Growing up, I’ve been to many a church potluck, which means I’ve also had my fair share of congealed, dried out casseroles. Here are recipes that will combat that issue.
These are easy, simple, and made from ingredients you may already have, and you will no doubt leave the potluck with many people asking for your recipes. Some of them can even be made in advance, which saves you time when you’re running out the door trying to make it to the event. So warm up your crock pots, because you’re going to want to try these immediately.
1) Classic Baked Ziti
Who doesn’t like baked ziti? Most likely you already have some dry pasta sitting in your pantry, and this is great for a crowd.
I just recommend not putting your mozzarella cheese on top until about 10 minutes before it’s done so it doesn’t dry out. Use more tomato sauce than you think you need, and if you’re feeling really crazy, throw in some whole milk ricotta cheese. This is a crowd pleaser no matter where you take it.
2) Baked Mac and Cheese
Again, who doesn’t love macaroni and cheese? I prefer using a macaroni and cheese that has a roux base, which is essentially where you melt some butter and combine it with equal parts flour as your thickener. After that, you add your milk or cream and any shredded cheese that your heart desires.
It makes a thick, creamy sauce that holds up well in the oven when the pasta soaks it up. Top with your shredded cheese or even toasted bread crumbs about 15 minutes before baking time is finished. Be sure to make two pans because this will disappear fast.
3) BBQ Pulled Pork
This is a pork butt basically, with your favorite barbecue sauce or seasoning, and this is great because it’s really a set it and forget it kind of meal. Put your pork butt in your crock pot with some onions or garlic and your favorite seasoning.
When it’s almost done, add your favorite barbecue sauce or even a teriyaki glaze to change things up. Serve it with buns, coleslaw, pickles, and potato chips. Everyone’s gonna go crazy. Be sure to add some broth in the bottom so that the pork butt doesn’t dry out in the crock pot.
4) Baked Chicken Drumsticks
I personally love drumsticks, or even bone-in chicken thighs, for potlucks and events with a big crowd. For one thing, they’re very inexpensive, and they have a good amount of fat on them so they don’t dry out.
My favorite thing to do is to prepare them in the oven. I like to keep the seasoning simple. You really don’t need to go crazy here because the meat is very flavorful, especially with the help of some dried seasoning.
When it’s done, if I have to transport it, I like to take it in the crock pot with me to the event on warm, and people love this because it usually reminds them of something that their mom would make. Feel free to add a sauce, but I don’t really think it needs it with the proper seasoning.
5) Party Meatballs
This was a famous church potluck dish when I was growing up. This is just a bag of your favorite meatballs. I would go frozen, because for this dish it really doesn’t matter. It’s a crowd pleaser no matter what.
I remember it always being made with barbecue sauce and grape jelly, but you can also use chili sauce for a little bit of a zing. And something about that sweet and salty combo, they disappear very fast every time and they always make an appearance on the table.
6) Deviled Eggs
People try to pretend like they don’t like deviled eggs for some reason, like they’re above them, but I promise you that these always go quick. You just really need to boil your eggs and make your filling. You can keep them in the refrigerator overnight because they’re better chilled anyway.
I like to put the filling into a piping bag, or even a Ziploc with the corner cut off if you have it, to make it less messy to fill the eggs. Top them with some chopped parsley or a dash of paprika if you have it, and make sure that you season your filling well because that’s where all the flavor is going to be.
Make sure you make some extras. You always need more deviled eggs than you think.
7) Broccoli Rice Casserole
This is a great dish because it really can be made in the oven, even with the rice. Some people don’t realize that with the right ratio of liquid, you can prepare rice in the oven. So just make sure that you keep the ratio of rice to liquid in the dish two to one.
This dish is a great way to get my kids to eat vegetables that they otherwise wouldn’t eat, because it just tastes like a super comforting cheesy soup. They don’t even know that they’re getting veggies in there.
Dress it up or down as much as you want. Add caramelized onions and garlic, or just keep it simple. Either way, it’s something everybody will love.
8) Green Bean Casserole
You don’t really need to limit green bean casserole to just Thanksgiving. The combination of green beans, creamy soup, and onions is addicting no matter the season.
Just make sure if you are using fresh green beans, which is fantastic, that you blanch them in some boiling water for a few minutes before you put them in your casserole. Nobody likes to bite into a crunchy green bean in a green bean casserole. You want to leave that to the crunchy onion topping. If you don’t have the crunchy onions, you can also just use panko breadcrumbs and it does just as well.
9) Baked Beans
This dish would go great with that pork butt earlier in the list to go with the barbecue vibe. Cook off some ham or render some fat from some bacon to give it good flavor. Use canned beans for convenience.
Throw in a little bit of brown sugar, and if you want to give it a little bit of a kick, use one chopped chipotle chili, but watch your spice level and make sure you taste it.
