Sunday Dinner Ideas for Two That Will Give You Monday Leftovers

Our Sunday dinner ideas for two will leave you leftovers for Monday. Because who doesn’t like the idea of spending a leisurely evening cooking something special on Sunday with a glass of wine in hand and some music on? Then doing very little at all in the kitchen after the first day back at work? Our hands are raised.

My Sunday dinner ideas for two include dishes such as a Stroganoff, which you can eat with shoestring fries and a garden salad the first night, and the next evening toss the Strog leftovers into a pasta for a more casual meal. More than two of you? Just double or triple the ingredients.

If you like the idea of one recipe making a few meals, then see my post on our best recipes for even better leftovers for recipes that will feed you for days. The dishes taste even more delicious reheated the next day and the leftovers will make you 2-3 more meals – perfect for meal planning if you’re tight on time or money.

If these Sunday night recipe ideas don’t appeal, browse our collections of 31 Noodle Recipes to Cook in March for Noodle Month and our round-up of the Most Popular Recipes of February, which are the top recipes our readers searched, spent time on, and hopefully cooked last month and include everything from sticky pork ribs to chicken cutlets.

Now before I tell you more about our Sunday dinner ideas for two, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader supported. If you enjoy our recipes, please consider supporting our work by using our links to buy travel insurance, rent a car, book accommodation, book a tour on Get Your Guide; buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers or classic cookbooks for serious cooks; or buy a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever.

Now let me tell you more about my Sunday dinner ideas for two.

Sunday Dinner Ideas for Two That Will Leave You Leftovers for Monday

These Sunday dinner ideas for two will leave you leftovers for Monday because who doesn’t like the idea of doing very little at all in the kitchen after the first day back at work?

Pork Stroganoff Recipe Made with the Chinese Velveting Technique

Topping the list of our Sunday dinner ideas for two is my heavenly pork Stroganoff recipe made with the Chinese velveting technique. It’s one of my favourite Stroganoff recipes.

We serve it with crispy shoestring fries on the side and a crisp green garden salad at the centre of the table.

If you’ve cooked and enjoyed my traditional beef Stroganoff or richly spiced chicken Stroganoff recipes and you’re a lover of Chinese cuisines and dishes made with the Chinese velveting technique, then you’re going to love this pork Stroganoff recipe.

And if you’re a vegetarian, then I also have a mushroom Stroganoff recipe. All of these Stroganoff recipes are fantastic Sunday dinner ideas for two, as they’ll also leave enough leftovers for a more casual Stroganoff on Monday that you can serve with pasta.

Pork Stroganoff Recipe for Tender Pork Made with the Chinese Velveting Technique

Braised Chicken with Olives and Capers Recipe for Juicy Mediterranean Style Chicken

Next on the list of my Sunday dinner ideas for two is this braised chicken with olives and capers recipe, which makes incredibly succulent chicken legs in a Mediterranean style with a couple of surprising Asian ingredients.

Adapted from a recipe by Australian chef Martin Benn, it’s one of our best chicken recipes, a foolproof set-and-forget chicken dish that no matter how long you leave it or reheat it the chicken remains juicy.

We love to serve it with a chicken jus and crunchy Hassleback potatoes or creamy potato mash and this radish cucumber salad with feta, rucola and fresh herbs. Braised chicken leftovers are brilliant with pasta.

Braised Chicken with Olives and Capers Recipe for Juicy Mediterranean Style Chicken

Pasta and Potatoes Recipe for the Southern Italian Pasta e Patate

Our cheesy pasta and potatoes recipe for the Southern Italian pasta e patate is next on the list of our Sunday dinner ideas for two. It makes a home-cooked comfort food dish that you’re unlikely to see on Italian restaurant menus in Italy unless you get off the tourist trail or into a local home.

While the Neapolitan pasta, patate e provola recipe that’s made with provolone cheese is best known, Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano can also be used in the dish.

It’s one of those Italian comfort food dishes that I love to tuck into in a bowl on the couch in my pyjamas during a Netflix binge session on a weekend night. But if we’re eating at the dining table, we’re going to keep things simple.

Some slices of sourdough and a simple rucola and tomato salad are all this dish needs. If we were renting an apartment in Italy, we’d be pouring tumblers of a local table wine.

Cheesy Pasta and Potatoes Recipe for the Southern Italian Pasta e Patate

Chicken Cacciatore Recipe for a Traditional Italian Chicken Stew with Luscious Tomato Sauce

This classic chicken cacciatore recipe makes a traditional Italian chicken stew with a luscious tomato sauce and it’s next on our list of Sunday dinner ideas for two that will give you delicious leftovers for Monday.

Called pollo alla cacciatora in Italian, which translates to ‘hunter’s chicken’ – ‘pollo’ is ‘chicken’ and ‘cacciatore’ means ‘hunter’ – it’s a rustic old Italian dish typically eaten alone as a main course with crusty bread to mop up the rich sauce, and it’s incredibly delicious.

In the Italian diaspora, where the first Italian-American chicken cacciatore recipe was published in the USA in the 1920s, chicken cacciatore is typically served with pasta. This is the Italian-Australian spaghetti cacciatore recipe which Terence has fond memories of from Brisbane in the 1980s.

A panzanella – an Italian bread and tomato salad from Tuscany – is fantastic on the side.

Chicken Cacciatore Recipe for a Traditional Italian Chicken Stew with Luscious Tomato Sauce

Italian Roast Chicken Recipe with Peppers, Leeks, Olives, Capers and Thyme

Our Italian roast chicken recipe with peppers, olives and capers makes succulent chicken quarters roasted on a bed of leeks and red and green peppers with plump black olives, briny capers and sprigs of fresh thyme.

The slow-cooked chicken is incredibly delicious and will fill your home with the sweet scent of roasted peppers, and it’s another of our best Sunday dinner ideas for two.

If you’re a lover of roast chicken that is so moist it falls from the bone and melts in your mouth, you’re going to adore this Italian roast chicken recipe. As with the recipes above, it’s perfect with potatoes and mash, or any one of these vegetable side dishes.