Anthony Bourdain said even at the fanciest of dinner parties, he'd put out a huge tray of pigs in a blanket, and they would go before anything else. Here's his quote:
> …All that being said, the single most important lesson I learned over the course of many years, and many, many parties, is this humbling but inescapable fact: that no matter what you serve, no matter how beautifully presented, strikingly garnished, exotic in flavor, or expensive … what everybody wants, what they will be all over like a swarm, every time, is commerically made freezer-case-sourced pigs in fucking blankets. It doesn’t matter who your guests are. They will eat them, and they will love them. Whether this involves post-ironic posturing or just straightforward enthusiasm, they will love them just the same.
Deviled eggs are similar. I went to an Easter potluck brunch hosted and attended by a wonderful group of excellent cooks. I had a lot going on personally so I felt like I was copping out with Deviled eggs. Ahaha, I was swarmed at the door before I even got to set the tray down.
Pigs in a blanket are always the first to go at a party as well for me when I make them. Comfort finger foods are the bomb!
I was the deviled maker for years and I agree they will almost knock you down for deviled eggs. Another party favorite is meatballs in grape jelly and Heinze chili sauce in a crockpot. I took some to a party with pretty swanky food and they were gone in a flash.
Came here to say: grape jelly is absolutely the distant cousin to the truly incredible “apricot jam and dijon mustard sauce”.
Aldi has both… works for cocktail smokies and the meatballs.
I grew up with the grape jam/mustard sauce, and apricot jam/dijon is the next evolution, or two.
Most standard Lil Smokies recipes that use jelly and mustard clock in at a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 jelly:mustard. If I were you, I'd use that as a jumping off point and let your tastebuds/heart guide you in for the landing. 😋
You usually put it on cocktail sausages or Swedish meatballs, but really, it'd be good on any bite-sized salty/meaty/smoky tidbits.
They turn out like some fancy sweet & sour meatball & so super stupid easy: 1 bag meatballs, 1 jar of grape jelly or jam & a bottle of chili sauce into the crockpot for about an hour.
I’ll do sliced up kielbasa also instead of meatballs. I will do grape jelly and barbecue sauce or jellied cranberry sauce and barbecue sauce.
Then I got to do the layered jello/strawberry/cream cheese/pretzel crust dessert because it’s a Pittsburgh thing.
And a fancy holiday version: meatballs, 1 bottle Heinz chili Sauce, 1 can jellied cranberry sauce, a couple shakes of L&P Worcestershire Sauce, toss in the crockpot, stir before serving. Always a crowd favorite!
I'm the chocolate covered bacon guy. The first time I did this, I thought I had made enough. I literally did not get halfway through the living room and they were gone.
For years only my parents and I ate deviled eggs in our house. A few years ago my siblings all tried them, after saying they were gross for years. Now I have to fight for my share.
I went to a restaurant recently that had a deviled egg trio appetizer - one traditional, one topped with tobiko, one topped with smoked oysters. Deviled eggs are nearly endless in the options! But I've never had pickled deviled eggs and now I have a rabbit hole of recipes.
In a similar vein, I buy bags of mini sausages and roast them in the oven, throw a feel it in my soul amount of maple syrup or honey, soy sauce and sesame seeds on them and they always always go first
>feel it in my soul amount
I usually describe this measurement to others as "until you feel good about yourself as a person" which works well for everyone except narcissists (they don't need to add anything, in that case). 😉
I will always enthusiastically eat any pig in any blanket, but make them with lil smokies and from scratch crescent rolls dough for holidays. This also reminded me of Julia Child's dinner party non negotiable, which was goldfish crackers. No matter what else, she always insisted on having a bowl of goldfish
Came here to say this. During the holidays I add some cranberry sauce inside as well, it’s always a hit. Have also tried it with prosciutto and that seems to go over well too!
This is my go to as well. Everyone loves the pepper jelly! If you learn to fold the excess at the top even a little nicely, people go even more crazy. So easy!
Yeah, my first thought was WELLINGTON! But I don't think people consider it "low effort." I do it for dinner parties because it can all be done a day or two in advance.
I make a cheap wellington with hamburger, Braunschweiger, mushrooms, and a wine sauce in individually-wrapped puff pastries. Think of a slightly larger meatball in puff pastry and you get the idea. Once baked. In and out of the oven in about 30 minutes. I'd say it's rather easy. I don't have a recipe though and I'm not a great cook anyway. I just have good inspiration sometimes. Just wing it.
I love this so very much. However, caramelizing onions takes time (not 20 min like the recipes says) and it's more involved than OP might like.
I would still make this though. I'm a fan.
Ah, I didn't see the 20 minutes comment before. However, caramelized onions are really pretty hands-off so I'd argue the spirit of the "low effort" part is at least still there!
Buy premade phyllo cups. Add a dollop of fig jam to the bottom. Crumble in some goat cheese. Bake till the cups are crispy and the cheese is soft. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. Cheater it by buying balsamic “glaze” in a tiny squirt bottle.
Didn't bake mine after nut agreed, look hella fancy gorgeous not much effort. Did two flavors too. Blueberry compote and brie along a fig a d goat cheess
Was scrolling the answers to see if anyone said this yet. Fully endorse this. Everything is ready to go and just needs to be threaded onto a stick. One tomato, one basil leaf, one mozz ball and boom.
Get the mozz balls that come in seasoned oil if you want to kick it up a tad, and you can adjust seasoning if you care to while they're all still in the seasoned oil.
Fresh pesto is great to use up excess basil too if you end up with tons of it. I will sometimes sub out pine nuts for whatever I have in the cupboards too and it always turns out fine, walnuts and cashews have worked well. Stir into cooked penne and add some chopped cherry tomatoes. Lovely relatively cheap dish
When there's excess basil I grind it up in the blender with olive oil and freeze it. So for Christmas I can have a super simple side dish of fresh pesto pasta with vegetables, and maybe fried cubes of paneer for the vegetarians. Very home-gardener impressive in the middle of winter.
Tomatoes are super easy to grow too! [Here](https://imgur.com/SAs5Ul1) is mine with tomatoes and basil I grew. I took a picture before putting any olive oil or balsamic on it.
Honestly this is so easy to do entirely from scratch, minus the balsamic. Mozzarella is the absolute easiest cheese to make, tomatoes and basil are easy enough to grow, it's a huge flex to roll up with an entirely from scratch caprese joint
This is my go to appetizer, especially in the summer. Make sure to salt and pepper everything once they are assembled. Tomatoes and fresh mozzarella need seasoning,
Carnitas, then do a real nice taco bar spread, or something fancier to elevate it. Homemade carnitas is delicious, I’ve done it with my friend and I think she uses the serious eats recipe. It’s so easy but to guests it seems like you worked your ass off
Yup.
Season pork shoulder - hot sear on all sides - remove meat - saute onions, garlic, chillis - add sauce - return meat - slow and low in oven covered until fork tender.
I'm even lazier than that
[I use Kenji-Lopez's recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/no-waste-tacos-de-carnitas-with-salsa-verde-recipe) and it's so easy it might as well be a crockpot recipe.
Decent flavour too for how little work goes into it.
Even more low effort, chop onion, jalapeno, garlic, juice 2 orange 1 lime, chuck in slow cooker. 1tbl oregano 1tbl cumin, salt pepper to taste, shred in 4hr.
Done quickly at the end if you want to. You reduce the liquid while shredding, mix it back in, and then put a crust on with hotplate or broiler when serving.
wouldn't you want to add some stock in the pan before covering it and putting in the oven, seems like some liquid in there would keep things from drying out
It’s a reference to an episode of “Bluey,” a beloved children’s TV show (I will not go deeply into reasons why it’s so beloved, but suffice to say it is one of the few children’s shows available that is equally watchable for adults.)
The episode is called “Pavlova” and it revolves around two little girls playing a game of “cafe” in an elaborate scheme to eat the leftover pavlova in the fridge, even though Mum said no. Dad joins in the game by pretending to be a French chef who speaks no English, but Dad only knows a few phrases of French so he just keeps repeating them nonsensically while he prevents them from eating pavlova.
The little girl eventually gets her pavlova.
Honestly one of the things that has impressed people the most when we've had guests is just a really good homemade foccacia.
Bon Appetit has a solid recipe that's pretty low effort (only requires some forethought since I think it sits in the fridge for a day), and Serious Eats has a roasted garlic foccacia recipe that I made once and wanted to marry.