This is a crowd pleaser, and it stays nice and warm for a really long time and goes with a lot of different entrees. It’s a nice way to change it up at a potluck with a lot of the same dishes.
10) Crowd-Pleasing Chili
Chili is one of my favorites because it’s a really use what you have in the cabinet kind of dish. You got cans of beans, use them. Frozen corn, throw it in. Cilantro, great. Lime juice, awesome. There’s really so much you can do with it.
Your base is always going to be tomatoes, so use diced tomatoes, pureed tomatoes, and tomato paste to thicken it up. My secret ingredient is always to add a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to the chili. Sounds crazy, yes, but it gives it a warm, rounded flavor that you wouldn’t expect. Put out some toppings and let people go nuts.
11) Cornbread
This is a great thing to throw together to go with the chili, and again, there’s a lot you can do with it. I like to keep my cornbread simple, but I like to kick up the moisture by adding a can of creamed corn to the batter.
Make it as sweet or savory as you like. I like to go somewhere in the middle, and if you want to make it a little spicy, you could even add in a can of diced green chilies and top it with some cheddar cheese. This will be a crowd pleaser no matter what.
12) Classic Potato Salad
You can make this one 24 to 48 hours ahead of time to really let the flavors combine. I think the potatoes really need time to combine with seasonings and sauces to make a really cohesive dish.
After you boil your potatoes, just make sure you cool them off a little before you start adding in mustard and mayonnaise, but add whatever you like. I like a little bit of chopped shallot for a little bit of punchiness, and top with some sliced chives to give it some color.
If you want to keep it cold during the potluck, put your serving dish in a slightly larger container with some ice, because nobody really likes warm potato salad.
13) Creamy Coleslaw
Coleslaw is great because people can eat it with any variety of dishes that are at the potluck. It’s pretty simple. Take your veggies from your fridge. I like to do a combination of Napa cabbage and purple cabbage, and I like grated carrot and super thinly sliced red onion in mine.
Make a dressing of mayonnaise, and I like apple cider vinegar. My little secret is just to put a touch of sugar in there, not so much that your coleslaw is sweet, but just something to cut through the acidity. Salt and pepper to taste, let it sit and soften, and it’s really truly as simple as that.
14) Italian Pasta Salad
When you’re making pasta salad, I like to make sure that I have about six ounces per person. That helps me gauge how much I really need to make for the event, because everyone tends to like it. It’s great because you can make it ahead of time and throw in whatever ingredients you like.
If you want to do more of an Italian style with some diced bell peppers, I like sun-dried tomatoes in mine, and little mozzarella cheese balls are great, along with diced salami and diced ham. But you can really go any direction you want with it. You can keep it basic and just do diced carrots, diced celery, and diced ham with a mayonnaise based dressing, and with the Italian style you may want to go with a balsamic vinaigrette. That would go super nicely here.
Just make sure that you use a little bit more dressing than you need to account for the pasta soaking it up, and add a little bit of salt because that pasta really needs it.
15) Slider Sandwich Tray
These are always a crowd pleaser. What I like to do to give them a little something extra is to use Hawaiian sweet rolls instead of a regular dinner roll. They’re not going to taste like dessert, but that little extra sweetness gives the sandwiches really great flavor.
Cut that whole thing of sandwiches in half and layer it with your favorite meat and cheese. Some people like Swiss, but it’s not my favorite. I prefer cheddar or even Havarti to mix it up. Pour over a butter sauce that you like, like garlic butter. You can even put some Dijon mustard in there and finely chopped dried parsley, which gives it such a warm, comforting flavor.
After they’re all toasted up in the oven, slice them but keep them together, so that way they don’t dry out and people can just grab them as they like. This is great because it really doesn’t take a whole lot of effort or cooking time, but it can be made when you have to go somewhere at the last minute and still want to bring something fun.
16) Egg Casserole
This is a great dish. Even if you’re not going to a brunch occasion, it’s still a crowd pleaser. People love breakfast for dinner, or if you are going to a brunch, even better.
This is just a combination of eggs, sausage or bacon, and your favorite cheese. You can put hash browns in there, or even if you don’t want to cut up hash browns, you can use tater tots. I like to put in a container of cottage cheese for creaminess and protein, and it won’t dry out as fast.
Then you bake it off. It’s really easy for a crowd, and there’s a lot of directions you can go with it.
17) Cocktail Sausages
Kids and adults alike love these. They will flock to them, I have seen it many a time. You are simply going to take some little smoky sausages, if you can find them. If you don’t like pork, they make a turkey version as well.
Then you’re going to use barbecue sauce or teriyaki sauce with some brown sugar added, something thick and rich. And you want to add a little bit of spice, whether that’s hot sauce or chili flakes. That sweet and spicy flavor is going to be very addictive.
