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These traditional Easter dinner ideas are sure to make your family Easter dinner a big success. You can’t go wrong with any of these tried-and-true classics. A traditional Easter dinner includes ham, side dishes, salads, and, of course, desserts.
As an added bonus, check out our sample Easter menu plan below (including recipes).
Traditional Easter Dinner
Every year our family gathers together on Easter Sunday to enjoy a traditional ham dinner. On the side, we serve a potato dish, a hot vegetable, and hot homemade rolls. We have our traditional menu plan below, or you can mix and match the recipes below to create your own special Easter dinner.
Easter Appetizers
As family and friends start to gather, we like to set out an appetizer or two. We’ve handpicked four fantastic recipes to elevate your Easter gathering.
Easter Main Dish Recipes
According to marthastewart.com, ham became the meat of choice for Easter dinner because it was more readily available than lamb. However, if ham isn’t your main dish of choice, a roast lamb, pork roast, or a roast beef can also be served for your Easter feast.
As mentioned above, our go-to Easter main-dish is ham. However, we have enjoyed other main dishes as well. If you are looking for a less traditional Easter meal, try one of these recipes using chicken, fish, beef, or pork.
Easter Side Dishes
Hot Potato Side Dishes
You can’t serve a ham dinner without a good hot potato side dish. Typically Easter potatoes are served “casserole-style” in a casserole dish with some kind of sauce and cheese. Some examples of this are funeral potatoes or potatoes au gratin. Our readers have commented saying that they have loved serving our creamy potatoes with peas or our parmesan crusted potato halves with their ham dinners as well. Check them all out and decide for yourself what suits your family best! Any of these Easter dinner ideas will be a winner!
Hot Vegetable Side Dishes
A hot vegetable side dish adds variety, color, and nutrition to an Easter dinner spread. Choose a hot vegetable that will complement the other side dishes on your Easter menu.
Easter Salads
The possibilities are endless when it comes to Easter salads. It’s fun to incorporate hard boiled eggs and spring flavors, like strawberry and lemon. We find ourselves using the following salads time and time again.
Easter Breads
Nothing quite compares to the aroma and taste of freshly baked bread. Homemade rolls are always a good idea. Make extra so you can have ham sandwiches for leftovers! Our classic Easter bread also looks beautiful on the table.
Easter Desserts
When it comes to Easter Desserts and Treats, we don’t mess around. In fact, we love Easter desserts and treats so much, we created an entire, separate post dedicated to them. These tasty treats can be served along with Easter dinner or even as surprises in Easter baskets. They are as fun to make as they are to eat! We featured our Chessmen Banana Pudding with our menu plan below. Here are a few more of our favorites.
Cakes
Pies
Bars and Cookies
Bonus: Leftover Ham Recipes
I don’t know about you, but we ALWAYS seem to have leftovers from Easter dinner. Here are some ideas to help you use up that delicious leftover ham:
Easy Easter Dinner Menu with Recipes
Here is a sample menu plan for a delicious and easy traditional Easter dinner. It features Slow Cooker Ham, Cheesy Potato Casserole, Sautéed Sweet Asparagus, and a Chessman Banana Pudding for dessert. See the recipe notes for tips on timing it all out perfectly. We are taking all of the stress out of it just for you! Please enjoy your beautiful, well-planned Easter dinner!
How to Make a Traditional Easter Dinner
Traditional Easter Dinner Menu
Video
Ingredients
Slow Cooker Spiral Ham
- 8 pound spiral- cut ham (cooked)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 1 cup canned pineapple juice (do not use fresh)
Cheesy Potato Casserole
- 2 pounds hash browns shredded or cubed
- 3 teaspoons salt
- pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 10 ounces condensed cream of chicken soup
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups corn flakes (optional)
- 2 tablespoons butter (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (optional)
Four Layer Banana Pudding
- 2 bags Pepperidge Farms Chessman Cookies
- 6 bananas sliced
- 2 cups milk
- 5 ounces instant vanilla pudding
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
- 12 ounces frozen whipped topping thawed
Instructions
Slow Cooker Spiral Ham
- Remove the ham from packaging and place ham, flat-side down, in a large slow cooker (7 quarts or larger).
- Generously rub brown sugar all over the ham.
- Pour maple syrup and pineapple juice over the ham.
- Place lid on slow cooker and cook for 2-3 hours on low heat.
- 30 minutes prior to serving, remove lid and spoon the juices over the ham. Cover and cook for 30 more minutes.
- Remove ham from slow cooker and serve.
Cheesy Potato Casserole
- Mix all ingredients, except optional toppings, in a large bowl. Spread mixture evenly into a 9×13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
- Optional toppings: Corn flake crumb topping: BEFORE baking Sprinkle corn flake crumbs over casserole. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of melted better over the corn flake crumbs. Bake.Melted cheese topping: Prepare casserole and bake for 50 minutes. Remove casserole from oven and evenly disperse 1 ½ cups of shredded cheese over the casserole. Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.
Sautéed Sweet Asparagus
- Rinse asparagus. Snap off the bottoms of each stalk and discard the bottoms.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add asparagus to the skillet and sprinkle sugar over the stalks.
- Sauté asparagus over medium-high for 5-7 minutes or to your preferred doneness. Serve immediately.
