Last Updated February 21st, 2023 at 11:54 pm by Lisa
40+ Romantic dinner ideas for Valentine's Day, date nights, anniversary celebrations, or special occasions like Galentine's. Skip reservations at busy restaurants, and make a great romantic dinner for two or a cozy night in with the entire family.
Choose your favorite romantic recipes for a perfect Valentine's Day dinner menu with starters, appetizers, cocktails, main dish recipes, sides, and sweet desserts...
Romantic Menu With Elegant Valentine's Dinner Ideas
PRO TIPS: For romantic meals, the key is to prep fancy dinner recipes ahead. Make one or two things and buy the rest! Cook with recipe ingredients you are comfortable with preparing. Most importantly, relax and enjoy your special day!
Table of Contents
Sweets: Chocolates, Truffles, Honey, Whipped Cream.
Drinks: Champagne, Red Wine, Rose.
Shared Food: Chocolate or
Cheese Fondue, Charcuterie or Cheese Boards.
Dinners: Lobster, Wagyu Beef, Oysters, Caviar.
Fruits: Strawberries, Pomegranates, Grapes, Watermelon, Figs, Ginger, Pineapple.
Romantic Meals
Steak & Meat Lovers: Grill filet mignon beef or juicy steak just like a famous steakhouse, and pair it with a side like Mashed Potatoes and a chilled Wedge Salad. Or make a Beef Roast, so incredible with a red wine sauce, and then slice it thinly for the most incredible Roast Beef for Sandwiches the next day.
And receive a free guide on How To Build A Charcuterie Board as our thank you!
Seafood Lovers: Saute some garlic shrimp scampi cooked in a white wine sauce over pasta, or have small bowls of rich lobster bisque which you can make or buy. Another great option is savory, tender scallops, or for the main dish, crab legs, or classic lobster tails in drawn butter, or how about an herb crusted pan-seared salmon?
Pork Loin: A savory tender pork chops recipe with a pan sauce would be amazing or make a Cherry Balsamic Pork Loin loaded with flavor and herbs. You can also grill or bake a pork tenderloin for two people, which is a smaller portion
Chicken Recipes: Stuffed Chicken Breasts are so luxurious, and easy. It can be made ahead with different cheeses like gorgonzola, parmesan cheese, feta, mozzarella, or goat cheese. You can also fill them with veggies like cooked mushrooms, onions, peppers. Or make a crispy breaded chicken recipe, chicken saltimbocca (chicken wrapped in sage and prosciutto and then quickly sautéed). Or chicken parmesan, a comfort food classic dish.
Lamb Recipes: Fire up the grill, and make Grilled Lamb Chops with peaches and a mint pesto that is out of this world, or try my Cabernet Rosemary Rack Of Lamb with watermelon skewers! It is incredible and soooo romantic.
Classic Pasta Dishes: Creamy pastas are a go-to side with a Healthy Alfredo Sauce, or make the Italian classic cacio e pepe . This simple dish consists of spaghetti, black pepper, Pecorino Romano, and sometimes butter, it is a rich sauce and goes well with angel hair pasta.
Creative Out Of The Box: Ideas: For something different, try a main course of short ribs and mashed potatoes, or a heart shaped pizza loaded with melty cheese and family favourite toppings! To save time, make a sheet pan dinner, try a Shrimp Boil, Lemon Chicken Dinner complete with lemony croutons, or a big pan of Baked Lobster Ravioli with a lemon butter cream sauce that is out of this world.
Shish Kabobs
Grilling season is perfect for these Shish Kabobs with a beef marinade made with pineapple and dark rum. The rum is totally optional of course! Plus take a look at dozens of ideas to make these colorful grilled skewers your way with all the best shish kebob side dish ideas.
Cherry Balsamic Pork Loin
Easy 10-minute prep, festive Cherry Balsamic Pork Loin serves a large crowd and is perfect for family dinner, entertaining, special occasions, or the holidays! One of the best ways to entertain for a large dinner party is to serve an elegant beautiful pork loin roast with a few simple ingredients.
Lobster Ravioli
Lobster Ravioli with Lemon Butter Sauce uses a baked ravioli technique you can prep ahead for dinner parties, holidays, and romantic nights. The best part of this recipe for romantic dinners is that it can be made ahead with wonton wrappers the day before and baked instead of boiling the ravioli. It is a perfect recipe for the holidays or special dinners like Valentine's Day.
