Easter Dinner Recipes

Spring is the prelude for a whole host of fresh, new, seasonal recipes. And Spring means Easter, and Easter dinner. Easter dinner recipes typically feature ham as the star of the show. But as always, side dishes, appetizers, and dessert play a very important role. Here’s my sampling of favorite Easter dinner recipes for you. Several are my own recipes and a few are tried-by-me but created by a few of my favorite food blogger friends (or bloggers that I want to be friends with). I share all of these with utmost confidence.

Starting with the main course, there are thousands of ham dinner recipes available to you. I regularly make these two that I guarantee will be successful for you. First, Slow Cooker Maple Brown Sugar Ham from one of the nicest food bloggers around, Mel at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. Mel says she’ll never make ham any other way after featuring this recipe, and I might be inclined to agree. This Easter ham is fool-proof, moist and about as easy as it gets.

The other recipe I make over and again, but this time in the oven, is from my ‘best-chef-friend’, Ina Garten. Her Orange Baked Ham Recipe is another super easy success. Just puree garlic, orange marmalade, Dijon mustard and brown sugar in a food processor and rub over the ham before baking. This is a nice sweet-savory ham that also makes a pretty presentation.

Other main dish recipes include leg of lamb, beef roast and even steaks on the grill. Some home cooks want to keep things a little more relaxed and casual. If that’s you, try my Chicken Salad Recipe for a delicious, easy cold main dish salad that uses rotisserie chicken and can easily be made a day ahead. This recipe is (repeatedly) requested and oo’s and ah’s are guaranteed.

Side dishes sometimes become main dishes when they’re a popular recipe, so let me share some top performers:

Potatoes are a must with ham dinner and this Upside Down Potato and Onion Tart combines potatoes, onions and best of all, Parmesan, mozzarella and feta cheeses.

Cauliflower also pairs deliciously with ham or any other main dish for that matter. This cheesy Cauliflower Gratin uses Parmesan and a sharp cheddar or gruyere and a dash of nutmeg. It’s an absolute winner.

Spring is all about color in nature, in our gardens and even in our homes. So why would our food be any different. These next colorful/beautiful recipes are super easy, and if a recipe isn’t a flavor success, I don’t share it. But I proudly share these, starting with Butter Lettuce and Spring Pea Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette. The mustard vinaigrette is truly incredible. Use fresh or frozen peas with equal success. This is the salad of spring.

Sichuan Green Beans is perfect to toss together in a matter of minutes right at the end of cooking. Depending on pairings, leave out the ginger unless you really want an Asian flavored side dish. This is a favorite of my husband who doesn’t care for green beans at all.

Salad Stuffed Shells is super popular at Easter and all year-long. Kids love eating salad with their hands and they almost forget they’re eating veggies. How easy is this?

Easter dinner needs bread of some sort and Pesto Black Pepper Pancetta Breadsticks from Kevin at Kevin Is Cooking is super a unique, over-the-top delicious breadstick recipe that I must share with you. Guaranteed to be like no other bread recipe you’ve served before.

These Butter Rosemary Rolls by Ree, aka Pioneer Woman are one yeast bread that even I can make. As always, Ree includes step-by-step photos to guide you from start to finish. Plus, these rolls taste just as buttery as promised.

And for those of us who want quick bread to be quick, but still ‘homemade’, this Incredible Savory Monkey Bread recipe can be made with whatever toppings you like. It IS foolproof every time, made with refrigerated biscuit dough. Not called ‘Incredible’ for nothing.

Lastly, but certainly not the least of all recipes are Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs. I swear by this recipe for perfect eggs and guarantee eggs that peel easily even with same-day-fresh eggs from my backyard chickens. And once you perfectly boil those eggs, why not try this Jalapeno Deviled Egg recipe for a must-have Easter appetizer.

I hope you’ll find some or all of these recipes helpful as you plan your Easter dinner recipe this week. And oh by the way, I didn’t forget about what to make for dessert. Here’s a collection of some of my favorite Easter dessert recipes, too.