Four Layer Banana Pudding
- Line the bottom of a 9×13 pan with one layer of Chessmen cookies.
- Place sliced bananas on top of the cookie layer.
- In a large bowl, combine milk and pudding mix. Stir until smooth. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk. Stir until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.
- Add the two mixtures together and stir until well combined. Pour mixture over the banana layer.
- Top with another layer of Chessmen cookies (the picture side up) and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
- Prepare the Four Layer Banana Pudding. This can be made the morning of, or the day ahead. It can also be made just after starting the Slow Cooker Ham and still have time to refrigerate so it can be served nice and cold.
- Prepare the Slow Cooker Ham and take a break for an hour. Set the table, clean the kitchen, or watch a show on Netflix. 🙂
- After the ham has been cooking for about an hour, prepare the Cheesy Potato Casserole. Once it’s in the oven, you can take another 45 minute break. If you are making a green salad or other sides, now is a good time to do it.
- At this point the ham has been cooking for about 2 hours. Take it out of the slow cooker and cut it into slices. Place the slices back in the juices in the slow cooker to keep them warm while you sauté the asparagus.
- Sauté the asparagus.
- Dinner is ready to go! Place the asparagus in a pretty serving dish with a spoon or tongs, place the sliced ham on a nice platter with a serving fork, remove the potatoes from the oven and set on the table with a serving spoon.
- When you are ready, cut the Four Layer Banana Pudding into slices and serve.
I enjoyed looking at all of the recipes. :-). Our favorite meal for Easter is usually pineapple and brown sugar glazed ham. asparagus, baked sweet potatoes, homemade cinnamon applesauce, hot rolls and coconut cake or carrot cake, maybe both if feeling energetic. 🙂
My Family’s favorite traditional easter dinner is pot roast with potatoes and mixed vegetables. We love a nice warm Hawaiian roll and lots of cookies for dessert.
We usually have a ham, but we ALWAYS have millionaire pie for dessert in memory of my grandpa.
I love your recipes. The step by step instructions are easy to follow. This meal looks fantastic for Easter. It might become my favorite. Thank you. Keep the recipes coming.
I have used several of your recipes recently. All have been easy to make and delicious!
My traditional Easter dinner is baked ham, potato salad, mac and cheese or sweet potato casserole, pineapple souffle, green beans with ham, rolls with honey butter and a coconut cake for dessert.
Looking forward to celebrating Easter tis year with family and friends and a delicious meal!
My grandkids and children too, loved the Easter cuocakes. I will surely bake it for more occasions. 😍
Looking forward to making the Crockpot Spiral Ham. We usually bake one in the oven pretty much the same. No pineapple juice. We have Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Farm- fresh Green Beans, Ripe Tomatoes with Sweet Basil, vinegar, cucumbers. Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows. Deviled Eggs.
I love these recipes!! My Soulful Easter Dinner consists of a Pineapple and brown sugar ham, macaroni and cheese, collard greens seasoned with smoked turkey, pecan candied yams, and homemade yeast rolls. For dessert a delicious buttery peach cobbler. Happy Easter!! 🐇
My favorite Easter Dinner changes from year to year. Rarely is it traditional.
Sometimes it’s a Mexican meal, including homemade tamales! Some years it’s fun appetizers – mostly new recipes…thanks for the new recipes for appetizers! Some years it’s a barbecue!!
Every year I include my Mom’s deviled eggs!!
Having fun is the theme for the day!
My typical Easter dinner is ham, funeral potatoes, green bean casserole, fresh baked dinner roles, broccoli, and for dessert, apple pie and chocolate pie. However, dropping green beans for asparagus sounds like a nice suttle change.
my favorite is dinner roll, very very good for the family
Every Easter I make for my family a ham, collard greens, corn bread and for dessert a chocolate cake. This year I may have to try your menu ideas as they look good.
Amazing!!!! I probably wouldn’t make the eggs with this dinner. Ham, green salad, potatoes, and rolls have always been my go to for Easter dinner! Thanks for sharing your recipes!!!!!
I love the smell of the rolls and the Ham cooking. Even though my granny has passed her house always smelled good at Easter.
I love these recipes they are always so delicious, and very easy to follow and prepare them. Make this your go to for amazing meals and delicious recipes.
I usually make the honey roasted ham with a small chicken. For my side dishes it is corn on the cob, glassed carrots with potato filling.Happy Easter!
I love new ideas for holidays. Sometimes “doing the traditional meals” feels more like “being in a rut”. However I do love a honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes and peas. With a spice cake for dessert.
We have honey ham, potato salad, green bean casarole, and cream corn. For desert we have strawberry short cake. The kids eat candy
Everything sounds delicious. Some of these I’ve never heard of before. We usually have honey ham, potato salad or twice baked potatoes, green beans, yeast rolls, butter, banana pudding and brownies,
We have done that dinner recipe without the asparagus. our favorite dessert is usually cheesecake topped with cherry topping.
Love the ease of the crockpot ham
I have always had the traditional Easter dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, ham gravy, glazed carrots, rolls and usually two desserts. I make lemon meringue pie or coconut cream pie and green salad which is an old recipe using lime jello, whipping cream, pineapple and cream cheese. Maybe this year I will make the cheesy potatoes instead as they look tasty!