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So you’ve been invited to a potluck. This comes with a fair amount of pressure because whether we like it or not, potlucks are a contest.
Some might say that’s not the case, but we say it is. Are you on our side? Here are 40 recipes, all of which have the potential to make you the winner of your next potluck gathering.
There’s hundreds of miles between good macaroni salad and great macaroni salad. Overcook those noodles on purpose, and let simplicity be your guide.
Recipe: Sheldon Simeon
A crispy peach galette, which is often less sweet than other desserts, is great for riding the line between savory and sweet. And in summertime, when the peaches are at their peak? Yes, please!
Recipe: Natasha’s Kitchen
Yogurt rice is slightly more labor intensive than most of these recipes, but the look on guests’ faces when they try it will be worth it.
Recipe: Padma Lakshmi
Everybody knows how to grill corn with butter. Kick that classic potluck dish up about a thousand notches with this recipe that calls for bacon butter and cotija cheese.
Recipe: How Sweet Eats
You already know somebody is bringing Buffalo chicken dip, because somebody always does, so let’s one-up them a bit in the creativity department. Hello, dill dip.
Recipe: The Salty Marshmallow
Skolebrød, or custard buns, are a classic Norwegian treat that, for the most part, only require classic baking ingredients that you’ve probably already got. You can skip the coconut if you’re not a fan.
Recipe: BBC Good Food
Remember how Jackie Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook” keeps talking about making something called “crabby snacks?” Of course you do. Well, the internet is a beautiful place, and somebody put a recipe on their blog. I made these once, and they’re great.
Recipe: Lindsey’s Luscious
If your first thought is “I don’t want my meatballs to taste like jelly,” then chill, that’s not what’s going on here. Grape jelly and chili sauce combine extremely well in a slow cooker to form a thick, smoky-sweet sauce. Stock up on toothpicks, because these are going to be a hit.
Recipe: Buns in My Oven
If you’re bringing food somewhere, cold dishes work best. This recipe for couscous salad is bright, refreshing, and excellent for a potluck on a hot day.
Recipe: The Mediterranean Dish
The most fun dips are always the ones that don’t seem like they could be a dip. Take sesame chicken, for instance, which only requires a little bit of cream cheese and a lotta bit of love.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Here’s another area where you can spice up a classic. Why make traditional deviled eggs when yuzu kosho eggs are possible?
Recipe: Bon Appétit
This creamy, beefy, noodly, cheesy casserole is profound in its simplicity. Everybody’s gonna love it. Especially the husbands, apparently.
Recipe: 12 Tomatoes
You won’t think about standard issue pasta salad again after you’ve had cowboy pasta salad, which is loaded with ground beef, bacon, and candied jalapeños.
Recipe: BellyFull
Cactus, if you’ve never had it, is great. It’s similar to okra, but with a more verdant flavor. It’s perfect when served alongside Mexican-style beans.
Recipe: Allrecipes
Roasted tomatoes have a natural sweetness, but when you bake them up into a buttery, flaky pie, that sweetness skyrockets. Finish it with a little bit of fresh basil and you’re set.
Recipe: Saving Room For Dessert
This is best when blueberries and peaches are in season, but if not, swap for whatever fruits call to you. There are no wrong answers in the garden.
Recipe: Sip + Sanity
Have you ever done this? It’s incredibly simple. You get a watermelon. Then you stick a whole bottle of vodka in that watermelon. Then you wait 24 hours. Then you eat the watermelon.
Then you freakin’ party.
Recipe: The Spruce Eats
This recipe hinges on your ability to acquire an enormous sub roll. I bet the deli section at your supermarket could pull this off. It’s worth it for the spectacle.
Recipe: Simplified Chef
Japanese cucumber salad, if you’re not aware, is the mother of all cucumber salads. It also works as a side to serve with virtually anything.
Recipe: Hungry Huy
There’s something to be said for creativity, but there’s also something to be said for bringing a dish everybody’s gonna love. Assuming this isn’t a crowd of vegetarians, that is. (In which case, there are plenty of great vegetarian potluck dishes.)
Recipe: So Much Food
Potato salad can be a meal of its own when you dress it up with all kinds of great Italian fixin’s. Those Trader Joe’s grilled artichoke hearts are begging for this one.
Recipe: Proud Italian Cook
Imagine a beautiful piece of Mexican street corn. Now imagine a cheesy dip full of southwestern flavors. Now marry those two things into one, and you’ve got hot corn dip.
Best eaten with Fritos.
Recipe: The Pioneer Woman
You might want to save this one for a potluck you’re hosting at your own house, because freshness seems key here.
Recipe: Walder Wellness
Maybe you already know how great of a combo melon and prosciutto are. But did you also know that it tastes exponentially better when eaten off a skewer?
Recipe: Regain Your Sparkle
Lettuce-based salads are overrated. Salads featuring Thai flavors and lots of crunchy peanuts are not.
Recipe: Cookie + Kate
There are few people better to trust with one of the crown jewels of Louisiana Creole cooking than Emeril Lagasse. This recipe is sure to be a hit, whether you’re serving it as a main dish or a side.
Recipe: Emeril Lagasse
If there are burgers or kabobs at the potluck, a light, tart, Shirazi salad is an elite side dish.
Recipe: Cooking With Ayeh
Classic Chinese garlicky veggies work with virtually any green, but pea shoots are especially delicious.
Recipe: Omnivore’s Cookbook
The name is a perfect descriptor: This is somewhere between a tamale and a pie. It’s gonna be the topic of a lot of conversation at your potluck.
Recipe: Food & Wine
This is a classic potluck treat that always ends up as a sleeper hit. And why use a recipe from anywhere else but the motherland, watermelon.org, which is a real website I was not aware of until this day?
Recipe: Watermelon.org
If you’re trying to keep it vegan, this can easily be made without meat. Crockpots are great for collard greens, because the longer you stew the greens, the tastier they get.
Recipe: Britney Breaks Bread
You can go two ways with this: If you’re from Cincy, you can use this opportunity to educate people on your use of autumnal spices in chili. Or, if you don’t get what makes this chili so great, you can leave out the allspice and cinnamon and see if anybody even notices.
Recipe: Culinary Hill
Biscuits are a nail-it-perfectly-or-don’t-bother type of thing, but if you can pull these off, nobody will be able to stop talking about it.
Recipe: Bon Appétit
A lemony, fresh side like this Lebanese cabbage salad will be a breath of fresh air next to the four different people that brought some form of fried chicken.
Recipe: Zaatar & Zaytoun
Tomatoes and basil are beautiful on their own, but they’re also great as building blocks. You can add virtually anything you want to these bad boys.
Recipe: Minimalist Baker
Prediction: You drop one of these on the potluck table alongside some warm pita, and this will be the first to go.
Recipe: Taste of Home
Is chorizo mandatory? No. Is it a great choice? Yes. Use it in these delicious stuffed mushrooms for a decadent appetizer.
Recipe: Inspired Fresh Life
Perhaps the rest of those cowards at the potluck won’t dare try to make wings. This spicy-sweet recipe is your chance to bury the competition.
Recipe: Baker By Nature