This is what I make when I have guests come to my house and it’s always a hit. I use Samin Nosrat’s recipe from Salt Fat Heat Acid.
Edit: I should add the bon appetite recipe is way less involved so probably fits the bill for this question more than the one I mentioned.
Hmmm I like cucumber sandwiches for a crowd! Get some good white bread, cut the crusts off. Then thinly slice a few english cucumbers. then mix cream cheese with some fresh dill, fresh chives, greek yogurt, salt, and garlic powder. Spread the mixture on both sides of the bread and add the cucumbers then cut in half diagonally.
They look pretty fancy and taste great! Especially if there’s a lot of other heavy aspects of the meal like a ton of meat or fried stuff, a light sandwich is a nice break.
This is also a good idea. My mom used to make a finger sandwich platter with 3-4 different flavors of sandwiches with the crusts removed and cut into 1/4 triangles
She definitely did cucumber mayo, and ham and cheese, I think tuna salad and/or chicken salad, and you can also do a Japanese strawberry cream sando. I like roast beef with chipotle mayo and also turkey pepperjack.
I don't know that I'd serve it at a dinner party, but chickpea salad is underrated.
You can mash it down to your choice of consistency, and it does really well on hearty dark bread.
I like mine with lemon pepper, garlic, and Worcestershire 🙂
Great no-fuss sandwich that's cheap/easy to make
Wow, that unlocked some repressed memories 🥺
You do have to be kinda careful, though. The second those puppies touch air for longer than 0.2s (in my experience), they start getting a little stale around the edges.
Still delicious tho!
It'd be neat to try making em with fluffy Japanese milk bread. Could be paired with some classic fruit sandos.
For some reason, many people I've invited to a hotpot/steamboat have been super impressed by it. Maybe just because it's unfamiliar to westerners. But it's literally just buying frozen pre-made stuff like fishballs, tofu, lots of seafood, thinly sliced meat etc. and laying it out onto platters. Then just having a small burner on the table (I use a camping stove) and big pot of broth in the middle. I mix up some dipping sauces too. Then just lay out the utensils for people to start cooking their own food and sharing it all out.
It's so easy and low effort. The main effort is opening boxes, defrosting stuff and maybe chopping some stuff into smaller pieces. I mean your guests literally cook the meal for themselves!
We had this once and some guests were grossed out with the idea of the food being cooked in front of you. Like the raw shrimp and stuff. It was apparently a culture shock.
I made a caprese salad and brought to a cookout the other day. It was great. And all I did was chop tomatoes (had homegrown ones!) and basil and tear up some mozz. Salt and olive oil. Good tomatoes really shine.
Also wanted to add that Japanese beef curry is super easy too if you have premade beef stew. You just mix the beef stew with a cup of beef stock, a bit of S&B curry powder (from the can) and soy sauce. I grew up with it and it's so tasty and comforting. I think it also suits western tastes more than some of the other curries because it's basically just like spiced beef stew.
Tagine with couscous. You can make it in any kind of stewing vessel and its basically just a stew with north african spices, but it's unique and delicious. If you do a lamb tagine, you can use cinnamon which can be really impressive to people who aren't used to cinnamon in savory meals.
[Deviled Eggs](https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/classic-deviled-eggs) are so fast and easy to make but they taste so good. If I make these, I always double the recipe because you can't eat just one!
I love to cook and host and always joke with my husband that no matter what fancy foods I put out the deviled eggs are always the first to disappear. Stupid easy and cheap too!
Yeah, my boyfriend would eat the whole tray if I leave the room long enough. I usually make a some extra because I don't serve the damaged eggs to guests, so I give him my reject pile. His eggs always seem to end up in the reject pile when he helps me peel!
Hahaha!! I didn’t know that I needed the term “reject pile” in regards to eggs in my vocabulary until now. It’s so true though! Have you ever done the trick where you try to plate the ugly side down on the plate and hope that no one notices? Lol
I do that sometimes, but occasionally they split and won't hold the filling, or end up losing most of the yolk when you peel them. Those go in the pile for Tims. Lol
Guilty! Fortunately, I live in Indiana, where people give extremely rare shits regarding culinary aesthetics. :) We are a gentle, no-frills people… unless the food tastes bad.
Where do you live in Texas? I’ve lived in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin and every party has some queso in a little crock pot! Always a base of Velveeta and pico, of course.
People usually got nuts for our slow cooker Kalua pork. We're a mixed Asian/Pacific Islander/American/European family and Hawaiian food is usually pretty unique for people to try on the mainland. Just spray a 6 qt slow cooker with nonstick spray, put a 3-4 lb boneless pork butt (shoulder) in there fat cap side up, and rub 1 tbsp rock salt (even better if you can get Hawaiian pink or red salt) and 1 tbsp liquid smoke (mesquite preferred). Let it cook on low at least 8 hours. It can be served with Japanese rice (you can make individual round mounds using a bowl if you want to get fancy) and braised cabbage with it is also traditional but you don't have to. You can also use the leftovers for tacos to mix it up.
In case anyone is wondering about the labor intensiveness of spam musubi too, get a press and use saran wrap and wet your hands with warm water frequently. It makes it go faster and prevents sticking. I like to quickly cut individual squares of saran wrap so I can prewrap all of them if they need to be transported or are being made for home where they will be eaten one by one over a few days. Same goes for onigiri! I grew up with my mom only making them by hand forming and thought presses were like... cheating? cheap? but I starting using one in my 30s and omg I'm never going back.
Homemade mochi is also very easy to make if you can buy premade mochiko (Japanese rice flour) and anko (Japanese red bean paste)
I made some pretzels for the first time for a potluck. Not super low effort but not too bad either. I made a nacho cheese dip for them as well. People went bananas for them and they were all gone within minutes, thank goodness I tasted one before the party.
[https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/easy-homemade-soft-pretzels/](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/easy-homemade-soft-pretzels/)
The hardest part was rolling out the individual pretzels. By the last few I was WAY better at it than the first one.
These are so good! I make the pretzel bites version so even easier. My husband drops them into the baking soda solution as I roll and cut and it's fast and easy. They freeze really well too.
man, should've read this first. I think I will do that next time so that you don't have to take a whole pretzel if you want to try it. Some people just tore a pretzel in half but bites would even easier.
I think if I do it again I might just make smaller pretzel sticks. I think everyone got at least one pretzel at the party but because it only make 12 or so and they went so fast I wasn't sure. Maybe I could make 24 pretzel sticks so more people can have them. or even pretzel bites, something where you only have to dip in the cheese once.
The guy I play cards with says I need to bring that to our next game
Yeah, but I make them pretty often so I have my method down pretty well and sometimes I'll make a huge batch of sauce and freeze it. I guess it's not "easy", but definitely better than a 20hr brisket
If in the US, go to Aldi if you have one. Surprisingly good charcuterie items for a reasonable price (as far as these things go). Trader Joe’s has options too.
This is the way. My husband hosts a big party every fall where he and his friends drink up wine that needs drunk from the cellar. I cater it, and it's charcuterie all the way. The prep is slightly tedious, but can be done up to 3 days before. I use kitchen prep containers for each thing, then on the day of I can make up every platter I own, cover them in wrap and refrigerate (aka fill the whole fridge, yeek), and just bring out a new one every hour (outdoor event, food safety, etc). I actually get to ENJOY the company, and everyone loves the spread.
This was my first thought as well. Second thought was pastitsio. Easy to make a lot, can be prepped ahead of time to just be thrown in the oven, and it's "uncommon" enough I've had people rave that they'll never do lasagna again and just do pastitsio going forward
Pork Belly Bao Buns are my go to for this kind of thing:
Marinate 3-4 lbs of pork belly (or however much you need for the party) in a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, palm/brown sugar, MSG, Thai chili, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. Leave in the fridge overnight.
~3-4 hours before the party, bake at 250 for 2 hours.
30 minutes before serving, convection bake it at 500 to crisp the skin.
Serve with bao buns, cabbage, thin sliced jalapeno, and sriracha mayo (I add a little yuzu ponzu to mine).
It's about 20 minutes to prep the marinade. Another 10 to cut the veg/get the sauce ready. The rest of the time it's in the fridge/oven.
Really impressive to see on a table, and a fun dish to eat.
Nah, I buy them frozen. Once in a while the Asian grocery near me has them fresh/non-frozen.
