What can you make with Spam? According to these retro Spam recipes – what *can’t* you make with it?! Check out these easy vintage how-tos here.
dinner recipes
See how home cooks 100 years ago made easy meals from just 4 foods, creating 12 different dinner menus with classic recipes and smart planning.
This Italian zucchini crescent pie from 1980 won $40,000 at the Pillsbury Bake-Off and still holds up as a fast, hearty retro dinner favorite.
Homemade meatballs, spaghetti and a rich red sauce make this delicious pasta dinner: Vera’s favorite Spaghetti Romano recipe from the ’80s.
Retro burgers with a cheesy center and tangy tomato sauce? This 1950s Fancy-Pants recipe brings back big flavor with just a few simple ingredients.
Quick summer recipes from 1969 bring retro charm and fast dinner fixes with soups, salads, casseroles and more from the Daylight Time-Savers cookbook.
Serve your Caribbean coconut chicken with cornbread or French bread, pear-lettuce salad, and a full, dry white table wine.
This 1960s version of the French dish chicken à l’orange is made easy enough for a weeknight dinner, thanks to handy ingredients like cornflake crumbs and orange juice.
Mushroom recipes from 1912 show how home cooks turned humble mushrooms into hearty, flavorful dishes using simple, time-tested methods.
Not only is pineapple amazing on its own, it also can be a delicious ingredient in lots of recipes — like this sunburst chicken stir-fry recipe from the 80s.
Creamed chipped beef – dried beef with white gravy – is also known as “s**t on a shingle” (SOS), and was often served to troops during World War II.
With warm, rich flavors and tender pieces of meat and vegetables, New England beef stew is the perfect choice for a cozy dinner on a cold winter evening!
This easy retro recipe for a delicious creamy chicken and broccoli casserole gets a bonus crunch from a crispy onion topping.
A super simple must-try retro ’60s recipe: Crunchy breaded chicken! Soup ‘n stuffing make chicken a taste treat. See how easy it is to make it here!
Get the crispiness of fried chicken without the hassle. These oven-fried chicken recipes are easy, delicious and sure to be a hit at your next dinner.
The Bisquick Impossible Pie recipe book is filled with ‘no time to cook’ pies: Bacon, quesadilla, cheeseburger, lasagne, taco, brownie, cheesecake & more!
This recipe for savory crescent chicken squares was a winner at the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest in the ’70s because it was tasty and so easy to make.
Here’s a retro ’80s recipe for a lattice-top chicken bake — a cheesy chicken casserole with golden biscuits baked right on the top.
This hot dog crown casserole from 1965 uses hot dogs split lengthwise, and strategically placed in a circle around a creamy potato/green bean dish.
Need a fast dinner? Besides being fast – just fifteen minutes cooking time – this famous quick meatloaf recipe is truly delicious with its savory tomato gravy!
Although the popularity of the fondue recipe has waxed and waned over the years, it is still — and likely forever will be — enjoyed as a delicious communal meal that brings people together.
Wholesome, full-flavored dinners like this Chicken macaroni casserole come easy with Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, chunk chicken, and pasta.
If you want to try making the Red Lobster biscuit recipe yourself, this copycat Cheddar Bay recipe is for you!
This delicious recipe for sweet, savory and spicy pineapple baked pork ribs gets lots of flavor from the unique but wonderful combination of chili sauce and tropical pineapple.
Back in the mid-1960s, the newly-invented marvel of Shake’n Bake coating mixes was kind of a big deal – or at least the shake and bake concept was marketed that way!
This retro recipe for homemade shake and bake sesame-herb chicken from the 70s is an easy way to make a dinner the whole family will love!
What is scrapple, exactly – and how do you make it? Get a good old-fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch homemade scrapple recipe here, and find out about the history of this meaty mixture.
Here’s the easy way to make deliciously moist ‘n crispy Rice Krispies crunchy chicken, with a crust so crisp, it crunches.
Here is a Hungarian-inspired chicken paprika recipe, simplified by using tomato soup for the base. Serve it with noodles and alongside a green salad.
This retro holiday spinach rice recipe makes 12 servings of a delicious and festive-looking side dish, which includes spinach, cheese and green onions – plus sliced almonds for crunch.
There are so many recipes for appetizers to serve at game day football parties — but what about the main course? You can score with this old-fashioned football-shaped meatloaf, inspired by two vintage recipes!
Meatloaf retro recipes: Here are three tasty ways to make the most of meatloaf. All it takes is a little imagination, and the special flavors you get only from Lipton recipe & soup mixes.
Ranch salad dressing and your favorite brand of tuna — they bring out the best in each other, like in this 6-layer tuna salad vintage recipe.