Cedar Grilled Salmon
Cedar Grilled Salmon with asparagus, zucchini ribbons, and a delicious lemon dill fish butter with incredible unique flavor perfect for salmon. This healthy dinner cooks everything at once!
Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Stuffed Chicken Breasts makes a great weeknight family dinner, and is perfect for special occasions, holidays, or romantic date nights. Make ahead for entertaining, and has the best sauce with only one pan and a tiny bowl to clean! Try lots of different stuffings and ingredients.
Sheet Pan Chicken
Sheet Pan Chicken with croutons and small potatoes takes 20 minutes to prep and this entire dinner bakes in 50 minutes. Beautiful to serve for an easy family weeknight dinner or a fun meal prep idea sheet pan meals make prep and cooking so easy! The golden brown croutons go perfectly with the tender warm potatoes and lemony chicken.
Baked Turkey Meatballs
Turkey Meatballs are oven-baked with a special secret for flavorful tender, moist deliciousness in every bite. Serve on hot pasta with sauce, in soup, or layer in a cheesy meatball sub sandwich. With just a handful of ingredients, these make a light healthy homemade dinner. Frozen meatballs from scratch are so worth the time to make and are great for fast dinners.
Beef Roast
Serve this Beef Roast Recipe with a red wine marinade as an elegant dinner or for the holidays. Slice leftovers for roast beef sandwiches.
Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe
Classic beef stroganoff made with ground beef is so popular and beloved worldwide. But what if I shared my secrets to pack in flavor and use various beef cuts? This recipe has ideas for different steak cuts, mushrooms of course, rich stroganoff flavor, and a creamy sauce.
Grilled Lamb Chops
Grilled Lamb Chops rubbed with seasoned mint salt, sweet juicy peaches, and topped with parmesan mint pesto, what a cookout party food idea!
BLT Lobster Sandwich
A BLT Lobster Sandwich recipe with succulent lobster, thick crispy applewood smoked bacon, golden grilled sourdough bread, and slathered with an easy dill-caper aioli sauce. Oh, and it won a 1rst Place Blue Ribbon at the Orange County Fair during a live cooking competition!
Cocktails And Drinks
The best way to celebrate with your love on a dinner date is with good cocktails and a homemade Valentine's Day dinner. It's best to get your prep work all done the day before. That way you can relax and enjoy a delicious meal at home. Choose your favorite Valentine’s Day dinner ideas here for the night, and then it's time to shop for ingredients and prepare...
Strawberry Cocktails
Strawberry Cocktails are wonderful for romantic date nights, Valentine's Day, or cocktail party celebrations. Oh, and these are keto, low carb, low sugar, and low-calorie, now how can you beat that? Enjoy every sip of these summer cocktails that don't have processed sugar or simple syrup.
Cuban Mojito Recipe
A Real Cuban Mojito Recipe straight from my trip to Cuba. Learn the secret ingredient in these famous Cuban cocktails and what makes them authentic!
Autumn Aperol Spritz
A taste of Fall in every sip, these Aperol Spritz cocktails have cider, Aperol, and fresh citrus juice topped with prosecco or Champagne bubbles. These refreshing drinks are great for brunch, happy hours, Friendsgiving, and Thanksgiving.
Hibiscus Cocktails
Hibiscus Tea Cocktails are low carb, low sugar, vegan, keto, and gluten-free. A healthier refreshing keto cocktail under 100 calories!
Fireball Whisky Cocktails
"Red Hot" Fireball Whisky Cocktails made with orange, cinnamon, cloves, and apple cider. Serve fireball drinks for Fall parties, brunch, and Thanksgiving Day!
St. Germain Cocktails
Refreshing St. Germain cocktails are an easy spritzer made with Elderflower liqueur, Prosecco, hibiscus tea, and a splash of club soda over crushed ice.
Champagne Cocktails
Chic Champagne Cocktails glitter with real gold and bubbles of fine Champagne or prosecco for New Year's Eve or holiday celebrations like a Christmas party! Everyone wants bubbly drink recipes that sparkle for the festive season. Ring in the new year and toast to all the luck in the world with an elegant cocktail in hand.
