34 Quick Friday Dinner Ideas To Save Time 2023

When it comes to Friday dinner ideas, you usually have two different plans. The first one is that you will make a big meal with many scrumptious dishes. The second option will be a simple dinner with time-saving recipes that are easy to make.

Although the former seems to be more appealing, most people tend to prefer the latter. It is simply because they are so busy or tired on Friday nights, and they love something that takes less cooking steps and effort.

In my opinion, Friday night dinners are a wonderful opportunity for my whole family to celebrate the weekend. All family members can get together to prepare hearty dishes and then enjoy them while talking with each other. That would be amazing!

To help you have perfect Friday nights, I will get you rounded up 34 easy but super luscious recipes that let you enjoy glorious dinners while not spending much time and energy preparing them. Is it perfect enough for you, now? Let’s dive into the recipes!

Impress Your Whole Family With 34 Friday Dinner Ideas!

Friday dinner ideas are various with cooking methods. It can be a creamy cauliflower soup, a sesame beef stir fry, or grilled cheese sandwiches. Your job is to find out your favorite and most convenient recipes!

Salad Recipes

1. BLT Pasta Salad
2. Baked Falafel Salad
3. Soba Noodle Veggie Slaw With Peanut Sauce

Baked, Roasted, And Grilled Dinner Ideas

4. Air Fryer BBQ Ribs
5. Crispy Baked Panko Crusted Pork Chops
6. Grilled Philly Cheesesteak Kabobs
7. Creamy Tuna Pasta Bake
8. Baked Salmon With Asparagus
9. Pizza On A Stick
10. Homemade Extra Cheese Pizza
11. Walking Taco Casserole
12. Black Bean Enchiladas
13. Charred Hot Dogs
14. Hot Turkey Sandwich With Gravy
15. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches With Tomatoes And Bacon
16. Loaded Sweet Potato Fries
17. Avocado Chicken Parmigiana
18. Lipton Onion Soup Meatloaf

Stir-Fried And Fried Treats For A Filling Dinner

19. Easy Sirloin Steak With Garlic Butter
20. Beef Stir-Fry
21. Pad Thai
22. Rice Cooker Fried Rice
23. Spicy Kale And Coconut Fried Rice
24. Shrimp Tacos

How About Dinners With Hearty Stew, Soup, And Simmer Dishes?

25. Cauliflower Soup
26. Chickpea Stew
27. Old-Fashioned Beef Stew
28. Chicken And Bisquick Dumplings
29. Easy Butter Chicken
30. Goan Fish Curry
31. Quick And Easy Lentil Tacos
32. Crock Pot Mississippi Pot Roast
33. 3 Ingredients Coca-cola Chicken
34. Coconut Chicken Curry And Rice

Let’s Take An Adventure To 34 Delightful Friday Dinner Recipes!

In order to perfect your Friday dinner, you should balance it with different dishes made of veggies, meat, rice, or tortillas. The combination of fiber and protein will bring you the best eating experience.

Homestyle Salad Recipes For Every Friday Dinner

Now, just start your dinner with worthy salads. The refreshing taste of veggies will stimulate everyone to take more grabs for main courses.

1. BLT Pasta Salad

The recipe name seems to be weird, but it actually stands for three main veggies used in the salad: Bacon, lettuce, and tomato. So beautiful!

If you are planning for a home BBQ party at dinner tonight, some BLT pasta salad will effectively complement the smokey meat.

All of the ingredients will be folded with creamy ranch dressing and barbecue sauce. The blending of savory sauce, crunchy veggies, and tender pasta with a twist of crispy bacon will be definitely a crowd-pleaser!

You can see this video to know more:

2. Baked Falafel Salad

This is an updated version of a traditional salad with some crispy baked falafel. Unlike fried stuff, the plant-based baked batter is nearly free of oil, so it is perfect to be a salad topping.

Veggies and herbs are blended well and mixed with some seasonings and flour. The mixture is divided and shaped into round patties that will be popped into the oven.

The pairing of crispy and herbal falafel with crunchy, savory salad will rock your world!

3. Soba Noodle Veggie Slaw With Peanut Sauce

Besides the usual salad dressings made of lemon juice, mayonnaise with a touch of herbs, peanut sauce is a beautiful option you should not miss!

