Dinner is the last and one of the most important meals of the day. In Nigeria, dinner refers to the meal eaten in the evening and this meal is quite important it determines how well you’ll sleep and contributes to weight management.
There are many Nigerian dishes that could serve as dinner options, however, when planning for dinner, you should go for light meals as they are easier to digest and won’t affect your sleep.
Best Nigerian Dishes for Dinner
In this post, we will list the Best Nigerian Dishes for Dinner. These dishes are quite easy to make and they are light meals that could boost your sleep quality and offer the necessary nutrients required by your body.
Fish and Yam Stew
Fish and Yam Stew is one of the easiest dishes to prepare. It is also for the body to digest this meal.
This food is made up of fish, yam, and vegetables which make nutrient-dense. Yam is high in dietary fibre which promotes easy digestion, it is also high in carbohydrates which provide energy for the body, so you can bet on feeling energized when you wake the next morning.
Fish is a rich source of proteins and it offers more benefits for the brain. Proteins are the building blocks of the body. They are necessary for many biological processes including the building and repair of tissue and cells.
This combination makes it one of the most nutritious dinner options to go for. You can also take this meal as your breakfast.
It is best to boil the yam and steam the fish to make the dish more delicious and appetizing.
Beef with Spaghetti Stew
Spaghetti is one of the most delicious dishes consumed by many Nigerians. It is mostly consumed by Nigerian students as it is inexpensive, easy to prepare, and highly nutritious. When made with beef, the nutritional value of this dish triples making it one of the best dinner dishes in Nigeria.
The cooking process is really easy and you can make it more appetizing by steaming a piece of beef along with spices, herbs, and seasoning and then mixing your cooked meat with the spaghetti.
There is no special recipe for making this dish. You’ll have to boil your spaghetti just like you normally do. The stew is what makes this meal really delicious, so you should hold nothing back when making the stew.
Rice and Stew
Rice and stew is one of the most popular meals in Nigeria. This food is quite light and can be consumed at any time of the day.
You can be more creative with this dish and make jollof rice, however, rice and stew is the most economical option.
Okra Soup with Semovita
Most Nigerian swallows such as eba, fufu, amala, and starch make meals bulky and have a negative effect on your sleep quality. However, semovita is a healthier option and when taken with Okra soup the benefits are more pronounced.
Cooking this dish might take some time, but the benefits it offers are definitely worth it. Okra soup is prepared with okra, spices, fish, and vegetables when done, you can go ahead and make the semovita.
While this is a light meal, consuming too much of it won’t be in your best interest.
Potato Porridge
Porridge is one of the easiest meals to cook in Nigeria. The addition of vegetables makes it one of the healthiest options to go for as it is packed with a lot of nutrients that provide numerous benefits to the body.
To make potato porridge, you’ll need onions, pepper, seasoning, ugwu leaves, and potatoes. When made with sweet potatoes, it becomes one of the most delicious dishes in Nigeria.
To make your potato porridge more nutritious, you can cook it with more vegetables and fish. Fish is a known nutrient booster, so you should expect to gain a lot of nutrients when consuming this dish with fish.
The meal is also light and wouldn’t affect your sleep quality.
Jollof Rice
Jollof rice is one of the favorite meals of Nigerians. In many parts of the country, this meal is only consumed on special days like Sundays and on special occasions such as during Christmas and New Year Holidays, parties, and wedding celebrations.
Noodles
Noodles just like Spaghetti are one of the favorite breakfast and dinner options of many Nigerians. The preparation process for this meal is very simple. It is inexpensive and very nutritious when mixed with vegetables and other extra ingredients.
Noodles can be prepared with leafy vegetables, eggs, pepper, tomatoes, and seasoning. Usually, these ingredients are added to make this delicacy more delicious, but they do more than that.
The addition of these ingredients boost the nutritional of this dish, so you’re more likely to gain a lot of health benefits if you make your noodles with these ingredients than if you make them without these ingredients.
Nigerian Bread and Tea
One of the most popular breakfast options in Nigeria could also serve as a dinner option. Nigerian bread and tea is a mixture of numerous beneficial nutrients that offer a lot of health benefits.
The tea is made with a mixture of chocolate and milk and consumed with bread. Individually, the foods are all rich in proteins, minerals, and vitamins and when added together, they become a nutrient-dense meal that keeps you going through the day or through the night.
You can get creative with this dish by adding more ingredients. You can turn your bread into a sandwich and/or toast it. Toasted bread tastes better than normal bread and when mixed with more ingredients, it becomes more nutritious.
Plantain Porridge
Plantain porridge is one of those nutritious dinner dishes, you can make in a short period of time. This dish is rich in vitamins and minerals that are necessary for the proper functioning of the body.
The ingredients used in making this dish include unripe plantains, ugwu leaves, spices, fish, and extra ingredients. There are several extra ingredients that you could add to this dish to boost its taste and nutritional value, still, the ingredients stated above should give you a nutritious and delicious delicacy.
