The school or office potluck is always an interesting opportunity to see what your coworkers and schoolmates like to cook and eat. It can also be high-pressure — what should you take? We're here to help! From side dishes to salads to sweets, here are 15 dishes that will complement any potluck.
When it comes to potlucks, especially ones where the main dish is provided (like the ubiquituous spring cookout, burgers, buns, and Boca provided), we think that you can never go wrong with a salad, like a crisp cabbage slaw or a white bean salad with roasted vegetables. Or go homestyle and crowd-pleasing with a cheesy rice casserole, or a fresh potato salad with herbs. And of course there's always the dessert table: We've thrown in some favorite potluck desserts here, like dulce de leche bars and spiced rice krispie treats. Read on for these and other favorite potluck recipes from our archives.
Each of these recipes has attributes that makes it good for a potluck. Some, like the cheesy Tex-Mex rice, are just straight-up crowd-pleasers. Others, like the meatballs, are easy to serve in small portions. And others, mainly the salads, fill the vegetable and salad gap often found at potlucks. It's always nice to have another fresh, vegetarian dish that is focused on vegetables.
TOP ROW
• 1 Cheesy Tex-Mex Rice
• 2 Mediterranean Turkey Meatballs with Herbed Yogurt Sauce
• 3 Chicken (or Tofu!) and Wild Rice Salad
• 4 Potato Salad with Yogurt, Arugula, and Dill
• 5 Roasted Eggplant Salad with Smoked Almonds and Goat Cheese
MIDDLE ROW
• 6 Sesame Cabbage Salad
• 7 Meyer Lemon Grain Salad with Asparagus, Almonds and Goat Cheese
• 8 White Bean and Roasted Vegetable Salad
• 9 Tri-Color Slaw with Lime Dressing
• 10 Winter Wheat Berry Salad with Figs and Red Onion
BOTTOM ROW
• 11 Cinnamon Walnut Dulce de Leche Bars
• 12 Life-Changing Vegan Thumbprints
• 13 No-Bake Lemon Cream and Coconut Icebox Cupcakes
• 14 Halfway Cookies
• 15 Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats
What's your favorite dish to take to a potluck?
Related: The Apartment Therapy Office Has a Potluck! A Menu Rundown
(Images: See linked recipes for full image credits)
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Everything looks great EXCEPT that sesame cabbage salad. It looks so pale and lifeless! I love napa cabbage salad with peanuts, but I always add shredded carrot (and sometimes apple) for extra color. Otherwise it just looks depressing.
great post, you are my hero.... thanks :)
@vintagejenta I know!! That's an old post - pre-DSLR and Photoshop. But don't let the photo turn you off; that is still one of my all-time favorite salads.
How about a vegetarian (but very satisfying) deep mushroom pie.
And some potatoes baked with sofrito and fennel is always popular as a side dish.
And I make dulce de leche blondies, too!
Or for something a little different, how about oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and chocolate covered ginger!
Some of the offerings are so laden with great flavors and intensity (like the desserts, for example) it doesn't leave much room for other offerings on the plate. I love trying almost anything/everything at a pot luck but get bummed when people try to outdo each other with intense richness.
But of course it's really fun trying out new things, too!!
Our pot luck dinners in Ithaca, NY, are amazing...there's always super healthy and tasty food in abundance.
Oh, and a simple salad that's stunning in color and almost always gets devoured: edamame, black beans, chopped: red and yellow peppers, red onion, grated garlic, tomato, celery and almonds. Herbs and spices of your choice. Slathered and held together with Greek yog.
Vesla, that sounds similar to one of my favorite summer salads--diced tomatoes and red onions, black beans, corn, and cilantro. Toss it with a light balsamic vinaigrette, and voila! delicious, super light, and so easy. It tastes better the longer it sits, so it's a great make-ahead dish too. My meat-and-potatoes husband will chow down on this with tortilla chips and call it a meal!
I tried the meatball recipe-great flavor and simple to make. Thanks!
These look good! Ill probably make one for a bridal shower I'm attending next month where I know the MOH is vegan