85 Beyond Easy Winter Dinners That Will Keep You Warm And Cozy
Sorry salads, you're on the backburner.
Cooking during the cold winter months does double duty: Our ovens warm up the kitchen and the meals that come out of them are beyond cozy and comforting. Creamy soups, easy casseroles, and hearty, filling salads that will give us that cozy feeling are the name of the game. To help you warm up this winter, we've compiled our favorite easy dinner recipes to give you plenty of weeknight dinner inspo all season long. While the cold winds blow outside, cozy up to one of these warming winter dinners to keep the whole family happy and satisfied.
No matter what you crave during the colder months, we have a recipe here for you. We let winter flavors and produce shine in many of these recipes, including our caprese chicken and polenta bake, vegan shepherd's pie, and honey mustard chicken. If you can't help but eat soup all season long (no judgment here!), you won't be able to get enough of our white chicken chili, chickpea noodle soup, and classic beef stew. Need something a bit heartier? Our slow-cooker pulled pork, vegan meatloaf, and Instant Pot pot roast & potatoes will give you that warm, stick-to-your-ribs feeling we crave during colder weather.
The best part of these recipes? They're quick and easy, whether you're whipping up dinner for one or need to serve a crowd. Handy gadgets like the beloved Instant Pot and slow cooker make dinner prepping a breeze, while cozy casseroles—chicken pot pie casserole, broccoli cauliflower casserole, and potato soup—make weeknight dinners easier than ever.
Hungry for more winter inspo? Check out our winter salads and winter cocktails to complete your seasonal spread!
Creamy Pesto Baked Gnocchi & Chicken Skillet
What isn’t pesto good in? It’s a sauce that turns any dish into kitchen gold, especially this totally comforting and delicious gnocchi and chicken bake. For the perfect pesto touch, stir a dollop into the tomato mixture to coat everything, then dollop the top with more right out of the oven for a fresh finish.
Get the Creamy Pesto Baked Gnocchi & Chicken Skillet recipe.
Classic Beef Stew
Beef stew is a cold weather essential. Comforting and filling, this stew is perfect to make in bulk and cozy up to throughout the week. Want something a little heartier? Try ladling a bit of stew over some garlic mash.
Get the Classic Beef Stew recipe.
Sloppy Joe Meatball Bake
Meatballs don’t take the sloppy out of sloppy Joes, they just turn it into a whole new form. Cheesy, hefty, and super-saucy, this skillet dish also comes together in just under an hour, making it the perfect anytime meal. Plus, besides being irresistibly tasty, this dish is also extremely versatile. Cook up these meatballs, then serve them in a variety of ways: Sandwich them into a hoagie roll for a saucy meatball sub, enjoy them right out of the skillet as an easy appetizer (think game day snacks!), or serve this bake as a main with fresh veggie sides.
Get the Sloppy Joe Meatball Bake recipe.
Chicken Spinach Artichoke Soup
Spinach and artichoke dip lovers—let us introduce your new favorite cozy winter dinner. We transformed our favorite party dip into a hearty weeknight dinner by adding chicken breasts and broth without sacrificing any of the classic flavors you know and love. While we love to cozy up to this soup during the cold months, it's light (and delicious) enough to enjoy all year long.
Get the Chicken Spinach Artichoke Soup recipe.
Skillet Chicken Cacciatore
After a long day, this dish is oh so comforting, not in the least because it all comes together in one pot. Just don’t skip the Italian side dishes! We love this served on its own with crusty bread for dipping, or garlic bread if you're feeling fancy.
Get the Skillet Chicken Cacciatore recipe.
Caprese Chicken & Polenta Bake
Gnocchi lovers, this dish is for you, but it has a little spin—rather than using gnocchi made from potatoes, it’s prepared with polenta gnocchi. While we could go all carbs, all the time, we opted for a meal-in-one casserole instead, adding spinach and chicken cutlets to complement the dish.
Get the Caprese Chicken & Polenta Bake recipe.
Creamy Tomato Vegan Pasta
This is the vegan pasta you make for lifelong dairy lovers. Rich and creamy, with deep tomato flavor, it’s sure to have everyone digging back into the pot for another serving. Sun-dried tomatoes and a hefty dose of tomato paste team up to create a robust sauce that tastes like it’s been simmering all day, while a homemade vegan cream made from quick-soaked cashews rounds it out. A shower of spiced toasted cashews grated over top gives it the perfect finishing touch.
Get the Creamy Tomato Vegan Pasta recipe.
Creamy Gochujang White Chicken Chili
This creamy, red-tinted spin on white chicken chili incorporates gochujang for a unique spin on a classic winter dinner. Gochujang, an umami-packed Korean red chili paste that is both sweet and savory, gives lots of chili flavor without adding a ton of heat, meaning this can be enjoyed by everyone in the family (even the spice-averse).