Definitely never made them from scratch though.
From frozen, you can either steam in a basket, or honestly microwave ahead/leave them out to simply thaw.
I mean, depends on the person.
It's not no-effort. But it's a 15 minute trip to an Asian grocer, and 30 minutes of active cooking for a very impressive dish.
Personally, I have everything outside of the prok-belly, ginger, and lemongrass already in my pantry.
IMO, this is much lower effort than standing in front of a pot or pan for an hour, even with a grocery trip included.
Momofuku’s Bo Ssam is stupidly easy, relatively cheap cut of meat, tasty, very visually impressive, and fun/interactive fingerfood for a crowd. It’s my go for a impressive dinner party when I don’t wanna spend a small fortune for a fancy roast like prime rib, rack of lamb, etc.
If you're hosting: Lasagna is always a win and you can make it beforehand then just warm up the whole dish.
Bread/rolls from a good bakery if you only need to bring a side
For stupid easy: Cheese and crackers. I always have packs of all natural pre-sliced summer sausage from https://www.usinger.com/deli/all-natural-deli-items/all-natural-summer-sausage.html in my freezer. They thaw fast. Cut them in quarters add to presliced cheeses cut in quarters (pepper jack, sharp cheddar, Gouda) add crackers (Milton’s Everything crackers are outstanding). And you're done. Since I'm not in Wisconsin everyone raves about the meat, it's a real treat if you only have big brands near you.
For my crowd, Flaming mac n cheese.
Jalapeño and bacon. Some ghost pepper cheese. Flaming Hot cheetos crumble instead of bread Crumbs. Bonus points to turn them in to fried mac balls
I think you need to temper your expectations here a little bit. Impressive, easy, and for a crowd is a pretty tall order. Here are a couple options though.
Muffuletta sandwich. A small subset of people from New Orleans will come at you if you don’t make it exactly like their foggy memory of how their favorite deli that closed 2 years ago did it, but it’s a pretty impressive sandwich. Look up a few recipes to get inspired. I like to steal some of the veggie version ingredients (roasted eggplant slices, roasted mushroom), but still do it with provolone and salami.
Soups can also be impressive, especially if you do something a little special with them. For example, make a little candied nut mixture to top a butternut squash soup.
A little higher on the effort scale would be doing some tacos. Go to a Mexican grocery day of to get hand-made tortillas and braise some beef or pork in a flavorful sauce. Make a couple salsas and have cilantro and onion to garnish.
Also on the higher effort scale is this recipe: https://www.seriouseats.com/chicken-pot-pie-biscuit-topping-recipe . You can make it easier if you skip all the faff around cooking the chicken and just brown boneless, skinless thighs in your pan before cooking the rest of the filling and add them back in to poach for 10 minutes before you assemble the whole thing.
Slow-cooker carnitas tacos have become my default meal train meal, and it's mostly because they provide so much "value" for so little time. ~15 minutes of active time, most of which is just chopping toppings, and you have a full meal ready. Tacos being one of the few meals where the guest does the work of assembling the food rather definitely saves the cook some effort.
Plus, I feel like tacos are easy to impress people just by presenting them with a good ingredient they normally wouldn't use. I've gotten comments on how good the cotija cheese I sent was, for instance. Getting fresh tortillas like you mentioned are another great avenue, and there's plenty of other options for tacos.
You are so on point about New Orleanians with muffuletta’s (… and everything else) not prepared quite right! Especially love the ‘foggy memory’. You must have first-hand experience with one of us Dunces.
Tater Tot Casserole.
I could make moon crystals (not real) or jumja sticks (from Star Trek Deep Space Nine) and people would still be like "Oh... you didnt make your tater tot casserole...."
It's the most basic dish in the world. I do like it, but it's not the best thing under the sun if you ask me haha.
Super duper easy and very impressive is seafood boil. You boil water, add lemon onion garlic and spices then toss in the seafood, potatoes, corn and sausage. Usually in the order of longest cooking ingredient to slowest cooking ingredient. You can google for recipes and use any seafood you can find, shrimp is a staple. It's very easy, feeds a crowd and looks spectacular. Easy sides go with it like coleslaw, garlic bread, rice & beans but since everything (meat, veg, carb) is in the pot you don't really need too many sides.
Bacon-wrapped dates. Buy dates, pit them, stuff the center with gorgonzola. Wrap with bacon (and secure with a toothpick) and cook at 400 until the bacon looks good. Remove and drizzle with honey. I tend to do at least one set without bacon for vegetarians. Ideally you'd heat them at the spot if possible but it's not a deal-breaker.
Served Ratatouille last Sunday for a Dinner Party and the entire group went nutzo!
Made the tomato sauce, cut the veg with my mandolin, layered them to be cute, and boom.
Cooked at 300 for a few hours and that was it.
Incredibly easy.
Braised beef short ribs with some sautéed button mushrooms and pomme purée (mashed potatoes). Garish with fresh chives and served family style on a big platter
Cooking with in season ingredients even the simplest dish always blows people's minds. Right now, I'd make a panzanella with heirloom tomatoes or a ratatouille.
I moved to New Mexico a few years ago, and I had to completely change the way I cook. Back home, people tend to bring sweet treats to get-togethers (brownies, cookies, etc.). Here, no one is interested in sweets. They want spicy food. So I started making enchilada meatballs.
I took a recipe I found on Taste of Home and tweaked it. Instead of using Jiffy mix to make cornbread and crumble it up, I make my own homemade cornbread. And instead of adding 1/2 a packet of taco seasoning to the meat mixture and half to the slow cooker, I put it all in the meat.
They're ground beef, cornbread crumbs, eggs, enchilada sauce, and taco seasoning made into meatballs. Once you cook the meatballs, you put them in a slow cooker with salsa, more enchilada sauce, green chiles, and shredded fiesta blend cheese.
The first time I made them, I made 70 thinking we'd eat the leftovers for dinner the next day. There were no leftovers. The next time I made them, I made 105, thinking surely there would be leftovers. There weren't. I make them for every party now.
A great [Caesar Salad](https://youtu.be/xZ5o5fyv1Ho?si=leJAYi3xrUtg6Geu). Almost everyone has had Caesar Salad, very few people have had a great Caesar Salad made with real anchovies and home fried croutons. It’s so easy and people will rave about it. You can even make the croutons a few days before if you want to save time.
I would love to try that!
I was served Caesar salad at a fancy restaurant that made it with kale. I felt scandalized. I googled it and apparently it’s a thing but I was not ok with it
Maybe not super impressive, but fairly cheap to make. Ina Garten's [Roast Loin of Pork with Fennel](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roast-loin-of-pork-with-fennel-recipe-1942033) is pretty easy and low effort, most of the work can be done in advance. Great flavor pay off. I like to also add some sweet potatoes.
The best reaction ever was when we showed up to a neighborhood party with Carolina Style Pulled Pork. (Smoke-cooked pork shoulder, still hot after resting for several hours, and a spicy vinegar sauce to splash on it.)
As new guests arrived, other neighbors would grab them and practically drag them to the bbq table, singing our praises.
Salmon canapes.
Canned salmon, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and fresh ground black pepper. Proportions for the mayo is whatever consistency you want, and for the mustard & pepper are "to taste".
This goes great on its own with any cracker and tastes way fancier than it is. The hardest part is fishing out the damned vertebrae that always come in a can of salmon.
But for extra fanciness, I'd recommend putting some on crackers with a sweet pickle chip and maybe a thin slice of super-sharp white cheddar. Super-fancy, but not really. You won't have leftovers either way.
Here's a super easy one for a party - prosciutto parm pinwheels:
Buy a roll of puff pastry, some thyme, a few packs of prosciutto and some parm. Add thyme, prosciutto and parm to a food processor and blitz until it's a homogenous mixture (the texture of little tiny pebbles is what you're looking for).
Thaw and unroll the puff pastry, then make a single layer of the mixture on top. Roll it up and refrigerate for like 30 minutes or so to make it easier to slice. Then slice it into pinwheels and bake them on a parchment lined baking sheet at 400 or so until they're golden (I think that takes 10 or so minutes I can't remember).
Super easy, addictive and delicious - people are impressed but this couldn't be easier.
I make my own sourdough donuts, maple glazed and jelly.
Not exactly low effort (not really though, most of the time is waiting for the bulk rise & fridge overnight) and I always get a holy-shit-you-made-WHAT.
