Our Best Potluck Ideas For When You Are Asked to Bring a Plate to Dinner

This quick and easy homemade pita chips recipe will make you super crunchy baked pita crisps that are made within minutes. They’re perfect for scooping up dips such a hummus, baba ghanoush, guacamole, and salsas, or using in the Arabic salad fattoush. They’re also versatile – brush them with olive oil flavoured with spices or herbs to complement any dip.

Easy Homemade Pita Chips Recipe for Crunchy Baked Pita Crisps Made in Minutes

 

Homemade Sourdough Bread Loaf

There are few things better in life than a homemade sourdough bread loaf, still warm from the oven, and there’s nothing like sharing a loaf or two with friends. This simple sourdough bread recipe is essentially a beginner’s guide to baking sourdough bread. If you don’t have a sourdough starter ready to bake, you’ll also find a simple sourdough starter recipe in the post.

Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe – Beginners Guide to Baking Sourdough Bread

Simple Sourdough Batard for the Baguette’s Lesser Known Cousin

This simple sourdough batard recipe makes the French baguette’s lesser known cousin, the bâtard. This oval-shaped loaf is not as long or as narrow as a baguette but it’s longer than a round sourdough boule and is therefore infinitely more practical for making sandwiches with less bread going to waste.

Simple Sourdough Batard Recipe for Making the Baguette’s Lesser Known Cousin

Olive Sourdough Bread with Rosemary, Thyme and Sweet Red Capsicum

This olive sourdough bread recipe with Kalamáta olives, rosemary, thyme, and sweet fire-roasted capsicum makes a deliciously moist sourdough bread that is fantastic for sandwiches or toasted and spread with toppings such as ’nduja or just dipped into virgin olive oil and sea salt, and it’s another of our best potluck ideas. Bake a few loaves if you can and everybody will be very happy.

Olive Sourdough Bread Recipe With Rosemary, Thyme and Sweet Red Capsicum

Potluck Finger Food and Hand Pies

It’s hard to beat finger food and hand pies for potlucks. They transport well and no cutlery needed to wash up afterwards. Just don’t forget the hand sanitiser, napkins and ‘Wet Ones’.

Devilled Eggs

My devilled eggs recipe makes very moreish Russian stuffed eggs with a creamy filling of the yolks of hard-boiled eggs mashed with mayonnaise, mustard, paprika, dill pickles, purple shallots, and perfumed dill. They may have been a feature on the zakuski buffets before the elaborate banquets of Russian emperors but they’ll travel well in a plastic container to your potluck dinner.

Russian Devilled Eggs Recipe for a Zakuski Table Fit for a Russian Tzar

Blini with Smoked Salmon, Dill and Sour Cream

This Russian buckwheat pancakes recipe makes blini with smoked salmon, dill, sour cream, and a ‘caviar’ of gherkin and radish. These are cocktail size blini that are perfect for snacking and entertaining, and while this is a savoury topping you could also spread these little pancakes with jam and cream. For potlucks, we recommend transporting the components in separate containers and assembling at your host’s home.

Russian Buckwheat Pancakes Recipe for Blini with Smoked Salmon, Dill and Sour Cream

Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This spicy chicken lettuce wraps recipe makes a Southeast Asian take on the Chinese lettuce cups from Southern China and Hong Kong, popularised in Chinese-Australian restaurants. Our minced chicken lettuce cups take inspiration from northern Southeast Asia, from both savoury larbs (minced meat salads) and the local custom of wrapping street food snacks in lettuce. This is perfect potluck food and another of our best potluck ideas.

Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps Recipe for a Southeast Asian Take on San Choi Bao

Traditional Scotch Eggs with a Thai Twist

This traditional Scotch eggs recipe for the classic British picnic snack has a Thai-influenced twist inspired by the Thai stir-fry favourite, pad kra pao or pad gaprao. Scotch eggs are traditionally made with a boiled egg wrapped in seasoned sausage meat, which is crumbed and deep-fried. Here, Terence has given the minced pork a pad kra pao flavour. These are a perfect potluck contribution.

