Sunday Night Dinner Ideas – Comfort Food Dishes to Cook for Dinner Tonight. Chicken Stroganoff Recipe for a Rich Tangy Old Shanghai Style Stroganoff. Sunday night dinner ideas. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Sunday Night Dinner Ideas – Comfort Food Dishes to Cook for Dinner Tonight

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Our top Sunday night dinner ideas include a few classic comfort food favourites such as beef Stroganoff, chicken schnitzel and spaghetti Bolognese, as well as pot stickers and noodles or fried rice for families and friends who find cooking together fun. And if Sunday night for you means pizza night, we also have a recipe for homemade pizza.

I’ve compiled some easy Sunday night dinner ideas to cook tonight for you, as well as some alternative Sunday dinner ideas for all of those dishes. They include a few classic comfort food dishes such as beef Stroganoff (and chicken Stroganoff), chicken schnitzel (or chicken schnitzel burger), spaghetti bolognaise (or ragu all Bolognese, pot stickers and noodles (or fried rice), and pizza.

The beef strog, chicken schnitty and spag bol are all family favourites and hearty filling meals that feel like the big hugs we all need right now. While the Stroganoff and schnitzel are quick and easy, the Bolognese needs some time so put that on the stove now.

I’ve also included a couple of fun ideas for families and friends who like the idea of spending Sunday night cooking together: pot stickers and noodles or fried rice. And if Sunday night for you means pizza night, we also have a recipe for homemade pizza.

Before I tell you about my Sunday night 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. Or you could buy us a coffee and we’ll use our coffee money to buy cooking ingredients for recipe testing.

Another option is to use links on our site to buy travel insurancerent a car or campervan or motorhome, book accommodation, or book a tour on Klook or Get Your Guide. Or buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellersJames Beard award-winning cookbookscookbooks by Australian chefsclassic cookbooks for serious cookstravel books to inspire wanderlust, and gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers. We may earn a small commission but you won’t pay any extra.

Lastly, you could browse our Grantourismo store for gifts for food lovers, including food themed reusable cloth face masks designed with Terence’s images. Now let me tell you all about my Sunday night dinner ideas for easy dishes to cook tonight.

Sunday Night Dinner Ideas – Comfort Food Dishes to Cook for Dinner Tonight

Beef Stroganoff – or Chicken Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff is one of the best Sunday night dinner ideas there is, and chicken stroganoff is another, and we also have a mushroom Stroganoff for vegetarians. 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 actually doesn’t take all that long to make at all.

And I don’t know about you, but I love making my family recipes for dinner on Sunday as I channel my family while I cook and recall Sunday dinners when the family gathered around my grandparents’ dining table. I find cooking Russian food and the act of remembering enables me to spend precious time with them, even if it’s only in my memory and imagination.

This classic garden salad is a great companion to the Stroganoff. If you’re cooking for family, you could start with bowls of my baboushka’s borscht or do some traditional Russian cabbage rolls. Everybody seems to be cooking cabbage recipes right now. For dessert, we have pancake recipes.

Authentic Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe for a Retro Classic from a Saint Petersburg Palace Kitchen

Alternatively, why not make my rich and spicy chicken Stroganoff for Sunday dinner. My Russian chicken Stroganoff recipe makes the best chicken Stroganoff. Inspired by the old Shanghai-style of Stroganoff, it’s incredibly rich, redolent of spices, and slightly tangy due to the addition of Worcestershire sauce, which was added to beef Stroganoff in the Russian restaurants in Shanghai and Harbin in China in the early 20th century. Then there’s my creamy mushroom Stroganoff

Chicken Stroganoff Recipe for a Rich, Spicy, Tangy Old Shanghai Style Stroganoff

Chicken Schnitzel – or Chicken Schnitzel Burger

Chicken schnitzel is another of the best Sunday night dinner ideas and it’s quick and easy. You could make extra chicken schnitzel pieces and make Terence’s chicken schnitzel burger recipe on Monday, or you could go straight for the chicken schnitty burgers tonight.

Our chicken schnitzel recipe makes moist, tender chicken fillets with a super crunchy panko breadcrumb coating elevated with lemon zest and parmesan. These old-fashioned Australian style chicken schnitties will take you right back to the 1970s.

For a complete nostalgia trip, squeeze some lemon wedges over the schnitzels and serve them with potato salad. Try my Mediterranean-style warm potato salad recipe with capers, anchovies, chives, and celery leaves (it’s also delicious cold) or browse this collection of potato salad recipes. I adore this Japanese potato salad.

Chicken Schnitzel Recipe with Crunchy Panko Breadcrumb Coating with Parmesan and Lemon Zest

Terence’s chicken schnitzel burger recipe will make you our crunchy chicken schnitzel with panko breadcrumbs spread with a creamy pickle mayo (made with our homemade dill pickles) and topped with bacon, cabbage and tomato between soft burger buns. Served with spicy potato wedges, it is home-cooked fast food at its finest.

