I would politely explain why you don't like on particular dish she makes and offer praise on some you do, or maybe offer her some tips to improve the recipe without necessarily blatantly saying, "It sucked".

If you're that worried she'll be crushed I suppose the only other option is to avoid dinner parties at her house. lol

Depends on her personality. Do you joke around a lot? It could be a nice bonding experience, admitting you actually didn't like it - something that might evolve into some kind of inside joke about her cooking or that dish.

If she's a bit more serious and might take offense to it, I'd probably wait til you were close friends to bring it up and just offer to cook dinners instead until then. If you do end up telling her, make sure you stress that it wasn't her cooking skills, but just the dish itself that you didn't like. People are often put off by the texture or flavor of specific food items, and it's not that weird to dislike a specific meal because it just squicks your taste buds.

But in the end, if you're not likely to become much closer, it might just be worth suffering through a dinner you're not so hot on if it'd make things between you more comfortable.

That's a tough one. I think you should tell her, but since you've let it go on for a while, it's likely to hurt her feelings no matter what you do.

An outright lie isn't the way to go, but can you come up with a way to make that meal not fit into your dietary restrictions?

If I were in this situation, I don't think I could tell my friend that I didn't really care for the meal after she spent all that time thinking I did. She most certainly would be embarrassed and then I'd feel bad for embarrassing her. The next time I was served this meal, I'd choke it down and then tell her how much I enjoy having dinner with her (not mentioning the current fare but inferring that I liked her company and appreciated the effort she made to please me) but I'd like to try out some of her other specialties. And then if I liked the new fare better, I'd defintely let her know I liked it so she wouldn't make that other thing again. Of course, it could be worse. Then I'd probably try to get off the hook by suggesting we spent an evening out next time and treat her to a nice restaurant.

(My best friend not the world's best cook, but I've never had to tell her so and usually get off the hook for dinner invitations because she knows what a picky eater my husband is and seldom invites us anyway, thank goodness!)

Treat her like a grown up. Don't kid yourself you are keeping quiet to protect her feelings. You're doing it so you don't look a fool for carrying on like that. :)

The good news is that we all act foolishly like that from time to time, and our friends understand such things, because they've been there too. You'll probably become much closer as result of being honest and sharing a good laugh about this.

Approach it as if she changed the recipe somehow and that it doesn't quite taste the same. By doing so maybe she will actually change it so you will like the dish and both you and her would be better off.

You don't need to tell her that you don't like the food. If I had been cooking the same thing for someone and they told me they didn't like it, I'd feel both embarrassed and resentful at them. Still, I'd probably get over it.

You could suggest she cook something else while making dinner plans, it could be something specific or not. If you don't feel comfortable with that, you could also say you'll pick up the groceries and the two of you could cook a (different) meal together.

I would cop out and claim a new food allergy.

Well, this is a tough situation, but i would tell her that its just not your type of food. Tell her that you just didn't want to hurt her feelings but it's just not your type of food to eat. She should understand. I mean it sucks but she should get over it. Not everyone likes every ones cooking, it's totally normal. Just tell her how you feel the next time that you go over, or eat before you see her again and say that you already ate, so that you can avoid eating it again. If you keep doing this, then eventually she will stop making that meal for you and maybe will offer you something better to your taste :)

You can request that she makes something else without hurting her feelings. Simply say that you don't want to get burned out on what she makes and give her that "to much of a good thing " speech. If she makes it every time you come over, it would be easy to ask her to make something different before hand.