I must say that this is a super healthy dish with colorful veggies and buckwheat noodles that have a high content of protein while containing no gluten.

Everything will be tossed with rich and savory peanut dressing. Adding some chicken, shrimp, or tofu to the noodle salad will bring you a light meal, but it is optional.

How About Heart-Melting Baked, Roasted, And Grilled Dinner Dishes?

To make a full Friday dinner, you should not miss one or two baked and roasted recipes that will get the spotlight at your dinner table. Just pick your favorites right here!

4. Air Fryer BBQ Ribs

Whenever you are hungry for some BBQ meat flavor, just let this pork rib recipe help you fight your meat cravings. To make the dish, you need to prepare pork baby back ribs that are boned or boneless.

This depends on your preference! After rubbing the ribs evenly with bbq spice rub, you will place them into an air fryer for roasting until the ribs’ outside become crispy and brown.

Alternatively, you can prep this dish in an oven at 350F. The time length required to cook pork ribs at 350F can slightly vary depending on the thickness of the ribs. Generally speaking, baby back ribs can require up to 2 hours to cook.

Coating them with bbq sauce to increase the savory flavor. Serve these BBQ ribs as mac and cheese side dishes for a well-rounded meal. This attractive and flavorful dinner treat will surely wow your whole family.

5. Crispy Baked Panko Crusted Pork Chops

The moist and tangy pork chop with a crispy bread crumb batter outside will be a new favorite of your family members at the dinner table!

The pork chops will be applied with a mixture of yellow mustard and mayonnaise before being coated with panko bread crumbs.

After the baking process, the result will be golden brown pork chops that can be served with some salad for a better taste. This combo is also great for every light meal.

6. Grilled Philly Cheesesteak Kabobs

Eating pan-seared steak regularly tends to bring you a sense of boredom, and the grilled Philly cheesesteak kabob will promisingly give you a new flavor of the steak!

In this grilling recipe, steak and vegetables are skewered with wooden sticks and grilled until they reach brown.

Serve the savory grilled cheesesteak kabobs with cheese sauce for the greatest taste!

7. Creamy Tuna Pasta Bake

This cheesy baked recipe will allow you to bring your whole family a heart-touching meal with a handful of ingredients.

When you come back home from the office, thawing frozen meat seems to take you much time to prepare the dinner. So, canned tuna and sweetcorn will be one of the optimal solutions for a time-consuming meal.

All of them will be baked in a casserole until the cheese surface turns golden brown. That’s a perfect match!

8. Baked Salmon With Asparagus

If you have some salmon on hand, you should not miss this simple but super delightful recipe for your dinner! The baked sockeye salmon with red flesh will get the spotlight at the dinner table!

Before being roasted in the oven, the rubbed salmon and asparagus will be seasoned with a little bit of salt and ground black pepper.

When it comes to serving the dish, you will top the salmon fillet with some lemon slices. The acidity from the lemon will help balance the rich flavor of salmon!

9. Pizza On A Stick

You are so familiar with dividing pizza pieces for every family member at dinners, but today I want to offer you a fun way to eat pizza.

To be more specific, the crispy pizza will be served on skewers rather than flat pizza crust. That sounds amazing, right!

It is also so easy for you to make this special pizza recipe. You prepare the ingredients just like making regular pizza.

Each stick will be wrapped with a crispy pizza crust and some pieces of pepperoni and topped with melted butter and cheese. The pizza skewers are a beautiful idea for every appetizer!

Make some sticks of pizza to impress your family and friends! You can see this video to know more:

10. Homemade Extra Cheese Pizza

It is a great idea for everyone to have a home party on Friday night! If you are planning for this, some cheesy homemade pizza will be a great choice for you!

A chewy, puffy pizza crust is much more beautiful with the savory pizza sauce and melted cheese with a touch of ground basil. In case you like something more crispy, a thin pizza crust will help a lot. This would also be a big hit for your children!

Another reason you should consider this dish is that there are many options for serving with pizza. This means you won’t have to rack your brain thinking of a suitable side dish to complete your Friday dinner meal.