Traditional Scotch Eggs Recipe with a Thai Inspired Pad Kra Pao Twist

Russian Piroshki Minced Meat-Filled Hand Pies

This Russian piroshki recipe makes perfect savoury minced meat-filled pastries, also known as Russian hand pies. Eaten as a snack or with borscht, my baboushka also served piroshki as one of an array of Russian dishes for family gatherings. While we preferred deep-fried piroshki, these can also be baked. They’re another of our best potluck ideas.

Best Russian Piroshki Recipe for Perfect Savoury Minced Meat-Filled Hand Pies

 

Vietnamese Fresh Prawn and Pork Spring Rolls

This Vietnamese fresh prawn and pork spring rolls recipe is a classic recipe for traditional gỏi cuốn – which is a cold spring roll of cold cooked prawns, unseasoned pork belly, cold vermicelli noodles, and fresh aromatic herbs, wrapped in damp dry rice paper sheets. They’re light, zingy and refreshing and are perfect for potlucks.

Vietnamese Fresh Prawn and Pork Spring Rolls Recipe for Classic Gỏi Cuốn

Vietnamese Pineapple Omelette and Prawn Summer Rolls

This Vietnamese pineapple omelette and prawn summer rolls recipe makes the fresh spring rolls found in tropical Southern Vietnam, the Mekong Delta and Southern Cambodia that can be served as a healthy snack, light appetiser, part of a shared family-style meal or as finger food for a Southeast Asian feast, barbecue or potluck.

Vietnamese Pineapple Omelette and Prawn Summer Rolls Recipe

Cambodian Fried Spring Rolls

This classic Cambodian fried spring rolls recipe makes a crunchy deep-fried egg roll filled with minced pork, dried shrimp, carrot, garlic, and daikon radish or taro, seasoned with fish sauce, Kampot pepper, sea salt, and palm sugar. We also have a Cambodian fried spring roll dipping sauce recipe to go with it.

Cambodian Fried Spring Rolls Recipe for Crispy Deep-Fried Egg Rolls Just Like in Cambodia

Vietnamese Deep Fried Spring Rolls

Our Vietnamese deep fried spring rolls recipe for nem ran as they’re known in Hanoi and Northern Vietnam is a classic and it’s easy to make. Crunchy and chewy with a bubbly surface, these Hanoi-style fried spring rolls are eaten with bun cha or wrapped in lettuce and fresh herbs.

Vietnamese Deep Fried Spring Rolls Recipe – Classic Nem Rán Recipe

Cambodian Pork Meatballs for Wraps, Rolls and Sandwiches

This Cambodian pork meatballs recipe makes a juicy meatball that’s flavourful and fragrant from some of the quintessential Cambodian ingredients used in a Khmer kroeung or herb and spice paste: shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, and kaffir lime. Small in size, they’re perfect for wraps and rolls, soups, salads, and sandwiches, in the form of num pang, Cambodia’s baguette.

Cambodian Pork Meatballs Recipe for Wraps, Rolls, Soups, Salads and Sandwiches

Potluck Frittatas and Tortillas

Frittata with Chorizo and Caramelised Onions

Frittatas are perhaps the best of the best potluck ideas and this frittata recipe with chorizo and caramelised onions makes an especially fantastic potluck dish. People can eat it on its own, with a salad, or with a crunchy baguette.

Frittata Recipe with Chorizo and Caramelised Onions for Weekend Eggs

Spanish Tortilla de Cebolla

This tortilla de cebolla recipe makes the best Spanish potato omelette with onions, which, like the frittata above, is delicious eaten on its own or with a salad or in a baguette, and is another perfect dish for a potluck dinner.

Tortilla de Cebolla Recipe – How to Make the Best Spanish Potato Omelette with Onions

Mexican Migas Tortilla

This Mexican migas recipe with a twist makes a ‘Migas tortilla’ made with homemade crispy tortilla chips. In Mexico, migas is a scrambled eggs dish that uses up stale corn tortilla or wheat flour tortillas made into crispy tortilla chips. We created a migas tortilla inspired by the Spanish tortilla and, it’s fab for potlucks.

