If you’re looking for Eurovision party food ideas for the Eurovision Song Contest Semi Finals and Eurovision Grand Final on Friday and Saturday night, we have loads of suggestions for you. We’ve got recipes for retro dips in keeping with the theme of the international song contest to classic European dishes to sustain you all over the 4-hour final if you’re feeding a crowd. Australians are huge Eurovision fans so we’ll be watching along with you this weekend.
If you’re looking for Eurovision party food ideas for the Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals on Friday night and Grand Final on Saturday night (Sunday morning in Australia), I’ve pulled together some recipes for daggy retro dips and starters in keeping with the kitschy-camp theme of the global song contest to kick off your Eurovision gathering.
We’ve also got some European mains to sustain you all through the epic four hours of the Eurovision Grand Final. These are all recipes that are easy to scale up if you’re having a sizeable group of friends over. They’re also perfect for soaking up the booze if you’re really planning to party. Don’t find inspo below? We’ve got more ideas for dishes for feeding a crowd in this post.
But before I share my Eurovision party food ideas I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-supported. If you’ve cooked our recipes, please consider supporting Grantourismo. You could buy a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever; buy something on Amazon, such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers, classic cookbooks for serious cooks, and gifts for Asian food lovers and picnic lovers; or book a cooking class or meal with locals on EatWith. Now let me tell you more about my Eurovision party food ideas.
Eurovision Party Food Ideas for the Eurovision Grand Final
Our Eurovision party food ideas include everything from retro dips to scoop up with crackers to classic European dishes that a perfect for feeding a crowd.
Creamy Eastern European Style Dill Dip
My classic dill dip recipe tops my list of Eurovision party food ideas. It makes a quick and easy, creamy Eastern European style dip made from tangy dill pickles, zingy purple shallots, garlic chives and loads of fragrant fresh dill stirred into sour cream and cream cheese, and seasoned with salt and white pepper. Just garnish with fresh dill and serve with crackers, crisps or crunchy crudités
Easy Dill Dip Recipe for a Creamy Eastern European Style Dip that’s a Retro-Classic
Creamy Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe
Next on my list of must-make Eurovision party food ideas is this creamy smoked salmon dip recipe. It’s made with cream cheese, tangy sour cream, salty capers, dill pickles, purple shallots, a pinch of paprika, and plenty of fresh perfumed dill. My recipe beats a store-bought dip any day. While it might cost you a bit more to make, nothing tops homemade and you’ll taste the difference in the fresh herbs and proper salmon.
Creamy Smoked Salmon Dip Recipe with Salty Capers, Dill Pickles, Paprika and Fresh Dill
Homemade Retro French Onion Dip
Make this homemade French onion dip recipe for a rich, creamy caramelised onion dip that will take you back in time to the dips you helped your mum make for backyard barbecues by stirring French onion soup mix into cream cheese or sour cream. Made from scratch, this onion dip recipe makes an even more delicious dip and is worth the little extra effort, and it’s another of my top suggestions for Eurovision party food ideas.
Traditional French Tapenade from Provence
Based on the traditional French recipe, this easy olive tapenade recipe is made with only four ingredients – black olives, capers, anchovies, and olive oil – although I add a little red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar though not strictly traditional. While hailing from Provence in Southern France, olive tapenade is a quintessentially Mediterranean olive spread, which is why I love to use the juiciest olives from Kalamata, briny capers from Pantelleria, Ortiz salted anchovies from Spain, and grassy extra virgin olive oil from Valencia. Serve with cheese straws or toasted baguette slices.
Easy Olive Tapenade Recipe for Traditional French Tapenade from Provence
Easy Creamy Butter Bean Dip Recipe
Our easy butter bean dip recipe makes a creamy hummus-like Mediterranean dip flavoured with garlic, onion, cumin, and lemon. A little Greek yoghurt gives this creamy white bean dip an even creamier consistency, while fresh lemon juice adds tang, and cumin brings subtle spice. Finished with extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkle of smoky paprika, it’s fantastic with crispy pita chips and crudités, and is easily another of our best Eurovision party food ideas.