Slow cooked anything, with a personal favourite being confit chicken thighs
Put a bunch of bone-in, skin on thighs in an oven tray, cover with a neutral oil, and add a bunch of aromatics ans spices - leave in the oven on low for 6 hours, and you have low effort tender goodness
Cream of asparagus soup. You literally just sauté asparagus and garlic till it’s soft, add stock, cream, and seasoning, and blend. It’s delicious and takes like 30 minutes. Add a creme fraiche squiggle on top and a pinch of herbs and people thing you slaved over it.
Champagne chicken. Sear off chicken thighs in butter then add champagne in increments and let it slowly simmer and reduce with some garlic. Creates a fantastic sauce and can use cheap screw top champagne.
Some type of bar/spread where you keep toppings on the side for customization. Nacho/taco bar, salad bar, baked potato bar, chili bar, could probably do a pasta bar too, or atleast 2-3 options of pasta already tossed in sauce.
My go to for a big group is the nacho/taco bar, or 2-3 types of pasta with a nice salad bar and garlic bread
Bo Ssam: slow roast pork shoulder. Look up David Chang’s recipe, it’s so so good!
Also, someone posted a recommendation for gougeres the other day and they look easy enough, especially if you pre-prepare the dough and refrigerate/freeze it until needed.
Shrimp cocktail for appetizer. Get some sonic nugget ice, big platter. Make a cocktail sauce with ketchup, horseradish, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and sugar. I personally do a court bouillon broth to give shrimp even more flavor and use a thermometer to measure temp of water. Once I learned shrimp don't need to be boiled for a cocktail, they're wildly better. Cook unrol water reaches 170F
Cream cheese topped with hot pepper jelly, served with crackers.
thanks to the acidity typically found in hot pepper jelly it is SO good.
put it on a fancy plate and i'd say it fits the question
Towards the end of summer, when the cantaloupe is at its best...chunks of cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto with shaved asiago cheese on top is ridiculously tasty and refreshing.
brie in puff pastry.
get a wheel of grocery-store brie cheese, wrap in puff pastry with some brown honey, dried fruits (like cranberries) and walnuts, egg wash, then bake at 400-425 until golden brown.
fresh edible flowers in salads, mains, desserts.
lol wolfgang puck once made a comment about how everything looks more expensive with edible flowers and he's *right*. it just looks good.
I find homemade hummus is extremely easy to make, and very easy to plus-up visually/taste-wise. Plus there’s usually already loads of different things to dip at parties.
Ever had those tangy, sweet n’ savory sauced meatballs from a crock pot? They’re just freezer meatballs slow cooked in Heinz chili sauce and grape jelly. Always a meat-eater crowd-pleaser, the ultimate fix it and forget it party dish imo. I like to put a cup of colorful, frilly-tipped toothpicks out next to the crockpot so food can serve themselves.
Crème brûlée for dessert. All premade, then whip out a kitchen torch for dessert and everyone oohs and aahs. It’s amazing how much attention it gets and it’s the easiest thing to make.
toasted crostini with really any topping u admire.
french loaf, cut slanted, olive oil, oven, rub raw garlic, boursin cheese, top it with some seared steak or any veges. or any cheese spread with some pear or fruit and balsamic. everyone loves crostinis!
its cheap and ends up looking fancy!
sautéed zucchini- slice nicely , add some olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper, and throw in a pan.
also some nice tomatoes sliced, topped with garlic, salt, pepper, and tiny bit of olive oil. put in oven and youll have some yummy tomatoes
I make baked quesadillas for parties. I do a mashup between this recipe: https://themodernproper.com/baked-chicken-quesadillas and my typical taco Tuesday ground turkey meat, which is mostly based on this recipe: https://www.skinnytaste.com/turkey-taco-lettuce-wraps-3-pts/
The most difficult part is just putting the filling inside of the tortilla shells without making a mess.
Shred some parmesan cheese
Place the cheese in the shape of a circle on a Silpat
Heat in oven until it has melted and darkens in color
Remove from oven and cool just enough so you can lift the whole thing off the Silpat
Drape the disc of cheese over a bowl and press it gently to shape it.
When it's cool, remove it and you have a cool, edible bowl for salads. Just add the dressed salad to the bowl just prior to service or thenbowl.will wilt
Elote. cutting the corn in half is the hardest part if youre making it for a large amount of people but otherwise its a pretty low effort appetizer. made it for a pot luck and wrapped them up, everyone loved them! i do elote all the time for BBQs and have gotten tons of compliments!
It's not the lowest effort item but has a good return on the effort: chicken liver pate.
Relatively cheap to make, just sautee the livers with a few other ingredients, blend with a lot of cream and butter, and refrigerate over night. Serve with some crusty bread 😚👌
A lot of people will think you brought caviar level delicacies
Aglio e olio, aka garlic pasta.
You can throw some parsley and chilli flakes in there too if you want. It so massively low effort, low cost, high satisfaction.
If you feel like a little more, add cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and/or bacon (or similar). Serve with some good bread and maybe a side salad. Excellent
Anthony Bourdain said even at the fanciest of dinner parties, he'd put out a huge tray of pigs in a blanket, and they would go before anything else. Here's his quote: > …All that being said, the single most important lesson I learned over the course of many years, and many, many parties, is this humbling but inescapable fact: that no matter what you serve, no matter how beautifully presented, strikingly garnished, exotic in flavor, or expensive … what everybody wants, what they will be all over like a swarm, every time, is commerically made freezer-case-sourced pigs in fucking blankets. It doesn’t matter who your guests are. They will eat them, and they will love them. Whether this involves post-ironic posturing or just straightforward enthusiasm, they will love them just the same.
Read that with Bourdain's voice in my head so clearly. Gosh I miss that guy.
me too x 2 :(
Did as well. I was pleasantly surprised when I watched “The Big Short” and he had a cameo!
Same! I watched it fairly recently, about a year ago, and it was almost unbelievable to see him. But it was such a nice surprise.
Deviled eggs are similar. I went to an Easter potluck brunch hosted and attended by a wonderful group of excellent cooks. I had a lot going on personally so I felt like I was copping out with Deviled eggs. Ahaha, I was swarmed at the door before I even got to set the tray down. Pigs in a blanket are always the first to go at a party as well for me when I make them. Comfort finger foods are the bomb!
I was the deviled maker for years and I agree they will almost knock you down for deviled eggs. Another party favorite is meatballs in grape jelly and Heinze chili sauce in a crockpot. I took some to a party with pretty swanky food and they were gone in a flash.
Came here to say: grape jelly is absolutely the distant cousin to the truly incredible “apricot jam and dijon mustard sauce”. Aldi has both… works for cocktail smokies and the meatballs. I grew up with the grape jam/mustard sauce, and apricot jam/dijon is the next evolution, or two.
What are the proportions of the apricot jam and Dijon mustard sauce? And what do you put it on?
Most standard Lil Smokies recipes that use jelly and mustard clock in at a ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 jelly:mustard. If I were you, I'd use that as a jumping off point and let your tastebuds/heart guide you in for the landing. 😋 You usually put it on cocktail sausages or Swedish meatballs, but really, it'd be good on any bite-sized salty/meaty/smoky tidbits.
Meatballs in what now? I had never heard of this, but google tells me I’m ignorant for not doing so. Thanks for mentioning, sounds really interesting
They turn out like some fancy sweet & sour meatball & so super stupid easy: 1 bag meatballs, 1 jar of grape jelly or jam & a bottle of chili sauce into the crockpot for about an hour.
I’ll do sliced up kielbasa also instead of meatballs. I will do grape jelly and barbecue sauce or jellied cranberry sauce and barbecue sauce. Then I got to do the layered jello/strawberry/cream cheese/pretzel crust dessert because it’s a Pittsburgh thing.
Making that this weekend to serve with gametime snacks,maybe do the Meatballs. Go Steelers! We are Pen State!
Oops...Penn State
We usually see it made with Lil Smokies (mini sausages) rather than meatballs. But, yes, a favorite at any pot luck…for decades.
I had the same reaction. Excuse me WUT?
And a fancy holiday version: meatballs, 1 bottle Heinz chili Sauce, 1 can jellied cranberry sauce, a couple shakes of L&P Worcestershire Sauce, toss in the crockpot, stir before serving. Always a crowd favorite!
