80 Fall Dinners You’ll Want To Make All Season Long
Make these hearty, cozy meals to keep warm this autumn.
After all the picnics, beach days, and BBQS of summer, we gotta admit—we get more than a little excited to get back in our kitchens and really cook. Once fall rolls around and it gets a little cold outside, we’re all about the casseroles, creamy pastas, easy sheet-pan dinners… all the ways we can produce easy, gorgeous, comforting meals. And don’t even get us started on all the glorious fall produce (hint: we’re obsessed with pumpkin)! Check out our best 80 fall dinner recipes for ideas—it's time to get cozy.
While we’ll never stray far from super easy meals, fall is the time when we start to reconsider slightly more involved projects. We get excited for dishes with longer cook times or preparation, like our braised short ribs with 40 cloves of garlic or our garlic & herb turkey roulade; for making our own pasta, like in our sweet potato gnocchi or our pumpkin ravioli; or for attempting multi-step meals, like our shepherd’s pie or stuffed acorn squash; and for cooking things low and slow in our fave kitchen gadgets, like our slow-cooker Tuscan chicken meatballs with gnocchi or our Crockpot chicken & dumplings.
Summer produce is so fleeting, and it feels like we spend as much time waiting for it to ripen as we do enjoying them (we’re looking at you, peaches). Fall fruits and veggies, on the other hand, are the real sturdy MVPS. You can find a lot of colder weather produce (like apples, potatoes, etc.) year-round, but there is something so great about eating them when they’re actually in season (if you’ve ever tried a lackluster strawberry in winter, you get it). Some of those favorites are best known for being the stars of fall pies, but they might be even better in savory applications. Check out our sheet-pan pork chops with apples, our pumpkin lasagna, our stuffed butternut squash, or our pumpkin curry to see what we mean.
We also can’t talk about fall dinners without mentioning the best food holiday of them all—Thanksgiving! We’ve got MANY guides to all the dishes you’ll need for the perfect holiday meal, and you don’t have to let that ONE day be the only time you enjoy them. If, like us, you LOVE turkey, green bean casserole, or stuffing, make them whenever you want this fall. There’s no one stopping you (certainly not us!)
Want more autumnal inspiration? Check out our favorite fall side dishes, fall cocktails, and fall desserts too.
Stuffed Peppers
While we love to experiment with countless variations, this classic recipe is hard to beat. Read on to discover just why this is one of our fan-favorite recipes (one of our top of 2022), then use it as a jumping-off point to create your own dream stuffed peppers.
Get the Stuffed Peppers recipe.
Classic Chili
If you’re looking for a hearty, comfort food meal to eat after a long fall workday, this is the recipe for you. While many chili recipes call for simmering for at least an hour (sometimes even more), our best-ever beef chili can be made in just 40 minutes (!!).
Get the Classic Chili recipe.
Cider Glazed Chicken Thighs
Don't let chicken breasts have all the fun! Chicken thighs are super flavorful, easy to cook, and SO delicious with sweet potatoes and apples. Try it for dinner any night this fall.
Get the Apple Cider Glazed Chicken recipe.
Sweet Potato Maple Brown Butter Gnocchi
Instead of making homemade sweet potato gnocchi, this genius recipe puts the sweet potato right into a creamy sauce and uses store-bought gnocchi for the same exact flavors and textures. The result: an incredibly irresistible fall dinner ready in less than 20 minutes.
Get the Sweet Potato Maple Brown Butter Gnocchi recipe.
Turkey Pot Pie
This turkey pot pie has a comforting creamy center with an extra-flaky top. It's the perfect little twist on the chicken classic! Use your leftover Thanksgiving turkey and any additional vegetables you have to make this even easier.
Get the Turkey Pot Pie recipe.
Chili Cheese Sweet Potato Casserole
If you think every bowl of chili should be hidden under mounds of melty cheese and a big dollop of sour cream, this is the casserole for you. With roasted sweet potatoes and black bean chili layered together under a gooey blanket of cheese, this easy vegetarian weeknight dinner is both incredibly comforting and surprisingly hearty.
Creamy Chicken Spanakopita Bake
This easy casserole dish is a fun take on the classic spanakopita. It has a creamy chicken filling with a lot of spinach and feta to make it more dinner-like for those that love the essential Greek dish. The shatteringly crisp phyllo might seem difficult to work with, but they're actually quite forgiving. The multiple layers will cover up any accidental tears, and if the top layers don’t lay perfectly flat, it will add to the beautiful texture.
