No matter if you find yourself pub hopping or simply having a party at home this St. Patrick's Day, don’t push your luck—party guests can’t survive on green beer alone! May we also suggest having some dessert with your drinks…or even some drinks in your dessert 😉? Get inspired by our list of 42 St. Patrick’s Day desserts—they might just be better than the pot o’ gold at the end of the rainbow.
The way we see it, there are two camps when it comes to St. Patrick’s Day desserts: sweets that are extra-adorable, and sweets featuring standout Irish-inspired ingredients. If you’re looking for the perfect Pinterest-worthy celebration, we’ve got just the things: try turning any of your regular recipes into a colorful masterpiece with the help of some food dye and store-bought candy or cereal.
Green goes a long way this time of year to avoid getting pinched, but we're also pretty big fans of using the whole set of colors to make rainbow-hued baked goods too. Check out our shamrock cookies, our rainbow ice cream cake, our St. Patrick's Day cake, or our rainbow bundt cake to see how easy it is to achieve at home.
Colorful candies (like M&Ms or rainbow belts), sprinkles, or cereal (Lucky Charms, ofc!) are also easy ways to add some flair to your baked goods. Check out our pot o' gold cups, our leprechaun bait, our St. Patrick's Day cupcakes, or our Lucky Charms bars to see how we did it, but feel free to get creative and try adding them to your faves too. With all these, be warned—you might just experience cuteness overload.
Another option is to shine a light on ingredients that go along with the St. Patrick’s Day theme, like Guinness, Bailey’s Irish Creme, or anything mint (it’s your something green!). We’ve got a number of desserts featuring these here, like our mini Bailey’s chocolate cheesecakes, our Guinness cake, our mint chocolate chip pie, our Bailey’s chocolate cream pie, our shamrock shakes, and more. Best part? These ingredients are an amazing way to jazz up a store-bought box cake mix, meaning these desserts are easy enough to make after you’ve already started drinking. 😉
Want even more St. Patrick’s Day inspiration? Check out our best St. Paddy's Day drinks, appetizers, and side dishes too.
Baileys Chocolate Coffee Cake
Wondering what to do with that opened bottle of Baileys, or looking for an extra-sweet breakfast for St. Patrick's Day? Look no further than this Baileys chocolate coffee cake. The classic breakfast cake gets a sweet (& boozy!) boost in this recipe thanks to an easy chocolate topping and a Baileys-spiked cake. It's the perfect way to make your brunch extra-special, and to guarantee you'll have a sweet snack to reach for all day long.
Get the Baileys Chocolate Coffee Cake recipe.
St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes
Don’t just make plain old cupcakes for your St. Patty’s Day bash—make these adorable rainbow-topped cupcakes that taste as good as they look! They’re nothing more complicated than a moist, vanilla cupcake with a rich buttercream frosting, but with some green food coloring, a rainbow candy belt, and clever piping, you can turn these into a super-festive treat.
Get the St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes recipe.
Bailey’s Chocolate Cream Pie
Who said St. Patty’s Day desserts need to be bright green? Try this delicious pie of chocolatey boozy fun instead! This no-bake twist on a classic chocolate cream pie is the perfect dessert for your holiday festivities or a clever way to use up Baileys left over from the party.
Get the Bailey’s Chocolate Cream Pie recipe.
Copycat McDonald's Shamrock Shake
If your St. Patrick’s Day tradition involves a stop at the nearest drive-through for a cold minty milkshake, this is your lucky year: You can now whip up your favorite fast-food order right at home.
Pistachio Brownies
These fudgy, chewy treats are packed with melted dark chocolate and cocoa powder, then studded with chopped roasted pistachios and topped with homemade pistachio ganache. A combination of brown butter and almond extract amp up the nuttiness of the pistachio, making these the perfect blend of flavors for an after-dinner snack. Brownies don’t need a lot of help to be even more delicious, but these pistachio-studded beauties will make you second guess yourself the next time you think you want regular brownies.
Get the Pistachio Brownies recipe.
Leprechaun Bark
Is it the luck o’ the Irish, or is this leprechaun bark exactly the sweet treat we all need to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day? Full of colorful Lucky Charms, mint M&M’s, and white chocolate, it doesn’t get much easier to prepare this festive St. Patrick's Day dessert.
