This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Planning your Easter dinner? When my family gathers around the table for Easter, I love to serve a mix of traditional favorites and a few fresh spring dishes.
These Easter dinner menu ideas include everything from deviled eggs and glazed ham to bright salads, comforting side dishes, and homemade desserts to help you plan a delicious holiday meal.
Many of these recipes are classic Southern family favorites, updated with modern conveniences like the slow cooker or Instant Pot, and they're easy to scale whether you're cooking for a crowd or a small family gathering.
If you're wondering what to serve for Easter dinner, below is an example of a classic Easter menu.
Table of Contents
Easter Appetizers
I don’t know about your house but it seems that every year the Easter dinner is always served a little later than what was originally planned. I think it was probably to get people to show up on time for dinner instead of being late. But whatever the reason, it is always good to have some delicious appetizer recipes to serve guests before the sit-down dinner starts.
I included two popular appetizer recipes, Deviled Eggs and Bacon Wrapped Smokies, that are both delicious, easy to make and easily scalable so you can adjust the amount to the number of people you are serving.
Easter Main Dishes
Easter Ham. For Thanksgiving, we have turkey, but for Easter it is tradition to serve a delicious glazed Ham as the main dish. Therefore, I’m sharing my Peached Glazed Ham and Crockpot Brown Sugar Pineapple Ham. It is sweet, salty, and savory all in one, and makes an impressive main dish for your Easter dinner.
Ham is great for leftovers. You will want to be sure to save some to make my Leftover Ham And Potato Soup, Ham and Swiss Sliders, or my Instant Pot Ham, Green Beans And Potatoes recipe. My husband’s favorite leftover recipe is when I use ham instead of chicken in this Chicken Tetrazzini recipe. Of course, you can’t have any of those recipes until you make this Crockpot Brown Sugar Pineapple Ham recipe below.
Easter Side Dishes
Asparagus, Carrots, Scalloped Potatoes and Rolls were always special side dishes that made appearances for Easter Dinner. However, many families love to include the traditional Thanksgiving side casseroles as well with the Easter Dinner, including the Hash Brown Casserole, Green Bean Casserole, and Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows or Pecans.
if you’re serving ham for Easter, check out my Best Side Dishes To Serve with Ham for even more delicious ideas.
Therefore, I’m sharing my favorite recipes that cover all of the above, plus a couple of recipes for rolls because you have to have rolls for a holiday dinner.
Vegetable Side Dish Recipes
Potato Side Dish Recipes
Dinner Roll Recipes
Easter Salads
With spring comes a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables to be celebrated and included in your easter dinner. I love the Strawberry Spinach Salad, but the family favorite is the Apple Walnut Cranberry Salad. The sentimental favorite is the Spring Pea Salad because it was my husband’s mother’s recipe.
For many families, the Broccoli Salad is the overwhelming favorite, but my brother is the rebel because he likes the Watergate salad. I can’t blame him because it is sweet and delicious.
Easter Desserts
Some of the most fun desserts are Easter Desserts, such as the German Chocolate Easter Egg Cupcakes.
Since all the kids in our family are grown we love the traditional desserts, such as Carrot Cake, Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake and Strawberry Crumb Bars.
Easter Brunch Menu
While my family usually goes big for Easter dinner, many of my friends celebrate earlier in the day for a more relaxed Easter Brunch with their family and friends.
Therefore, If you're more of a brunch person, these sweet and savory brunch recipes – from French toast casseroles and strawberry cinnamon rolls to quiche, breakfast potatoes, and fresh fruit salads – make it easy to put together a festive Easter morning table.
That wraps up our favorite recipes for a traditional Souther Easter Dinner Menu. With these classic holiday recipes, you are sure to find Easter recipes that your family will love. Leave a comment below with your family’s favorite recipe.
Hi, I’m Michele Feuerborn, a home cook with 25+ years experience, and former AllRecipes Allstar, creating bold & easy Southern, Mexican, Tex-Mex, and Instant Pot recipes. Featured in publications like Parade and BuzzFeed. Read More…
Monica Hein says
Saving this post 🙂 No idea what what will I do this Easter 🙁 with all that is going on , my in law won’t be able to come 🙁
Michele says
These recipes can be scalable up or down. I think this year many families may be doing a virtual dinner with extended families and friends using video conferencing.