If you’re hosting a party or need a way to feed a crowd, a list of the best recipes for a group of people will be handy. If you’re in a pinch, a crowd-pleasing recipe is something you’ll be able to whip up in no time at all. It should also be high in antioxidants and healthy fats and delicious. While cooking for a crowd can be overwhelming at first, once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to handle the job with ease and not end up with an endless supply of leftovers. Choosing quality ingredients for your crowd-pleasing recipes, like Premio sausage, can be a good idea.
Make as much of the meal ahead of time as possible to avoid being stuck in the kitchen during the celebration. The greatest thing you can do is prepare a freezer-friendly main dish ahead of time for your celebration. Most casseroles, baked pasta meals, and slow cooker soups and stews store well and serve many people. Appetizers, such as dips, can be prepared ahead of time, as can items for side dishes and salads, which can be washed and chopped ahead of time.
What is Crowd Feeding?
Crowd feeding is a rare occurrence. It is simple, and you only need to keep a few items in mind to feed a multitude. Sort through your pantry and take inventory. Non-perishable products, including almonds, dried fruit, glazes, fruit mince, cranberry/mint sauce, and other sauces, should be on hand. Arrive early to avoid the shopping rush. Test new recipes ahead of time so there are no surprises on the big day!
Copy all of the recipes and keep them in a folder with your shopping lists. Divide your shopping list into three sections: non-perishables, a few days ahead of time, and last-minute. Non-perishables should be purchased in advance.
The Best Recipes for a Crowd
Here are some best recipes for a crowd:
New Orleans–Style Red Beans and Rice
For such a complex-tasting dish, this smokey, spicy New Orleans favourite is surprisingly simple to make: After sautéing all of the meat and veggies for around half an hour, add the rest of the ingredients and…let it cook. You’ll have a creamy, delicious stew ready to serve over heaps of steaming white rice once the beans have become tender and the liquid has reduced.
Grilled Marinated Flank Steak Fajita
A single two-and-a-half-pound flank steak feeds a crowd, and the steak’s standard form cooks and serves. A delicious marinade and proper meat grilling are essential for good fajitas. We season the steak with soy sauce, oregano, ground ancho chile, cumin, garlic, sugar, oil, and lime juice, then grill it over a two-zone fire until the outside is browned inside is soft. Serve with your favourite fajita fixings—we don’t believe you’ll need much more than lime juice, onion, cilantro, and maybe a little salsa with this marinade’s taste.
Chicken Massaman Curry With Wheat Beer and Potatoes
Massaman curry is Thai cuisine with Middle Eastern roots, which means it has a gentler, more decadent spice than red or green curry. We use store-bought massaman curry paste and add star anise, cinnamon, and palm sugar to our rendition of the dish. Although a Belgian wheat beer may seem inappropriate in Thai/Middle Eastern cuisine, its sharp, lemony overtones complement the other flavours nicely.
The Best Chili Ever
Before everyone starts shrieking, let me state unequivocally that your chilli is the best. However, we recommend this one for those of you seeking a new recipe. We flavour ours with an intense combination of dried and fresh chillies, cumin, cloves, coffee beans, unsweetened chocolate, and more since the best chilli is complex, incorporating plenty of sweet, fiery, bitter, fresh, and fruity flavours. What are the hidden weapons here? Anchovies, Marmite, and soy sauce aren’t discernible in the completed dish, but they provide a lot of flavour to the chilli. If the idea of chilli with beans makes you uncomfortable, skip ahead to the chilli con Carne recipe below—and if you’re not a meat-eater, don’t miss our deliciously rib-sticking vegan chilli.
Real Texas Chili Con Carne
This chilli con carne stays true to form for the Texas chilli enthusiasts out there. There are no beans in this dish; only enormous pieces of beef chuck, dried chiles (some sweeter, some spicier, some fruity), and spices. We add a couple of teaspoons of fish sauce for added umami, at the risk of alienating particular Texas residents, but your visitors will never know it’s there!
Easy Pressure Cooker Pork Chile Verde
There aren’t many easier ways to feed a half-dozen mouths than this chile Verde. Roughly chop some veggies and pork, toss everything in the pressure cooker, then purée everything but the pig once it’s done cooking (an immersion blender makes this step a breeze). That’s it. The result is a stew of delicate pork slices coated in a richly flavoured sauce that tastes like it took all day but takes less than an hour to prepare.
Pressure Cooker Beef Stew
Yes, thanks to the magic of pressure cooking, you can make a tasty beef stew weekly. Large pieces of seared beef chuck help the meat maintain moisture, while two different batches of vegetables—one long-cooked with the rest of the stew, the other added near the end—give the stew its best flavour and texture. We include a few umami bombs—Worcestershire, soy sauce, and anchovies—to further enhance the stew’s meatiness, like our chilli recipes. The entire process takes an hour and a half when using a pressure cooker to speed things up.
