Cold dinners that are easy to make and delicious

Vichyssoise

The classic vichyssoise, one of the cold soups and creams of a lifetime, is the perfect fit if you are looking for cold dinners.

How to make vichyssoise. Clean and wash 2 leeks and 1 spring onion. Chop them up and sack them. Add 3 diced potatoes and sauté for 2 more minutes. Add 1.5 liters of vegetable broth, salt and pepper and cook everything together for about 30 minutes. Remove from heat, blend until creamy; and pass it through the Chinese if you want it to be finer. As a garnish for this vichyssoise, we have put some strips of toasted ham and some parsley leaves.

And if you want a light version with much less calories than the traditional one and all the flavor, here it is.

Salmon Tartar

Tartar (a dish made with minced meat or fish, raw and marinated) is another ideal option for cold dinners. We have made this with marinated salmon (here we tell you how to do it step by step). But you can also do it with raw salmon, as long as you previously freeze it for 72 hours to neutralize the dreaded anisakis (a parasite that can be harmful to health).

How to make salmon tartare. Take a kitchen ring and fill it with cubes of marinated salmon, egg, cooked, avocado, and finish with another layer of salmon. You can serve it on a pancake or some toast and accompany it with a salad of watercress and tomatoes dressed with a little oil.

Discover more recipes with delicious, healthy and very attractive salmon.

Potato, tuna and egg salad

Here you have the classic potato, tuna, egg and tomato salad. As it is served cold, most of its ingredients are cooked, it is not indigestible at night.

How to make potato salad. As a base, put some tender boiled or steamed beans, and accompany them with a cooked potato, raw tomato wedges, boiled egg and canned tuna. As a dressing, you can make an old-fashioned mustard vinaigrette with chopped red onion.

In addition to being a cold dinner, it is a great fit in healthy and light tupperware salads.

Russian salad

The Russian salad is another classic of cold dinners. You can have it prepared in advance and accompany it with breadsticks, tostaditas, nachos …

How to make Russian salad. Cook potato, carrot, green bean and pea cubes. Mix them with homemade mayonnaise, hard-boiled egg, and canned tuna. And decorate with strips of piquillo pepper, peeled prawns and sliced hard-boiled egg. Here you have the step-by-step recipe and ideas to make it delicious.

Salmorejo

Another possible cold dinner is to prepare a salmorejo, this kind of typical Cordoba gazpacho made with tomato and bread, and whose main hallmark is that it is very thick, as thick as mayonnaise. Here we have accompanied it with mango cubes, but it is also very tasty with boiled egg, fried fish or, for example, canned sardines (which give a lot of play and are very healthy),

How to make salmorejo. It is basically made by crushing peeled tomato together with a thick bread and dressing it with garlic, oil and vinegar. If you want all the details, follow the easiest salmorejo recipe that never fails.

Tortilla cake

Tortilla pie is great when you're looking for cold dinners. You can have it prepared in advance and it also fits as a party plate. And if it is made with vegetables, it helps you incorporate a good dose of this essential food into your diet.

How to make tortilla cake. Set several medium tortillas (potato, spinach, pepper …) and assemble them as a cake by putting cottage cheese (which is what we have made here), mayonnaise or tomato sauce between the floors. See the recipe for the tortilla cake step by step.

Rice salad

Apart from being one of the stars of summer salads because you can take them everywhere, rice salads like this are ideal for making cold meals and dinners.

How to make rice salad. Cook white rice, drain it and let it cool. Add some cooked and peeled prawns. Add diced cooked ham and pineapple, and drained corn. Mix everything well and add a little chopped chives, salt and pepper, sprinkle with oil and stir.

Stuffed eggs

Another dish that fits as an aperitif or cold dinner are deviled eggs. These are the old ones, stuffed with tuna and mayonnaise. But you can also make them with tomato sauce, prawns, Russian salad …

How to make deviled eggs. Cook the eggs in boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Remove them, refresh them, peel them, cut them in half lengthwise and remove the yolks being careful not to break the whites. Smash the yolks with a fork and mix it with drained and flaked tuna and a little mayonnaise. Fill the whites with the mixture and decorate with grated egg yolk.

Escalivada with anchovies

The escalivada is a traditional dish of Catalan, Aragonese, Valencian and Murcian cuisine based on roasted vegetables, which is usually combined with anchovies, eggs, sardines … and serves as a single dish and cold dinner.

How to make roast beef with anchovies. It is about making a roasted pepper, eggplant and onion (here is the recipe for roast beef step by step) and accompany it with anchovies and cooked quail eggs.

Beef carpaccio

Carpaccios are very common in cold dinners because they are always served cold and can be accompanied with salad, rice, quinoa, sauteed vegetables … to get a unique dish. This is made from beef, but it is also made from fish, such as salmon or cod carpaccio, for example, or from fruits and vegetables: mushrooms, tomato, mango, pineapple, cucumber …

How to make beef carpaccio. The piece of meat is wrapped in kitchen film, placed in the freezer for around 30 minutes, so that it hardens slightly and, then, is cut into fillets as thin as possible with the help of a sharp knife. Once cut, it is put on a plate with parmesan flakes, a thread of olive oil and a splash of lemon juice (see step-by-step recipe).

Salmon sushi

Another classic of cold dinners is sushi (makis, nigiris, uramakis …). But if you don't want to complicate your life, you can make an easier version like we have done with this smoked salmon sushi burger .

How to make salmon burger sushi. It is about preparing the traditional sushi rice or a slightly pasty white rice so that it is more compacted and making a layer of rice, one of avocado slices, another of smoked salmon strips and finish with a rice layer (here is the recipe Step by Step).

Cod croquettes

As they can be eaten both hot and cold, croquettes cannot be missing from cold dinner lists. You can have them made in advance and accompany them with vegetable cream, salad, rice …

How to make cod croquettes. Prepare a bechamel (here is the step-by-step recipe), add desalted and crumbled cod, mix and salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes. Add chopped parsley, mix and cook for a few more seconds. Let it cool down, take small portions and shape them into a round shape with wet hands. Pass the croquettes in beaten egg and then in breadcrumbs or, if you want to give it an oriental touch, panko or very minced prawn bread. Fry them with hot oil being careful not to burn them. And serve them hot or cold.

The turkey croquettes are also very tasty, and if you've thrown in the towel because they always fall apart, here are all the tricks to make the same croquettes and prevent them from breaking.