Easy Butter Bean Dip Recipe for a Creamy Hummus Style Dip with Crispy Pita Chips and Crudités
Spanish Tapas Spread
After your guests have finished grazing on your retro dips, serve up these tapas dishes from Spain and they’ll be very happy. We have recipes for Spanish meatballs called albondigas, chorizo and potato croquettes for croquetas de patata y chorizo, the classic garlic shrimp or gambas al ajillo, a Spanish chorizo in red wine recipe for chorizo al vino tinto, and calamari a la plancha.
If you’re not familiar with Spanish tapas, a tapa is a small snack plate offered at tapas bars in Spain and abroad – ‘tapas’ is plural – where a tapas bar crawl is the best means by which to sample these delicious snacks. While it’s a bit tricky to replicate an actual tapas bar crawl in your own home, making a spread of tapas is the next best thing, and your Eurovision party guests will be very happy to feast on this tapas spread. Especially washed down with jugs of sangria!
Best Spanish Tapas Recipes for a Tapas Bar Feast at Home that’s Hopping!
Basque Pintxo Recipes for Basque Style Tapas for Easy Entertaining
Our Basque pintxos recipes make Basque snacks called ‘pintxos’ in Basque or ‘pinchos’ in Spanish. Pronounced ‘peen-chos’ and offered in bars in Spain’s Basque Country, most famously in the city of San Sebastian, pintxos are often likened to Spanish tapas but are more like Italian crostini. Easy to make, these Basque snacks are perfect for easy entertaining and relaxed get-togethers such as your Eurovision party.
Our recipes will make you classic Basque snacks of tasty toppings on toasted baguette slices or homemade croutons that are typically served buffet-style on bar counter-tops. Effortless to prepare, as affordable or as expensive as you like, and easy to eat, pintxos are perfect for laidback gatherings. Serve them alongside your Spanish tapas for casual fuss-free eating.
You could make the potato tortilla a couple of days before (we have recipes for potato tortilla with onion and potato tortilla with chorizo), and prepare the savoury mince with baharat seven spice blend the day before. We have a homemade hummus recipe and olive tapenade recipe, which could also be prepped a day or two in advance.
Basque Pintxo Recipes for Basque Style Tapas for Easy Entertaining
Classic French Onion Soup Recipe with a Twist
Terence has long made a wonderful hearty French onion soup based on Julia Child’s classic French onion soup recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. My parents owned a French restaurant when I was a child, and the French onion soup of my childhood was similar, made by my mother and based on the French onion soup recipe in Larousse Gastronomique.
My recipe makes a classic French onion soup which I give a subtle Southeast Asian twist. Having lived in Asia for so long, I can’t help myself. Based on French chef Raymond Blanc’s vegetarian French onion soup recipe, which uses toasted flour to add a nuttiness to the broth, I added a little fish sauce for umami and star anise for aroma and flavour to create a deeply-flavoured onion soup. Make a big pot for your Eurovision party and serve with crusty baguettes.
French Onion Soup Recipe for a Deeply Flavoured Soup with an Asian Twist
German Meatballs in a Creamy Caper Gravy
Hold your tongues until you taste these melt-in-the-mouth meatballs. They may not be the most attractive meatballs – they’re not seared brown from pan-frying, nor smothered in a luscious tomato sauce, nor swimming in a creamy mushroom gravy – but the term ‘flavour bomb’ was obviously invented for this meatball. If you’re a meatball lover (more meatball recipes here for you), you’re going to love these.
Our German meatballs recipe makes deliciously tender meatballs in a delightfully tangy caper gravy that are traditionally served with buttered parsley potatoes. Alternatively, tou could serve these melt-in-the-mouth meatballs with creamy mashed potatoes in cold weather or with coleslaw or a crisp garden salad in warmer months.
German Meatballs Recipe for Juicy Meatballs in a Creamy Caper Gravy
Spaghetti and Meatballs from Southern Italy
My best spaghetti and meatballs recipe makes an incredibly delicious version of the much-loved comfort food classic with juicy meatballs and a rich tomato sauce made from scratch, and I reckon it’s one of our best pasta recipes. The spaghetti is combined with the sauce before serving in true Italian style (not spooned over the pasta when it’s on the plate), and is topped with the meatballs, plenty of Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh basil.
