What Should You Bring To The Potluck?

Apps, sides, desserts… We’ve got the potluck recipes that will cover ALL your bases this holiday season.

Potlucks are SO fun! You get to mingle with friends and eat all kinds of different foods. But you know what’s not fun? Figuring out potluck recipes that are easy to make, travel well, and will please a crowd.  Lucky for you, we’re answering the age-old question, “What Should You Bring To The Potluck?” so you don’t have to.

Appetizers:

Guacamole

You can’t go wrong with anything that includes avocado. Try one of these 4 Guac Recipes that will have guests saying holy guacamole!

Avocado Salsa

All the creamy, omega-3 goodness of guacamole combined with refreshingly juicy flavours of salsa make for a dip that’s pretty hard to beat. Double dipping is strongly encouraged.

Ingredients

• 7 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 3 medium avocados, cored and diced
• 3/4 cup chopped red onion
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 3/4 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• Salt (to taste)

Instructions

1. Combine tomatoes, avocado, and red onion in a medium bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, and salt.
3. Pour dressing over mixture and toss gently to coat.

Cauliflower Buffalo ‘Wings’

Yes, we know that cauliflower and buffalo sauce may seem like an unusual pairing at first, but take one bite and everyone will be transported to your favourite wings joint.

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower, chopped into buffalo wing-sized pieces
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon melted butter
• 2/3 cup hot sauce

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450ºF. In a medium bowl, combine flour, water, garlic powder, and salt. Whisk together until combined.
2. Add cauliflower into the mixture, tossing to coat all pieces. Then spread cauliflower on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes, tossing halfway through.
3. While the cauliflower cooks, combine melted butter and hot sauce in a bowl, stirring constantly. When cauliflower is ready, take out of oven and toss into hot sauce mixture. Add cauliflower back to the baking sheet and cook another 25 minutes, until crispy. Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Cranberry Brie Bites

Five ingredients. 30 minutes. One unbeatable appetizer.

Warning: This recipe yields 20 bites, but we have a feeling one or two will mysteriously disappear while cooking, so we strongly advise making extra. You’ll thank us later.

Ingredients

• 400g puff pastry
• 1 egg
• 145g brie
• 5 tablespoons cranberry jam
• Rosemary (for garnish)

 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Unroll puff pastry onto a baking sheet.
3. In a small bowl, whisk egg and brush over pastry dough.
4. Cut pastry into 40 rectangles, then place one on top of another to create 20 doubled rectangles.
5. Place sheet in oven and bake until dough is lightly golden brown, about 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, slice Brie into small pieces and top each pastry rectangle.
7. Place back in oven until cheese is slightly melted, 1-2 minutes.
8. Add a small dollop of cranberry sauce to each pastry bite. Garnish with rosemary before serving.

Pulled Chicken Sliders

Balanced by a touch of brown sugar and tossed with juicy pulled chicken, this barbecue sauce will have you ditching the bottled kind. A little bit of slaw on the sliders is an essential addition and will have the crowd fighting for seconds.

Sides:

Turkey Meatballs 

These mini meatballs with a cranberry chutney are bite-sized Thanksgiving bliss! Perfect for sharing and none of the holiday mess and stress.

Sausage-Apple Stuffing

You just can’t go wrong with a delicious stuffing. ‘Nuff said.

The Ultimate Cheese Platter

If potlucks were looking to elect a spokesperson, we’d nominate cheese. Just look at this spread. You can’t go wrong with marinated olives, olive tapenade or fig spread, blanched almonds, crackers, bread sticks, grapes, dried apricots, dried meats, and a mix of hard and soft cheeses.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin and Baby Portabella Tart

Gluten-free or not, everyone will love this easy and seasonal dish. It’s perfect to slice up and pair with all the other potluck noms.

Mashed Veggies

Super easy to make and super easy for everyone to help themselves. They’ll be the perfect pair to basically any dish that makes an appearance at the get-together AND we’re pretty sure no one else will think of this unique alternative to mashed potatoes.

Roasted Root Veggie Medley Salad

PACKED with festive and wholesome ingredients, this salad is the perfect balance for the rest of the gluttony guaranteed to be on the table. It’s also just SO delicious.

Coleslaw

Serve this slaw with sliders or on its own. It’s super easy and will basically complement any of the potluck recipes that will be appearing on the table.

Desserts:

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

These delicious brownies are SO moist that no one will know they’re getting their daily fill of veggies from it too,.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium zucchini
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 150g dark chocolate

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 355ºF and grease a 9″ square baking dish
2. Grate Zucchini and squeeze out any excess liquid. Then break chocolate into small pieces.
3. Mix chocolate, flour, and salt in a bowl. In a larger bowl, mix the oil, eggs, and sugar. Gradually add the dry mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix until combined then add the grated zucchini and the chocolate to this paste.
4. Pour the brownie mix into your dish and bake for 40-50 minutes.

You can also add icing or berries on top to give your brownies some extra pizzazz!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

You can’t go wrong with classic chocolate chip cookies. You can serve these heated up with a scoop of ice-cream or just on their own.

Ingredients

• 1 cup salted butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar + extra for rolling
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 large egg
• Salt flakes

Instructions

1. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, mix the butter, brown sugar, powdered sugar and vanilla extract with an electric mixer for 3 to 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Using a spatula, scrape the edges of the bowl and slowly add the flour while mixing the dough, Add the chocolate chips and mix.
3. Divide the dough in half and place each half on a piece of cling film. Roll the halves of dough in a 5 cm wide log shape. Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or until the dough has chilled.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 ° C and beat the egg.
5. Unwrap the dough and brush with egg, then roll the dough in brown sugar.
6. Cut the log into 2.5 cm thick slices and place the slices on the baking sheet 2 cm apart.
7. Optional: Sprinkle with salt flakes before baking for a fun twist
8. Cook the cookies 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges start to brown. Let cool. Enjoy!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

We LOVE a good cookie with a festive twist. These chocolate peppermint cookies are the obvious choice at this time of year.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

So easy yet SO good. Melt chocolate. Dip strawberries. Done! Or do something different and stuff your strawberries with chocolate. Either way, you can’t go wrong with this combo.

Banana Bread

You’ll want to bake two loaves of this one. One for the potluck and one to keep at home for the next day. Yeah… it’s thaaat good. Enjoy this gluten-free banana bread courtesy of UK#FreshFam member Nadine.

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 vanilla pod
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1-2 handful of blueberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° two-sided heat
2. Mash bananas with a fork, add the eggs and combine well
3. Heat up the coconut oil a little bit so you can blend it better with the banana-egg-mash
4. Add all the dry ingredients (except the blueberries) and mix it all until you get a good texture
5. Use some extra coconut oil for the baking form and pour the mash into it.
6. Add the blueberries in the middle of your banana bread and slightly push it into the dough so they won’t burn in the oven
7.  Bake for about 45 minutes until it’s golden brown. If the bread is still too wet inside, cover with aluminum foil to keep it from burning

Strawberry and Yogurt Panna Cotta

Fruit is the star of the show here. Yes, holiday potluck recipes can be fresh and fruity and still yummy! We guarantee guests will appreciate the break from chocolate everything. This no-bake panna cotta is also just perfect to split into smaller sharing portions.

Baked Apples and Cinnamon Oat Crumble

This riff on apple pie comes together with tender baked Bramley apples, a crunchy and sweet oat crumble, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Told you we’d tell you what potluck recipes to bring to your next gather. Show us what delicious creations you’re bringing to your next gathering by using #HelloFreshLife.