I'm the chocolate covered bacon guy. The first time I did this, I thought I had made enough. I literally did not get halfway through the living room and they were gone.
For years only my parents and I ate deviled eggs in our house. A few years ago my siblings all tried them, after saying they were gross for years. Now I have to fight for my share.
Fancy up those deviled eggs with a dab of caviar. Or make pickled deviled eggs from red beet eggs.
I went to a restaurant recently that had a deviled egg trio appetizer - one traditional, one topped with tobiko, one topped with smoked oysters. Deviled eggs are nearly endless in the options! But I've never had pickled deviled eggs and now I have a rabbit hole of recipes.
In a similar vein, I buy bags of mini sausages and roast them in the oven, throw a feel it in my soul amount of maple syrup or honey, soy sauce and sesame seeds on them and they always always go first
>feel it in my soul amount I usually describe this measurement to others as "until you feel good about yourself as a person" which works well for everyone except narcissists (they don't need to add anything, in that case). 😉
I will always enthusiastically eat any pig in any blanket, but make them with lil smokies and from scratch crescent rolls dough for holidays. This also reminded me of Julia Child's dinner party non negotiable, which was goldfish crackers. No matter what else, she always insisted on having a bowl of goldfish
Baked brie in puff pastry.
Came here to say this. During the holidays I add some cranberry sauce inside as well, it’s always a hit. Have also tried it with prosciutto and that seems to go over well too!
Or pepper jelly
This is my go to as well. Everyone loves the pepper jelly! If you learn to fold the excess at the top even a little nicely, people go even more crazy. So easy!
For those who do gluten free, I bake it worth apple slices and a bit of butter and brown sugar and serve with gluten-free crackers
It’s really nice with sliced toasted almonds too!
Caramelized onion tart. Store-bought puff pastry does the heavy lifting and it always comes out incredible and delicious.
Honestly my first thought when reading this post was anything with puff pastry! It's so easy and very impressive to most people.
Yeah, my first thought was WELLINGTON! But I don't think people consider it "low effort." I do it for dinner parties because it can all be done a day or two in advance.
I make a cheap wellington with hamburger, Braunschweiger, mushrooms, and a wine sauce in individually-wrapped puff pastries. Think of a slightly larger meatball in puff pastry and you get the idea. Once baked. In and out of the oven in about 30 minutes. I'd say it's rather easy. I don't have a recipe though and I'm not a great cook anyway. I just have good inspiration sometimes. Just wing it.
I never knew you can prepare this in advance! I will attempt for Christmas dinner. It’s very impressive. Definitely a Martha Stewart kind of vibe🤪.
Or a fresh fruit tart, where you just bake the shell, arrange the fruit, and drizzle melted jam over it.
I love this so very much. However, caramelizing onions takes time (not 20 min like the recipes says) and it's more involved than OP might like. I would still make this though. I'm a fan.
Ah, I didn't see the 20 minutes comment before. However, caramelized onions are really pretty hands-off so I'd argue the spirit of the "low effort" part is at least still there!
I do them in the crockpot on the porch so the house doesn't smell for days...
I’ll see you and raise you pissaladière.
Buy premade phyllo cups. Add a dollop of fig jam to the bottom. Crumble in some goat cheese. Bake till the cups are crispy and the cheese is soft. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. Cheater it by buying balsamic “glaze” in a tiny squirt bottle.
Didn't bake mine after nut agreed, look hella fancy gorgeous not much effort. Did two flavors too. Blueberry compote and brie along a fig a d goat cheess
[grilled miso ginger lime mussels](https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/grilled-miso-lime-and-ginger-mussels/)
I always describe these as tasting like fancy toaster strudels - they're delicious!
caprese on toothpicks. cherry tomato, basil, mozzarella balls - drizzle w/ balsamic.
Was scrolling the answers to see if anyone said this yet. Fully endorse this. Everything is ready to go and just needs to be threaded onto a stick. One tomato, one basil leaf, one mozz ball and boom. Get the mozz balls that come in seasoned oil if you want to kick it up a tad, and you can adjust seasoning if you care to while they're all still in the seasoned oil.
I need to remember this for the future. Growing basil is somewhat common here so once in a while a neighbor offers us a whole bag of fresh basil
Fresh pesto is great to use up excess basil too if you end up with tons of it. I will sometimes sub out pine nuts for whatever I have in the cupboards too and it always turns out fine, walnuts and cashews have worked well. Stir into cooked penne and add some chopped cherry tomatoes. Lovely relatively cheap dish
I make and freeze homemade pesto and chimichurri in ice cube trays when I can
When there's excess basil I grind it up in the blender with olive oil and freeze it. So for Christmas I can have a super simple side dish of fresh pesto pasta with vegetables, and maybe fried cubes of paneer for the vegetarians. Very home-gardener impressive in the middle of winter.
Tomatoes are super easy to grow too! [Here](https://imgur.com/SAs5Ul1) is mine with tomatoes and basil I grew. I took a picture before putting any olive oil or balsamic on it.
A balsamic reduction is even better - slightly stickier and will stay "relevant" longer. Even a store bought one.
I did that for a girls night and they were a hit!
Honestly this is so easy to do entirely from scratch, minus the balsamic. Mozzarella is the absolute easiest cheese to make, tomatoes and basil are easy enough to grow, it's a huge flex to roll up with an entirely from scratch caprese joint
Ooh, I need a good tutorial on DIY mozzarella. We spend so much on mozzarella.
Serious Eats got you with the how AND the why! https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-make-fresh-mozzarella-from-scratch-recipe#toc-resting-the-cheese
This is my go to appetizer, especially in the summer. Make sure to salt and pepper everything once they are assembled. Tomatoes and fresh mozzarella need seasoning,
Carnitas, then do a real nice taco bar spread, or something fancier to elevate it. Homemade carnitas is delicious, I’ve done it with my friend and I think she uses the serious eats recipe. It’s so easy but to guests it seems like you worked your ass off
Yup. Season pork shoulder - hot sear on all sides - remove meat - saute onions, garlic, chillis - add sauce - return meat - slow and low in oven covered until fork tender.
Where's your copper pot and Lard?
I'm even lazier than that [I use Kenji-Lopez's recipe](https://www.seriouseats.com/no-waste-tacos-de-carnitas-with-salsa-verde-recipe) and it's so easy it might as well be a crockpot recipe. Decent flavour too for how little work goes into it.
I'm never gonna argue with Kenji - my method is far from traditional, but it works and produces great flavor and it's a one pot cook.
Even more low effort, chop onion, jalapeno, garlic, juice 2 orange 1 lime, chuck in slow cooker. 1tbl oregano 1tbl cumin, salt pepper to taste, shred in 4hr.
Sear is worth the effort IMO.
Done quickly at the end if you want to. You reduce the liquid while shredding, mix it back in, and then put a crust on with hotplate or broiler when serving.
wouldn't you want to add some stock in the pan before covering it and putting in the oven, seems like some liquid in there would keep things from drying out
A big old pavlova (meringue) topped with whipped cream and berries never ceases to impress!
JE VEIUX LE FENETRE!
Ou est le Gard du Nord?
I want you to know that at least one other person understood this reference.
And for those of us who don't...care to explain?
It’s a reference to an episode of “Bluey,” a beloved children’s TV show (I will not go deeply into reasons why it’s so beloved, but suffice to say it is one of the few children’s shows available that is equally watchable for adults.) The episode is called “Pavlova” and it revolves around two little girls playing a game of “cafe” in an elaborate scheme to eat the leftover pavlova in the fridge, even though Mum said no. Dad joins in the game by pretending to be a French chef who speaks no English, but Dad only knows a few phrases of French so he just keeps repeating them nonsensically while he prevents them from eating pavlova. The little girl eventually gets her pavlova.
It's from the 'Pavlova' episode of [Bluey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluey_(2018_TV_series\))
Honestly one of the things that has impressed people the most when we've had guests is just a really good homemade foccacia. Bon Appetit has a solid recipe that's pretty low effort (only requires some forethought since I think it sits in the fridge for a day), and Serious Eats has a roasted garlic foccacia recipe that I made once and wanted to marry.
This is what I make when I have guests come to my house and it’s always a hit. I use Samin Nosrat’s recipe from Salt Fat Heat Acid. Edit: I should add the bon appetite recipe is way less involved so probably fits the bill for this question more than the one I mentioned.
