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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:Â Corn flake crumb topping: Â BEFORE baking Sprinkle corn flake crumbs over casserole. Â Drizzle 2 tablespoons of melted better over the corn flake crumbs. Â Bake.Melted cheese topping: Â Prepare casserole and bake for 50 minutes. Â Remove casserole from oven and evenly disperse 1 ½ cups of shredded cheese over the casserole. Â 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. Â This can be made the morning of, or the day ahead. Â 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. Â Once it’s in the oven, you can take another 45 minute break. Â 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. Â
- Dinner is ready to go! Â 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.
This looks great! When I was young, my Nana would have turkey. My mom later started cooking a fabulous leg of lamb with little potatoes alongside. WOW! I wish I could have lamb like that at Easter again.
The potato salad ham asparagus is going to be my Easter dinner
I make an easy corned beef dinner on St Patty’s day. One can corned beef, one can tomato sauce, chopped cabbage and a little water. Serve over rice.
Great
Love your Easter menu. It’s much the same as ours other than we will also grill a tri tip or 2 depending on how many we are hosting. Deviled eggs are a must! And who doesn’t like creamed peas! Thank you for sharing!
Very traditional but we have a family and friends potluck and Easter egg hunt for the kids after church. We have all kinds of wonderful food and a ton of desserts. If the weather permits we eat outside. Sometimes was can up to 30 or more. If you leave hungry, well I can’t even imagine🥰
Love the cheesy potatoes using mushroom soap. Great idea.
MY favorite Easter dinner is all about the bread and sides! Cheesy potato casserole, homemade rolls, or easter bread looks fantastic, and spring vegetables, like asparagus!! AS time goes on, I am less a fan of ham. (That should be a song, “less a fan of ham.” ) I would replace it with some yummy chicken with an amazing honey garlic sauce! THAT would be a fantastic and favorite Easter dinner! Oh and that fabulous Mandarin Orange cake!
Delicious is what I remember our Easter dinner being when I was growing up with 6 younger siblings. Everyone had to enjoy and everyone got to participate in making it. It was usually a ham with garlic mashed potatoes and peas for the main meal. We did have a salad and then for the treat afterwards was sometimes a vanilla frosted lamb cake with ice cream.
I absolutely love creamed peas! The whole menu sounds delicious, but give me all of those creamed peas!
Our family loves a prime rib for Easter dinner.
Can’t wait to make this on Saturday for an early Easter family dinner and the weekend after for my husband’s side when they are at our home.
My favorite things that I make and gets requested is a macaroni, corn and cheese recipe. One year I didn’t make it and the family gave me so much business about not making it. They make me make it for every holiday gathering. That and the bunny cake that you have posted. Two of my aunts have their names on each ear to take home with them.
Love the recipes!
Looks like a Southern Easter dinner!
I grew up with a baked ham and red eye gravy, deviled eggs, potato salad, homemade yeast rolls and asparagus, sometimes macaroni and cheese instead of potato salad.
Growing up in Hawaii in the 60’s we ate Spam and rice for Easter. If we were lucky, we’d get Kalua Pork and coleslaw.
Today we eat ham and I’ve found a really good Kalua Pork slow cooker recipe I can use here in Seattle.
I love a traditional Easter Dinner and the food show for your Traditional Easter Dinner is the exact same as we I have done for years. You can’t go wrong with any of those foods. We have made it quite a tradition in our family and no reason to change it as everyone loves it!
My favorite Easter dinner is ham, scalloped potatoes and green beans
We usually have honey & brown sugar glazed ham, mashed potatoes, dumplings, green bean’s, candied carrot’s & green salad with strawberries & orange’s. We have several different pie’s, cheesecake, cupcake’s & cream horn’s. All homemade of course. My family have different taste & I like to please them all.
This is a great recipe. In my house, we have ham, baked beans and deviled eggs. And any extras upon request.
This this is a wonderful Easter meal. The banana pudding sounds delicious. I usually make a cheesecake with fresh strawberries on top . Love all of your recipes. Oh have to have deviled eggs also
My favorite traditional Easter dinner is all about the sides. Potato salad, deviled eggs, and macaroni and cheese. Banana pudding for dessert
For Easter, always lamb as the center of the dish, and must have some sort of lemony dessert!
Easter dinner has to be roast lamb. All my family sit together and enjoy each others company, and especially the food. Pudding might be a key lime pie, or something similar.