Mexican Migas Recipe with a Twist – Meet the ‘Migas Tortilla’ Made with Homemade Crispy Tortilla Chips

 

Traditional Australian Sausage Roll

Sausage rolls and meat pies are some of the best potluck ideas and it’s hard to beat homemade traditional Aussie sausage rolls. These are adapted from a recipe by our friend Jane Lawson, from her wonderful nostalgic cookbook Milkbar Memories.

Sausage Roll Recipe – How to Make Delicious Homemade Sausage Rolls

Curry Beef Pie Recipe Made With Cambodian Saraman Curry

This Cambodian-inspired curry beef pie recipe is filled with a Cambodian Saraman curry, the richest and most complex of Cambodian curries and one of the few that uses beef as the base protein in a country that loves its pork, chicken, fish, and seafood.

Curry Beef Pie Recipe Made With Cambodian Saraman Curry

Curried Beef Sausage Rolls Recipe Made With Cambodian Saraman Curry

This homemade curried beef sausage roll is made with the same Cambodian Saraman curry, above, and the puff pastry of a normal sausage roll, but instead of the traditional sausage roll spices, we’ve used Cambodian Saraman curry paste to flavour the beef.

Homemade Curried Beef Sausage Rolls Recipe Made With Cambodian Saraman Curry

Homemade Chicken Curry Pie Recipe Made with Cambodian Chicken Curry

This chicken curry pie recipe uses the classic Cambodian chicken curry to make a flavourful spicy chicken pie. Unlike the classic curried chicken pie which uses curry powder to flavour the chicken filling, this recipe uses the classic Cambodian chicken curry with potatoes, long beans and Asian eggplants, which we’ve included to create a really hearty chicken pie.

Homemade Chicken Curry Pie Recipe Made with Cambodian Chicken Curry

Pepper Steak Pie Recipe for a Cambodian Beef Lok Lak Meat Pie

This pepper steak pie recipe makes a Cambodian beef lok lak meat pie inspired by one of Cambodia’s most popular street food-style dishes. This pepper steak pie recipe is authentic in essence, making a very traditional beef lok lak that’s been tweaked to serve as a hearty meat pie filling. While you could use any pepper, try to get your hands on Cambodia’s excellent Kampot Pepper, available online on Amazon for authentic Cambodian flavours.

Pepper Steak Pie Recipe for a Cambodian Beef Lok Lak Meat Pie

Fried Chicken and Roast Chicken

Southern Fried Chicken

A platter of fried chicken is one of the best potluck ideas. This Southern fried chicken recipe by Belles Hot Chicken’s chef Morgan McGlone makes some of the best fried chicken in the spicy Nashville-style of chicken outside of the USA. Australian chef Morgy McGlone learnt to make it during his time in the South, where he immersed himself in learning how to make and perfect the South’s famous hot chicken. It’s fantastic warm or cold.

This Southern Fried Chicken Recipe Makes Belles Hot Chicken’s Spicy Nashville Style Chicken

Best Burmese Fried Chicken

This Burmese fried chicken recipe makes the gently spiced fried chicken drumsticks, which are a popular street food snack in Myanmar. The finger-licking fried chicken pieces are sold at roadside stalls to take away or eat at plastic tables set up around the stall, we make these finger-licking fried chicken pieces at home and dip them into homemade sweet chilli sauce.

Best Burmese Fried Chicken Recipe for a Spicy Street Food Snack from Myanmar at Home

Roast Chicken with Aromatic Cambodian Herb Butter and Stuffing

Sure, you could pick up some rotisserie roast chickens from the takeway en route to your potluck dinner, but our roast chicken recipe makes a fragrant, flavoursome and moist roast chicken thanks to a Cambodian inspired herb butter and a stuffing made with yellow kroeung, an aromatic Khmer herb and spice paste pounded from fresh lemongrass, kaffir lime zest, galangal, turmeric, garlic, and shallots. We recommend roasting your chook on the morning of the potluck and carving it when you arrive.

