Date nights are something that we all look forward to. The excitement starts to build up almost as soon as the schedule is set.
Once all the movie nights, restaurant dates, shopping, and other outdoor excursions get tiring, we just want to spend some alone time with our significant other. And, nothing can be more intimate and romantic than a dinner date at home.
If you have a date night coming up and don’t know what to cook to ‘wow’ your partner, we have something special cooked up for you. Here are six delicious recipes you want to try for a perfect dinner date.
Table of Contents
1. Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
A lot of people skip out on home dinner dates because they are bad at cooking. Even if they can manage to make simple recipes, they think that it’s not enough to impress their date.
One of the simplest yet mind-blowing recipes out there is Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. The recipe is easy to make and requires only a handful of ingredients.
The four key ingredients are spaghetti, garlic, olive oil, and salt. To make it more flavorful and fancier, you can use ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, Parmigiano, and fresh parsley.
Boil the spaghetti in salted water until cooked. On a heated pan, slow roast chopped garlic in olive oil until it just about starts to turn golden. Add red pepper flakes, ground black pepper, and salt. Drop the pasta into the pan and stir fry for 2 minutes in medium-low heat.
Add chopped parsley and grated Parmigiano. Mix until completely combined. Remove the spaghetti from heat and serve on a platter. Top with more grated Parmigiano and you are done!
2. Broiled Butterfly Lobster Tails
If you wish to impress your date with something a little fancier, broiled butterfly lobster tails might be the item you are looking for.
Use scissors to cut through the center of the top shell and stop cutting at the base of the tails. Gently pull the halves apart, releasing the meat from the shell.
Insert your thumb in the bottom and separate the meat while keeping the base attached. Lift the meat over the shell and it’s ready for cooking!
In a small bowl, add lemon juice, chopped parsley, pressed garlic cloves, dijon mustard, salt, and ground black pepper.
Add semi-solid butter and crush it, mixing it with the other ingredients. Generously spread the garlic butter over your butterflied lobster tails.
Preheat the oven to broil on high heat. Add the lobster to a pan and put them in the broiler to cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Wondering what goes with lobster tails? Here’s what to serve with lobster tails:
- Coleslaw
- Baked Potatoes
- Corn on Cob
- Risotto
3. Vegetarian Ratatouille
If your date is vegetarian and you wish to impress them, the vegetarian version of the French stew Ratatouille is your perfect option.
Cut eggplants, zucchini, squash, and fresh tomatoes in large circles. Don’t make them thicker than 3 mm. For the sauce, you need to dice bell peppers (yellow and red) and onions.
Heat olive oil in a large oven-safe pan. Saute minced garlic in heated olive oil. Add your diced onion and bell peppers. Pour in your crushed canned tomatoes then stir until all the ingredients are mixed.
Remove from heat and add chopped basil. Use a spatula to smoothen the surface. Arrange the sliced vegetables in alternate patterns atop the sauce.
In a bowl, make an olive oil herb seasoning. Mix chopped garlic, parsley, basil, thyme, salt, and pepper with olive oil. Generously drizzle the seasoning on the vegetables.
Cover the pan with foil. In a preheated oven (350˚F), cook for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and then bake for 20 minutes until perfectly cooked.
4. Whole Smoked Chicken
If you are looking to truly impress your date and do have a smoker at home, consider smoking a whole chicken!
You will be surprised that it is a lot easier than it looks. The crucial aspect of smoking chicken is to get the time of cooking exactly right so that it doesn’t become too dry or too unsafe to eat.
In a bowl, mix minced garlic, chili powder, paprika, onion powder, oregano, mustard powder, salt, and pepper. Rub olive oil all over the chicken, massaging with your finger to ensure maximum coverage.
Cover the chicken with the dry rub, putting on the thickest layer of seasoning possible.
Preheat smoker to 225˚F. Put the chicken on the grill grates of your smoker and smoke for three and a half to four hours.
You need a meat thermometer to ensure the chicken is cooked enough for safe consumption. Probe right into the breast meat and thigh meat. The chicken breast needs to be 160-165˚F and the thighs need to be 170-175˚F.
5. The Classic Charcoal-Grilled Steak
If you and your date are meat lovers, then you can never go wrong with a classic steak. No steak is as flavorful as one cooked on a charcoal grill. The smokey aroma gives a delicious boost to your juicy steak.
You need to choose the right cut of meat for your steak. Rib eye is possibly the safest cut of meat to use for your steak, but you can choose any.
Keep your steak seasoning simple. Just use butter, salt, pepper, and garlic. Some people like using olive oil, but you can skip it if you only want the flavor of butter in your meat. You can also use rosemary or basil. Rub your steak with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
You can also use herb butter by combining chopped fresh herbs, minced garlic, and butter together. Apply the butter lightly to the steak and cook it on the smoking hot charcoal grill. You should keep applying butter (you can use the herb or plain butter) to your steak to keep it from becoming dry.
6. Chocolate Lava Cake
No perfect dinner date would be complete without a special dessert. Something chocolatey to finish off in style should be perfect for your dinner date.
Lava cakes are moist and oozing with molten chocolate. Paired with a scoop of ice cream, they are the perfect blend of hot and cold.
You will need flour, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and of course, dark chocolate! Melt your butter and chocolate together, using the double broiler method. Keep stirring until smooth.
In another large bowl, combine eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and salt. You need to beat it until thick.
Add the chocolate and flour into the mixture and fold it together until well combined. Butter and flour ramekins and pour the batter into them. Bake for 6-8 minutes in preheated oven(450˚F). The sides need to be cooked while the inside remains jiggly.
Let them cool down for a minute or two before carefully removing the lava cake from the ramekins. Serve them fresh, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and berries!
If for some reason, the chocolate lava cake doesn’t come out the way it was supposed to (it can happen to the best of us), you can always order the finest chocolate cakes from BloomingBox.
Final Words
We hope you use these delicious recipes to plan the perfect dinner date.
If you are still looking for what to serve with lobster tails, you can easily pair them with charcoal-grilled steak or simple baked potatoes.
On the other hand, if you make ratatouille for your vegetarian date, they are bound to get impressed.
Try these easy dinner recipes for your next dinner date at home. Make sure to serve the lava cake as dessert with whichever recipe you choose to make!