Vintage recipes in this Campbell’s emergency dinner cookbook include Pot roast, Frankfurter boats, Campbelled eggs, Skillet meatloaf, Spanish rice, Macaroni & cheese, Tuna supreme, Chicken crunch & more.
Get retro Thanksgiving recipes for turkey fondue with horseradish sauce; winter garden salad; caramel rum pumpkin cake; ham supreme in crépes; two-tone tower salad and ported raspberry pie.
Here are two recipes for a stove top meatloaf dinner – it’s so easy to make, it doesn’t even need to be cooked in the oven.
Try these tasty salads, sandwiches and more, all starring California avocados! These 10 easy avocado recipes some to you from the ’70s & ’80s.
If you’re in the mood for a savory old-fashioned dinner, here’s a delicious way to make onion meatloaf with soup mix, vintage ’60s-style.
This spaghetti pie was the most delicious way one magazine’s food editors knew to stretch one pound of ground beef into six servings.
This vintage 1960s recipe for a Wieneroni casserole combines flavorfully glazed hot dogs with pasta for a truly retro-style dinner.
Want to go on the Santa Fe Express? Mexican-style stewed tomatoes are the quickest way to add a rich, zesty flavor to this Southwestern recipe for Ranchero rollups.
This vibrant pasta gardena sauce gets a boost from fresh tomatoes and a bit of vinegar, and makes a delicious dinner when served over your favorite kind of pasta.
These breaded pork chops are marinated before bring lightly coated in breadcrumbs, then pan fried for an easy dinner dish.
Need an easy dinner that’s a little bit different? Try Tangy chicken with tomatoes & herbs — a deliciously kicky pasta sauce on top of your favorite pasta.
Try this easy turkey chili recipe from the ’90s. It’s simple. It’s quick. And so tasty the dinner table will need every chair you can find.
This ’50s recipe for macaroni pie makes a casserole full of cooked pasta in a red spaghetti sauce, tucked into a pastry crust.
This recipe for chicken Brunswick stew, made with stew seasoning mix, won a French’s recipe award for turning ordinary chicken into a really special dish.
This Mexican-meets-Italian Tostado pizza recipe won the $500 second prize in the Better Homes & Gardens Budget Recipe Contest in 1974.
Try the Bisquick dish with an elegant air: Tuna ring! It’s a baked biscuit-like ring that’s served with a cheesy tuna sauce in the center.
This Burger Bundles casserole features big meatballs stuffed with herb-seasoned stuffing mix, then baked in a mushroom soup sauce.
Here is a delicious vintage recipe for a basic beef pot roast — and you know it will be good, because it’s how James Beard would have prepared it back in the ’60s!
These little tamale pies are single-serving meals that have sliced tamales baked into a spiced corn batter. Get the recipe from the ’50s here!
This quick taco bake recipe from the ’90s is easy to prepare, using Bisquick as its base. It needs to be in the oven just 35 minutes before it’s ready to serve.
Full of veggies, Gilbert’s garden pasta sauce recipe came from a fireman named Gilbert, by way of Hunt’s tomato sauce, back in the ’80s.
This is macaroni and cheese pizza! It’s a scrumptious new version of pizza with a crust made from Kraft macaroni and cheese. Easy to make. Economical, too.
This delicious orange pork tenderloin dinner is easy to make, and gets a wonderful brightness from citrus and a touch of cayenne.
This vintage ’70s potato-cheese frosted meatloaf idea is covered with mashed potatoes, then topped with a little cheese, for three tastes in one!
In this superb macaroni loaf, the flavor of cheese, piquant snips of pimiento, green pepper and onion all add vigor and zest to a simple everyday dish.
Fresh lettuce and tomatoes top this savory cheesy bacon, lettuce & tomato Impossible Pie, based on a classic recipe from the ’80s.
Cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg make a crisp coating for lamb, beef or pork in this apple & spice roast recipe from the ’70s.
Check out this retro recipe for an easy dinner casserole: a beef ’n potato bake that’s topped with crunchy French fried onions.
Here’s a winning recipe with western flair: Chili manicotti. Start with a popular Italian dish, and add a spicy Mexican influence for this delicious dinner.
Savory ground beef meatloaf and canned liver spread retain the characteristic flavor, but not the expense, of the classic ingredients of Beef Wellington.
Texas Two-Step Chicken Picante. It’s easy as one, two, and is a lip-smackin’ new way to do chicken your whole gang’ll eat up.
Check out this easy how-to for “Fried chicken, Far East style” – an Indian-accented fried chicken curry recipe from 1950.
Try these stuffed tomatoes, filled with a flavorful Florentine blend of spinach, onion, Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs.
Cup-a-Soup has made cooking for two a lot easier — the soup does the seasoning in this retro ’80s recipe for garden chicken for two.
