45 Mother's Day Lunch Ideas She'll Love
Homemade cards are great, but a homemade lunch is even better.
Break out of your crowded brunch routine this Mother's Day and treat mom to an epic lunch spread made with that extra special secret ingredient (ahem, love). When you’re a kid, it’s extra cute to come into your mom’s room early on Mother’s Day, carrying a sloshing tray of orange juice and funny-shaped pancakes for her to have breakfast in bed. Now you’re an adult, you know what your mom really wants—to sleep in! Skip the lines (and other families) at restaurants and show off your cooking skills this year, we know she’ll appreciate the effort. Check out our list of 45 Mother’s Day lunch recipes for inspiration (and don’t forget some flowers for the table!)
If your mom is anything like ours, she LOVES a good soup and salad combo. Don’t just toss together a no-frills kale salad or arugula salad (though our dressing recipes are great in their simplicity)—instead go big! Throwing a salad together with lots of colorful, crunchy elements will show how much you care, especially when she digs into our strawberry chicken Cobb salad or grilled steak salad. You can use these recipes as jumping off points for a more casual pot-luck style spread, too, along with our curried chickpea salad sandwich, best quiche recipe, or a Mexican fried chicken torta. Plus, true story: pretty much everything goes great with our French onion gnocchi soup.
We’ve also included a number of simple, yet elegant pasta options. Our pasta primavera, lemon ricotta pasta, and burrata, pea, and prosciutto tortellini are all super-easy to throw together, but feel like a step above your usual pasta fare. And if you really want to put some elbow grease in, make some of mom's favorite takeout dishes, like rainbow rolls, chicken and waffles, and carne asada tacos.
For more Mother’s Day inspiration, check out our Mother’s Day breakfast in bed recipes, Mother’s Day dinner ideas, and Mother’s Day desserts. Need a gift for the Mom who’s got everything? Check out our best Mother’s Day food gifts too.
Best Quiche
Quiche is a favorite in the canon of classic dishes, and our Delish version is no exception. Soft, creamy filling studded with ham, chives, and Gruyère rests inside a crunchy, buttery pie crust to create the lunch of your dreams.
Get the Best Quiche recipe.
Crunchy Mandarin Orange-Chicken Salad
This recipe was semi-inspired by the Chinese Chicken Salad at The Cheesecake Factory, where they use wonton strips and crispy rice noodles. Instead, we sub in a block of dried ramen—broken up, the crunchy, wavy noodles act as croutons just as well. Feel free to sub the almonds for cashews or peanuts too!
Burrata, Pea & Prosciutto Tortellini
After a quick cook with aromatics in olive oil, sliced sugar snap peas are tossed with toasted tortellini, herbs, and plenty of lemon zest, then topped with salty, tender prosciutto and a ball of creamy burrata. Despite all of the rich and decadent ingredients in this pasta, the sweet green peas take center stage and make this the ideal springtime pasta.
Greek Stuffed Peppers
Filled with zucchini, cherry tomatoes, Kalamata olives and sharp crumbled feta, these tender stuffed peppers have all the flavors you love from a Greek salad, plus a hearty addition from herby chicken breast and couscous.
Get the Greek Stuffed Peppers recipe.
Carne Asada Tacos
Your hunt for the perfect carne asada taco is over. This flavorful handheld food has it all—tender marinated skirt steak, an aromatic corn tortilla, and all of the classic street taco toppings. Served for lunch or dinner, these are delicious with a hearty side of refried beans and rice, or you can keep it light with corn salad.
Get the Carne Asada Tacos recipe.
Strawberry Chicken Cobb Salad
There's a lot to love about a classic Cobb salad. It's packed with hard-boiled eggs, chopped chicken, bacon, avocado, and refreshingly crispy romaine. The gang's all here in this one, except with some big-time upgrades. Strawberries stand in for the standard tomatoes, while feta takes the place of blue cheese. Fear not, there's still an extra-creamy buttermilk-based dressing that coats every bite.
Get the Strawberry Chicken Cobb Salad recipe.
Goddess Bowls
A good sauce changes everything, and this green goddess dressing is one of our favorites yet. The veggies here are interchangeable, but in the spirit of goddess dressing, we think green is the way to go. Roasted asparagus, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are all good choices.
Get the Goddess Bowls recipe.
Pasta Primavera
This delicate, luscious pasta is the epitome of spring. Thought to have been dreamed up in America sometime in the 70s, we gave this retro recipe some modern tweaks, and, TBH, we can't get enough of it.