Osso Buco
This Milanese classic is produced by braising veal shanks until their rich marrow dissolves in a substantial wine-and-vegetable-based sauce. We serve the meal with gremolata, a lively blend of parsley, lemon zest, and garlic that adds a little balance to the dish. Serve the osso buco with risotto alla Milanese with saffron to keep things traditional.
Traditional French Cassoulet
There are a few exciting features to our cassoulet, but the choice of poultry is perhaps the most striking. Though the French stew is traditionally made with duck confit (because the duck was a cheap protein in medieval southern France, where cassoulet originated), we think using chicken with some duck fat brings the meal closer to its peasant roots. Whether duck or chicken, fresh poultry is preferred because confit is drier and stringier than fresh meat when stewed.
Creamy Garlic Chicken Spanakopita Skillet
This recipe transforms Greek spanakopita, delicious spinach, and feta pie wrapped in phyllo dough into a one-pot dinner by adding chicken. A creamy, garlicky gravy transforms this into a delicious spanakopita–chicken pot pie hybrid. After the spinach has wilted, drain it thoroughly in a sieve to avoid making spinach soup.
How Do I Create A Menu For Crowd?
Here are some tips while creating a party menu:
- First and foremost, do not overextend yourself. Every time, deliciousness takes precedence over impressive work.
- Determine the party’s theme (if applicable) and tone – informal, classy, French, Mexican, etc. Use that as a starting point for creating your menu.
- Consider the presentation — buffet or plated? Will visitors be seated at a table, on chairs and couches, or their feet? Will platters/bowls of food be passed around the table if at a table? Based on the circumstances, avoid serving a problematic dish to consume.
- If guests have any dietary limitations, politely inquire ahead of time. Every requirement and wish can be accommodated.
- Vary your food colours. We eat with our eyes first.
- Take texture into account – Make sure to have something crunchy, even a chopped nut garnish on one dish.
- Variety in flavours is good, but don’t overdo it! And, pair flavours that work well together – if one dish has very bold flavours, make sure the other dishes don’t fight with it. Conversely, Don’t overdo an ingredient, and three dishes featuring goat cheese are two too many.
How do you Serve Dinner to Guests?
There’s more to consider than an appropriate gift for your host as you prepare to attend a dinner party. Of course, arriving with a beautiful hostess gift will make you feel better, but a brief etiquette lesson can put you at ease. You can engage in conversation and enjoy your time in the company of other people if you feel secure and in charge.
Take a Seat
When arriving at the dining table, take your seat and wait for your host to begin the meal service. They may propose a welcome toast at the start of the meal. In a corporate setting, men and women will seat themselves. At a social event, the man seats the woman to his right.
What to Expect
When you arrive at the table, glassware will be on the right and a bread dish on the left of your place setting. A soup course served in a bowl with a plate underneath might be the first course. Start once the host has had a chance to greet their visitors. When all guests have eaten the first course, the bowl and plate will be removed together (along with the soup spoon, if applicable).
The Main Course
At that exact moment, all guests should start eating. If the dinner party is large, the host may need help serving the food. Serving begins to the host’s right and continues to the right around the table. Food is served to the guest’s left with left hand and retrieved one plate at a time with the left hand. Two large serving forks will almost certainly be included when passing platters of food (or a large serving spoon and fork). For easy access to the utensils, pass them to the right, facing down on the plate with the handles oriented towards the next visitor.
Beverages
Your server fills and refills stemware from the right, taking extra care not to touch the glass’s rim. The right hand is used to remove beverages from the right. The host or server will not serve another visitor by reaching across a guest. As your host or server moves in to pour, a refilled water glass or wine glass will be placed on the table (holding the water vessel or wine bottle in their right hand, using their left hand to catch any spill with a linen napkin). Multiple crystal pitchers of water can be placed along with the table for guests to serve themselves throughout the meal. At an informal supper, the same could be said with wine bottles.
Conclusion
The best crowd-pleasing recipes do more than make you feel overwhelmed. Freebie Finding Mom maintains a Pinterest page dedicated to low-cost family meals for large parties, and her Pinterest board also has 39 low-cost family meals. Several of these dishes include a variety of tasty veggies, such as roasted sweet peppers and onions or meaty green olives. Roasted veggies provide flavour and nutrition to all of these meals.
Recipes from the pioneer lady and collection/pioneer woman are perfect for feeding a large group. A pioneer woman dish can feed your guests whether you’re holding a birthday party or a Super Bowl party. These meals are sure to impress, from her famed buffalo chicken sliders to her cheesy chicken wings. So, if you’re seeking the most crowd-pleasing meals, consider one of these.
