These New Years Day brunch menu suggestions are for those of you who don’t want the party to end tonight and decide to spontaneously invite friends over for a New Year’s Day brunch buffet tomorrow. You’ve never done that? There’s no time like tonight! We have summer and winter menus, both do-able with a helper or two – or pick a few dishes, buy plenty of croissants, and put the bubbly on ice.
If you’re a brunch-lover bewildered by the backlash against brunch – because brunch evolved into something far removed from its original form, a lovely languorous meal that straddles breakfast and lunch – then here’s your chance to help bring brunch back. We also have New Years Day breakfast ideas if you’re more of a breakfast person.
My favourite kind of brunch is a casual meal at home with family and friends that stretches from mid-morning into the late afternoon. But also fun is a buffet-style brunch feast that guests can graze on at their leisure and we have some New Years Day brunch menu ideas for you for just that.
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New Years Day Brunch Menu Ideas for a Celebratory Buffet Fit For Your Friends
These are our new years day brunch menu ideas for summer and winter.
New Years Day Brunch Menu – Summer Edition
New Years Day Brunch Menu – Summer Edition
Devilled Eggs with Caviar
Prawn Cocktails
Cambodian Ceviche
Southeast Asian BLT Breakfast Salad
Salmon Potato Salad with Soft-Boiled Jammy Eggs
Devilled Eggs with Caviar
Topping our list of New Years Day brunch menu ideas is this devilled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar recipe. It makes an elegant canapé or a treat to savour with a glass of bubbly. It was traditionally served as part of a festive spread of zakuski or appetisers that were the prelude to a lavish family feast, and is a particularly luxurious take on my zesty Russian devilled eggs recipe, below.
Devilled Eggs with Smoked Salmon and Caviar Recipe for Elegant Cocktail Party Canapés
Prawn Cocktails
This classic prawn cocktail recipe is another of my best New Years Day brunch menu ideas if you’re lucky enough to enjoy brunch in the sun tomorrow. It makes my take on the retro appetiser popularised in the 1970s that will never go out of style. Tiger prawns boiled quickly in their shells so they’re just done are peeled, tossed in a creamy tangy ‘seafood sauce’, and served on a bed of lettuce salad, dressed with the same sauce.
Classic Prawn Cocktail Recipe for the Retro Seventies Starter that Never Goes Out of Style
Cambodian Ceviche
This traditional Khmer raw fish salad recipe for phlea trei makes a Cambodian ceviche usually made with a local firm white fish ‘cooked’ in citrus juice, and it’s another of my top New Years Day brunch menu suggestions. We use sashimi quality salmon for this dish and while we’ve not marinated the salmon and allowed it to ‘cook’ in the citrus-based dressing as it traditionally is, the dish still has the same wonderful flavour profile and texture.
Traditional Khmer Raw Fish Salad Recipe for the Cambodian Style Ceviche Called Phlea Trei
Southeast Asian Breakfast Salad with Jammy Soft-Boiled Eggs
Our Southeast Asian breakfast salad recipe with jammy soft boiled eggs makes a bacon, lettuce and tomato breakfast salad drizzled in a quintessential Southeast Asian dressing, topped with soft boiled eggs, and sprinkled with fresh fragrant coriander and crispy fried shallots. It makes a fantastic shared breakfast, brunch or lunch that’s perfect for sultry summer weekend mornings
Southeast Asian BLT Breakfast Salad Recipe with Jammy Soft Boiled Eggs
Salmon Potato Salad with Soft-Boiled Eggs
Our salmon potato salad recipe with soft-boiled eggs, capers, gherkins and dill makes a fantastic salad that’s still breakfast-y but could easily be served for lunch or dinner, making it another of my best New Years Day brunch menu ideas. Pan-sear the salmon to your liking. We like our salmon just done if we’re eating this immediately. You can add dollops of caviar for a special meal and replace the fresh salmon with smoked salmon. For perfect boiled eggs see Terence’s excellent guide to boiling perfect eggs every time.
Russian Salmon Potato Salad Recipe with Soft-Boiled Eggs, Gherkins, Capers and Dill
New Years Day Brunch Menu – Winter Edition
New Years Day Brunch Menu – Winter Edition
Devilled Eggs
Mexican Huevos Rancheros
‘Akuri’ Scrambled Eggs
Frittata with Chorizo
Perfect Mushrooms on Toast
Devilled Eggs Recipe
Topping my list of New Years Day brunch menu ideas if you’re seeing in a wintery New Year is my easy devilled eggs recipe. It will make you a delicious Russian retro-classic which, like chicken Kiev and beef Stroganoff, spread like wildfire around the world, featuring on formica trays of hors d’oeuvres at every swinging soirée from Sydney to San Francisco in the 1960s and 1970s. These are very addictive so make more than you need.
Russian Devilled Eggs Recipe for a Zakuski Table Fit for a Russian Tzar
Mexican Huevos Rancheros
Our huevos rancheros recipe will make you Terence’s contemporary-styled Mexican ‘ranch eggs’ with a poached egg rather than fried eggs and it’s another of my best New Years Day brunch menu ideas. With Terence’s modern reinterpretation of this classic Mexican breakfast eggs dish, you get a little velvety egg yolk, the chilli bite of the spicy salsa, a little crunch from the corn ‘powder’, and the robustness of the refried beans with each mouthful.
Mexican Huevos Rancheros Recipe for a Contemporary Take on Traditional Mexican Ranch Eggs
Akuri Recipe for Parsi Style Scrambled Eggs
This akuri recipe makes Parsi style scrambled eggs with tomato, coriander and green chillies. Also spelt akoori, these tasty scrambled eggs are often compared to egg bhurji, one of India’s most popular scrambled eggs dish, but whereas bhurji is flavoured with spices, akuri is fresh and fragrant thanks to its coriander, tomatoes, onions, and green chillies. You can make a big batch of these scrambled eggs and serve scoops on toasted baguette slices and it will feed loads of people.
Akuri Recipe for Parsi Style Scrambled Eggs with Tomato, Coriander and Green Chillies
Frittata Recipe with Chorizo and Caramelised Onions
This frittata recipe with chorizo and caramelised onions is another one of our New Years Day brunch menu ideas. It’s another dish that can be left on the buffet table for guests to help themselves to or you can serve it on individual plates with slices of crunchy toasted baguette brushed with virgin olive oil and a light side salad.
Frittata Recipe with Chorizo and Caramelised Onions for Weekend Eggs
Perfect Mushrooms on Toast Recipe
Our perfect mushrooms on toast recipe makes the most delicious mushrooms sautéed with garlic and shallots in salted butter and olive oil, finished with a dollop of sour cream and plenty of fresh fragrant herbs. It’s one of our best mushroom recipes, and another of our top New Years Day brunch menu ideas.
Perfect Mushrooms on Toast Recipe with Fragrant Herbs and Parmigiano Reggiano
Please do let us know in the comments below if you make any of our New Years Day brunch menu suggestions, as we’d love to hear how they turned out for you.
