Having an at-home date night, and you want to elevate things? Here are my most special date night recipes for 2.
When it comes to at-home date nights in our household – the main type of date nights we’ve been having for over 10 years now – I know that one way I can keep things exciting is by introducing really, really yummy food that we normally would cook on a regular night.
That’s where these date night recipes for 2 come in.
These are the one-hit-wonders I’ve made for my husband and me, based on a meal I experienced somewhere else and want to introduce to him, or one we’ve shared together and I wanted to recreate.
Or, just food that is engaging to eat together, like the giant tabletop nachos (seriously – you gotta try them out!).
So, pick out a fun at-home date night to do together, then choose a recipe below to make for it.
Date Night Recipes for 2
When it comes to date night recipes for 2, I have a few tricks up my sleeve to make the night more memorable.
Hint: want the rest of your at-home date night already planned for you? Check out these date night subscription boxes.
1. Giant Tabletop Nachos
This has to be my favorite date night recipe for 2 that I’ve ever made – and my husband agrees.
Though a few of the recipes below compete for a close second.
I was inspired by Rachel Ray’s tabletop nacho idea years ago, and recreated it for us.
I got this large wooden cutting board from IKEA (you can find a similar one here).
Then I preheated the oven to 375° F, and covered a sheet pan in foil. I loaded the sheet pan up with tortilla chips and a bunch of shredded cheese.
Then I baked them until they were nice and melted.
I carefully used the biggest spatula we had to move them from the sheet pan onto the cutting board.
Then I topped them with:
- Cooked chicken breast (I roast mine at 375° F in the oven until no longer pink in the center, with 2 tbsps. of Italian Salad Dressing on top)
- Chopped Pickled Red Onions (I keep it simple with slicing the red onions thinly, putting them in a small mason jar, then mixing half white vinegar and half water, with 1 tsp. of sugar)
- Chopped Cowboy Candy
- Chopped Avocados
- Chopped tomatoes
- Chopped spinach
- Pan-fried frozen corn with a bit of mayo, salt, and pepper
And then you drizzle the whole thing in a Chipotle Sauce or Lime Crema (use one of these squeeze bottles for homemade sauce recipes – it’ll change your kitchen life).
Hint: these 5 make-ahead dessert shooters would make excellent date night desserts.
2. Fish & Chips with Biscoff Milkshakes
I’ve been lucky enough to eat at Gordon Ramsay’s Fish & Chips in D.C. twice now, and I can’t tell you enough how amazing the food is.
I wanted to recreate this experience for date night, complete with the irresistible Biscoff Milkshake.
They come in these cute little boxes at his restaurant, but I found some red food baskets instead (I lined them with parchment paper).
SO, I found this Gordon Ramsay video on Fish & Chips, and followed it pretty well.
I also made a curry dip (he has one and it’s sooooo delicious) by mixing the following ingredients:
Curry Dip Ingredients:
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tsp. – 1 tbsp. mango chutney
- ½ tbsp. curry powder
Honestly…these date night recipes turned out to be epic.
Hint: though if you don’t want to be stuffing your face with loads of extremely delicious food…then this might not be the date night recipe for you. You can choose a different one!
We are definitely making these again!
3. Assorted Meatballs on Toothpicks
I went to this sports bar once on a biz retreat that hosted a meatball night every so often – 5 completely different kinds of meatballs for $6.
I was so inspired by all the different flavors that I decided to recreate the offering at home for one of our date nights!
Meat on a stick…my husband was very happy!
I’m of the belief that you can do just about anything with meatballs. I’m sure there are tons of more glamorous meatball recipes out there.
For us, I chose these three meatball recipes to make based on what was in our pantry and fridge: pesto and ricotta meatballs, Tex-Mex meatballs, and BBQ & Fried Onions meatballs.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. of ground beef
- ½ block of cheese (your choice)
- ½ cup Milk
- 1 tbsp. Flour
- ¼ cup Herdez Salsa Verde Mild
Tex-Mex Meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1/3 lb. of ground beef
- ½ cup. Salsa verde (mild), divided
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 tbsp. flour
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Make meatballs by mixing in ¼ cup salsa verde with the beef, and shaping them into mini meatballs (these are kind of liquidy, so you might want to add some breadcrumbs to firm them up). Fry them in a frying pan until cooked through.
