5 Recipes for a Dreamy Valentine’s Date Night

Love is in the air — can you feel it? This romantic holiday arrives every February to give us the chance to appreciate the relationships in our lives: Our communities, families, friends, and partners. It’s a moment in the midst of winter to pause for a hot minute and express gratitude for the love all around us.

Whether you plan to spend V Day cozied up with a new boo, or hosting your crew for a Galentine’s gathering, or setting aside time to connect with your longtime partner, it’s the perfect time to step up your kitchen game. A date night at home is the time to let your culinary prowess shine, with best-quality ingredients and plenty of inspiration to lead the way.

1. Curate your music playlist. Extra-slow jams, please!
2. Make sure your pantry is stocked with the essentials, like nutrient-packed ZENB Pasta and ZENB Gourmet Pasta Sauce
3. Put a bottle of bubbly on ice
4. Pop on your cutest apron and get cooking!
5. Make it a night to remember

Here are five decadent — and dare we say sexy? — recipes to try for an at-home Valentine’s Day date night. Each one is bursting with color, flavor, texture, and plenty of plants, because on this lovers’ holiday, only an elevated meal will do!

Creamy Pink Spaghetti

If “totes adorbs” is the vibe you’re after this Valentine’s Day, this bright magenta pasta dish is the one for you! The sassy pink color is truly perfect for the holiday — but don’t worry, the vibrant hue is totally natural, thanks to red beets in the ingredients list. These earthy, sweet winter vegetables are blended with uber-creamy mascarpone cheese, ZENB Final Flair Herby Infused Olive Oil, and garlic to make a rustic, creamy sauce, then finished with parm, fresh mint, and one final drizzle of the delicious infused oil.

Using ZENB Spaghetti made from 100% yellow peas, this dish is gluten-free, and it sneaks in an extra serving of plants into every bowl. (This, FYI, is the only time it’s okay to be sneaky on Valentine's Day!)

Mussels Marinara

Shellfish bathed in a luscious broth are practically the definition of a Valentine’s Day dish. You could spend hours working on a broth for those briny bivalves, or you can take a clever shortcut with ZENB Roasted Tomato Gourmet Pasta Sauce and use the time you save to do a charcoal face mask and pick out an extra-dope outfit.

Mussels are commonly served with baguette, making this great to serve alongside the shrimp tapas, or on its own as a light entrée. If you’re the lucky owner of an air fryer, French fries are an indulgent side, changing this dish to moules-frites.

Olive & Goat Cheese Flatbread

You know that cute wine bar that serves orange wine and gourmet flatbreads? You can totally recreate that experience at home for a meal that’s light on its feet with a subtle Mediterranean flair.

Store-bought pizza dough (or a ball of dough purchased from your favorite pizzeria!) creates the foundation for this flatbread, which is topped with ZENB Roasted Red Bell Pepper Gourmet Pasta Sauce, a shower of mozzarella, some tangy goat cheese, and two types of olives. Add a fresh herb salad, and you’ve got a swoon-worthy dinner all ready to go.

Beef Pho at Home

Truffle Mushroom Mac & Cheese