Best Roast Chicken Recipe with Aromatic Cambodian Herb Butter and Stuffing

Potluck Salads

Most salads don’t travel well. Cucumbers and tomatoes go soft and herbs and lettuce go soggy. The exceptions and the best potluck salads are potato salads and coleslaws, both of which taste better after they’ve sat for a while. 

Russian Potato Salad

This Russian potato salad recipe for the Olivier Salad makes an old Russian salad that was popularised in the 20th century during the Soviet period, and would then go on to travel the world, becoming known as ensalada Rusa everywhere from Madrid to Mexico, Barcelona to Buenos Aires. The typical Soviet-era Russian potato salad ingredients list included potatoes, carrots, onion, peas, gherkins, and mayonnaise.

Russian Potato Salad Recipe for the Olivier Salad Also Known as Ensalada Rusa

Russian Beet Potato Salad

Potato salads are the best potluck ideas. This Russian beetroot potato salad recipe makes vinegret, a creamy pink potato and beetroot salad that is fragrant with dill and delightfully tangy, thanks to the gherkins and capers. Based on my baboushka’s recipe, it was a staple at family meals, holiday feasts, Sunday lunches, and picnics. It can be a pale pink like the salad below or a deep dark ruby-pink in this photo. Fresh beetroots always result in a more vibrant colour than tinned beetroots.

Russian Beetroot Potato Salad Recipe for Family Meals and Holiday Feasts

Thai Corn Salad

Our Thai corn salad recipe makes a simple tossed corn salad that’s inspired by a popular som tam style salad that’s pounded in a mortar and pestle. While we do love a good classic Thai som tam (recipe above), for us this salad works best as a tossed salad. For those nice char marks and smoky aroma, we do the corn cobs on a griddle pan or a stovetop Korean BBQ grill pan if we’re cooking inside or grill it over a traditional clay brazier if we’re cooking out.

Thai Corn Salad Recipe for a Filling Summer Lunch or a Perfect Side for Thai Style Fried Chicken

Mexican Grilled Corn Salad

One of my best potluck ideas, this Mexican grilled corn salad recipe makes a terrific salad for a potluck meal. You can serve it as a traditional tossed salad in a big bowl or you can serve it individually. 

Mexican Grilled Corn Salad Recipe for a Taste of Mexico at Home

Grilled Corn Salad With Lime, Chilli, Lemongrass Mayo and Sourdough Croutons

If you enjoyed the Mexican grilled corn salad, you will love my grilled corn salad with lime, chilli, lemongrass mayonnaise, and sourdough croutons, which is one of my all-time favourite salads and definitely one of our best potluck ideas. Terence makes the croutons with the crunchy end of near-stale sourdough.

Grilled Corn Salad Recipe With Lime, Chilli, Lemongrass Mayo and Sourdough Croutons

Cambodian Pork Larb

Our Cambodian pork larb recipe makes laab sach chrouk, a stir-fried minced pork salad that’s combined with fresh fragrant herbs, infused with the delightfully funky flavour of fish sauce, dusted with toasted rice powder, and served with crunchy vegetables. We like to stir-fry our larbs in a round bottomed wok. The larb – or larp, laab, laap, lab, and lap – is found right across Southeast Asia but likely originated in Cambodia.

Pork Larb Recipe for Cambodian Laab Sach Chrouk – A Fragrant Pork Mince Salad

Thai Chicken Larb for Larb Gai

This Thai larb gai recipe is one of my best potluck ideas. It makes a classic spicy minced chicken salad from Thailand that is super easy to cook, comes together in minutes, and is very versatile. Adapted from chef David Thompson’s chicken larb recipe from his Thai Street Food cookbook, this is a gently-spiced ground chicken salad, however, you can easily heat things up with more chilli flakes which you can take along in a shaker. Make sure to sprinkle on some toasted rice powder or ground roasted rice called khao khua.

Tasty Thai Larb Gai Recipe for a Spicy Minced Chicken Salad from Thailand

 

What are your best potluck ideas when you are asked to bring a plate? Let us know in the comments below.