40+ Valentine’s Day Recipes
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From indulgent main meals to decadent desserts, here are over 40 of my favorite Valentine’s Day recipes.
I don’t know about you, but every Valentine’s Day I like to cook a special dinner for the entire family. I’ve done all sorts of things over the years, from heart-shaped meatloaf to cinnamon love knots, and usually chocolate cobbler or brownies for dessert. Chocolate is a must for Valentine’s Day in my book, so rest assured there are several chocolate dessert recipes featured below. But we’ve also got cookies, strawberry pie recipes, and so much more.
But first, I also have your main course covered. There’s steak, pizza and pasta if your significant other loves Italian, and Marry Me chicken if you want them to take a hint 😉. Then cozy up with homemade hot cocoa at the end of the night for the perfect Valentine’s night in.
Enjoy these recipes (there are over 40 to choose from) and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Valentine’s Day Dinner
Steak Kabobs and Rice Pilaf
I made steak kabobs in the oven and rice pilaf this Valentine’s Day and my family loved every bite. The beef kabobs are so easy to make with any veggies you have on hand and the marinade ensures the meat is tenderized to perfection. Rice pilaf is the perfect side dish.
Baked Feta and Tomato Pasta
Pasta is a lot of people’s love language (right there with ya), so why not try this baked feta and tomato pasta? It blew up on TikTok and there’s a reason why. It’s so easy to make with simple ingredients but the taste is out of this world.
Some other pasta dishes you might like include slow cooker pasta Fagioli, pesto chicken pasta, and slow cooker angel chicken pasta.
Crock Pot Beef Ribs (Tender and Delicious)
If your other half loves barbecue, might I suggest a Valentine’s Day dinner that includes my crockpot beef ribs? The meat just falls off the bone after slow-cooking all day. Another barbecue-inspired Valentine’s Day recipe I recommend is my beef brisket.
Barbecue Chicken Pizza, Southern-Style
Some people like pasta, while others like pizza. Skip the takeout for a homemade pizza this Valentine’s Day. We have lots of pizza-inspired Valentine’s Day recipes on Southern Plate, including Cowboy BBQ chicken pizza, BBQ chicken french bread pizza, and taco pizza. Take your pick!
Marry Me Chicken
If you want to drop a hint this Valentine’s Day, you need to make Marry Me Chicken. It got its name because it’s SO good and SO delicious that when you serve it to your partner, they’ll be so in love with the dish and you that they’ll propose! The tender chicken breasts are baked in an unbelievable sauce flavored with seasonings, sundried tomatoes, chicken broth, cream, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.
French Onion Soup
The French know romance, so take a leaf out of their book with this French onion soup recipe. It’s a shortcut version that results in restaurant-style soup your significant other will adore.
Valentine’s Day Desserts
Valentine’s Day Brownies With Frosting
This is one of the easiest Valentine’s Day recipes to make for dessert this year. All you need is a store-bought brownie mix and a tub of red frosting. There are so many scrumptious brownie recipes on Southern Plate: coffee brownies, triple chocolate brownies, and peanut butter brownies included.
Fresh Strawberry Pie
Strawberries are kind of synonymous with Valentine’s Day, aren’t they? I have lots of strawberry dessert recipes, but let’s focus first on a strawberry pie. You only need 4 ingredients to make my fresh strawberry pie. Then there’s strawberry ice cream pie, strawberry jello pie, and strawberry cream pie.
Chocolate Brownie Pie
Let’s combine brownies and pie to make a chocolate brownie pie! This recipe is made for the chocolate lover in your life. But don’t worry, there are more chocolate pie recipes where this one came from as well. Take your pick from chocolate chess pie (a Southern favorite), German chocolate pie, chocolate pecan pie, and another Southern special, chocolate fried pies.
Heart-Shaped Cookies With Royal Icing
These heart-shaped sugar cookies for your Valentine are nearly too pretty to eat and perfectly soft and sweet, thanks to the royal icing.
Strawberry Frosted Cookies
While we’re on the topic of cookies, these strawberry frosted cookies are crunchy sugar cookies with a chewy center. And that icing? Yeah, it’s made from fresh strawberries!
My Easy Cheesecake Recipe
This post features the easiest cheesecake recipe ever, plus lots of options for cheesecake toppings. But there are so many cheesecake recipes on Southern Plate. If you want to stick to the chocolate theme, try my choc chip cheesecake. If you want to try something different, check out my cherry cheesecake cookies.
Chocolate Cobbler
You’re going to love this deliciously decadent chocolate dessert! It’s just like a chocolate lava cake but so much easier to make and is also known as a chocolate pudding cake because it has the same scrumptious texture. It’s the perfect mouthwatering combination of moist chocolate cake with a hot chocolate fudge sauce layer. I also have a chocolate cobbler recipe with food allergy options and a cream cheese strawberry cobbler.
