21 Best Potluck Side Dishes For A Crowded Party

1. Vegan Quinoa Salad

What’s Special?

• Total time: 30 minutes
• Best combination with main courses of meat
• Healthy and rich in antioxidants
• Quick and easily prepared recipe

Spare the debate of whether quinoa is rice or a cereal variation. As a food and diet enthusiast, I wholly agree that it is one of the most nutritious, flavorful, and fulfilling salad ideas for potluck parties. So let’s get cooking some of this wholesome meal with a crunch of vegetables and simple kitchen gadgets.

For this recipe, thoroughly rinse and soak quinoa. Boil prepared chicken broth with a few cloves of garlic. Cook quinoa in the broth until all the moisture has evaporated. Cool and add chopped vegetables. Drizzle in a mixture of lemon and vinegar. And here you go with the best quinoa side dish for potluck dinners.

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3. Air Fryer Baked Potatoes

When in doubt, cook potatoes. Jokes apart, potatoes are a savior when you cannot think of anything else to cook. And it’s best if you are hosting the potluck dinner.

Prepare the creamy white sauce by roasting flour and adding milk to it. Season it with salt and black pepper. Slice the potatoes into ⅛-inch thick slices. Set them on the baking sheet and pour the sauce evenly. Grate parmesan generously over the top. Bake until you achieve a nice, golden top and the potatoes are soft.

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4. Roast Beetroot With Goat Cheese Salad

What’s Special?

• Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Suits vegetable lovers
• Rich in Vitamins and Iron
• Unique idea and complement various main courses

Are you hosting a vegetarian potluck dinner, but can’t find some of the famishing potluck side dishes to cook? Boast your culinary skills by pulling off this beautiful red and orange colored dish. These flavors also blend so well with chicken and tilapia. Check out these tilapia side dishes, if you love making tilapia.

Thoroughly scrape the beetroots and remove the tops. Use a double layer of aluminum foil to wrap the beets. Seal them tight. Place in a preheated oven and cook for 55 minutes so that they become tender. Mix lime juice, orange juice, herbs, and spices. Pour over the cooked beets and add pieces of goat cheese before serving.

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5. Asian Rice Pilaf

What’s Special?

• Total time: 2:30 minutes
• It has a perfect blend of herbs, spices, and flavors
• Nutritious and tasty
• Easy rice dish, served with salads and yogurt sauce.

A rice dish or two make the best appearance on a table for a potluck dinner. Hook them up when you are expecting some chicken wings or tilapia.

Heat oil or butter in a pot. Saute onion, carrots, and rice as the onion becomes translucent, and pour in the broth with salt and spices. Cover and cook on a slow flame until the rice gets tender. Mix boiled peas and chopped and roasted cashews. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and green onion.

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6. Cauliflower Gratin

What’s Special?

• Total time: 45 minutes
• Less carb, highly nutritious meal
• Suitable as a side dish for events, parties, and potluck dinners
• It goes well with chicken, fish, and seafood meals

For cauliflover lovers, this is one of the best potluck side dishes. Typical potato gratin is easy to bake but also quite dull. So for your next potluck dinner, be creative and replace potatoes with a delicious and healthy vegetable (read: cauliflower).

Separate the cauliflower florets and wash them thoroughly. Be careful not to break them. Set them on a lined baking sheet along with leek slices. Use salt and paprika powder as seasonings. Bake until roasted to a nice light golden color. Meanwhile, prepare a thick white sauce out of cashew milk, cashew butter, and a clove of garlic. Transfer the toasted cauliflower onto another pan and stir in the sauce. Bake. Parmesan is optional but gives the dish a nice creamy flavor and texture. Garnish with chopped cashew nuts.

7. Fried Onions With Apples

Apple with Onions? Sounds a bit crazy. But that is what a learning chef is, a little bit crazy. So next time you go over a potluck dinner party, show your creative side by pulling off this meal.

Slice onion and apples into thin slices. Melt any fat or butter in a Skillet, and saute onion until they are translucent. Add sliced apples, brown sugar, a pinch of nutmeg, and some paprika. Cover and cook until the apples are soft but not soggy. Serve warm.

8. Honey Glazed Asparagus

Grab some asparagus when you have nothing particular in your pantry to pull off a dish. This one vegetable can be combined with a variety of others, meats, and fish, to create so many different flavors.