Sides, Salads, And More
One of the best parts of planning your night, might be to pick side dishes from all these favorite Valentine’s Day dinner ideas. There are the classic steak house or upscale restaurant sides like whipped Mashed Potatoes, or Crispy Smashed Potatoes. Or an incredibly simple recipe for Parmesan Risotto that requires no constant stirring and can easily become lobster risotto which succulent chunks of lobster, perfect for date night. You can also stick to a simple side of rice, or creamy spinach just like they have on upscale dining menus.
Another really popular option is Ruth's Chris Steakhouse's famous dish of Sweet Potatoes Casserole, or a classic Iceberg Wedge Salad with fresh flavors and a creamy avocado dressing. These are two of my favorite recipes to recreate while dining at home!
Tomato Soup With Basil Dumplings
Tomato Soup with Basil Dumplings can be rich and chunky or creamy smooth and is loaded with a veggie rainbow and real tomatoes for a hearty lunch or dinner. What makes this hearty soup recipe so good, are the fluffy basil dumplings! Total comfort food in a bowl, as they soak up the hot creamy homemade tomato soup.
Stovetop Grilled Asparagus
How to cook asparagus on the stovetop grilled perfectly every time for tasty crisp tender spears with bright green beautiful color. An easy low-carb keto healthy side dish.
Healthy Alfredo Sauce
A healthy alfredo sauce recipe is possible with just a fraction of the calories. Let's ditch the high fat version loaded with fat and carbs. This Cauliflower Alfredo is absolutely rich and bursting with flavor, gluten-free, and a healthier recipe of a classic comfort food dish. You can add things like chicken, cherry tomatoes, fresh herbs, spices, or sun-dried tomatoes to jazz it up!
Sweet Potato Casserole (Ruth's Chris Recipe)
For all you avid fans of the Sweet Potato Casserole at the famous Ruth's Chris Steak House, this is their original recipe and signature side dish. The combination of the fluffiness of the sweet potato mixture topped with a pecan crumble takes this classic holiday side way over the top. It is so scrumptious, the whole family will want seconds and a copy of this delicious copycat recipe.
Parmesan Risotto
Parmesan Risotto has a rich deep flavor, is made with arborio rice, and is hands-free with no constant stirring, unlike most risotto recipes. It is one of the most delicious recipes, and you can add things to it to make it a complete dinner from roasted shrimp, lobster, chicken, seared scallops, a fried egg, or cooked sausage.
Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes
Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes are creamy smooth and melt in your mouth with 5 easy ways to reheat and keep warm for dinner or your holiday party.
Crispy Smashed Potatoes
Crispy Smashed Potatoes served with melted herb butter are one of the most heavenly potato recipes. These are pure comfort food and a beautiful side dish for family dinners, romantic date nights, holidays, or dinner parties. Soft fluffy centers are surrounded by a golden-brown crust on each and every one. And those crunchy edges are simply addictive.
Iceberg Wedge Salad
Dig your fork into this icy cold iceberg Wedge Salad with a Pistachio-Avocado Dressing. The mild flavor compliments sizzling grilled steaks, chicken, or shish kabobs at cookouts or dinner parties. And for lunch, add some more protein like chopped bacon, chicken, or hard-boiled egg.
Green Goddess Dressing
Green Goddess Dressing bursts with fresh herb flavor. Serve as a salad dressing, veggie dip, with grilled shrimp, or toss into hot pasta. This is my Mom's 1970s original recipe from California printed in the local newspaper.
Starters And Appetizers
Pop the champagne, and begin your romantic night with a bite of Mini Bacon-Wrapped Filets dipped into a Creamy Balsamic Horseradish Sauce. All of these are easy appetizers that look fancy but have simple ingredients found at any grocery store, and look for all my make ahead tips in each recipe! Choose scrumptious and uncomplicated Valentine's Day dinner recipes, then get your kitchen prep underway.
Cucumber Gazpacho Soup
A chilled cucumber gazpacho recipe is so refreshing in the summer months with yogurt, grapes, and green apples, topped with almonds and lump crab meat. This cold cucumber soup recipe includes lots of other garnish topping ideas for you too!