11. Walking Taco Casserole

Walking taco casserole will bring you some Mexican flavors with cheesy beef and a topping of crispy tortilla chips or Fritos.

The sauteed ground beef coated with melted cheese is a heaven-sent flavor that you will never forget! But this is not the whole story of the casserole recipe!

In fact, the topping of corn chips and shredded cheese gives you crispy and cheesy bites of the baking dish.

When it comes to serving, don’t forget to add some grated veggies and sour cream for a balanced flavor.

12. Black Bean Enchiladas

This is a simple but balanced dish you should not miss for any quick dinner! Each baked rolled tortilla will provide you with enough fiber and protein for the evening meal just like the meat recipe.

The black bean enchiladas folded with thick enchilada sauce and melted cheese will be a great treat that your family members ask you to make again and again. Grab some delicious canned enchilada sauce to speed up the cooking process if you’re busy. What an easy and tasty dish!

Enjoy your Friday dinner with a big batch of black bean enchiladas! You can see this video to know more:

13. Charred Hot Dogs

If you are craving a creamy and cheesy hot dog with a hint of spiciness and smoke, this recipe will effectively satisfy your cravings!

The bread rolls loaded with grilled sausage and bacon are a quick but super tasty food that every child loves. Everything is paired well with extra cheese and a touch of spiciness. Serving the hot dogs with oven-baked fries will satisfy your whole family a lot!

14. Hot Turkey Sandwich With Gravy

Whenever you have a busy Friday night and plan nothing for your dinner, some hot turkey sandwiches will help you a lot!

You just spend time cooking gravy sauce and then heat up the sliced deli turkey breast in the microwave.

To be ready for serving, you will sandwich two pieces of wheat bread with warm turkey and gravy sauce. That’s all!

15. Grilled Cheese Sandwiches With Tomatoes And Bacon

The recipe’s name indicates that each sandwich consists of sliced tomatoes, bacon, Pullman bread, Gruyere cheese, and sliced provolone.

You will need a pan to grill the sandwiches so that both bread and filling can be heated up evenly. Alternatively, a well-made sandwich maker can also guarantee to deliver spectacular results. Even the pickiest eater on the dinner table will not find anything to complain about.

The flaky bread with creamy, cheesy taste and a twist of fried bacon will be your favorite! Serve the cheesy sandwiches hot with some creamy and sour-sweet salad if you like.

16. Loaded Sweet Potato Fries

Starting to feel bored with traditional roasted sweet potatoes? It’s time to transform it into a more appealing dish with cheese.

It is a perfect combination of crispy and moist baked potato wedges, salty bacon, and gooey cheese coating.

The crispy and cheesy dish can be consumed as an appetizer, side dish, or light meal. Serving it with creamy ranch dressing will satisfy you a lot!

17. Avocado Chicken Parmigiana

Now, let’s transform chicken breast fillets into a cheesy and crispy chicken dish for your Friday dinner!

Each piece of baked chicken with moist texture inside and crispy outer layer folded with melted cheese and rich avocado will surely be loved by your family members!

For a fulfilling meal, you can serve the crispy chicken with some salads and noodles that will effectively complement the rich taste of the dish.

18. Lipton Onion Soup Meatloaf

What do you usually do with some ground beef? This recipe will allow you to increase the value of ordinary ground beef. Let’s see what you can do with it! The main ingredient you need for this recipe is, of course, ground beef.

It will be mixed with Lipton onion soup mix, eggs, bread crumbs, ketchup, and water. Then, you will shape it in a loaf pan for baking. To highlight the deliciousness of the meatloaf, you can brush some meatloaf sauce on it. Have a nice meal!

Have Filling Friday Dinners With Stir-Fried And Fried Treats!

For those who are not big fans of baking or grilling, the stir-fried and fried seem to be fine enough for you to make your satisfying Friday dinner. You will never go wrong with the following recipes!

19. Easy Sirloin Steak With Garlic Butter

This steak recipe is so easy to make with simple ingredients, but it is truly a nutritious and appetizing dish for your dinner. The brown pan-seared steak is topped with garlic butter with a touch of herbs.

It is better for you to serve the dish hot with some creamy mashed potatoes or salads. That would be great!