Honey glazed asparagus is a sweet and saucy side dish. It makes a crisp yet soft textured side dish to chicken wings or a quinoa-based meal. Blanch asparagus, in a way, does not lose its crunch. Combine honey, lemon juice, vinegar, Worcestershire, and seasonings. Cook the glaze to the desired thickness. Set asparagus in a bowl and coat with glaze. Serve warm.

9. Potatoes with Buffalo Sauce

Think again if you plan to make mashed potatoes for the next potluck party. Replace that recipe with this new, tangy potato with buffalo sauce and Impress the people around you with your culinary skills.

Cut potatoes, yellow peppers, and onions into equally sized cubes. Set in a baking casserole and thickly coat with buffalo wing sauce. Bake for a good 45 minutes or until potatoes are soft while tossing them in between. Add grated cheese generously and bake for another 15 minutes to achieve nice, golden color. Garnish with freshly chopped green onions or chives.

10. Oat Dinner Rolls

In this amazing season, everyone is coming up with main courses, crunchy salads, exotic kinds of pasta, and appetizing sides, so who is going to come up with bread and dinner rolls? These oat dinner rolls are a perfect potluck side dish for thanksgiving, even if you have no vegetables or meat in your pantry. 

Boil water in a large pan and add oats and butter to it. Turn off the flame and cool down. Dissolve yeast in warm water and add the oat mixture and flour. Form a smooth dough and cover to allow rising. Punch dough and knead again. Make around 20 small balls and set them on a baking sheet. Allow to double up—Bake in a preheated oven for up to 20 minutes.

11. Chickpea And Vegetable Tagine

As a chef, I like that slow-cooking meals require only a little effort during preparation. Prepare the ingredients and put them on a stove on a low flame, and prepare for the festivities.

Place chickpeas, zucchini, butternut squash, and other vegetables in a deep cooker. Saute cumin, tomatoes, harissa, and spices in oil till the mixture achieves a sauce-like consistency. Pour this sauce over set vegetables. Cover and slow cook for 4 hours. Finally, top with thick yogurt and garnish freshly chopped parsley and coriander.

12. Winter Special Tortellini

What I love without winters is that this season furnishes us with so many colorful ingredients and nutty flavors to play with. This tortellini dish is elevated to a whole new level, just with the fruit and nutty goodness.

Boil tortellini according to the package instructions. Heat oil in a skillet, stir fry mushrooms, and squash on medium flame while adding the seasonings. As mushrooms soften, pour in apple juice concentrate and vinegar and add apples and onions. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Toss in tortellini and add chopped walnuts and cheese. Garnish with freshly grated parmesan and oregano.

13. Stuffed Apple Balls

What’s Special?

• Total time: 45 minutes
• Loved equally by children and adults
• Best recipe for celebrations, Christmas dinners, or potluck parties with no refrigeration.
• Ideal with meat and vegetable main courses

Stuffed Apple Balls are one of those sweet and spicy recipes that complement almost any main course. These crusty balls slowly build in the flavors in your mouth as the soft apples melt and allow you to devour every bite.

Heat butter in a deep pan and saute chopped onion and celery, just enough to make them translucent. Mix well the eggs, seasonings, bread crumbs, and onion mixture till it comes to a desired, soft and firm consistency. Shape them into balls and place them on a lined baking dish—Bake for 35 minutes or until nicely golden on the top.

14. Quinoa With Peas And Lemon

No rice, no party! While many enjoy stuffing dishes with dinner rolls, some of your guests may be rice lovers. To prepare a quick yet refreshing quinoa side dish for the upcoming independence day celebrations, get a hold of this recipe.

Melt butter in a pan and stir fry shallots until translucent. Stir fry chicken cubes till they achieve nice golden color. Add quinoa, spices, and lemon juice—Cook for 2 to 3 minutes before pouring in broth. Reduce heat, cover, and cook until all the moisture has evaporated. Stir in peas. Add cheese and lemon zest. Serve piping hot.

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15. Classic Potato Salad

Be it the festive dinner of the 4th of July or a summer potluck party of your extended family, a classic potato salad lands you in a win-win situation. It is hearty, healthy, and has a creamy flavor.

Cut boiled potatoes and boiled eggs into medium-sized cubes. Mix mayonnaise, dijon mustard, pickle vinaigrette, sour cream, and seasonings in a large salad bowl. Add chopped red onion, celery sticks, parsley, and some chopped cabbage. Finally, add tomatoes and boiled eggs, and coat in the dressing so as not to break the eggs. Garnish with freshly chopped basil.

