The Best Date Night Food Ideas

Whether you have a spouse, a significant other, or you’re single (but obvi ready to mingle), the time will come when you need some solid date night food ideas. See, everyone’s busy these days and we need to set aside evenings that will be dedicated to romance. And the foundation of any good, romantic date night? Good food. Wait, what did you think we were going to say? Pervs. Anyway, we truly want to help you woo your number one love interest, so we’ve rounded up some of the best date night foods that will show them how much you care (without you having to really work very hard). Here’s the best food for date night from our rankings.

Kirkland Breaded Panko Shrimp

Having a Costco membership might be enough to land you a significant other, but just in case, pick up a box of these Kirkland Breaded Panko Shrimp while you’re at it. These frozen shrimp are twice as big as the other shrimp the Sporked team taste tested, and since they come in a whopping 2.5 pound box, they’ll get you through a few date night dinners. Pair these with rice, veggies, and a squiggle of yum yum sauce for a rice bowl that will knock their socks off (and then stop there if this is a first date). —Vinz Karl

Read the full ranking of the best frozen shrimp

Rao’s Homemade Marinara Sauce

We’d never advocate for you deceiving a date or long-term loved one, but there’s really no harm in buying a marinara sauce that tastes homemade and then just not mentioning it came from a jar, right? Well, Rao’s is the sauce to buy. It’s savory, oily, and bursting with umami from high-quality tomatoes—it truly tastes like sauce that was simmering on a stove all day. Spend the time you would have invested in making homemade sauce ripping petals off of roses and scattering them on the floor or whatever. —Vinz Karl

Read the full ranking of the best marinara sauce

Pepperidge Farm Garlic Bread

Okay, we get it. Garlic bread is a controversial pick for a list of the best date night food. This stuff is a one way ticket to Garlic Breath, USA, but hear us out: Getting past that ick will build intimacy and make your relationship stronger! That’s how powerful this garlic bread is! This Pepperidge Farm loaf is especially great. It’s crusty on the outside and squishy—just like your date as their love for you grows. —Vinz Karl

Read the full ranking of the best garlic bread

Trader Joe’s Olive Fougasse

Here at Sporked, were pretty gassed about this olive fougasse (for those of you not up on your 2015 slang, that means we liked it a whole awful lot). And if your date night lover likes olives, then they probably will, too. This was the best Trader Joes’s item we tasted in 2023, full stop. Jordan Myrick called it “the best store-bought bread I’ve ever had.” They noted that “the inside is fluffy and the crust is, well, crusty. There are plenty of olives.” What more could a person want from a crusty and olive-y bread on date night? Plus, you can heat this up in the oven for a few minutes and your date might just think you made it yourself (or at the very least went through the trouble of heating up bread for them). —Jessica Block

Read the full ranking of the best Trader Joe’s bread

Dr. Bombay Syrupy Waffle Sundaze

There is something so deeply romantic about breakfast for dinner. It says “Hey, it doesn’t matter what the rest of the world around us is doing; we get to eat eggs and waffles because we are a power couple and that’s what power couples do: eat eggs at night.” And if eating breakfast for dinner is a power move, why not take it one step further and cap off your date night dinner with some breakfast for dessert? This ice cream is not only breakfast-themed, it also happens to be the single best ice cream we tried in 2023. Editor-in-chief Justine Sterling noted that the ice cream base “tastes like buttermilk waffles. The chunks of waffle are actual chunks of chewy waffle. And the brown butter syrup kicks everything up a notch.” This is an unbelievably decadent ice cream. Trust us. And heck, if you don’t trust us, trust Snoop—it’s his ice cream brand. —Jessica Block

Baker’s Real Milk Chocolate Dipping Chocolate

What would a date night dinner be without dipped strawberries? Baker’s was the Sporked crew’s pick for best of the best chocolate for dipping, thanks in part to its easy, mess-free preparation. This rich and thick chocolate comes in its own little microwaveable cup, and is perfect for clinging to a dunked strawberry. If all goes well and you have some leftover chocolate, we’re sure you could find a use for it elsewhere. —Vinz Karl

Read the full ranking of the best chocolate for dipping strawberries