20. Beef Stir-Fry

Loving a quick Friday dinner? Try the sesame beef stir-fry, and you will never go wrong with it! With a handful of ingredients in your fridge, you can make the dish in no time.

Beef stir fry is a fantastic recipe to use up leftover roast beef as it will turn all the remaining ingredients in your fridge into a hot and savory meal no one can resist. So if you tend to hoard food in your fridge throughout the week, this dish will help you finish them all up by Friday night.

The protein sources in this recipe vary from beef, pork, shrimp to tofu. The vegetables are so various, which rely on your choices, such as mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and others.

The tender and delicious stir-fried beef blend with tons of veggies and aromatic sweet-sour stir-frying sauce will never betray your taste!

In case you need visual instruction for making beef stir fry, this video is right for you!

21. Pad Thai

Just follow some simple cooking steps, and you can make a better-than-takeout pad Thai to wow everyone in your family!

The Thai stir-fried rice noodle recipe is a popular dish served in Thai restaurants all over the world. It is a perfect combination of Chinese and Thai flavors. You can omit the meat or shrimps and fish sauce in this recipe so that it can become a vegan dish.

Are you ready for your hot Friday dinner with some pad Thai? You can see this video to know more:

22. Rice Cooker Fried Rice

Although this is a fried rice recipe, no skillet is required here. You will finish all the cooking with a rice cooker. So convenient for busy weeknights!

All the ingredients will be steamed in a rice cooker just like you cook ordinary rice. The seasoned rice with tons of veggies will be perfect for feeding a crowd!.

Especially, for those who are busy moms, this recipe gives you some free time to take care of your kids when the rice is cooked. What could be better than this?

23. Spicy Kale And Coconut Fried Rice

For spicy, tangy, and savory fried rice, this recipe contains spicy kale and rich coconut flakes with an appealing flavor of lime and cilantro.

This will bring you a refreshing taste that you rarely find in other fried rice recipes. The dish calls for scrambled eggs, but you can omit them for a vegetarian treat.

24. Shrimp Tacos

If the fried chicken was the king of the fast-food world, shrimp tacos would be the queen of the kingdom. It is a fast and easy recipe that can be prepared for dinner, TV time, or late nights.

The combination of tender and delicious shrimp and a refreshing slaw with a touch of spiciness and creaminess will bring you to heaven!. You will prepare components separately and then put them together for mouth-watering tacos.

Stew, Soup, And Simmer Dinner Ideas Should Not Be Turned Down!

In case you plan for a healthy meal on Friday night, these rice and pizza recipes will surely wow your whole family!

25. Cauliflower Soup

Some people don’t really like cauliflower due to its bland taste, but now I will offer you a soup recipe enhancing this veggie’s flavor a lot. A great dish to serve for dinner in autumn, cauliflower soup has an undeniable charm everyone on the dinner table will love.

When making this soup, you will start with roasting the cauliflower, which will bring a pleasurable flavor to the soup.

Then it will be simmered and blended to create a thick and smooth soup texture. No cheese is required in this recipe, but the soup is so creamy with the addition of butter and ground nutmeg.

26. Chickpea Stew

This is a vegetarian and healthy stew perfect for opening every Friday dinner. The chickpeas are cooked thoroughly with hearty tomato soup. It doesn’t require much preparation, so roughly half an hour is enough for a hot stew.

Soak up some bread with the soup at the end of cooking so that it will fully absorb the liquid. That would wonderfully melt in your mouth with a bursting of flavors!

This video will show you how to make chickpea stew.

27. Old-Fashioned Beef Stew

The beef stew will be a big hit for everyone on cold days when they need something hot and palatable to enjoy for dinner. Although it’s supposed to serve warm, this stewed beef soup is also suitable as a dish for summer dinner, especially for potluck occasions.

In this recipe, the seasoned and seared beef will be simmered in a beef broth mixture that has an adorable red color of tomato paste. “But will beef broth go bad?” you might ask. Simply put, yes, it does. So always check the stock before pouring it into your dish.

Cornstarch is also added to the soup to create a slightly thick soup texture. The tender beef, luscious veggies with an explosion of herbs and spices will bring you a heaven-sent stew for every full dinner!

