20 Easter Dinner Ideas That Are Perfect For Small-Scale Gatherings

If you're tired of old standbys like a whole chicken or ham for your holiday meal, look no further than pork tenderloin. It’s quick-cooking, takes extremely well to countless flavors, and is easy enough for a chill family meal but remarkable enough for a special Easter dinner too.

Get the Roasted Pork Tenderloin recipe.

A quick side dish is always appreciated, especially one as easy as this combo. It goes well with your steak dinners, your rice & beans, or your vegan meatloaf, but if you really love your peas and carrots, you could just eat this in one sitting, as a meal (we have! 😉).

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This spring-y, one-pan dinner proves that the creamy, subtly sweet flavor of fresh mozzarella plays very nicely with similarly delicate spring produce like shallots, sugar snap peas, and oyster mushrooms. Paired with al dente orzo and a light cream sauce, this hearty dinner is the perfect way to celebrate the return of longer days and warmer temperatures.

Get the Primavera Baked Orzo recipe.

Think you don’t have enough time or space to cook Easter dinner? Think again. Featuring cheesy potatoes au gratin, maple-glazed ham, garlicky asparagus, and paprika-spiced carrots, our streamlined version of this notoriously complicated meal is as simple as 2 sheet pans and 30 minutes in the oven.

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A knockout of a meal, chicken piccata also a couldn’t-be-easier dish—it comes together in one pan, and you don’t need a quintillion ingredients to make it. But we're here to talk about and convince you to make salmon piccata. It’s just as easy as its brethren, and we argue that our method for it is even easier.

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With thinly sliced potatoes and a creamy cheese mixture, it's easy to see why this is a recipe that completes practically any dinner spread. No casserole dish needed here—a muffin tin, Russet potatoes, two types of cheese, heavy cream, and staple seasonings are all you need to create these cheesy stacks.

Get the Potatoes Au Gratin Stacks recipe.

With minimal time and practically zero effort (thanks air fryer!), you can have asparagus ready faster than your oven could even preheat. With a teaspoon of olive oil and a little lemon juice to brighten it up, you have a quick and healthy side ready to go.

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This recipe is big on elegance, flavor, and wow factor. Salmon en croute is just a French way of saying “in a crust” (puff pastry in this case). Everything is nestled together in the dough, and after about 30 minutes in the oven, you’ll have a buttery, flaky crust with perfectly tender salmon inside.

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Roasted carrots are a classic easy side dish that we turn to time and time again, whether we're serving up a holiday dinner or a quick weeknight meal. That being said, topping them with a balsamic glaze truly takes them over the top.

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Creamed spinach without the dairy? Yes, please. Did you know that by substituting a few key ingredients, you can make these easy, creamy greens without sacrificing any of the rich flavors you’d expect? Not only is it a bit more nutritious, but it’s also just as delicious.

Get the One-Pot Creamy Vegan Greens recipe.

When you think pea salad, you probably think about the heavy mayo-ridden ones. Ours, on the other hand, is fresh, crunchy, and has the most delicious bacon vinaigrette that you'll be tempted to pour over everything.

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In this one-pan meal, chicken breasts are covered in a creamy Dijon mustard sauce with white wine and lemon juice for brightness. It's the perfect dinner to reach for when you need something quick and easy for a low-key holiday, or even when you need a date night winner that's very low effort.

Get the Creamy Dijon Chicken recipe.

Imagine a crispy mac & cheese topping on your rich mashed potatoes with an added ham layer, and you've got this cheesy casserole. Serve it as a main or as a side this Easter—it'll be beloved no matter what.

Get the Cheesy Mashed Potato & Ham Bake recipe.

If you need a really simple chicken dinner idea fit for a holiday, this pretzel-crusted chicken is just the thing. The whole thing comes together in under an hour, saving you plenty of time to make some mashed potatoes or caramelized Brussels sprouts to go with it.

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This recipe made us wonder, Why don’t we roast carrots more often? When they roast, their flavor concentrates and sweetens. Pair that with copious amounts of umami-packed Parmesan and just a touch of lemon, and you’ve got a super-irresistible dish that you’ll come back to again and again.

Get the Garlic-Parmesan Roasted Carrots recipe.

Come springtime, our obsession with pasta primavera comes back in full force. This version lightens up the classic recipe, replacing the heavy cream with low-fat cream cheese. The result is a veggie-packed pasta dish with a sauce that is every bit as creamy as the original.

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Just when you thought pasta primavera was the king of spring comfort food, we’re dropping this one-pan chicken primavera. It it, crispy-skinned chicken thighs are roasted alongside spring veggies and topped with a confetti of goat cheese and herbs for a dinner that captures the promise of warmer days.

Get the One-Pan Crispy Chicken Primavera recipe.

Spiral hams are delicious, but they yield so much meat. When you're craving ham, but don't want to fuss with a full roast like that, ham steaks are the way to go! Instead of roasting and glazing a whole ham, just make everyone their own perfectly cooked, savory-sweet steak.

Get the Maple-Glazed Ham Steak recipe.

If this is your first time handling lamb, it might seem intimidating, but trust us—it’s really simple to master. Follow our top tips, and you’ll have a tender, flavorful rack of lamb (complete with a garlic-herb marinade) ready to steal the show at your Easter celebration.

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This speedy one-pan dinner is 100% pure comfort. With chewy gnocchi, crisp-tender asparagus, and a light cream sauce imbued with smoky bacon, it's also suspiciously delicious for a dish that takes well under an hour. 😉

Get the Creamy Asparagus Bacon Gnocchi recipe.