40+ Best Indian Dinner Recipes (Easy Dinner Ideas)

Looking for vegetarian and vegan Indian Dinner recipes? Here are the best 40+ easy, full of flavor Dinner Recipes from curries, stir-fries, lentils, and rice dishes that your family will love.

This post includes popular restaurant/take-out favorites from Paneer makhani, Palak paneer, Dal makhani, and Vegetable biryani, to homestyle recipes like Kala chana curry, Moong khichdi, and many more!

Here is a roundup of 40+ easy Indian dinner recipes, including curries, lentils, and rice dishes that you can try.

A lot of recipes use a pressure cooker that is easy and takes very less time to prepare. You can also make them on the stovetop.

Jump to:

• What is a Typical Indian Dinner Meal?
• Indian Dinner Cooking Tips
• Vegetarian Indian Dinner Recipes
• Curries & Stir Fries
• Restaurant Style Paneer Butter Masala | Paneer Makhani
• Instant Pot Palak Paneer Recipe (Pressure Cooker)
• Palak Tofu (Spinach Tofu Curry)
• Paneer Jalfrezi Recipe
• Instant Pot Matar Paneer (Cottage Cheese and Peas Curry)
• Aloo Gobi - Instant Pot & Stovetop
• Instant Pot Aloo Baingan Masala | Potato Eggplant Curry
• Potato Masala Recipe - Stovetop & Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Vegetable Kurma (Mix Veg Korma)
• Navratan Korma Recipe - Instant Pot & Stovetop
• Mushroom Masala (Instant Pot & Stovetop)
• Instant Pot Mumbai Pav Bhaji
• Gujarati Kadhi Instant Pot
• Beans, Lentils
• Instant Pot Dal Tadka (Restaurant Style)
• Whole Masoor Dal Recipe (Brown Lentils Curry)
• Instant Pot Chana Masala (Chole Masala Recipe in Pressure Cooker)
• Rajma Masala (Kidney Beans Curry) - Instant Pot
• Instant Pot Dal Makhani
• Black Eyed Peas Curry Recipe (Indian Lobia Masala)
• Whole Green Moong Dal
• Kala Chana Recipe (Black Chickpeas Curry)
• Instant Pot Vegetable Sambar
• Rice Recipes
• Instant Pot Vegetable Biryani Recipe
• Easy Vegetable Pulao Recipe
• Instant Pot Peas Pulao (Matar Pulao)
• Instant Pot Jeera Rice (Indian Cumin Rice)
• Moong Dal Khichdi
• Instant Pot Bisi bele bath
• Burnt Garlic Vegetable Fried Rice
• Tomato Rice Recipe - Instant Pot & Stovetop
• Lemon Rice Recipe - Instant Pot & Stovetop
• More Recipe Collections
• Easy Indian Dinner Recipes

What is a Typical Indian Dinner Meal?

A typical Indian Vegetarian dinner consists of one main dish. The main dish can be a curry (or dal), stir fry, or rice.

• If the main dish is a curry or lentil dish like dal, or chickpea curry, you can serve it with flatbread or basmati rice, or jeera rice.
• If the main dish is a vegetable stir-fry, you can serve them with Indian flatbread, such as roti, chapati, paratha, or naan.
• If the main dish itself is a rice dish like veg biryani, pulao, or khichdi, you can serve it along with yogurt or raita.

You can also serve with accompaniments such as salad, raita (or yogurt), pickle (achar), papad, and chutney or chutney powder along with the dinner.

Note: If you are looking for low-carb or keto options, substitute rice with cauliflower rice and use low-carb flatbread.

Indian Dinner Cooking Tips

• Kitchen Gadgets: It is good to invest in 2 kitchen staples. A pressure cooker and mixer-grinder, with a food processor. You can cook dried lentils, chickpeas, beans, rice, and potatoes in a traditional pressure cooker or Instant pot quickly; otherwise can take hours. Mixer-grinder is essential for making curry paste, chutney, or spice powder for North and South Indian cooking. Using a food processor, you can quickly knead the dough, slice, and grate veggies.

• Spices: Spices are the heart and soul of Indian cooking. They add flavor, and fragrance, and elevate the taste of Indian dals, curries, and rice dishes. Here is a small list of basic and everyday spices (both whole & ground spices).

• Turmeric Powder
• Red Chili Powder (or Cayenne Pepper)
• Cumin Powder
• Coriander Powder
• Garam Masala
• Asafoetida (Hing)
• Black Mustard Seeds
• Whole Cumin Seeds
• Bay Leaves
• Whole Cinnamon Sticks
• Cloves
• Cardamoms
• Pepper Corns

• Ginger and Garlic: Ginger and garlic are the essentials of North Indian cooking. You can make ahead the homemade ginger paste and garlic paste in large quantities and store them in the fridge. Or you can freeze it into single-use portions. You can also use readymade ginger garlic paste. This saves some prep time.

• Onion Tomato Masala: Make a big batch of onion tomato base (bhuna masala) and freeze. You can use this base sauce for a busy weeknight dinner.

• Make Extra: You can make a large quantity of curry and use it for another meal or freeze it.

Vegetarian Indian Dinner Recipes

Curries & Stir Fries

Beans, Lentils

Rice Recipes

More Recipe Collections

• 15+ Indian Salad Recipes
• 75+ Kids Lunch Box Recipes
• 20+ Best Indian Dal Recipes
• 30+ Instant Pot Indian Rice Recipes
• 20+ Indian Air Fryer Recipes
• 10+ Best Veg Sandwich Recipes Indian Style
• 10+ Paratha Recipes|Indian FlatBread Recipes
• 30+ Instant Pot Vegetarian Soup Recipes
• 70+ Keto Indian Food Recipes

If you’ve tried this easy Indian Dinner Recipes collection or any other recipe on Indianveggiedelight, then don’t forget to rate the recipe. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see the latest recipes!