Make sauce. Mix in ½ cup milk with 1 tbsp flour, and stir until it thickens. Add in ¼ cup Salsa Verde Mild sauce. Stir in ½ cup cheese until it’s an ooey, gooey, delightful mess. Set aside.
Dip the meatballs into the lovely sauce. Mwah!
Pesto & Ricotta Meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1/3 lb. ground beef
- 2 tbsps. Pesto
- 2 tbsps. Ricotta
Mix the ricotta and the pesto into the ground beef until combined. Create mini meatballs and cook them in a skillet.
Create a quick sauce of by melting pesto with ricotta on the stovetop. Add a small dollop of sauce under each meatball when plating (I don’t know…have I watched too many cooking competition shows? You could drizzle it on top, too).
Enjoy!
BBQ & Fried Onions Meatballs
Ingredients:
- 1/3 lb. ground beef
- ¼ cup crispy fried onions
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce of choice
Mix the BBQ sauce with the ground beef until combined. Create mini meatballs, and cook them in a skillet until brown in the center.
Brush a layer of BBQ sauce on the top of each, then some crispy fried onions.
Hint: these were our favorite!
4. Naan Pizzas
This is seriously one of the easiest recipes you’ll ever make. And it’s fun to have individual pizzas for the two of you on date night.
You can create any kind of pizza you want to – like a regular one with pizza sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni, or a BBQ chicken pizza.
OR, you can make something a bit more special.
That’s what we did, with these Peach Basil Arugula White Pizzas.
You top naan bread with a mixture of Ricotta (with chopped fresh basil, salt, and pepper) and peaches and cook it in the oven until a bit crusty and bubbly. Then mix arugula with lemon juice and olive oil, and top the pizzas with the arugula, some balsamic vinegar, and some flaky sea salt (or whatever salt you have).
We used a recipe from a book, but here’s a similar recipe you can follow along with.
Absolutely delicious!
5. Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes
There is this Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes Appetizer on Cheesecake Factory’s menu that I tried once that was so delicious.
A little sweet, good Tex-Mex flavor, and just overall yummy.
I was very thankful to find someone had created a copycat recipe for it.
While it’s completely unhealthy, it does make for a fun and delicious date night recipe for 2 (and yes, we eat it for our actual dinner if we have it for date night).
Just look at these awesome Tamale Cakes!
6. Salmon Poke Bowls
The salmon poke bowl. <ahhhh>.
My husband knows my love for poke bowls, and one night he decided to recreate these at home – it turned out amazing!
They don’t take long, you eat them with chopsticks (or forks, if you’d like), and they really tell your partner you love them. Especially if they love poke bowls (or salmon – both of which I’m crazy about!).
Ingredients:
- ½ cup uncooked rice
- 2 salmon fillets (single portions – we use frozen)
- Frozen corn
- 2 carrots
- 1 avocado
- Yummy Asian sweet sauce, such as teriyaki or a sweet sesame sauce)
- Sriracha mayo (we make ours – just ¼ cup mayonnaise, and 1 tbsp. sriracha mixed together)
- Crispy fried onions
Instructions:
- Cook the rice.
- Cook the salmon fillets – drizzle a little oil in the pan, and some of the sweet Asian sauce on top.
- Cook the corn – we just put a little oil in the bottom of a saucepan. I like to add a little mayo and let them get brown marks/caramelize.
- Shred the carrots – I like very small shreds where there’s no crunch left. Paul likes a lot of crunch!
- Slice up the avocado.
- Assemble the bowls with some rice in the bottom, some salmon fillet (cut it up so that it’s easier to eat with chopsticks), and the corn/carrots/avocado. Drizzle some of the Asian sweet sauce, then squeeze strips of sriracha mayo over the top. Top with crispy fried onions. YUM.
7. Assorted Asian Snacks & Drinks to Try
My husband and I met in Japan, and we have a place in our hearts for their culture.
Because of this, I thought going to our local H-Mart and getting a bunch of Asian and Japanese snacks and drinks to try with chopsticks would really elevate our at-home date night.
It did not disappoint!
Some of the treats we had eaten together in Japan, and some were completely new to us.
What a fun experience.
Creating and writing this article was such a fun experience for me because I got to relive each of these date night experiences with my husband over the last half of the year! I hope you and your husband, boyfriend, or partner will enjoy these date night recipes for 2 as much as we did.
Amanda L Grossman
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