May Dinner Menu Ideas

Use the seasonal May Dinner Menu Ideas listed below as inspiration and a starting point for your own family menus - simple, whole foods everyone enjoys.

Not sure why to menu plan? Check out all the great reasons here!

Sweet May. The promise of warmer weather, the start of grilling season (at least up north where we are...), and hopefully fresh garden lettuce is coming on strong.

There are quite a few fresh seasonal choices for May including asparagus, spinach, and green onions (find more seasonal foods for May here).

This month also finds us working hard to use up last year's food from the freezer so we have room for the new season's preserved food (consider this your reminder to defrost your freezer now, too, to be ready for the new season!).

May is also a busy time of life for many of us (holidays, end of school, etc.) so you'll find a lot of quick meal ideas this month, too, with planned leftovers in addition to a dessert idea perfect for spring.

I hope this list of dinner menu ideas helps you in planning your family's meals for May!

Week 1

Savory Tomato Seafood Stew, green salad, Easy French Baguettes (freeze one loaf after baking for next week)

Rotisserie-Style Slow Cooker Spiced Whole Chicken, cabbage-carrot slaw with spicy vinaigrette

Spicy Noodle Salad with Asparagus, grilled pork chops with Rhubarb Chutney (so good together!)

Chicken-Bean Haystacks: freezer beans cooked with chili-powdered seasoned tomato sauce over tortilla chips topped with: shredded leftover chicken, shredded lettuce & cheese, chopped onions, salsa and guacamole and/or sour cream

Slow Cooker Sweet Chili Chicken & Vegetables served over noodles or rice

Week 2

Spring Asparagus Quiche, Broccoli Slaw with Cranberries & Feta (or cabbage slaw)

Quick Parmesan-Herb Crusted Baked Fish, Easy French Baguettes (made the week before & frozen) green salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Grilled sausages, grilled asparagus, onions & sweet peppers, leftover French bread

Chicken-Lime Lettuce Wraps, rice, Asian Slaw

Potato & Caramelized Onion Frittata, Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

Week 3

Cajun Beef on Crispy Spiced Potatoes, Caesar Slaw

Soft Tacos with homemade salsa & 10 Minute Baked Chips

Lemon-Garlic Roasted Chicken & Vegetables, Orange-Almond Salad

Individual Chicken-Tomato Shepherd's Pies (made with leftover roasted chicken), Three Pea Salad with Feta & Walnuts (use just one or two peas if that's all you have!)

Sauteed pork chops with Spicy Rhubarb Chutney, Simple Corn, Pepper and Onion Saute, green salad

Week 4

Mediterranean Scramble with Spinach & Bacon, green salad, toasted Easy Artisan Bread

Creamy Pesto Pasta, Quick Corn & Bean Chopped Salad

Homemade Tomato Soup, Black Bean Quesadillas

Easy Chicken-Spinach Calzone, green salad with creamy feta or best ranch dressing

Greek Style Shrimp and Orzo, spinach salad (with leftover dressing from above)

May Dessert Idea

Light, tart and sweet Glazed Lemon Cupcakes make a perfect spring dessert.

What about Saturdays & Sundays?

Our family’s menu always has a couple of standards for the weekends - it's one of the ways I make menu planning easier!

Saturdays alternate between burgers on homemade buns (or pigs-in-blankets) & fries and homemade pizza.

Sundays are mostly on-your-own leftovers (if nothing is available, a quick pasta is made using our frozen roasted tomato sauce or pesto).

For more ideas on easy menu planning, check out these articles:

Menu Planning 101 (5 Steps to Easy Meal Planning)
Seasonal cooking through the year
Monthly dinner menus

I hope you enjoy and are able to use some of these favorite family meals of ours. You can follow me on Pinterest for even more simple, seasonal and from scratch dinner ideas!