Warm them up, cook them through, and you’re done. You’re absolutely done. Serve them with toothpicks if you want to make it easier for people to get them onto their plate. You can’t go wrong with these.
18) Chicken and Dumplings
Chicken and dumplings is quintessential comfort food. There’s nobody who’s going to tell you they don’t like it. You can use pre-cooked chicken if you don’t want to cook your own. I like to add in some frozen peas and carrots for color and a little bit of extra nutrition.
Your dumplings you can add in in the last 10 minutes of cooking, just so they get nice and soft but don’t break apart and get mushy. Be prepared to have a line in front of this dish.
19) Vegetable Soup
Vegetable soup is a great thing to take to a winter potluck. It’s simple, comforting, and really gives everybody an extra boost of nutrition they probably need during those cold months. You can make a big pot of it, and you can use whatever vegetables you have in your refrigerator.
The heartier vegetables hold up especially well with the long cook time. Any delicate greens or quick cook veggies like peas, you want to add in towards the end so they don’t get soggy and muddy. But regardless, you’ll always end up with something cozy.
I like to add in some shortcut pasta like ditalini or orzo in the last 15 minutes of cooking. And I really like to serve this with freshly grated cheese on the side, like Parmesan or Romano, because it adds some saltiness and savoriness that the dish really needs.
20) Cheesy Potato Casserole
Cheese and potatoes, two words that you cannot go wrong with. This is super simple because you can use frozen hash browns, or even the small golden crown hash browns that are more of a flat shape because they layer really well.
You can add in sour cream, and cheddar cheese would do really well here. I would add in a little bit of cream because those hash browns are going to soak up a lot of the sauce, and nobody likes a dry, crusty casserole.
On top, you can do crushed cornflakes or breadcrumbs, and throw some dried parsley on top for a little bit of green. This will get consumed every time.
21) Baked Ham
If you really want to be the talk of a potluck, you can bring a ham. Protein tends to be lacking in potlucks sometimes, so I think this will do really well.
Add in a brown sugar glaze and top your ham with pineapple rings to give it a little bit of color, and it will add really great flavor. You can pre-carve it ahead of time to avoid any hazards from people cutting their own ham, or you can leave it out and make a little makeshift carving station.
22) Roast Turkey Breast
While we’re on the topic of protein at a potluck, turkey breast is both impressive and stupidly simple. I’ve even taken to roasting a turkey breast sometimes on Thanksgiving now, when I don’t want to take up all the oven space of a whole turkey.
You’re going to season it the same way that you would a whole turkey, except my recommendation is to put some broth or cooking liquid in the bottom because the turkey breast doesn’t have as much fat. Roast it down, carve it up, and I’m telling you, people will wonder why they didn’t make it themselves.
23) Stuffing
Stuffing is something that everybody has a recipe for, but not everybody thinks to bring to a potluck dinner. Use your favorite aromatics, onions, sage, rosemary, and thyme. Make sure that you use plenty of broth so it doesn’t dry out.
I like to cook some Italian sausage and add it into the dish. It gives it great flavor, and the extra fat in the sausage keeps the dish from drying out. Cover it when you bake it as well so it doesn’t lose too much moisture, only taking off the cover for the last 10 minutes or so of cooking.
24) Caesar Salad
Salads are often forgotten about at potlucks, and typically they really need them, because in a sea of casseroles and heavy dishes it can be refreshing to have something lighter.
Don’t add your dressing, serve it on the side so people can put as much as they want and your croutons and lettuce won’t get soggy. Freshly shave that parmesan to keep it a little bit more upscale. Pre-grated parmesan can have a little bit of a gummy quality, so I like to shave it myself and add some good croutons.
I think that everybody would love this, especially to break up all those rich dishes.
25) Taco Salad Bar
A taco salad bar is kind of a fun way to mix it up at a potluck. Everyone can make what they want and accommodate it to their tastes.
I would make the taco meat in the slow cooker for ease, add your favorite taco seasoning and a little bit of cooking liquid so that it can get really saucy, and then make a platter with all your favorite toppings. Whatever you want, black beans, salsa, you could do pico de gallo, and guacamole if you’re feeling brave. I think everyone loves a dish that they can customize.
26) Chicken Alfredo Bake
This is a great kid-friendly dish. I would definitely make this if I was going to a potluck where I knew there was going to be a lot of children in attendance. Between the pasta and alfredo, the kids probably won’t even realize that there’s broccoli in it.
Just make sure that you use an alfredo sauce that has good flavor. Splurge a little bit for something good, like a Rao’s alfredo sauce or a Classico. Generic alfredo can be a little bit lackluster. Freshly grated cheese will go a long way, and adding in some lemon zest can give it a little bit of an extra kick. Be sure to make plenty of this.