Get the Creamy Chicken Spanakopita Bake recipe.
Stuffed Acorn Squash
All our favorite fall flavors come together in this surprisingly easy and super flavorful stuffed acorn squash. The kale adds a heartiness that only a good cruciferous green can provide, and it pairs perfectly with the tender, sweet flesh of the squash. Yum!
Get the Stuffed Acorn Squash recipe.
Instant Pot Pork Puttanesca
For this dish, we were inspired by classic Italian puttanesca, a tomato-based dish with anchovies, capers, and olives that's traditionally served over pasta. Pork makes it extra hearty, so we served it over creamy polenta, but feel free to sub in pasta, rice, or whatever else you can dream up.
Get the Instant Pot Pork Puttanesca recipe.
Copycat Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl
Attention, Sweetgreen lovers! Your regular weekday dinner is about to get an instant upgrade. Loaded with roast chicken, sweet potato, and that signature balsamic vinaigrette, our copycat version of Sweetgreen’s beloved harvest bowl will make your favorite takeout option an everyday reality.
Get the Copycat Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl recipe.
Pumpkin Carbonara
Your classic carbonara meets pumpkin for a creamy and silky pasta dish that's fall ready. The dish is quick and easy and the pumpkin-bacon combo is absolutely perfect. Top it with lots of Parmesan for an extra comforting dinner.
Get the Pumpkin Carbonara recipe.
Autumn Kielbasa Sheet Pan Bake With Creamy Curry Dijon Sauce
The idea of combining curry powder with sausage comes from a German fast food dish called currywurst (sausage with French fries and curry ketchup), and it's equally delightful in this ketchup-free, creamy rendition. It adds a hit of flavor to the freshly roasted kielbasa, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and grapes.
Get the Autumn Kielbasa Sheet Pan Bake With Creamy Curry Dijon Sauce recipe.
Creamy Apple Bourbon Chicken Skillet
Chicken is a blank canvas for the simplest as well as the most complex dinner situations. In this version, the smokey warm bourbon, zingy mustard, sharp cheddar, and heavy cream allow the apples and chicken to really pop off. It's a wonderful dish on its own, but if you want to mix things up even further, you can spoon the sauce over long-grain rice or roasted potatoes. And if you’re feeling adventurous, combine those apples with linguine or ziti.
Get the Creamy Apple Bourbon Chicken Skillet recipe.
Amish Beef & Noodles
The Amish have made many amazing contributions to the world of food (pies, friendship bread, haystack dinners, Amish peanut butter... the list goes on!), but no dish is more iconic than beef and noodles. Chunks of juicy slow-cooked beef mingling with tender egg noodles in a rich broth? It’s comfort in a bowl.
Get the Amish Beef & Noodles recipe.
Lemony Chicken & Potatoes With Feta
Freshen up a classic dish, lemon chicken & potatoes, by spooning a wildly flavorful olive, almond, and parsley sauce over top. The best part? This entire recipe is made in just one dish (including the sauce!), making dinner (and cleanup) easier than ever.
Pumpkin Risotto
Take your favorite risotto recipe into fall with the addition of pumpkin puree, sage, and just a pinch of nutmeg. We love the creaminess the shaved ricotta salata adds, but Parm's fine if that's all you got.
Get the Pumpkin Risotto recipe.
Sheet-Pan Pork Chops With Apples
The pork chops here pair perfectly with apples and onions—a savory-sweet combination that balances the rich meat. You'll glaze both with a mustard-balsamic mixture that has a hint of sweetness from maple syrup. Yum!
Creamy Pumpkin & Parmesan Chicken Skillet
This is a one-pan dish that bathes chicken breasts in a garlicky pumpkin cream sauce. It's also super-versatile, allowing you to mix up whatever you want to pair it with, from pasta to rice (of course, you can also just enjoy it on its own!).
Garlic & Herb Turkey Roulade
Sometimes, roasting a whole turkey is just too much of an undertaking. A roulade, though? It's surprisingly easy (we swear!), super flavorful, and much easier to carve. Perfect served with a side of mashed potatoes and some tart cranberry sauce.
Get the Garlic & Herb Turkey Roulade recipe.
Pork Chops With Apples
Delicious pork chops that aren't dry are very much within reach this fall. These easy pork chops get cooked with apples and onions that provide tons of flavor, then simmered in apple cider for a little sweetness that helps keep them from drying out.
Get the Pork Chops With Apples recipe.
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