The key to a really fantastic office potluck — one that you and your coworkers actually look forward to — is variety. And cupcakes. Get everyone to sign up for a dish they are truly excited to make and bring, and I guarantee you'll end up with an office table that groans under the weight of the bounty you are about to inhale.
The Menu
Salads & Sides:
- Vietnamese Spring Rolls with Spicy Peanut Dipping Sauce
- Edamame & Cauliflower Pasta Salad with Feta
- Quinoa and Black Bean Salad with Orange-Coriander Dressing
- Chickpea, Barley, and Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Mint and Feta
- Tri-Color Slaw with Lime Dressing
- Big Green Salad with Shallots, Chicken, Smoked Almonds, Goat Cheese, and Dates
- Spring Quiche with Leeks and Sorrel
- Cashew Chicken Salad Wraps (double this recipe)
- Pulled Pork Tacos
The Scene
The office. Ravenous co-workers. A few crock-pots sending tantalizing aromas over cubicle walls. The long table in the meeting room arrayed with mega-sized bowls of salad and platters of tasty bite-sized treats. Everyone breaks a little early and stays a little longer than their official lunch hour, lingering over the leftovers.
Make It Happen
Besides variety and cupcakes, an office potluck also requires some coordination. It's good to designate some people for salads and sides, some for main dishes, and some for desserts — and don't forget to nominate someone (or two) to bring drinks. Clear out some fridge space the day before so that people have somewhere to stash their dishes until lunchtime.
The dishes listed in the "Menu" above are truly just suggestions. Most of them are things that feed a crowd, don't need to be reheated, and don't require more than a plate and a fork for eating. It's nice to break out of the basic "lettuce + cherry tomato" salad scene and bring in a few grain salads and lighter pasta salads. The pork tacos are best if you can finagle a crock-pot to warm it up before lunch.
The desserts speak for themselves! Cookies, bars, and cupcakes are the mainstay of an office (or any!) potluck — things that people can nibble now or take back to their desks if they want.
What are your favorite dishes for office potlucks?
Related: Potluck Etiquette: What Are Your Rules?
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Our office has many different ethnicities represented, so our potlucks are incredibly interesting. Chili and Pulled pork are ususally the mains (slowly warming in crockpots all morning). Bahn mi, fried rice, baked ziti, coleslaw, lentil salad, cold fried chicken, meatloaf, pernil, arroz y gandules and samosas have all gone over really well.
The non-cooks usually bring paper goods, drinks and sometimes store-bought items (if the menu is looking like it's missing something vital).
A few important things...
1) ask people to list ingredients for their contributions to help out those with foodl allergies and dietary restrictions
2) dish soap and a sponge!
3) containers for leftovers..we always have way way way too much food and no one ever remembers to bring something to take the extras home in.
Oooh, tacos for office parties is a great idea. I have a good recipe for quick pickled onions to put on them and for fresh salsa: http://www.myfoodandotherstuff.com/2013/01/taco-tuesday-steak-tacos-fresh-salsa.html
I work at a nutrition non-profit so we have lots of professional chefs as well as people who love food & to cook, our office potlucks are great! The favorite, hands down, is the lumpia which are made from scratch by one of our chefs, who is of Filipino descent. Man, my mouth is watering just thinking about it!