There’s nothing quite like a potluck lunch or dinner to bring out your cooking (or shopping) skills. A potluck gathering has a down-home, simple feel, even though some of the dishes on offer require a good deal of work to prepare. From appetizers to desserts, everyone’s got a favorite potluck food, and here are some of the best:
Salads
1. Pasta salad
Pasta salad is a potluck staple because it’s easy to make and transport to a function: Cook and drain the pasta, meat, and veggies, toss them in a big bowl, and add dressing. Pretty much guaranteed to spot this at every potluck you will ever attend.
2. Potato salad
There’s a distinctly Southern feel to potato salad, especially since it’s so often paired with barbecue. Something about a big dollop of potato salad made with eggs and mayo, all balanced on a Chinet plate, feels like a classic.
3. Chicken salad
Chopped chicken, mayo, celery, and some almonds if you want to get a little crazy. A simple and easy dish that can be eaten as a side, appetizer, or heaped on bread for a main-course sandwich.
4. Fruit salad
A lot of potluck staples became staples because they’re easy to assemble, and that’s the case with fruit salad. Chop and toss together chunks of your favorite fruit, and add some lime juice for an extra kick that will help keep the salad fresh. Ideal for when you forgot to make a dish and need to scrape something together at the last minute.
5. Tuna salad
Like the chicken salad, but with tuna. Seriously, it’s that simple. Popular with almost everybody.
6. Wild rice salad
If you’re looking to stand out a bit from pack, go with some wild rice salad. Cook up some rice and mix it with mayo, salt, pepper, sugar, and vinegar, then toss in some cubed turkey with chopped onions and grapes. Let it refrigerate, then go to town.
7. Jell-O salad
Then again, if you’re looking to go with an old stand-by, you could do a lot worse than Jell-O salad. There are plenty of recipes available online. If you’re new to the food, you should know it won’t look like Jell-O or salad, at least not in a traditional way. But it’s a concoction that’s favored at church potlucks everywhere, and if you don’t bring it, your aunt will.
8. Seven-layer salad
Exactly what it sounds like, a seven-layer salad begins with lettuce in a flat pan and adds layers of celery, peppers, onions, eggs, and topped with a mix of mayo, sour cream, and sugar before receiving a final topping of bacon and cheese. (I think that’s technically eight layers, but just go with it.) Refrigerate it overnight and serve to appreciative diners the next day. A low-cost staple of the potluck.
9. Taco salad
Basically a giant taco, a taco salad is just a mix of traditional ingredients like cooked and seasoned beef, lettuce, and cheese topped with guacamole and sour cream inside a bowl (or, if you want to do it right, an oversized rounded taco shell).
10. Coleslaw
Served in fine restaurants and greasy spoons alike, slaw is a popular side with barbecue meals. Essentially shredded cabbage and mayo, it’s a very simple and tasty addition to potluck dinners, especially if you’re going to be digging into some of the main courses listed below.
Main Dishes
11. Sausage dressing
Made with two pounds of country sausage and enough butter to make you think twice, this dressing (aka stuffing) dish is a hearty addition to any church potluck.
12. Slow-cooked roast
A hunk of pot roast made in a slow-cooker with brown gravy: It doesn’t get more traditional than that. This potluck dish takes a bit of prep time, obviously, since the slow cooker needs a few hours to work its delicious magic, but it’s worth the wait for tender, juicy roast. I’m getting hungry just typing those words.
13. Green bean casserole
A dish that’s practically issued to new residents in certain Southern towns, green bean casserole is a potluck hallmark and one of the few times that some people actually eat cream of mushroom soup.
14. Meatloaf
Simple, tasty, and great with ketchup: Meatloaf like your mom used to make is one of the best things you can hope to find at a church potluck.
15. Fried chicken
Yes, it’d be healthier if you pulled the skin off before eating the meat, but that’s the point: Fried chicken is all about that old-school potluck taste, not being health-conscious. (You’ve got the rest of the work week to get back on your diet, anyway.) Whether it’s homemade or ordered to go, fried chicken never lasts long at a potluck dinner.
16. Chicken fried steak
Now this is what it’s all about: A classic American dish that brings to mind a time and place, namely, Sunday afternoons in the South. Chicken fried steak likely began as a reworked of version of wiener schnitzel taken from German immigrants moving through Texas, and it’s been a staple of down-home cooking for decades. For pure comfort food value, it’s tough to beat.
17. Barbecue brisket
Barbecue’s got a Southern association but is popular across the country, which is why barbecue brisket often makes its way to potluck plates.
18. Lasagna
There’s no real rhyme or reason to the type or nationality of food brought to potlucks. As long as it’s good, it’ll get served and eaten. That’s how Southern barbecue can wind up alongside a classic lasagna, whether the Italian dish is done with meat or just cheese.
19. Baked beans
Like some of the salads listed above, baked beans are hearty enough to eat on their own but also work great over bread or toast.
20. Biscuits and gravy
I know this is technically a side dish, but it’s just too good to pass up so I had to mention it. There’s nothing quite like biscuits and gravy to top off a potluck meal, especially if you’re lucky enough to know someone who can whip up the homemade kind. Always worth it.
Desserts
21. Banana pudding
It’s bound to be a law that potluck dinners include banana pudding, or at least a law in Texas. Made with custard, Nilla Wafers, bananas, and whipped cream, the dessert resembles an English trifle but has a charm that’s authentically American.
22. Cherry cobbler
Baked in a big pan and topped with a golden brown crust, cherry cobbler is one of those desserts that draws all comers and disappears quickly. A fantastic, sweet end to the meal.
23. Apple pie
It’s hard to narrow down the list of available pies that are potluck favorites, but apple is definitely at the top of the list. It’s especially popular in the summer, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
24. Banana bread
Sweeter than plain bananas, this dessert bread (known in some parts as banana cake) is a simple, tasty dish that dates back to the 1930s. It’s often at the end of the potluck line with all the other desserts, near the next item on the list.
25. Pumpkin bread
Pumpkin bread is often associated with late fall or the holiday season, since that’s when fresh pumpkins are readily available, but you don’t need to wait until then if you don’t want to. (And who wants to?) Sweet, moist, and perfect with any potluck food.
26. Angel food cake
Extremely lightweight and downright addictive, angel food cake is foam cake cooked in a tall pan that allows the cake to rise and take on its unique shape. Some people frost it, but a more popular touch is to add a sweet fruist sauce, like strawberry chunks.
27. Chocolate pie
This is another dish that’s probably better known to Southerners than other people, but that’s all the more reason to talk it up and hope it spreads. A simple chocolate custard in a pie crust topped with meringue, chocolate pie is one of the all-time favorite go-tos for potluck dinners. If you’re looking for a recipe to get you started, go here.
28. Chocolate chip cookies
You know you love them. In fact, everybody loves them. Even if your favorite cookie is some other flavor (I lean toward oatmeal raisin), good ol’ chocolate chip cookies are an easy and popular treat for potluck gatherings.
29. Cinnamon buns
Not just for breakfast. Sweet and sugary with just the right balance of cinnamon, these glazed treats always go over well with the congregation.
30. Lemon cake
Another oldie but goodie, lemon cake is a sweet but tangy cake with a light glaze that acts as a perfect balance to some of the heartier offerings at a potluck dinner. It’s impossible to just eat one piece.
