There are all kinds of people in the kitchen. Those who learn out of necessity to feed themselves to survive, those who learn to cook as a hobby, and those who, no matter how hard they try to improve, never achieve great results. But there’s also another group that turns homemade dinners into art, and then shows off the photos on Reddit, just to make us jealous of their exquisite meals!
Boyfriend Gift Meal
Reddit user FabulousChocolate236 revealed that his boyfriend prepared her this homemade dinners favorite composed of bread with ricotta, honey, medium well steak, potatoes, apples, broccoli, spicy pasta and cheese fondue. She described it as “simple but yummy” and she also mentioned that she was so happy that she cried because no one had done this for her before.
Fried Mushrooms Tacos
Reddit user Ishootwhatlike revealed that this homemade dinners favorite composed of mushrooms, cheese and tortillas cost about $0.15 a pop and all the comments he received got him to think that he was eating like a king. While user GovernorZipper replied: “Another good and cheap taco option is to extend any meat filling with potatoes. Like a small amount of chorizo and a large amount of potatoes parboiled.”
Chicken For Dinner
Reddit user softrotten revealed that her boyfriend wanted chicken for dinner, so she made one of these homemade dinners. She served the chicken with baked macaroni, collard greens and honey cornbread on the side. She also revealed the chicken legs recipe: “You have to cut slits into legs, brine in buttermilk, pickle juice, Franks RedHot sauce, and yellow mustard overnight. Then, in a brown paper bag add all purpose flour, creole seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, and lots of black pepper. Shake the excess flour off the chicken legs and add to the bag. Dutch oven filled with fry oil at 320° F for 8 minutes.”
Meatball Sub
Reddit user Cheap_Hovercraft revealed that he had been craving homemade dinners like a meatball sub for weeks, so he made homemade meatballs and sauce with fresh mozzarella. He explained that the reason he was craving one of these is because he saw an episode of Friends where Joey got a meatball sub that looked incredible. One reply from theoriginalmofocus mentioned: “Marinara on a sandwich should be more normalized for more things.”
Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic and Basil
Reddit user softrotten mentioned that her boyfriend was craving tomato soup, so she made one of her homemade dinners: roasted garlic and basil tomato soup with garlic butter grilled cheese sandwiches on freshly baked brioche bread. She revealed the recipe of the garlic butter: “You should mix 1 stick of butter, 1 head of roasted garlic, fresh parsley, Italian seasoning, parmesan, garlic powder, salt and pepper.”
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Japanese Thanksgiving
Reddit user BeardedGlass revealed: “I’m from Japan but can I still join Thanksgiving with my homemade dinners? I love the idea of holiday about gratitude and food.” She also mentioned that she doesn’t have any oven big enough to bake turkey or a whole chicken, so she mede stovetop stuffing with minced chicken sausage, veggies and a large day old baguette. Then, she made green bean casserole using bacon and cheese white sauce and lots of fried onions and spinach. Finally, the asparagus and cheese are wrapped in chicken fillet with its skin blow torched for crispiness.
Lingua!
Reddit user sockaflokaflame revealed that this homemade dinner is lingua, with sausage and spinach, while the mascarpone cheese and a little broth or pasta water are on top of it. She also mentioned: “I’ve found my easiest meal is always sautéing any mixture of veggies or meat with garlic and seasonings of your choice, like melting in a big lump of mascarpone cheese and then adding the pasta.”
A Kid Cooking For Her Mom
Reddit user octobersihh mentioned that because his mother was working late during tax season, he decided to cook one of these homemade dinners for the family. He prepared a healthy homemade dinner featuring charred broccoli, walnuts, and spinach pasta with red pepper flakes and lemon zest. This healthy recipe includes 1 head of broccoli, 3 tbsp of olive oil, 150g of penne, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tbsp of roughly chopped walnuts, a pinch of chili flakes and 1/2 lemon.
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Pizza on the Learn
Reddit user msphelps77 revealed that his 16-year-old son made this homemade dinner by preparing a delicious homemade dinners pizza from scratch for the family. He explained that his son, an aspiring chef who takes culinary classes at school, even made the dough himself. He also shared: “He hasn’t tried cold fermented dough yet but he makes the dough and let it rise on the countertop for a couple of hours. He also loves meat lovers pizza and will occasionally add mushrooms for his younger brother.”
Ratatouille
Reddit user daleearnhardtt commented that she made one of her homemade dinners: ratatouille, and that preparing the dish is as involved and time-consuming as someone would think. This dish is made by cooking eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic and herbs together. You can cook them separately or together but they’ll have to be like bite-sized pieces.