Cinnamon Love Knots
Now I have two recipes for cinnamon love knots: this one and the original, which includes a shortcut. Whichever recipe you choose, just make sure you make a batch this Valentine’s Day. They’re similar to a cinnamon roll in a heart-shaped form.
Red Velvet Cupcakes
You can’t talk about Valentine’s Day recipes without mentioning red velvet, right? And let me tell you… there’s nothing better than my red velvet cupcake recipe made from scratch with cream cheese frosting. Every bite is moist, tender, and deliciously sweet. I also have recipes for red velvet cake mix cookies, a red velvet bundt cake, and mini red velvet cakes.
Old-Fashioned M&M Cookies
These old-fashioned M&M cookies are the perfect cookie for dunkin’ in milk.
Valentine’s Day Drinks
Stovetop Hot Chocolate
Get cozy this Valentine’s night with one of these Valentine’s Day recipes for hot chocolate. There’s stovetop hot cocoa, red velvet hot chocolate, and hot cocoa made from my homemade mix. Pair them with some hot chocolate cookies for the ultimate cozy night in.
Valentine’s Day Tips
I wanted to share some fun Valentine’s Day recipes with you in addition to a few decorating tips. Now, keep in mind I’m no decorator. I have not within me the slightest fiber of interior decorating skill, but kids are easy to please and I lean on that! Having issued a disclaimer as to my lack of decorating skills, here are a few suggestions to make the meal extra special.
- A red tablecloth is one of the most useful tablecloths you’ll ever have! Red is important here because this is why I feel it is worth the investment. A red tablecloth can be used for Valentine’s Day, birthdays, the 4th of July, and even Christmas.
- For decorations, I went to the Dollar Tree and spent a grand total of $5 on some decorations for our table. We got four different balloons on a stick (one for each of us) and then I trimmed the sticks to varying heights before putting them in a vase on the table. For another dollar we bought some glitter scatter hearts to sprinkle about. Pretty, festival, and cheap! In the past, we’ve just decorated with construction paper. Using pink and white, we make placemats for each person and then cut out little paper hearts to decorate them and the table.
- Red dishes (see red tablecloth for multiple uses).
I have injured my leg so my husband and I both cooked. He grilled some big ol’ steaks and I made smashed/baked potatoes. I boiled unpealed little red potatoes until tender, drained and rinsed with cool water. Placed each potato on a greased cookie sheet and smashed them until they burst open and were flattened. I placed 1 to 2 pads of butter on top of each potato (depending of size of potato). Then sprinked them with salt, peper, garlic powder and shreeded cheese. Baked them for 30 minutes at 350. They were so good, everyone gobbled them up!
My youngest daughter and I went to Aldi’s today to shop for our Valentines dinner. We will be having a special dinner with her dad and she will help me decorate the table and make the meal. ( salmon filets, shrimp, pasta with garlic butter sauce, zuchinni and red onion saute, cheesy garlic biscuits, green salad and an assortment of desserts- strawberry pie, valentine cookies and fresh fruit salad.) She asked to buy some roses for he teachers at the store, so they will get those tomorrow. We will be baking cookies tomorrow after school and sharing some with friends and loved ones. My hubby will most likely get me a card and some chocolate. He is sexy that way,lol!
I made the steak kabobs & the easy pilaf for dinner on Saturday and everyone LOVED them! Thank you for another winner that will be appearing on my menu. I always make giant heart-shaped cookies decorated with my kiddos’ names & something special for dinner. We’re having individual heart shaped pizzas this year. I have teenage boys that will be thrilled.
I’m not crazy about the commercialism of Valentine’s Day. BUT! On Feb 11, I asked my then girlfriend to marry me. So instead of celebrating Valentines Day, we’ve decided to celebrate ‘proposeaversary’ (say it out loud, makes more sense than reading it) each year. Working great so far!
LOVE it!!
About 11yrs. ago when we lived in Va. Beach it was our first Valentine’s Day together and I decided to surprise my boyfriend, so I got a dozen red heart balloons and went to where he worked and I knew he parked his truck behind the building so I drove lbehind stuffed all those balloons in the cab of his truck and I had bought this great big card board heart so I taped it to the inside of the truck window and left. A few hours later after his lunch time my phone rang and he was embarrassed one of his buddies and him decided to go to lunch together in his truck but when they got out there much to his surprise the cab of his truck was stuffed full of balloons. He got picked on by all the guys at work and he had a horrible time trying to get home that evening.
Thanks for the ideas, Christy. Your goodies look as good as usual. Katy Rose did a great job helping pick out the decorations. 🙂 Also, I’ve never heard that song before. Do you sing it to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb?”
When I was a child, I awoke one Valentine’s Day to a clue taped to my bed post. That clue lead to several others, and at the end of the hunt I found some candy and a small toy. That sweet, simple fun quickly became a tradition that I’ve carried on with my boys, who quiver in anticipation of the hunt. I make them homemade cards and spend my budgeted funds mainly on the small gift with only one special candy simply because the toy lasts and the candy doesn’t! I also make a special meal and dessert to celebrate everyone in the family.