28. Chicken And Bisquick Dumplings

This perfect match of cooked chicken, veggies, and gravy sauce is made of soups and milk. Learning how to make some Bisquick dumplings will help your soup become a crowd-pleasing treat for your dinner!

It is truly a convenient soup with frozen veggies that can be cooked thoroughly within about 35 minutes. The simmered veggies and shredded chicken fully absorbing the creamy soup with a touch of herbs will surely blow your mind!

Do you need a step-by-step direction in making chicken and Bisquick dumplings? You can see this video to know more:

29. Easy Butter Chicken

The butter chicken is perfect for every quick dinner in which you can serve the creamy and delicious chicken with some cooked rice. That would be a match from heaven!

The appealing orange cream sauce is the special note of this recipe. It coats all pieces of chicken breast and makes it juicy with a bursting of flavors.

The simple recipe is wonderful for late dinners without creating much mess in your kitchen. And one single skillet will handle the whole cooking process.

30. Goan Fish Curry

Now, it’s time to bring some Indian flavors to your home cooking! You will be amazed at moist and tender fish pieces folded with a hearty tomato coconut curry sauce and a sharp flavor of spices.

When all the ingredients are ready for this delicious Goan dish, the cooking process just takes you about 20 minutes for everything to be done. Then simply serve it hot with steamed white rice to enjoy a fulfilling meal.

31. Quick And Easy Lentil Tacos

Lentil tacos are a wonderfully tasty dinner treat pleasing everyone. It contains a tortilla loaded with simmered spiced-up lentils, veggies, and sauce toppings. It will take you about 30 minutes to cook the lentils.

The rest of the work is so simple with assembling the prepared ingredients for yummy plant-based tacos.

You have various topping choices ranging from rich avocado to sour cream and other herbs, veggies, or sauces, depending on your preferences.

Are you looking for a detailed guide for making lentil tacos? You can see this video to know more:

32. Crock Pot Mississippi Pot Roast

This is a wonderfully savory and buttery beef recipe you should not turn down! It is not difficult for you to make the dish, but it will take much time for the chuck roast to be cooked well. Slow cooking is the key point in this recipe.

It allows all the beef to turn soft and mix well with butter, pepperoncini, ranch dressing mix, and onion soup mix. Each bite will be packed with a perfectly soft and tender chuck roast and bursting of flavors. 

It’s time to wow your whole family with a Mississippi pot roast! You can see this video to know more:

33. 3 Ingredients Coca-Cola Chicken

I guess some of you are big fans of the famous combo of fried chicken and coke but have you ever cooked chicken with coca-cola? If not, try this recipe once, and you will not regret this!

Moist chicken wings or thighs are caramelized with the savory cola sauce that will surprise you even more than the delicious chicken.

When being simmered in cola, the chicken meat will become much tender, which is the most desired result of most chicken recipes. The coca-cola chicken can go well with sides like mashed potatoes or rice. Have a nice meal!

34. Coconut Chicken Curry And Rice

I must say that coconut milk is the spirit of many Thai dishes. The sweet and rich coconut can be paired well with seasonings, which create unique flavor dishes.

And coconut chicken curry chicken is one of the tops you should not miss for your Friday dinner.

The single-skillet simmered recipe packed with slightly sweet rice and savory chicken with a touch of basil will be the “best” of the best rice dishes!

Friday Dinners-Time For Appetizing Food And Relaxation!

At the end of an up and down week, what could be better than eating delicious dishes with your beloved family members?

If you do not have much time and energy, be flexible and creative to take out ingredients available in your fridge or pantry to prepare quick but tasty recipes.

For perfection, you can also plan for the Friday dinners in advance, prepare necessary ingredients and then store them in your fridge.

When the Friday dinner recipes call for, just put them together for your desired dishes. It will not take you much time to assemble them, so you still have time for your family.

In addition, just make Friday dinners more special and memorable in your own ways. For example, serving some red wine or beer during dinner time will bring everyone a sense of comfort.

Do you usually prepare surprising Friday dinners for your whole family? Is everyone fancy with this? Or do you have any ideas for Friday dinners?

Please feel free to share your thoughts with me by leaving your comments below this post. Just give me a like or share if you find this post useful!