Get the Leprechaun Bark recipe.
Irish Potato Candy
Don’t worry, this confection from Philadelphia only looks like cute little potatoes, and actually contains no spuds at all! Imagine the texture of a chocolate truffle but with cream cheese, coconut, and vanilla instead. The outside is coated in ground cinnamon, giving it an uncanny likeness to the real thing.
Get the Irish Potato Candy recipe.
St. Patrick's Day Cake
We think we found our pot of gold with this epic top hat-shaped rainbow cake. While it does take a bit of time to assemble, it's actually pretty straight-forward. Once you start assembling the layers, the tricky part is done—just don’t forget to fill your cake with Lucky Charms before putting the top layer on!
Get the St. Patrick's Day Cake recipe.
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
You could make a regular chocolate chip cookie, but why would you keep it basic when you can add a minty green twist? Mint chocolate chip fans, it's time to skip the pint of ice cream—these cookies are the easy dessert you should be making.
Get the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.
Pot O' Gold Cups
If the end of the rainbow led to these mini desserts, honestly we wouldn't be disappointed in the slightest. They're made from box brownie mix (although you can make homemade brownies if you prefer), then decorated with whipped cream "clouds," a candy rainbow belt, and gold sprinkles. Have fun with it!
Get the Pot O' Gold Cups recipe.
Million Dollar Pie
Even if you don't find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow this St. Patrick's Day, you can still feel like a million bucks, thanks to this decadent retro pie. It's everything you could want—crunchy, sweet, mile-high, AND make-ahead-friendly.
Get the Million Dollar Pie recipe.
Bailey's Truffles
White and semisweet chocolate chips make these truffles very decadent. Our favorite part about them? They taste just like all our favorite Baileys cocktails, but you can eat more than one.
Get the Baileys Truffles recipe.
St. Patrick's Day Cookies
Our easy sugar cookie recipe always keeps its shape while baking so you can relax in knowing all of your leaves will come out perfectly round and defined. We love decorating with royal icing, but you could use a simple buttercream frosting for a quick and easy way to frost these cookies too.
Get the St. Patrick's Day Cookies recipe.
Checkerboard Cookies
These checkerboard cookies look far more complicated to make than they actually are. Really, they're just a classic vanilla and chocolate sugar cookie, with the two colors being made from the same dough. One gets a little cocoa powder added, the other half some food coloring, and there you have it—a cute way to add some green to your holiday spread.
Get the Checkerboard Cookies recipe.
Skillet Fudgy Brownie Pudding
This recipe has everything you love about a typical brownie, but with a fun twist: It has Baileys in the batter and in the whipped cream, making it the perfect dessert for St. Patrick's Day and all year round.
Get the Skillet Fudgy Brownie Pudding recipe.
Rhubarb Crisp
Hot pink does not equal a better tasting stalk of rhubarb. (But it is a lot prettier.) You'll want to look for firm, crisp stalks, nothing limp or speckled with a lot of blemishes. If you can't find fresh, use frozen!
Get the Rhubarb Crisp recipe.
Millionaire Shortbread Cheesecake
To make an millionaire's shortbread—already a luxurious and indulgent dessert fit for a millionaire—even more so, we added a fourth layer in the form of cheesecake. Forget the pot of gold—THIS is what we're hoping for at the end of the rainbow.
Leprechaun Bait
We went with Lucky Charms and green M&M's for added St. Paddy's Day flair, but like any party mix, this is completely customizable! Feel free to get creative with this mix, but whatever you do, don't forget the green. 😉
Get the Leprechaun Bait recipe.
Mince Pies
Ask your average American what a mince pie is, and they’ll likely wonder if you were talking about shepherd’s pie. Ask someone from the UK? They’ll tell you that it’s probably the best type of holiday dessert you can ask for. Though more typically seen around Christmas, we think these would be adorable with little shamrocks cut out!
Get the Mince Pies recipe.
Funfetti Cheesecake
Why choose just one dessert for your St. Patrick's Day celebration when you can have two classics in one? With the creaminess of cheesecake and the fluffiness of birthday cake, this two-in-one treat has it all.
Get the Funfetti Cheesecake recipe.