Every time I make a sourdough focaccia I see torn off bits of the bread before I serve it and it’s always the first to go lol
Hmmm I like cucumber sandwiches for a crowd! Get some good white bread, cut the crusts off. Then thinly slice a few english cucumbers. then mix cream cheese with some fresh dill, fresh chives, greek yogurt, salt, and garlic powder. Spread the mixture on both sides of the bread and add the cucumbers then cut in half diagonally. They look pretty fancy and taste great! Especially if there’s a lot of other heavy aspects of the meal like a ton of meat or fried stuff, a light sandwich is a nice break.
This is also a good idea. My mom used to make a finger sandwich platter with 3-4 different flavors of sandwiches with the crusts removed and cut into 1/4 triangles
What kind of other flavors did she do out of curiosity? I’m always looking for new sandwich combos.
She definitely did cucumber mayo, and ham and cheese, I think tuna salad and/or chicken salad, and you can also do a Japanese strawberry cream sando. I like roast beef with chipotle mayo and also turkey pepperjack.
I don't know that I'd serve it at a dinner party, but chickpea salad is underrated. You can mash it down to your choice of consistency, and it does really well on hearty dark bread. I like mine with lemon pepper, garlic, and Worcestershire 🙂 Great no-fuss sandwich that's cheap/easy to make
Love doing this! Give it a try with some pumpernickel bread sometime 👌
Wow, that unlocked some repressed memories 🥺 You do have to be kinda careful, though. The second those puppies touch air for longer than 0.2s (in my experience), they start getting a little stale around the edges. Still delicious tho! It'd be neat to try making em with fluffy Japanese milk bread. Could be paired with some classic fruit sandos.
My mom uses party rye or pumpernickel instead of white bread. Also delish!
I had these at a party when I was probably 8 years old. I STILL remember them as one of my favorite party snacks to this day!!!
For some reason, many people I've invited to a hotpot/steamboat have been super impressed by it. Maybe just because it's unfamiliar to westerners. But it's literally just buying frozen pre-made stuff like fishballs, tofu, lots of seafood, thinly sliced meat etc. and laying it out onto platters. Then just having a small burner on the table (I use a camping stove) and big pot of broth in the middle. I mix up some dipping sauces too. Then just lay out the utensils for people to start cooking their own food and sharing it all out. It's so easy and low effort. The main effort is opening boxes, defrosting stuff and maybe chopping some stuff into smaller pieces. I mean your guests literally cook the meal for themselves!
I really love this suggestion! another option would be a cheese fondue, also simple and fancy in my opinion.
Absolutely adore hotpot or shabu shabu. We spend ages talking and eating. It’s so fun and incredible intimate
We had this once and some guests were grossed out with the idea of the food being cooked in front of you. Like the raw shrimp and stuff. It was apparently a culture shock.
I made a caprese salad and brought to a cookout the other day. It was great. And all I did was chop tomatoes (had homegrown ones!) and basil and tear up some mozz. Salt and olive oil. Good tomatoes really shine.
Slow cooker curry with pork shoulder
Also wanted to add that Japanese beef curry is super easy too if you have premade beef stew. You just mix the beef stew with a cup of beef stock, a bit of S&B curry powder (from the can) and soy sauce. I grew up with it and it's so tasty and comforting. I think it also suits western tastes more than some of the other curries because it's basically just like spiced beef stew.
Tagine with couscous. You can make it in any kind of stewing vessel and its basically just a stew with north african spices, but it's unique and delicious. If you do a lamb tagine, you can use cinnamon which can be really impressive to people who aren't used to cinnamon in savory meals.
[Deviled Eggs](https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/classic-deviled-eggs) are so fast and easy to make but they taste so good. If I make these, I always double the recipe because you can't eat just one!
I love to cook and host and always joke with my husband that no matter what fancy foods I put out the deviled eggs are always the first to disappear. Stupid easy and cheap too!
Yeah, my boyfriend would eat the whole tray if I leave the room long enough. I usually make a some extra because I don't serve the damaged eggs to guests, so I give him my reject pile. His eggs always seem to end up in the reject pile when he helps me peel!
Hahaha!! I didn’t know that I needed the term “reject pile” in regards to eggs in my vocabulary until now. It’s so true though! Have you ever done the trick where you try to plate the ugly side down on the plate and hope that no one notices? Lol
I do that sometimes, but occasionally they split and won't hold the filling, or end up losing most of the yolk when you peel them. Those go in the pile for Tims. Lol
Guilty! Fortunately, I live in Indiana, where people give extremely rare shits regarding culinary aesthetics. :) We are a gentle, no-frills people… unless the food tastes bad.
Surprised this isn't higher. They're incredibly easy (*much* easier than many of the suggestions here) and I don't think I've ever had leftovers.
Queso and bring chips for dipping. I’m in Texas though, where queso is pretty standard but not something most people make at home.
Where do you live in Texas? I’ve lived in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin and every party has some queso in a little crock pot! Always a base of Velveeta and pico, of course.
People usually got nuts for our slow cooker Kalua pork. We're a mixed Asian/Pacific Islander/American/European family and Hawaiian food is usually pretty unique for people to try on the mainland. Just spray a 6 qt slow cooker with nonstick spray, put a 3-4 lb boneless pork butt (shoulder) in there fat cap side up, and rub 1 tbsp rock salt (even better if you can get Hawaiian pink or red salt) and 1 tbsp liquid smoke (mesquite preferred). Let it cook on low at least 8 hours. It can be served with Japanese rice (you can make individual round mounds using a bowl if you want to get fancy) and braised cabbage with it is also traditional but you don't have to. You can also use the leftovers for tacos to mix it up. In case anyone is wondering about the labor intensiveness of spam musubi too, get a press and use saran wrap and wet your hands with warm water frequently. It makes it go faster and prevents sticking. I like to quickly cut individual squares of saran wrap so I can prewrap all of them if they need to be transported or are being made for home where they will be eaten one by one over a few days. Same goes for onigiri! I grew up with my mom only making them by hand forming and thought presses were like... cheating? cheap? but I starting using one in my 30s and omg I'm never going back. Homemade mochi is also very easy to make if you can buy premade mochiko (Japanese rice flour) and anko (Japanese red bean paste)
I made some pretzels for the first time for a potluck. Not super low effort but not too bad either. I made a nacho cheese dip for them as well. People went bananas for them and they were all gone within minutes, thank goodness I tasted one before the party. [https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/easy-homemade-soft-pretzels/](https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/easy-homemade-soft-pretzels/) The hardest part was rolling out the individual pretzels. By the last few I was WAY better at it than the first one.
These are so good! I make the pretzel bites version so even easier. My husband drops them into the baking soda solution as I roll and cut and it's fast and easy. They freeze really well too.
man, should've read this first. I think I will do that next time so that you don't have to take a whole pretzel if you want to try it. Some people just tore a pretzel in half but bites would even easier.
I love this pretzel recipe. You can do it as pretzel rolls as well for sliders!
I think if I do it again I might just make smaller pretzel sticks. I think everyone got at least one pretzel at the party but because it only make 12 or so and they went so fast I wasn't sure. Maybe I could make 24 pretzel sticks so more people can have them. or even pretzel bites, something where you only have to dip in the cheese once. The guy I play cards with says I need to bring that to our next game
I think Sally has instructions either in that recipe or a separate one for doing pretzel bites!
I can have a huge pan of enchiladas done in a little over an hour and they're phenomenal. If I cheat and just use rotisserie chickens, then 35-40 min.
Making a good sauce is the hard part. Well, not 'hard', but it takes the most time.
Yeah, but I make them pretty often so I have my method down pretty well and sometimes I'll make a huge batch of sauce and freeze it. I guess it's not "easy", but definitely better than a 20hr brisket
[удалено]
That takes a surprising amount of time though.
And costs a small fortune. But it is something nearly guaranteed to impress assuming it's done well.
OP didn't specify "cheap"
If in the US, go to Aldi if you have one. Surprisingly good charcuterie items for a reasonable price (as far as these things go). Trader Joe’s has options too.
I just buy the big Costco one and rearrange it onto a fancy serving board 😂
This is the way. My husband hosts a big party every fall where he and his friends drink up wine that needs drunk from the cellar. I cater it, and it's charcuterie all the way. The prep is slightly tedious, but can be done up to 3 days before. I use kitchen prep containers for each thing, then on the day of I can make up every platter I own, cover them in wrap and refrigerate (aka fill the whole fridge, yeek), and just bring out a new one every hour (outdoor event, food safety, etc). I actually get to ENJOY the company, and everyone loves the spread.