Get the Pasta Primavera recipe.
Green Goddess Soup
While most Green Goddess salad dressings rely on mayonnaise and one to two herbs for their creaminess and pale green color, we achieve the same flavor profile by using kale, cauliflower, 4 different herbs, and just a touch of Greek yogurt. The result? A vibrant green soup that’s pretty much a garden in a bowl.
Get the Green Goddess Soup recipe.
Sheet-Pan Garlic Butter Salmon & Asparagus
In this simple sheet-pan supper, salmon teams up with asparagus and onions. Giving the veggies a head start before adding the salmon makes sure that everything is cooked to perfection. The asparagus will be crisp-tender, the red onion wedges will melt down and get a little sweet, and the salmon will be a little browned on the edges, but still tender in the middle.
Copycat Cheesecake Factory Mexican Tortilla Salad
Everyone is obsessed with The Cheesecake Factory's Mexican tortilla salad, and for good reason: it gets piled high on a crispy tostada and looks so fun and exciting as it’s making its way to your table. There are a lot of components to this salad, but the good news is that each is super-quick and easy to make at home too.
Get the Copycat Cheesecake Factory Mexican Tortilla Salad recipe.
Mexican Fried Chicken Torta
This torta recipe follows the "torta de milanese" tradition, featuring a breaded chicken cutlet that adds nice crunch to each bite. If you're looking for a torta made with beef, try our carne asada torta instead.
Get the Mexican Fried Chicken Torta recipe.
Spinach-Artichoke Flatbread
Spinach and artichoke is one of our favorite flavor combinations, whether we’re enjoying them as a classic baked dip or paired together in a bite-size app. For this recipe, we’re turning it into an easy yet elegant meal in the form of a flatbread pizza that’s simple enough for a weeknight dinner but impressive enough to serve to guests.
Get the Spinach-Artichoke Flatbread recipe.
Orzo Pasta
Serve as a side or all on its own on a bed of salad greens, this creamy orzo pasta is a more herbalicious version of cacio e pepe. The best part of this recipe: It all takes place in just one pot, which means more flavor and fewer dishes for you to wash.
Get the Orzo Pasta recipe.
Copycat Olive Garden Meatballs
Aside from their signature breadsticks and their creamy zuppa toscana, one of Olive Garden’s most iconic dishes is their meatballs. Sauced in bright marinara and perched atop a glossy mound of spaghetti, they transform into a showstopping entrée that still manages to deliver those down-home comfort food vibes.
Rainbow Roll
Get out your chopsticks, it's time for homemade sushi night at your house. Rainbow Rolls includes a lot of elements of traditional Japanese sushi—seasoned rice, raw fish, nori—but the composition is definitely Americanized. The inside-out roll (or uramaki) is a popular Western style where the rice is on the outside, while the sheet of nori holds the fillings in place. In this case, those fillings are creamy avocado, crunchy cucumber, and crab stick—an imitation crab product made from whitefish that’s very budget-friendly.
Get the Rainbow Roll recipe.
Blackened Shrimp Bowls
Extra-flavorful shrimp, whole grains, fresh veg... these bowls have got you covered. Feel free to swap your favorite salsa in lieu of the corn and tomato mix here (cowboy caviar would be GREAT).
Get the Blackened Shrimp Bowls recipe.
Coronation Chicken
Although it originated in the United Kingdom during Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, coronation chicken is much like the chicken salad we all know and love here across the pond. It has all the makings of a classic dish—juicy pieces of chicken, a well-seasoned mayonnaise-based sauce, celery, scallions, and lemon juice for bright, fresh flavor. This dish would be delicious served with crackers for scooping or piled onto a buttered and toasted brioche bun, but we like to serve it on fresh and crisp Bibb lettuce leaves. Toasted sliced almonds sprinkled over the top add some extra crunch.
Get the Coronation Chicken recipe.
Creamy Feta-Lemon Penne With Asparagus
The secret to this springy pasta’s success? A tangy “cream” sauce made with rich Greek yogurt and salty feta that provides a bright contrast for the earthy, vegetal flavors of pan-fried asparagus.
Grilled Steak Salad
This salad is simple enough for a weeknight but worthy of planning a get-together around, thanks to its star ingredient—ribeye steak. You’ll grill it (and red onions), then combine it with cherry tomatoes, blue cheese, basil, and a drizzle of tangy balsamic dressing, turning it into the kind of impressive-but-secretly-easy dish you’ll be making all the time.
Get the Grilled Steak Salad recipe.