27) King Ranch Chicken
King ranch chicken mixes up the flavors a little bit. It brings something a little unexpected to a potluck, with your chicken, tortillas, cheese, and peppers baked into a warm and cozy Tex-Mex situation.
Chop up your tortillas a little bit to make it easier for people to scoop out their portion. Use pre-shredded chicken breast if you’re short on time, and I would use enchilada sauce with a little bit of heat if you want to take it up a notch. Top it with Monterey Jack, quesadilla cheese, whatever you like. I’d serve it with some pickled jalapenos on the side just in case people want them.
28) Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s pie is something everyone remembers from their childhood, and it is ridiculously simple. Brown your ground beef and add in frozen veggies of your choice. I’m partial to peas, carrots, and corn.
Top that with your fresh creamy mashed potato topping, and if you’re feeling ambitious, sprinkle some grated cheddar on top before you bake it. That will help the mashed potatoes develop a nice crust.
29) Baked Spaghetti
Baked spaghetti is insanely nostalgic, and I would dare you to find somebody who doesn’t have fond memories of it. It’s a nice way to have spaghetti without worrying about transporting multiple things. Fresh pasta, prepared sauce, it’s all in one dish.
Combine your spaghetti with your favorite tomato sauce and some cheese. You could do ricotta or even mascarpone cheese. Make sure you put just a little bit of water in it to compensate for the spaghetti soaking up that sauce.
Top it with your cheese and bake it off, and people can serve themselves as little or as much as they like. It’s all the classic flavor of pasta without the mess.
30) Enchilada Casserole
I kind of like to think of this as a Tex-Mex lasagna. You don’t have to stand at your counter and roll enchilada after enchilada. You can really just layer everything together and bake it until it’s one warm, comforting dish.
Get your favorite tortillas and enchilada sauce. I like to use a can of diced green chilies, shredded chicken, or you could even use shredded beef here or shredded carnitas if you have them. Layer it all how you like, there’s really no wrong way to make this dish. Top with cheese and bake just like you would a lasagna.
At the end, when you serve it to people, you could do pico de gallo and sour cream. It’s really kind of a great way to change it up but still be nostalgic and comforting in a way that everyone can recognize.
31) Jambalaya
Jambalaya is super fun. People don’t often expect it at a potluck, and especially when people have had the same dishes over and over, it can be fun to bring something new.
You just combine your andouille sausage and chicken, and you can even add in some shrimp at the end. Just make sure you do it at the very end so it doesn’t overcook. You’re going to put some rice in there, and that will stretch the portion as well and feed a lot of people.
You can make this in a crock pot, just make sure you accommodate for extra liquid and don’t add in your rice till about the last hour of cooking so that it doesn’t get too gummy and thick. You don’t want that texture, it’s not super appealing. You can even transport the whole crock pot and serve it right out of the dish, and it will be warm and piping hot.
32) Corn Casserole
Corn casserole is great because it’s kind of like a bread pudding that you’re allowed to eat with dinner instead of dessert. You can really customize this the way that you like. It’s a little bit sweet, but it hits a lot of savory notes, and you can add whatever you see fit.
I like to add in some cheese. I also like to add in some diced serrano pepper, which is really spicy so a little goes a long way, but it really breaks up the richness of the dish. You can serve this with a lot of different things. You can serve it with chili, you can serve it with those taco salads, and people will love it no matter what.
33) Dinner Rolls
I mean, who wouldn’t be impressed by homemade bread? Use a no-knead recipe so that your labor is pretty much non-existent. Leave it as a loaf and bake it that way, top it with some melted butter and fresh herbs, or roll it into buns and bake it off. Either way, it can be eaten with a myriad of things, and nothing beats a fresh batch of homemade bread.
34) Sheet Cake
What would a potluck be without a dessert? Texas sheet cake is great because it can serve a lot of people and you can make a large batch of it. You don’t have to stand there and layer cake and deal with frosting. The frosting is even put on the cake while it’s warm, so it’s even easier.
It’s warm, chocolatey, and inviting, and some people even like to mix chopped pecans or walnuts into the frosting, which gives it a really nice touch. Make it how you want, but cut the cake up into squares to make it easier for people to get it out of the pan. People will not stop talking about this dish.
Pantry & Tools I Reach For When Cooking for a Crowd
- MIAOJIE Insulated Casserole Carrier. The carrier that maintains the temperature of the baked ziti during the car ride to the church basement.
- ThermoMaven Instant-Read Meat Thermometer. Removes the ham at the correct temperature, the turkey breast without going too high, and the drumsticks before the skin is about to irreversibly bronze.
- U-Taste Stainless Steel Cooking Tongs Set. Heat-resistant silicone tips and locking handle.