Filet Mignon Steak Appetizer
Bacon-wrapped filet mignon steak appetizer paired with a creamy balsamic horseradish sauce for dipping. These will be a hit at your party!
Firecracker Shrimp
Firecracker Shrimp is a popular appetizer recipe you can oven bake or deep fry. Then dip them into a creamy spicy sriracha dipping sauce!
Caramel Apple Brie Appetizers
Need a fast easy appetizer for Halloween or Thanksgiving? Caramel Apple Brie Appetizers come together in minutes, and they are always wildly popular at Fall parties! If you like caramel apples, then you will love this scrumptious combination with creamy brie, the crunch of macadamia nuts, and tart-sweet dried cranberries. It is addictive.
Shrimp Cocktail
The best Shrimp Cocktail (prawn cocktail) is made by oven-roasting, then dipping them in homemade shrimp cocktail sauce! The shrimp cooks in just 15 minutes and is such an easy appetizer for the holiday season, New Year's Eve, or party food for special occasions and celebrations. Roasting is a great way to go versus dealing with a large pot of boiling water, a sheet pan is so much easier with less cleanup, and the roasting adds deep rich, delicious shrimpy flavor.
Beef Wellington Appetizers
Bake delicious hors d'oeuvres of individual servings of beef wellington appetizers, they are so fancy to pass around at a party. These beef wellington appetizers are a modern take on the classic English dish made easy with golden brown edges of flaky puff pastry, juicy filet mignon, and a creamy mushroom filling.
Romantic Sweets And Chocolate Desserts
Chocolate is a traditional Valentine's Day gift on February 14th. A great option is to make a sweet dessert that can be gifted as well. Try one of the best desserts here, Smore Truffles or Nut Goodie Bar candy! They box up so well, take less time than you think, and are a great option the whole family will love. What better way to say I love you, than with homemade chocolates that will delight their taste buds with chocolatey goodness.
S'more Cookie Dough Truffles
S'more Cookie Dough Truffles are an easy no-bake dessert candy with chocolate chips, graham crackers, and mini marshmallows just like campfire s'mores!
Peach Cheesecake Pie (No-Bake)
Peach Cheesecake Pie is a 30-minute no-bake recipe with a crisp graham cracker crust, sweet whipped filling, and juicy summer peaches!
Raspberry Lemon Sorbet
Raspberry Lemon Sorbet is a real fruit dessert, that is dairy-free, vegan, and has no refined sugar. Some people call this a summer fruit sorbet or nice cream. It is made with raspberries, strawberries, pineapple, and bananas, and served in real lemon cups.
Cherry Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches
5 ingredients to create your own Homemade Cherry Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches. A fun and easy summer treat to cool you down on hot days!
S'more Pizookie Skillet Cookies
S'more chocolate chip skillet cookies also called pizookies, are baked into the ultimate cookie dessert, loaded with milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate chips, mini peanut butter cups, graham cracker shards, and toasted marshmallows all melted together into a gooey cookie.
Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas
Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas are dipped in melted chocolate and rolled in your favorite toppings of dried fruit, chopped nuts, colorful sprinkles, crushed cookies, or candies for a wholesome frozen dessert.
Fresh Strawberry Cake
You can taste the real strawberry flavor in this fresh strawberry scratch cake, as it skips ingredients like food coloring and jello gelatin and uses strawberry jam and real strawberries! Use this recipe to bake a strawberry layer cake, a sheet cake, or even cupcakes. Then spread on the strawberry buttercream frosting with its beautiful pink color on every layer, and decorate with sweet juicy strawberries, it's the real deal.
Coconut-Lime Lemon Bars
A tropical version of traditional lemon bars, this lemon bar recipe has both lime and lemon zest with lime and lemon juice in the filling and a toasted coconut shortbread cookie crust. An incredible recipe with the right amount of sweetness!
Nut Goodie Bar Candy
Nut Goodie Bar Candy is an addictively sweet chocolate peanut butter candy bar famous in Midwest USA. An easy no-bake candy served right from the freezer.
Chocolate-Cherry Hand Pies
Chocolate Cherry Hand Pies have an amazing sugary crust, this hand pie recipe uses boxed pie crust, chocolate chips, and frozen cherries! And can be baked in the oven or made into small heart pies to fit in an air fryer.
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