo store for gifts for food lovers designed with Terence’s images. Now let me tell you all about my great Sunday dinner ideas for you to make tonight.
Great Sunday Dinner Ideas from Best Beef Stroganoff and Salmon Pasta to Spanish Tapas and a Classic Parma
Our great Sunday dinner ideas for you to make tonight…
Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe
My beef Stroganoff recipe tops the list of my great Sunday dinner ideas for you for tonight, simply because the dish is so incredibly delicious and yet it’s not all that challenging nor time consuming to make.
Having said that, it is a dish that you’ll want to hover around to inhale those wonderful aromas – with a great bottle of red wine, some great music on in the background, and some great company. Because ‘good’ is not good enough this Sunday night.
What I love about this beef Stroganoff recipe is that while it makes a dish that looks and tastes like a rich slow-cooked stew, the dish is technically a braise and it actually doesn’t take all that long to make, however, you could let it slow cook if you have time.
If you’re in the southern hemisphere right now, where it’s still warm, this classic garden salad is a great side to the Stroganoff. In winter, Terence makes shoestring fries (the original side to Stroganoff) or his creamy potato mash. For dessert, we have pancake recipes.
Authentic Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe for a Retro Classic from a Saint Petersburg Palace Kitchen
Smoked Salmon Pasta Recipe
This smoked salmon pasta recipe is another one of my great Sunday dinner ideas for you: it makes spaghetti with smoked salmon, dill pickles, capers and fresh dill. It’s a flavour combination I love, as it’s rooted in the food of my Russian-Ukrainian family and so many memories of precious shared family meals.
You’ll find that flavour combo again and again in my recipes, from this salmon potato salad recipe and these devilled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar to this creamy smoked salmon dip made from scratch and these blini with smoked salmon, dill, gherkin and sour cream, all of which are my takes on family recipes that my mum and grandmother made when I was a kid.
Sour cream and lemon juice really make this pasta. You could add more sour cream for a creamier texture or a little extra lemon juice for brightness. I always add more fresh dill to my bowls than I recommend in this recipe.
It’s such a versatile recipe. For a really great dinner, you could top it with a dollop of caviar with no extra effort (just extra expense) or use linguine instead of spaghetti or whatever style of pasta you prefer. Best of all: it also comes together quickly, in less than half an hour.
Best Spanish Tapas Recipes for a Tapas Bar Feast at Home
Here’s another one of my great Sunday dinner ideas for you – a Spanish tapas bar feast at home, and I know it’s not the same as grazing on Spanish tapas as you bar-hop in Spain, but it’s the next best thing.
Our best Spanish tapas recipes include recipes for some of the most popular Spanish tapas bar snacks: the Spanish meatballs called albondigas, chorizo and potato croquettes recipe for croquetas de patata y chorizo, the classic garlic shrimp recipe for gambas al ajillo, a Spanish chorizo in red wine recipe for chorizo al vino tinto, and a simple calamari recipe for calamari a la plancha.
If you’re not already a lover of Spanish tapas, a tapa is a small snack plate available at tapas bars in Spain and abroad – tapas is plural – where a tapas bar crawl is the best means by which to sample these delicious morsels.
A leisurely bar-hop from one boisterous tapas spot to another, sipping vermouth or vino while nibbling on these delicious snacks, preferably in the company of new friends, is must-do for food-loving travellers to Spain. And if you can’t get to Spain this summer, why not enjoy a Spanish tapas feast at home?
Best Spanish Tapas Recipes for a Tapas Bar Feast at Home (Not the Same, but Still Lots of Fun)
Chicken Parmigiana Recipe for a Classic Chicken Parma
Chicken parmigiana is another one of my great Sunday dinner ideas for you and this recipe makes a delicious chicken parma in the Italian Australian style that appeared in Australia the 1950s and became a popular mid-week pub counter meal special in the 1980s.
With our homemade parmy, succulent chicken breast fillets with a crunchy breadcrumb coating are topped with a rich tomato sauce and melted parmesan cheese and mozzarella. It’s even better than your favourite Aussie pub style parmy.
If you made and enjoyed our chicken schnitzel recipe and my rich Italian tomato sauce recipe then I guarantee you’re going to love this endearingly old-fashioned chicken parmigiana recipe for a home-cooked chicken parma.
Don’t forget the sides. Indeed, it’s a good fresh garden salad and crunchy potato fries or wedges that distinguish an Italian Australian chicken parmigiana from its cousins in the USA, which are typically served with spaghetti or another pasta.
Chicken Parmigiana Recipe for a Classic Chicken Parma in the Italian Australian Style
Beer Battered Fish and Chips Recipe for Perfect Fish and Chips
Our beer battered fish and chips recipe is another one of my great Sunday dinner ideas for you, and, yes, I know, I know, you can buy fish and chips from your local takeaway, but it won’t be as great as our homemade fish and chips.
Our recipe makes the perfect fish and chips for the classic takeaway that is an iconic dish for us Aussies and our British and Kiwi cousins – as iconic as the experience of eating fish and chips by the beach is, especially on a Sunday evening in summer.
What makes these fish and chips so great? The beer batter gives the crunch we all love while keeping the fish fillets deliciously moist. The secret is that the heat of the fryer goes mostly into the batter rather than the fish itself and quickly forms a crunchy crust – every single time.
Make our hand cut potato chips recipe and easy homemade tartare sauce recipe and you’ll be enjoying your best fish and chips ever.
Best Beer Battered Fish and Chips Recipe for Perfect Fish and Chips
Published 7 August 2022; Updated and Republished 13 August 2023
Please do let us know if you make any of my great Sunday dinner ideas in the comments below as I’d love to get your feedback and hear how our recipes turned out for you.
When I got this in my mail today I realised I’ve made all of these recipes (made the Strog and parm lots) but never thanked you. Thank you Lara and Terrence, your recipes are the best.
Thank you so much, Wendy – appreciate you taking the time to drop by to let us know :)