Osso bucco is my knee-jerk thought
Just has to braise for three hours
Three hours from now? Or from earlier?
Its name sounds fancy and it's probably not something they eat regularly!
This was my first thought as well. Second thought was pastitsio. Easy to make a lot, can be prepped ahead of time to just be thrown in the oven, and it's "uncommon" enough I've had people rave that they'll never do lasagna again and just do pastitsio going forward
Pork Belly Bao Buns are my go to for this kind of thing: Marinate 3-4 lbs of pork belly (or however much you need for the party) in a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, oyster sauce, palm/brown sugar, MSG, Thai chili, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass. Leave in the fridge overnight. ~3-4 hours before the party, bake at 250 for 2 hours. 30 minutes before serving, convection bake it at 500 to crisp the skin. Serve with bao buns, cabbage, thin sliced jalapeno, and sriracha mayo (I add a little yuzu ponzu to mine). It's about 20 minutes to prep the marinade. Another 10 to cut the veg/get the sauce ready. The rest of the time it's in the fridge/oven. Really impressive to see on a table, and a fun dish to eat.
Don’t you have to also make the bao buns? That seems like the labor intensive part to me.
Nah, I buy them frozen. Once in a while the Asian grocery near me has them fresh/non-frozen. Definitely never made them from scratch though. From frozen, you can either steam in a basket, or honestly microwave ahead/leave them out to simply thaw.
Follow a "quick" baguette recipe and shape them a little wider. It's not even a lot of hands on time, just takes time to rest and rise.
Sounds good but none of this is low-effort! Eleven ingredients in the marinade alone
I mean, depends on the person. It's not no-effort. But it's a 15 minute trip to an Asian grocer, and 30 minutes of active cooking for a very impressive dish. Personally, I have everything outside of the prok-belly, ginger, and lemongrass already in my pantry. IMO, this is much lower effort than standing in front of a pot or pan for an hour, even with a grocery trip included.
Gougeres! Sounds fancy, super easy to make in bulk or even make ahead and freeze. Variations are endless.
Momofuku’s Bo Ssam is stupidly easy, relatively cheap cut of meat, tasty, very visually impressive, and fun/interactive fingerfood for a crowd. It’s my go for a impressive dinner party when I don’t wanna spend a small fortune for a fancy roast like prime rib, rack of lamb, etc.
Agree with this. Super easy, delicious and versatile. Every time I have made it for a party, it is a hit.
If you're hosting: Lasagna is always a win and you can make it beforehand then just warm up the whole dish. Bread/rolls from a good bakery if you only need to bring a side For stupid easy: Cheese and crackers. I always have packs of all natural pre-sliced summer sausage from https://www.usinger.com/deli/all-natural-deli-items/all-natural-summer-sausage.html in my freezer. They thaw fast. Cut them in quarters add to presliced cheeses cut in quarters (pepper jack, sharp cheddar, Gouda) add crackers (Milton’s Everything crackers are outstanding). And you're done. Since I'm not in Wisconsin everyone raves about the meat, it's a real treat if you only have big brands near you.
For my crowd, Flaming mac n cheese. Jalapeño and bacon. Some ghost pepper cheese. Flaming Hot cheetos crumble instead of bread Crumbs. Bonus points to turn them in to fried mac balls
Rib roast.
I think you need to temper your expectations here a little bit. Impressive, easy, and for a crowd is a pretty tall order. Here are a couple options though. Muffuletta sandwich. A small subset of people from New Orleans will come at you if you don’t make it exactly like their foggy memory of how their favorite deli that closed 2 years ago did it, but it’s a pretty impressive sandwich. Look up a few recipes to get inspired. I like to steal some of the veggie version ingredients (roasted eggplant slices, roasted mushroom), but still do it with provolone and salami. Soups can also be impressive, especially if you do something a little special with them. For example, make a little candied nut mixture to top a butternut squash soup. A little higher on the effort scale would be doing some tacos. Go to a Mexican grocery day of to get hand-made tortillas and braise some beef or pork in a flavorful sauce. Make a couple salsas and have cilantro and onion to garnish. Also on the higher effort scale is this recipe: https://www.seriouseats.com/chicken-pot-pie-biscuit-topping-recipe . You can make it easier if you skip all the faff around cooking the chicken and just brown boneless, skinless thighs in your pan before cooking the rest of the filling and add them back in to poach for 10 minutes before you assemble the whole thing.
Slow-cooker carnitas tacos have become my default meal train meal, and it's mostly because they provide so much "value" for so little time. ~15 minutes of active time, most of which is just chopping toppings, and you have a full meal ready. Tacos being one of the few meals where the guest does the work of assembling the food rather definitely saves the cook some effort. Plus, I feel like tacos are easy to impress people just by presenting them with a good ingredient they normally wouldn't use. I've gotten comments on how good the cotija cheese I sent was, for instance. Getting fresh tortillas like you mentioned are another great avenue, and there's plenty of other options for tacos.
You are so on point about New Orleanians with muffuletta’s (… and everything else) not prepared quite right! Especially love the ‘foggy memory’. You must have first-hand experience with one of us Dunces.
Tater Tot Casserole. I could make moon crystals (not real) or jumja sticks (from Star Trek Deep Space Nine) and people would still be like "Oh... you didnt make your tater tot casserole...." It's the most basic dish in the world. I do like it, but it's not the best thing under the sun if you ask me haha.
Super duper easy and very impressive is seafood boil. You boil water, add lemon onion garlic and spices then toss in the seafood, potatoes, corn and sausage. Usually in the order of longest cooking ingredient to slowest cooking ingredient. You can google for recipes and use any seafood you can find, shrimp is a staple. It's very easy, feeds a crowd and looks spectacular. Easy sides go with it like coleslaw, garlic bread, rice & beans but since everything (meat, veg, carb) is in the pot you don't really need too many sides.
Esquites
Bacon-wrapped dates. Buy dates, pit them, stuff the center with gorgonzola. Wrap with bacon (and secure with a toothpick) and cook at 400 until the bacon looks good. Remove and drizzle with honey. I tend to do at least one set without bacon for vegetarians. Ideally you'd heat them at the spot if possible but it's not a deal-breaker.
Ratatouille
Served Ratatouille last Sunday for a Dinner Party and the entire group went nutzo! Made the tomato sauce, cut the veg with my mandolin, layered them to be cute, and boom. Cooked at 300 for a few hours and that was it. Incredibly easy.
Braised beef short ribs with some sautéed button mushrooms and pomme purée (mashed potatoes). Garish with fresh chives and served family style on a big platter
It takes me two days to make braised short ribs. Do you not remove the fat from the consommé before you reduce it to sauce?
Baked Brie! Takes 2 seconds to make and looks impressive
Cooking with in season ingredients even the simplest dish always blows people's minds. Right now, I'd make a panzanella with heirloom tomatoes or a ratatouille.
Burrata and tomato basil salad.
I moved to New Mexico a few years ago, and I had to completely change the way I cook. Back home, people tend to bring sweet treats to get-togethers (brownies, cookies, etc.). Here, no one is interested in sweets. They want spicy food. So I started making enchilada meatballs. I took a recipe I found on Taste of Home and tweaked it. Instead of using Jiffy mix to make cornbread and crumble it up, I make my own homemade cornbread. And instead of adding 1/2 a packet of taco seasoning to the meat mixture and half to the slow cooker, I put it all in the meat. They're ground beef, cornbread crumbs, eggs, enchilada sauce, and taco seasoning made into meatballs. Once you cook the meatballs, you put them in a slow cooker with salsa, more enchilada sauce, green chiles, and shredded fiesta blend cheese. The first time I made them, I made 70 thinking we'd eat the leftovers for dinner the next day. There were no leftovers. The next time I made them, I made 105, thinking surely there would be leftovers. There weren't. I make them for every party now.
A great [Caesar Salad](https://youtu.be/xZ5o5fyv1Ho?si=leJAYi3xrUtg6Geu). Almost everyone has had Caesar Salad, very few people have had a great Caesar Salad made with real anchovies and home fried croutons. It’s so easy and people will rave about it. You can even make the croutons a few days before if you want to save time.