Fish and Chips for Her Birthday
Reddit user softrotten revealed that one of these homemade dinners featured fish is covered in beer batter, made from 4 cod fillets about 4 to 6 oz each, a shot of vodka, 1 tsp of baking powder, 200g of AP flour, 200g of rice flour, 1 tbsp of honey and 300 ml of Pilsener or Lager. You can season the portioned pieces of fish and allow to dry brine in the fridge for about one hour because it will firm up the fish and season it throughout.
I’m Obsessed with This Salad
Reddit user slughetti mentioned one of these homemade dinners featured a salad that is composed of 4 to 5 cups of arugula, 2 spring onions, 1/2 cup of red onion, 3.25 oz of grilled halloumi cheese, 1/2 of Bartlett pear, 1/4 cup of crushed croutons and 1 tbsp of pecorino cheese. While the vinaigrette on top consists of 1/2 tbsp of black pepper, 1/2 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of Italian seasoning, 1 tbsp of minced garlic, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp of honey, 1/4 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup of garlic infused olive oil and 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.
Chicken Francese, Garlic Mash & Sautéed Asparagus
Reddit user SendMeYourSpacePics revealed that the recipe is from ‘Salt & Lavender’ that she found on Pinterest. To make it you’ll have to pound chicken cutlets thin, season with salt and pepper and dredge in flour, dip in beaten eggs and then pan-fry in olive oil and butter until golden. You can make pan sauce with butter, minced garlic, chicken broth and fresh lemon juice. This is when you simmer the chicken in the lemon juice for two minutes.
Curry Night!
This Reddit user revealed that he fancied some curry that night so he prepared butter chicken with pilau rice and made some naan too. He added: “It’s super easy, you’ll have to mix two ingredients, self raising flour and Greek yogurt for the naan method. Then, toast the naan on a tawa but an iron pan will work just as well, and then brush on a coriander, garlic and butter mix.”
Chicken, Beef and Rice
Reddit user softrotten mentioned that one of these homemade dinners is a Hawaiian lunch inspired by Kalbi beef ribs, chicken katsu, jasmine rice, macaroni salad and tonkatsu sauce. “In this dish, you can also notice butter chicken with garlic naan with the lemony garlic chicken skewers with roasted potatoes, marinated tomatoes, and garlic dill sauce” he revealed.
Dinner from Scratch
Reddit user gameboy29 revealed that it was his wife’s birthday so he made one of these homemade dinners from scratch, which consisted of crispy oven baked wings, cajun butter ribeye steak with seasoned potato wedges, parmesan garlic bread and fettuccine Alfredo. He even made an invitation and the menu through Canva to make it more special.
Salmon with Asparagus and Chips
Reddit user nfxx__ revealed that one of these homemade dinners was for a friend who was coming over to visit him. To make salmon with asparagus you should bake together the salmon with the asparagus with olive oil, garlic, lemon, salt and pepper in a single pan at 400° for 12 to 15 minutes until the fish flakes easily.
Sloppy Joe’s Hot Dog Imitation
Reddit user brakesan mentioned that he started making these homemade dinners, Sloppy Joe’s in hot dogs buns for almost a year and never looked back since and you can call it “A polished, well put together Joe”. Reddit user Klutzy-Sprinkles-958 replied: “This is one of those moments where a simple yet marked innovation elevates a staple.”
Lasagna from Scratch
Reddit user Tikkinger expressed that his girlfriend was waiting for him with one of these homemade dinners, a lasagna made completely from scratch when he finished his work shift. He also mentioned: “Chili sauce for lasagna is really tasty, maybe not that common but I have broad cultural boundaries over taste. We cultivate our chili hot peppers on our windows.”
Chicken Pot Pie
Reddit user Bubbly_sunflower commented that it was her first chicken pot pie and it was made from scratch. She revealed that as an Asian, who cooks Asian food most of the time, that was the most intimidating non-Asian dish she had cooked. Finally she mentioned: “I did a mix of several YouTube video recipes but took 6 tbsp of butter into hot pan, simmered it with half an onion, chopped three carrots, added minced garlic, and then 1/4 cup of flour. Then added 2 cups of chicken broth, 1 cup of heavy whipping cream, a handful of minced parsley, frozen peas and dark chicken meat.”
Conclusion
Any of these homemade dinners are worthy of a restaurant menu. Perhaps all people need is the belief that they can cook as well as they imagine: that is how these wonderful, delicious-looking dishes come to be. Would you like to try making any of them?