16. One Pot Pesto Pasa

What’s Special?

• Total time: 30 minutes
• Very popular pasta recipe
• It goes well as a side of meat or vegetable main dish
• Easy preparation, requires no expensive ingredients

The best thing about this pesto pasta is that it can be prepared with store-bought sauce. It is an easy to make potlock side dish that even a beginner can pull it off as the star recipe.

Boil pasta of your choice according to instructions. Add green beans just 5 minutes before you drain the water. Add pasta and beans to a large bowl. Cut boiled potatoes into chunks and add. Mix in the pesto sauce and toss cubes of cottage cheese in it. Garnish with chopped fresh green basil or cilantro.

17. Gravy Kidney Beans

What’s Special?

• Total time: 4 to 5 hours
• It can be made with canned kidney beans.
• Slow cooking side dish, goes well with rice or cereal dishes
• Slow cooking blends all the flavors and creates a delightful flavor

Red kidney beans are not just for salads. They are the most versatile ingredient and blend with almost all vegetable and citrus flavors.

Stir fry thin chicken strips in a large skillet. Remove on a plate and add sausages. Excellent for a while and then set aside. Add all the ingredients with canned red kidney beans, tomatoes, and onions in a slow cooker. Add the stir-fried chicken and sausages—cover and cook on slow flame for 3 hours. Add apples and cook for a while until it is gravied and thick.

18. Crisp Fried Taro Root With Dip

We all are familiar with and fans of crispy fried potato chips, but have you ever tried similar chips with taro root? Not only do they end up so well, but they also furnish your child with healthy fat and nutrients.

Peel and slice taro roots into thin slices. Generously add salt and turmeric powder. Wash after a while—heat oil in a frying pan and fry taro slices until crisp and golden. Serve hot with dip. For preparing the dip, Beat the yogurt well. Crush a few green chilies, coriander, and a clove of garlic. Add this mixture to the yogurt along with salt.

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19. Cheesy Grilled Corn

What’s Special?

• Total time: 1 hour
• The quickest 2 ingredient side dish recipe
• It goes with any main course and salad
• An all-time favorite of all age groups

Corn comes to the rescue if you are looking for a potluck side dish for a large crowd, and you can’t think of anything else. And, of course, it is an all-time favorite of almost everyone. The best part! You can get creative with this recipe and offer as many variations as possible.

For this recipe, we advise you to use fresh corn. However, frozen can also be used. Mix the corn with herbs and spices. Add chopped red, green, and yellow bell peppers to make a colorful appearance to the dish. You can also add boiled chicken or meat, but that’s optional. Arrange in a deep pan and generously add mozzarella cheese—Bake for 20 minutes or until you achieve a nice golden appearance.

20. Honey Glazed Vegetables

Last but not least, this colorful Honey glazed vegetable side will elevate any potluck party table. And not just the specified ones. You can use any seasonal vegetables available for you.

In a heavy skillet pan, melt butter. Stir fry frozen peas, sliced carrots, and sliced onions. Season with kosher salt, white pepper, paprika powder, and garlic powder. Pour in ¼ cup of water, cover, and allow vegetables to become tender. Meanwhile, prepare honey glazing with mild seasonings. When the vegetables are done, set in a deep serving bowl and pour the honey mixture. Mix until fully coated. Garnish with chopped fresh cilantro.

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21. Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

This easy-to-cook Corn Pasta Salad is one of the easy mexican potluck recipes, loaded with cotija and roasted corn and is deliciously tangy. Its creamy dressing makes it a super yummy corn recipe. It is not a much-complicated recipe that you cannot cook. It is made of simple pantry ingredients that you can get quickly at home. It has enormous creaminess but does not make it heavy. You will taste the high-quality ingredients you expect from any home-cooked Mexican meal.

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22. Barbecue Flavor Beans

When paired with beef, red beans provide the body with all the essential amino acids. But a more interesting fact about this dish is that you can prepare it with the leftovers making it one of the best potluck side dish for bbq.

Use a can of boiled or baked beans. Heat oil in a skillet and cook it with onion and seasoning until it is okay and turns to a nice brown color. Set on a baking dish with beans, sugar, barbecue sauce, and spices. Bake for 20 minutes.