We're celebrating the end of winter and the dawn of a new, vibrant season. Our spring dinner ideas are inspired by seasonal produce, like artichokes, asparagus, peas, and leeks. As much as we love hearty casseroles, chili, and lasagna, we're not sorry to see them go—we've been making those on repeat since last fall and are ready for something lighter and fresher.
The quick and delicious dishes in this recipe collection coax out the delicate flavors of spring, pairing them with chicken, salmon, pork, white beans, and other proteins. These dinner recipes lean healthy, but they're also hearty and sometimes indulgent. Give them a spin to feel instantly nourished—and to celebrate the fact that spring is finally here.
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Creamy Asparagus Chicken
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A splash of cream adds just the right amount of richness to this gorgeous spring dinner of braised chicken with leeks, asparagus, and baby red potatoes.
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White-Fish Stew with Dumplings
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For those days where it's technically spring but the temperature is still chilly, here's a transitional dinner—it's cozy, but lighter. Enjoy the comforting biscuit dumplings with cod, halibut, or your favorite white fish in a light, creamy broth.
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Seared Artichokes with Warm White-Bean Salad
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Here's a hearty one-pan vegetarian dinner that's anchored by steamed and seared artichoke halves. The rest of the dish cooks in the same pan you use to cook the artichokes. And there's a tangy lime mayonnaise for swirling into the beans and dipping the artichoke leaves.
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Parmesan Pork with Polenta and Asparagus
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In this 35-minute dinner, asparagus plays a supporting role to pork cutlets with an irresistible golden, umami-packed Parmesan crust. Oh, and there's fast but delicious polenta, too—precooked, from a tube.
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Pasta with Favas, Shrimp, and Fresh Chile
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This speedy main is simple to make and really lets fresh fava beans shine. Cooking the blanched beans in pancetta fat wakes up their flavor. Then you set them aside and throw in shrimp for a fast sizzle before adding the beans (and a sliced Fresno chile) back in with the drained noodles.
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Spring Chicken Niçoise
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A springtime version of the classic Niçoise salad, this riff combines seasonal ingredients including new potatoes, sugar snap peas, and tender lettuces with steamed chicken, briny Niçoise olives, and salty feta.
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White Fish with Braised Leeks and Saffron
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A stove-top-braise that has all the savory depth of bouillabaisse sans all the classic stew's steps: You don't have to make your own seafood broth or rouille, or source a variety of rockfish. Just simmer leeks with cherry tomatoes, chicken broth, and vermouth until they turn sweet and tender. Then tuck in the fish to cook in minutes.
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Herby Spinach-and-Rice Soup with Turmeric
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Inspired by the Persian herbed-rice dish sabzi polo, our verdant, turmeric-tinted soup is bursting with spinach, parsley, potatoes, and dill. The final touches make an exponential difference: Yogurt adds creaminess, cumin-infused oil tastes earthy (plus, the seeds crunch pleasantly as you bite into them), and a squeeze of lemon juice is essential.
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Green-Goddess Chicken and Salad
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Salad dressing is usually the last thing you make before dinner, but in this case, it comes first. That's because most of our herb-filled green goddess dressing serves as a marinade for a roast chicken, tenderizing the meat and contributing to its deeply golden-brown finish in the oven. Assemble a crunchy Cobb-ish salad with bacon lardons, sliced radishes, Little Gem lettuce, and sugar snap peas while the chicken rests after roasting.
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Asparagus-and-Potato Gratin
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Serve this cozy, indulgent entrée with béchamel sauce and ribbons of salty prosciutto, crunchy breadcrumbs, and blanched asparagus spears for dinner tonight.
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Wild Salmon with English Peas and Mustard Beurre Blanc
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This may be the perfect spring dinner-party dish: It's elegant, delicious, and, best of all, easy. It's also so vibrant and beautiful that it's sure to elicit rave reviews before anyone even takes a bite. Blanched English peas are scattered around a simple roasted side of wild salmon. Beurre blanc, served on the side, is essentially a warm vinaigrette made with butter instead of oil. Finish with a sprinkling of chives and—if you have them—a few flowering pea shoots.
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Egg Noodles with Asparagus and Grated Egg Yolks
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Hard-cooked yolks take a bold springtime pasta over the top. Wide egg noodles are tossed with creamy marscapone, salty pecorino, crisp-tender asparagus, and lots of lemon zest. Grate the yolks directly over the top—a basic box grater will do the trick.
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Grilled Lamb Chops with Rhubarb Compote and Asparagus
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Rhubarb often takes the expressway to dessert-ville, but try it in this entrée—the stalk's tartness is a wonderful foil for grilled meats. It's cut up and quickly simmered with sugar, vinegar, chopped ginger and garlic, and star anise into a bold agrodolce (a sweet-and-sour compote). Grill lamb chops (or pork, if you prefer) alongside asparagus spears and serve with the agrodolce for an entrée just right for a spring dinner party.
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Green-Pea Burgers with Harissa Mayo
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Homemade veggie burgers sometimes have ingredient lists as long as a midsummer day, but these bright-green patties pack in tons of flavor with just a handful. Chickpeas pair with English peas for protein-packed patties that satisfy—especially when served on brioche rolls with baby greens, crisp cucumber, and mayonnaise mixed with harissa.
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Shrimp with Spicy Green Rice
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For a decidedly different take on spring produce, this dish takes a cue from the Venetian risi e bisi, a soupy rice-and-peas meal. Our take highlights sweet, crunchy sugar snap peas with Southeast Asian ingredients: the heat of chiles and ginger, the freshness of basil and cilantro, and the salty depth of fish sauce.
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Chicken with Herbed Pea Purée and Spinach
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Spinach shows up twice (as a salad and a purée) in this winner of a chicken dinner. Browning the chicken thighs on the stovetop and finishing them in the oven ensures that they have super juicy meat and crisp golden skin.
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Grilled Flank Steak and Asparagus with Chimichurri Butter
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We heartily endorse grilling in the spring, especially for a knockout meal like this steak dinner with its tasty take on chimichurri—a green herb sauce for grilled meats that originated in Argentina. Use it liberally on the asparagus stalks hot off the grill and on the full-flavored flank steak.
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Crispy Grain Salad with Peas and Mint
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Packed with healthy whole grains, this is one hearty salad. Spring peas, mint, tender greens, and a lemony vinaigrette are combined with flash-fried quinoa and millet which bring crispy texture and toasted taste.
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Orange Pork with Watercress Rice
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Another spring ingredient, though one that gets less attention, is watercress. It's assertive and pleasantly bitter (a little like arugula). Here, it punches up a rice dish that's topped with marmalade-glazed pork tenderloin and crispy ginger.
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Roasted-Chicken Bread Salad with Peas
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Winner winner, chicken (bread salad) dinner! Toasted rustic bread soaks up the precious roast chicken juices and green peas, sugar snap peas, and pea shoots add the perfect amount of freshness and crunch.
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