Dinner parties may seem like the domain of the well-to-do, but anyone can host one. If you’ve been putting off hosting your own gathering because it seems too costly to offer an impressive range of courses, don’t fret. Ask your friends to bring something to drink, the appetizers and the dessert — potluck style — and you can focus on what’s most important: getting together with your loved ones and serving a delicious main course. Below are 16 main dishes that are as impressive as they are easy on the wallet.
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The absolute beauty of pasta is that a single box can feed a lot of people. This five-star recipe from Yasmin Fahr turns one pound of ziti or cavatappi into an umami-rich showstopper with a combination of mushrooms (feel free to use a mix or just one variety), earthy leeks and miso, the eternal shortcut to big flavors.
Recipe: Miso Mushroom and Leek Pasta
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A hefty pork shoulder can practically feed an army. Von Diaz adapted this classic Puerto Rican recipe from the chef Maricel Presilla. It’s made tangy with orange juice and savory with nine cloves of garlic, and is guaranteed to produce a flawless crackly chicharrón that your guests won’t be able to resist. Serve with a big pot of rice. (May we suggest Von’s arroz mamposteao?)
Recipe: Pernil
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The beauty of the shrimp boil is that its three key ingredients — corn, shrimp and potatoes — can usually be bought for a steal (especially if you use bagged frozen shrimp). While nothing compares with a boiling backyard stew, this sheet-pan variation from Millie Peartree stays true to the flavors of the classic: paprika, cayenne pepper, lemon and plenty of Old Bay. To stretch it even further, combine it with pasta.
Recipe: Sheet-Pan Shrimp Boil
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Pork shoulder is a cheap cut of meat that, when braised, falls apart into tender, luxurious chunks. That’s exactly what happens in Melissa Clark’s recipe, in which the meat is simmered with tomato, cinnamon and olives for a richly flavored stew that feeds a crowd and can be cooked in advance.
Recipe: Braised Pork With Lemon, Olives and Tomatoes
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As far as vegetarian mains go, you’d be hard-pressed to beat Alexa Weibel’s carrot risotto topped with oven-roasted carrots that have been tossed with an electric chile crisp. Risotto may seem daunting, but it’s really just a matter of adding stock, stirring, adding more stock, stirring — and voilà! You have a restaurant-quality risotto. Feel free to double this recipe to feed eight.
Recipe: Carrot Risotto With Chile Crisp
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What’s better than one roast chicken? Two roast chickens. For this crowd-pleasing recipe, Ali Slagle rubs two butterflied chickens with an olive-oil-based brown sugar and citrus zest marinade and refrigerates them overnight. The good news: Both chickens can cook in the oven at the same time on a single sheet pan.
Recipe: Two Roast Chickens With Citrus and Sage
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There’s a reason “meat and potatoes” is shorthand for getting to the point — what could be less complicated than a cheesy combination of ground beef and thinly sliced potatoes? Even better, this recipe from Melissa Clark, which features handfuls of baby spinach and plenty of Gruyère, comes together in a single skillet.
Recipe: Meat and Potato Skillet Gratin
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Soup is a bit of a misnomer here because this five-star recipe from Molly O’Neill (of Old-Fashioned Beef Stew fame) is really a stew jam packed with linguiça or uncured Spanish chorizo, potatoes, a bunch and a half of fortifying kale and plum tomatoes for a juicy pop of fresh flavor.
Recipe: Kale Soup With Potatoes and Sausage
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You may not think much about lasagna until it’s delivered piping hot to the table, at which point you realize it’s what has been missing from your life. This five-star version from Alison Roman is more approachable than most: Jarred tomato sauce is fine if you’re pressed for time, and as one reader suggests, you can assemble the whole thing the day before if you need it. Just pop it in the oven while your guests are snacking on appetizers.
Recipe: Classic Lasagna
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Very few dishes offer the reward-to-ease ratio of a pork roast. For this recipe, Genevieve Ko uses deceptively simple ingredients — red miso, brown sugar, rosemary and black pepper — to deliver a pork roast with a crackly, caramelized exterior. You can stop there, or serve it with a tangy homemade cranberry sauce.
Recipe: Miso-Marinated Pork Roast
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Not only is this Goan shrimp curry from Madhur Jaffrey the easiest curry you’ll ever make, it also doubles like a dream. Serve it with warm discs of naan and as much basmati rice as your rice cooker can make.
Recipe: Madhur Jaffrey’s Goan Shrimp Curry
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Halloumi may be on the more expensive side of the cheese spectrum, but it’s the only investment ingredient in this recipe from Nargisse Benkabbou. Everything else — the grape or cherry tomatoes, the garlic cloves, the canned white beans — is totally budget friendly. Double the recipe for four, and be sure to serve with a good crusty bread.
Recipe: Crispy Halloumi With Tomatoes and White Beans
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If you don’t believe beans belong in chili, feel free to scroll on. For the rest of us, there’s this warm blanket of a recipe from Lidey Heuck that calls for mashing some of the white beans instead of using the usual cream cheese or sour cream. Set up a buffet of crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, diced avocado and pickled jalapeños so your guests can customize their bowls. (You could also make this recipe in a slow cooker instead.)
Recipe: White Chicken Chili
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The only nonnegotiables for this recipe from Ali Slagle are that you must use fresh sausage and you can’t skimp on the honeyed Dijon mustard. Other than that, feel free to customize your sheet pan with carrots, cabbage, broccoli or cherry tomatoes instead of the brussels sprouts and potatoes that are called for.
Recipe: Sheet-Pan Sausages and Brussels Sprouts With Honey Mustard
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This recipe, also known as “marry me beans,” from Alexa Weibel went viral in 2025 for its unforgettable flavor, inspired by red pesto, and its sheer simplicity. (More than 10,000 five-star reviews just can’t be wrong.) It proves once and for all that a big skillet of beans is perfectly acceptable for dinner.
Recipe: Creamy, Spicy Tomato Beans and Greens
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Nothing stretches further or warms the soul more than a good soup. This rich split pea soup, adapted by Florence Fabricant from the restaurant Freeman’s, yields 10 servings and is fortified with bacon, so no one goes home hungry.
Recipe: Hearty Split Pea Soup With Bacon
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