Taco Spaghetti
One-pot taco spaghetti is a fast-as-can-be weeknight dinner that pairs all your favorite taco fixin’s with spaghetti rather than taco shells. It's perfect for those nights when you just cannot stand the thought of a sink full of dirty dishes. Everything here comes together in one pot—from browning the beef to simmering the sauce, even boiling the spaghetti!
Get the Taco Spaghetti recipe.
Chicken Pot Pie Casserole
If chicken pot pie excites you but pie crust intimidates you, you’ve arrived at the perfect recipe. Classic chicken pot pie filling is baked into a stress-free casserole, and best of all, topped with biscuits with a tantalizing golden brown finish. 😍
Get the Chicken Pot Pie Casserole recipe.
Cheesy Pierogi & Kielbasa Skillet
This one-skillet meal combines two of our favorite Polish foods—pierogi and kielbasa—into a warm, hearty dinner. Cream cheese thickens up the sauce, but we couldn't resist adding on dollops of sour cream to each plate too. You're welcome!
Get the Cheesy Pierogi & Kielbasa Skillet recipe.
Indonesian Chicken Soup
You can serve this warming, packed-full soup with rice, rice noodles, boiled potatoes, lime wedges, fresh tomatoes, cabbage, bean sprouts, boiled eggs, fried shallots, sambal, celery leaves, and scallions. Pick your favorites and make this soup your own!
Get the Indonesian Chicken Soup recipe.
Amish Beef & Noodles
The Amish have made many amazing contributions to the world of food (pies, friendship bread, haystack dinners, Amish peanut butter ... and 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.
Instant Pot Potato Soup
If you love a loaded baked potato brimming with bacon, cheese, sour cream, and chives, you'll go crazy for this easy soup recipe. Bonus: After throwing all your ingredients into your Instant Pot, you'll have the coziest, most comforting potato soup on your hands in under an hour.
Get the Instant Pot Potato Soup recipe.
Sheet-Pan Harissa Chicken & Sweet Potatoes
This easy-as-can-be weeknight dinner is a complete meal made on one sheet pan. Bonus: If you roast the sweet potatoes as indicated, your gift = creamy centers and crispy edges, enhanced by jammy red onions. Using bone-in thighs pretty much guarantees super-tender chicken, too!
Get the Sheet-Pan Harissa Chicken & Sweet Potatoes recipe.
Curried Coconut Lentils
This recipe is a melting pot of North and South Indian cuisine. We combined sautéed onions and ginger with warming North Indian spices, this signature garam masala, which we would eat with steaming hot basmati rice and a hearty dollop of homemade yogurt.
Get the Curried Coconut Lentils recipe.
Cowboy Stew
Featuring a spicy tomato broth studded with bacon, kielbasa sausage, ground beef, potatoes, pinto beans, and corn, a bowl of this stew is sure to keep you full from dusk 'til dawn, whether that's roping cattle on the ranch or schlepping from yoga to the office to cooking dinner after work. Serve this with buttered cornbread instead of tortilla chips for an even more filling meal.
Get the Cowboy Stew recipe.
Lobster Risotto
A simple combination of fresh aromatics, white wine, and seafood stock transforms humble Italian rice grains into the dreamy, cheesy, luscious rice porridge that we’ve all come to love. And adding fresh, faintly sweet lobster meat is all that’s needed to take your risotto over the top.
Get the Lobster Risotto recipe.
Pad See Ew
Pad see ew is on everyone’s top 10 Thai dishes list, and after you give it a try, you’ll understand why. The combination of thinly sliced, wok-seared meat, Chinese broccoli, and the signature wide, chewy rice noodles will make this Southeast Asian specialty an instant favorite.
Get the Pad See Ew recipe.
Lemony Chicken & Potatoes With Feta
Freshen up a classic dish, lemon chicken and potatoes, by spooning the most flavorful olive, almond, and parsley sauce over top. Prepared from the pan drippings, the sauce is so simple to make without getting out an extra pot. The best part? This entire recipe is made in just one dish, making dinner (and cleanup) easier than ever.
Taylor Worden is Delish's Assistant Digital Food Producer, where she creates recipe galleries, recipe updates and more. She was previously a freelance editor on the food team for Good Housekeeping, where she also contributed entertainment and culture pieces as a freelance writer. She graduated from the University of Kansas with a degree in journalism and a lifelong love of writing. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading, testing out a new pasta recipe, or rewatching one of her favorite shows.
Mackenzie Filson is a food writer and contributing digital food producer at Delish. Her favorite ice cream flavor is chocolate-pine. If wine was an astrological sign she'd be a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. She's never met a bag of Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos she didn't eat in one sitting.