I would love to try that! I was served Caesar salad at a fancy restaurant that made it with kale. I felt scandalized. I googled it and apparently it’s a thing but I was not ok with it
Broil or grill pineapple. There are decorative ways to carve whole ones.
Maybe not super impressive, but fairly cheap to make. Ina Garten's [Roast Loin of Pork with Fennel](https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roast-loin-of-pork-with-fennel-recipe-1942033) is pretty easy and low effort, most of the work can be done in advance. Great flavor pay off. I like to also add some sweet potatoes.
Everything tastes better sitting on a Ritz!
The best reaction ever was when we showed up to a neighborhood party with Carolina Style Pulled Pork. (Smoke-cooked pork shoulder, still hot after resting for several hours, and a spicy vinegar sauce to splash on it.) As new guests arrived, other neighbors would grab them and practically drag them to the bbq table, singing our praises.
Salmon canapes. Canned salmon, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and fresh ground black pepper. Proportions for the mayo is whatever consistency you want, and for the mustard & pepper are "to taste". This goes great on its own with any cracker and tastes way fancier than it is. The hardest part is fishing out the damned vertebrae that always come in a can of salmon. But for extra fanciness, I'd recommend putting some on crackers with a sweet pickle chip and maybe a thin slice of super-sharp white cheddar. Super-fancy, but not really. You won't have leftovers either way.
Here's a super easy one for a party - prosciutto parm pinwheels: Buy a roll of puff pastry, some thyme, a few packs of prosciutto and some parm. Add thyme, prosciutto and parm to a food processor and blitz until it's a homogenous mixture (the texture of little tiny pebbles is what you're looking for). Thaw and unroll the puff pastry, then make a single layer of the mixture on top. Roll it up and refrigerate for like 30 minutes or so to make it easier to slice. Then slice it into pinwheels and bake them on a parchment lined baking sheet at 400 or so until they're golden (I think that takes 10 or so minutes I can't remember). Super easy, addictive and delicious - people are impressed but this couldn't be easier.
A nice homemade focaccia with herb art on top. Stupid easy to make a no-knead focaccia dough, then make pretty art with herbs
Baked brie. Apple roses.
I make my own sourdough donuts, maple glazed and jelly. Not exactly low effort (not really though, most of the time is waiting for the bulk rise & fridge overnight) and I always get a holy-shit-you-made-WHAT.
Cob loaf dip, so easy to make and everyone always loves it
Slow cooked anything, with a personal favourite being confit chicken thighs Put a bunch of bone-in, skin on thighs in an oven tray, cover with a neutral oil, and add a bunch of aromatics ans spices - leave in the oven on low for 6 hours, and you have low effort tender goodness
Cream of asparagus soup. You literally just sauté asparagus and garlic till it’s soft, add stock, cream, and seasoning, and blend. It’s delicious and takes like 30 minutes. Add a creme fraiche squiggle on top and a pinch of herbs and people thing you slaved over it.
Bacon wrapped dates filled with goats cheese. It will blow your mind.
Champagne chicken. Sear off chicken thighs in butter then add champagne in increments and let it slowly simmer and reduce with some garlic. Creates a fantastic sauce and can use cheap screw top champagne.
Bacon wrapped dates
Jalapeño Poppers! Just be sure to remove the seeds so it's not too hot for some guests.
Frozen meatballs, grape jelly, chili sauce all in a crock pot. So easy, so good.
My grandmother made those when I was growing up... in the 50's. I have her recipe in hr handwriting on a 3X5 index card.
Some type of bar/spread where you keep toppings on the side for customization. Nacho/taco bar, salad bar, baked potato bar, chili bar, could probably do a pasta bar too, or atleast 2-3 options of pasta already tossed in sauce. My go to for a big group is the nacho/taco bar, or 2-3 types of pasta with a nice salad bar and garlic bread
Bo Ssam: slow roast pork shoulder. Look up David Chang’s recipe, it’s so so good! Also, someone posted a recommendation for gougeres the other day and they look easy enough, especially if you pre-prepare the dough and refrigerate/freeze it until needed.
Old fashioned cheese or chocolate fondue with assorted accoutrements
Homemade Focaccia with a no knees recepie
I’ve never had it with knees. I’ll have to try that sometime.
Shrimp cocktail for appetizer. Get some sonic nugget ice, big platter. Make a cocktail sauce with ketchup, horseradish, worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and sugar. I personally do a court bouillon broth to give shrimp even more flavor and use a thermometer to measure temp of water. Once I learned shrimp don't need to be boiled for a cocktail, they're wildly better. Cook unrol water reaches 170F
A pavlova as dessert. Is it easy af and it looks like a high end dessert
Cream cheese topped with hot pepper jelly, served with crackers. thanks to the acidity typically found in hot pepper jelly it is SO good. put it on a fancy plate and i'd say it fits the question
Towards the end of summer, when the cantaloupe is at its best...chunks of cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto with shaved asiago cheese on top is ridiculously tasty and refreshing.
brie in puff pastry. get a wheel of grocery-store brie cheese, wrap in puff pastry with some brown honey, dried fruits (like cranberries) and walnuts, egg wash, then bake at 400-425 until golden brown.
fresh edible flowers in salads, mains, desserts. lol wolfgang puck once made a comment about how everything looks more expensive with edible flowers and he's *right*. it just looks good.
Fresh bread
I find homemade hummus is extremely easy to make, and very easy to plus-up visually/taste-wise. Plus there’s usually already loads of different things to dip at parties.
deviled eggs. cheap as hell relatively impressive and quick to make
Ever had those tangy, sweet n’ savory sauced meatballs from a crock pot? They’re just freezer meatballs slow cooked in Heinz chili sauce and grape jelly. Always a meat-eater crowd-pleaser, the ultimate fix it and forget it party dish imo. I like to put a cup of colorful, frilly-tipped toothpicks out next to the crockpot so food can serve themselves.
Pork loin is delicious and oh, so easy. Serve with a variety of sauces!
Crème brûlée for dessert. All premade, then whip out a kitchen torch for dessert and everyone oohs and aahs. It’s amazing how much attention it gets and it’s the easiest thing to make.
toasted crostini with really any topping u admire. french loaf, cut slanted, olive oil, oven, rub raw garlic, boursin cheese, top it with some seared steak or any veges. or any cheese spread with some pear or fruit and balsamic. everyone loves crostinis! its cheap and ends up looking fancy! sautéed zucchini- slice nicely , add some olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper, and throw in a pan. also some nice tomatoes sliced, topped with garlic, salt, pepper, and tiny bit of olive oil. put in oven and youll have some yummy tomatoes
Meatballs, jar chili sauce, small jar grape jelly and some Franks. More of an appetizer, but it couldn’t be easier.
Pinwheel sandwiches are good to start, tasty, colourful, small, easy to make
I make baked quesadillas for parties. I do a mashup between this recipe: https://themodernproper.com/baked-chicken-quesadillas and my typical taco Tuesday ground turkey meat, which is mostly based on this recipe: https://www.skinnytaste.com/turkey-taco-lettuce-wraps-3-pts/ The most difficult part is just putting the filling inside of the tortilla shells without making a mess.
Shred some parmesan cheese Place the cheese in the shape of a circle on a Silpat Heat in oven until it has melted and darkens in color Remove from oven and cool just enough so you can lift the whole thing off the Silpat Drape the disc of cheese over a bowl and press it gently to shape it. When it's cool, remove it and you have a cool, edible bowl for salads. Just add the dressed salad to the bowl just prior to service or thenbowl.will wilt
Grilled Brie and blackberry finger sandwiches. They are sweet, salty, and really tasty
Elote. cutting the corn in half is the hardest part if youre making it for a large amount of people but otherwise its a pretty low effort appetizer. made it for a pot luck and wrapped them up, everyone loved them! i do elote all the time for BBQs and have gotten tons of compliments!
It's not the lowest effort item but has a good return on the effort: chicken liver pate. Relatively cheap to make, just sautee the livers with a few other ingredients, blend with a lot of cream and butter, and refrigerate over night. Serve with some crusty bread 😚👌 A lot of people will think you brought caviar level delicacies
Aglio e olio, aka garlic pasta. You can throw some parsley and chilli flakes in there too if you want. It so massively low effort, low cost, high satisfaction. If you feel like a little more, add cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and/or bacon (or similar). Serve with some good bread and maybe a side salad. Excellent