These big, hearty potato-filled burgers are stuffed with tender cubes of potato, then you simmer them in Hunt’s tomato sauce. Quick and easy to make.
You can make your own homemade cheese sauce in 3 minutes – no flour or shortening. It’s delicious over these tuna fritters – get the recipes!
If you’re looking for a new way to make meatloaf, this retro-style burger layer ‘cake’ may be it! It’s quick, too – the meat layers cook in just 10 minutes!
Here’s how to make individual tuna dreamboats with bell peppers. Just watch the family cheer as these boats come sailing to the table!
Corn Quiche Lorraine is made with eggs, bacon, cheese, cream and creamed corn, then baked in a pastry shell. Get the vintage recipe here!
In this retro recipe from the ’70s, find out how to make a hearty, delicious and easy beer-cheese soup!
What’s for dinner? How about some old-fashioned macaroni and cheese? Get 10 delicious classic mac & cheese recipes to try, many of which might be new to you!
Who’s got time to fix dinner during the holiday rush? Colonel Sanders! In the ’60s, the hot tip was to have Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas.
Meat is the foundation of a dinner, and vegetables, sauces, jellies, preserves and relishes help to make the whole complete. Here are several traditional sauces and sides to serve with meats.
Called a Top Hat Supper, it consists of slices of Spam or Treet topped by a ‘hat’ of well-seasoned instant mashed potatoes.
Check out this vintage recipe from the ’60s for Savory Supper on a Bread Slice – a meatloaf in the middle of a bread loaf that’s wrapped in foil and then baked.
This easy rice with tuna, tomato & olives makes a one-pan dinner, using only ingredients you may already have in your cupboard!
You can use a blender to help prepare cheese-sauced meatloaf surrounded by bright Brussels sprouts to add a bit of jolly old England to your dinner table.
Here are some delicious dinners to try from the ’50s — three different vintage country fried chicken recipes that you can make in your oven or on the stove.
Those who entertain often or very little face the same dilemma: What to serve as appetizers that are different? Here are some suggestions mushroom appetizer recipes to vary the packaged onion dip-and-potato chip routine!
Need a fast dinner, and in the mood for something a little retro? Get the recipe for this quick and easy skillet chicken pasta!
This easy and quick Spanish tomato beef-rice recipe from the ’60s is made in one pan, and makes a great dinner for four people.
Eyes sparkle, mouths water – it’s love at first bite for these dumplings! Each of these savory, spicy baked meatloaf dumplings has ground beef nestled in pastry that’s flaky and tender and light as a cloud.
In an Italian home, Sunday Dinner is not just a meal, it’s an experience. The table is laden with good things to eat. And everyone is welcome to pull up a chair.
Chicken Cacciatora is also known as ‘Chicken Hunter Style’ – the literal translation of ‘Pollo alla Cacciatora.’ Get two classic recipes for this dish here!
Why not give your family a Sunday kind of meal right in the middle of the week? Like, on Wednesday, for instance. Here are four fab retro dinner recipes from the ’60s to try!
Versatile meatballs have become one of the most often served and enjoyed — foods on American tables. Get 10 recipes for these family favorites here!
While we can imagine a Christmas without snow and without presents, it’s almost impossible to envision the holiday without the main meal. Here’s what a traditional Victorian Christmas dinner was like.
Here’s the White House Christmas menu from the 1880s – with dishes like Mrs Harrison’s Sausage Rolls, Mrs Kenna’s Regent Punch and Mrs Cullom’s Chocolate Creams.
How can you get your family to eat their vegetables? Hide them inside this roll-in-one meatloaf! This mid-sixties recipe for a rolled, stuffed meatloaf comes from the Campbell’s soup company.
Serve seasoned and piped mashed potatoes and green peas confetti alongside lamb chops or pork chops for a delicious dinner!
A good old-fashioned meat-stretcher is a corn pie with ground beef crust. It’s easy to make, and you will have a mouth-meltingly delicious corn pie that’s a conversation piece as well as a satisfying mainstay.
Family dinner or special party dish? Spaghetti is one of the few foods with special virtues that serves either occasion. There’s nothing like a good spaghetti recipe for bringing fame to a hostess.
Here are 35 different classic recipes to prepare one of the most popular types of fish: cod.
Ideas for more than 20 vintage recipes for hot dogs, including Pronto dogs, Frank-roll slices, hotdog boats, hot dog-bacon roll-ups, franks in blankets, Snappy frank-cheese rolls and lots more. Check ’em out!
Just 30 minutes in a hot oven, and the bubbling goodness and tantalizing aroma of this zesty baked beans recipe will speed the family to the table on the double!
