I have a love hate relationship with potlucks. On one hand, they are a great opportunity to experience friends' cooking and creativity. On the other hand, they always seem to come up at the last minute. Breakfast potlucks are the most difficult. Here are five ideas to help you shine at your next one.
1. Breakfast Casseroles - These are ideal make-ahead dishes: easy to assemble the night before and bake in the morning or on site.
• Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
• Deep-Dish Brioche French Toast
2. Frittatas - An ideal savory dish, the frittata is the potluck version of an omelet.
• Lemon Frittata with Leeks and Goat Cheese
• Frittata Squares
3. Sticky buns and rolls - Although putting together a batch of sticky buns in the morning sounds like you'll be staying up all night, the trick to potluck success is to make these the night before and allow them to rise slowly in the refrigerator until it's time to bake. Or bake them and re-heat before serving!
• IKEA-Inspired Cinnamon Rolls
• No-Knead Pumpkin Rolls with Brown Sugar Glaze
4. Scones and Muffins - Don't be tempted to limit your potluck options to dishes that need to be served hot. These are crowd pleasers and easy to make a night in advance, or even a few days before.
• Fresh Cranberry Scones
• Cheddar and Leek Muffins
5. Granola - Change things up a bit with homemade granola and yogurt. Crunchy and on the healthy side, your friends will remember your unique contribution!
• 15 Recipes, Tips & Ideas for Delicious Homemade Granola
Related: Brunch Recipes That Can Be Made in Advance?
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Scones are really best on the day you make them, and just passable the day after. I certainly would never recommend making them a few days before, unless you were freezing them, and even then that's not ideal. On the plus side, they aren't hard-- I make a different kind every week.
Hey The Kitchn, did you read my mind or something? I am doing a breakfast potluck today, in about ten minutes!
I second not making scones or muffins in advance! Given how easy they are, there's really no excuse for bringing day(s)-old ones to share with other people!
Do you know what they call "potlucks" here in the French part of Switzerland (don't know if they do so further afield...)?
A "Buffet Canadien".
The implication being that we, Canadians are too cheap -- err, "frugal" -- to properly host a meal. Makes sense though, if you are hosting a community gathering.
The problem with potlucks is achieving balance -- at an annual potluck barbecue we attend, two people always bring in the identical potato salad, and three makes more or less the same 3-bean salad. A couple of people make something very nice -- which everyone wants -- and everyone else takes the path of least resistance in brings bagged lettuce mix and frozen hors d'oeuvres. I'm not a fan...
oops -- typos galore. Too bleary-eyed to write straight; my apologies.
@ mschatelaine, woah, what? Switzerland thinks Canadians are cheap, that's crazy!
I just posted about my favorite raspberry muffins, which are really delicious and come together quickly (so you could make them the morning-of quite easily).
I also make
Hm, sorry everyone, I don't know what happened to the rest of my comment.
I also make cream biscuits, which you can freeze before cooking. I would bet that you could do the same with muffins:
- Make sure you have tin liners of some sort, then fill the tin with the raw dough.
- Freeze, then pop out the raw, frozen muffins.
- Then when you're ready to cook, pop them back into a tin frozen and just add a few minutes of cooking time.
Granola! What a great idea! I wish I had thought of that for a bunch potluck I went to a few weeks ago.
Lemon-Cardamom Muffins (make batter the night before, bake in the AM)
Quiche Alsacienne (make day before, reheat in AM)
applebomb is living better than i.....oh to be hosting breakfast potluck.....on a WEDNESDAY. dang.
Breakfast pizza. Make the dough and prep the toppings ahead of time, assemble and bake right before serving. Definitely include a few eggs on top.