Chicken Schnitzel Burger Recipe with Creamy Pickle Mayo and Bacon, Cabbage and Tomato

 

Spaghetti Bolognese – or Authentic Ragù alla Bolognese

You’ll need to put the sauce on now, but spaghetti bolognaise is another one of the best Sunday night dinner ideas. If you want to go for a classic Australian style ‘spag bol’, we have Matt Preston’s spaghetti bolognaise recipe (link below) or you could make Terence’s authentic Italian ragù alla Bolognese with tagliatelle recipe from Bologna in Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy.

Matt Preston’s spaghetti bolognaise recipe comes courtesy of the food writer – along with its fascinating Italian-Australian history – from his cookbook World of Flavour, The Recipes, Myths and Surprising Stories Behind the World’s Best-Loved Food.

A cookbook as much as a myth-busting culinary history that sets the record straight: ‘spag bol’ is an Italian-Australian dish (or maybe Italian-British). Regardless, it’s a dish of the Italian diaspora. Matt’s recipe makes the kind of spaghetti Bolognese our mums in Australia made when we were kids.

Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe and the Italian-Australian History of ‘Spag Bol’ According to Matt Preston

Alternatively, try Terence’s ragu alla Bolognese recipe, which is based on the traditional recipe for the classic meat sauce from Bologna, which is used for both pasta and lasagne. Follow his exacting ingredient list and cooking directions and the result will be a perfect ragù alla Bolognese. In Bologna, they actually use tagliatelle not spaghetti. We usually make a big batch of ragu alla Bolognese and make lasagne alla Bolognese the next day.

Ragu alla Bolognese Recipe for a Traditional Bolognese Sauce from Northern Italy

Pot Stickers and Noodles – or Fried Rice

Pot stickers and noodles or fried rice is one of the best Sunday night dinner ideas for families, couples or friends who enjoy cooking together, as you can make the pot stickers together, which is loads of fun.

Our easy pot stickers recipe makes crispy Chinese fried dumplings with homemade wrappers and a savoury ground chicken and vegetable filling. First fried until crunchy then quickly steamed in the wok, they’re super-easy to make – can’t beat homemade – and also versatile: fill them with minced pork and vegetables or just vegetables. Fry them one side or both, even skip the steaming.

If you’re a dumpling lover, these Cambodian-Chinese pork and chive dumplings are also fantastic and faster to make and are probably better if you’re looking for quick and easy Sunday dinner ideas.

Homemade Pot Stickers Recipe for Crispy Chinese Fried Dumplings with Chicken and Vegetables

Dumplings and noodles are a match made in foodie heaven and this Cambodian mee katang recipe makes one of my favourite stir-fried noodle dishes. Delicious wok-fried wide rice noodles are browned by dark soy sauce, and stir-fried with marinated pork, crunchy carrots and Chinese broccoli, and scrambled eggs. Called ‘mee Kontang’ in Khmer, which means Cantonese noodles, but pronounced ‘mee Katang’, these charred noodles are a cinch to make and super versatile.

Cambodian Mee Katang Recipe for Quick and Easy Cantonese Style Noodles

Other wok-fried noodle recipes we have in our archive include these ginger scallion noodles, Cambodian lort cha, and mee Kola, a dish of the Kola ethnic minority of Cambodia. All of which are fab with fried dumplings.

Ginger Scallion Sauce Recipe for Ginger Scallion Noodles – The Momofuku Homage to a Chinese Classic

And if noodles don’t excite you, another of my best Sunday night dinner ideas is fried rice, especially if you have some leftover steamed rice in the fridge to use up or a veggie drawer to sort through. Fried rice is perfect for wilted veggies. And we have plenty of fried rice recipes for you to choose from.

Best Fried Rice Recipes for Quick Casual Meals to Use Up Leftover Rice

 

Homemade Pizza

Pizza is the last of my Sunday night dinner ideas for you. Sunday night is pizza night for many of you, but that usually means home delivery pizza, right? Well, why not make homemade pizza instead?

Our easy nduja pizza recipe makes a gently spiced pizza with the spicy Calabrian spreadable pork sausage combined with tomatoes and tomato paste to make a delicious base. Although cooked in a Dutch Oven it manages to have the hallmarks of a pizza made in a traditional pizza oven.

Southern Italy’s famous pork paste can be quite fiery (you can read our introduction to Calabria’s ’nduja di Spilinga here), so if you’re not into spicy just replace the sausage with your favourite pizza topping.

Easy Nduja Pizza Recipe and How to Make a Dutch Oven Pizza

 

Please do let us know if you’ve made any of our Sunday night dinner ideas recipes in the comments below as we’d love to get your feedback and hear how our recipes turned out for you.

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A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

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