My spaghetti and meatballs recipe incorporates this rich tomato sauce recipe (below) – which I also used on this classic chicken parma recipe – and my homemade Italian meatballs recipe, however, for your convenience I’ve combined both recipes into this recipe. A generous sprinkle of Parmigiano Reggiano and fragrant fresh basil leaves complete this classic comfort food favourite. Make a big batch for your Eurovision party!
Best Spaghetti and Meatballs Recipe for the Comfort Food Favourite
Easy Broccoli Pasta with a Deliciously Creamy Sauce
My easy broccoli pasta recipe with a creamy broccoli pesto sauce makes a delicious alternative to basil pesto pasta. Broccoli is a super-food, rich in fibre, vitamins and minerals, making it a healthy pasta sauce. While the dollop of sour cream or cream is optional, don’t skip the lemon juice, which enlivens the dish, or the chilli flakes, which add warmth.
The recipe takes just half an hour to make a fantastic year-round pasta and it scales up very easily if you’re feeding a group of friends or family. It’s definitely one for the broccoli lovers, and for those of you who, like me, love a good Italian basil pesto pasta but aren’t a fan of store-bought pesto and can’t source fresh Italian basil to make homemade Genoese pesto. If you fit that description, you’re going to adore this dish.
Easy Broccoli Pasta Recipe with a Deliciously Creamy Broccoli Pesto Sauce
Italian-Australian Chicken Cacciatore Pasta Recipe
Okay, so not Italian, but Italian-Australian inspired. This spaghetti cacciatore, like the chicken cacciatore recipe, is a result of reminiscing over glasses of wine about our Australian childhoods, which inevitably turns to recollections of food memories. Terence was telling me about an Italian restaurant his parents took the kids to that specialised in chicken cacciatore and spaghetti cacciatore.
I took it as a challenge to create the best chicken cacciatore recipe and spaghetti cacciatore recipe. For Italians, chicken cacciatore, a main course or second course, should never be combined with pasta, a first course. Chicken cacciatore is only eaten with rustic bread to mop up the sauce. But in the Italian diasporas in Australia and the USA and elsewhere, that’s exactly what happened.
Chicken Cacciatore Pasta Recipe for Spaghetti Cacciatore for a Retro-Classic
Chicken Schnitzel Recipe with Crunchy Panko, Parmesan and Lemon Zest
Our best chicken schnitzel recipe makes moist, tender chicken fillets with a super crunchy panko breadcrumb coating elevated with lemon zest and parmesan. These old-fashioned Australian style chicken schnitties will take you right back to the 1970s and they’re super easy to make.
For a complete nostalgia trip, squeeze some lemon wedges over the schnitzels and serve them with a side of potato salad. This Mediterranean-style warm potato salad recipe with capers, anchovies, chives, and celery leaves is a perfect side to this chicken schnitzel. We’ve got more potato salad recipes here.
Chicken Schnitzel Recipe with Crunchy Panko Breadcrumb Coating with Parmesan and Lemon Zest
Chicken Parmigiana Recipe for a Classic Chicken Parma in the Italian Australian Style
This chicken parmigiana recipe makes a delicious chicken parma in the Italian Australian style that appeared in the 1950s and became a popular mid-week pub counter meal special in the 1980s. Our homemade chicken parmy recipe makes succulent chicken breast fillets with a crunchy breadcrumb coating, topped with a rich tomato sauce and melted parmesan cheese and mozzarella.
If you’ve made our chicken schnitzel recipe and my rich Italian tomato sauce recipe and enjoyed those then you’re going to love this endearingly old-fashioned chicken parmigiana recipe. And so will your Eurovision party guests! One of our best chicken cutlet recipes, it makes a home-cooked chicken parma in the Italian Australian style of the parmies popularised in pub bistros in Australia and it’s perfect for a Eurovision gathering.
Chicken Parmigiana Recipe for a Classic Chicken Parma in the Italian Australian Style
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make any of our best Eurovision party food ideas as we love to know how our recipes turn out for you.
