Delicious Dinner Party Recipes Perfect for Hesitant Hostesses
Stressing out over the idea of inviting people over for dinner? Here are some easy dinner party recipes that taste delicious but aren’t a lot of work!
Does the thought of coming up with dinner party recipes stress you out?
I’ve been pondering having a dinner party in the near future, and I’l just admit it… Dinner parties can stress me right out the door!
I know, it might shock some of you. Here I am – writing a blog including recipes for over 10 years, and yet, I struggle with inviting people over…
It hasn’t always been this way, but with health issues and limited energy, I find hostessing a dinner party to be absolutely exhausting. Although I never have regretted having guests over, I now know I need to plan a “recovery day” afterward to get my energy back.
You fellow introverts have told me you TOTALLY understand!! So, I decided to take this conversation to my Instagram community and we had a great conversation about it.
Easy dinner party recipes can take some of the stress out of hostessing
I asked my Instagram friends for their input on hostessing tips and recipes they would make if they were inviting four people over for dinner this Friday night.
One lady commented, “Just reading this question makes me sweat!”
I get that – Trust me, I do!!
But, my Instagram friends also gave me lots of dinner party recipe ideas that sound so delicious. Each of us has our own idea of what “easy” is, so I’m just going to put down the whole list with some actual recipe links I’ve found, and you can pick and choose what sounds the least stressful and most fun for you!
Easy Dinner Party Recipes – Ideas from my Instagram Community!!
Here are some of the real life answers from my Instagram Community. I’ll link up my recipes if I have one, or I’ll link up something that looks real good!
I hope they help you as you plan your next dinner party.
- Slow cooker pot roast beef with carrots and potatoes. (This was my Mom’s Sunday dinner meal.)
- Hamburgers, salad, and french fries. (You could do the burgers on the bbq, and maybe even make some turkey burgers.)
- Chicken enchiladas, rice, and beans. (I LOVE this simple oven baked rice recipe. It never fails.)
- Beef dip sandwiches and cheesy potatoes.
- Lasagna, salad, and garlic bread.
- Tacos – Meat can be cooked and kept warm in the slow cooker and toppings prepped ahead of time and in the fridge.
- Taco Soup – with toppings like chips, sour cream, and cheese – or even crispy tortilla strips you can bake in your oven.
- Creamy chicken breasts, french rice, salad, and biscuits. (I love this chicken florentine recipe.)
- Soup, salad, bread. – I did this once for a big group of guests! A few different soups + bread machine dinner rolls is so good. One of my favorite soups for guests is white chicken chili. We also love potato soup with dumplings.
- Steak, baked potatoes, and salad. (Here I am – a farmer’s daughter, and I can’t even remember if I’ve ever cooked steak at my house…But, my friend has a great recipe for how to cook steak in the oven !)
- Pizza, salad, and dessert. (Italian sausage pizza is our family favorite, and this make ahead oreo ice cream cake would be the perfect dessert with it.)
- Cream of mushroom soup baked pork chops and roasted veggies. Roasted sweet potatoes is one of our regular sides at our house.
- Chili and cornbread. (We like this yummy turkey pumpkin chili.)
- Grilled meat, “doctored” bag salad, bread appropriate for meat, and dessert. (Here’s our favorite bbq chicken marinade recipe, and I love this creamy poppy seed dressing for salad.)
- Coconut chicken curry, basmati rice, and red lentil dahl. (I had never heard of dahl until now. It looks yummy!) I used to do a version of this meal when I cooked for the masses at a camp. Here’s a very old post on how to make curried chicken and rice for 50 people.
- BBQ chicken sandwiches, cheesy potatoes, salad, grapes, and texas sheet cake. (A quicker alternative to texas sheet cake is this super easy chocolate brownie recipe. They’re so yummy even without icing, and are perfect with a little scoop of ice cream.)
- Baked ziti with garlic cheese bread, salad, & dessert.
- Fajitas with salad.
- Meatballs and twiced baked potatoes.
- Burrito or taco bar with chips and salsa.
- Meatloaf and smashed potatoes with green salad. If you want to fancy it up a bit, you could even make individual bacon-wrapped meatloaf. (They can be made and frozen ahead, too!)
- Pulled pork sandwiches and potato salad.
- Chicken vegetable sheet pan dinner. (This might work well if some of your guests have dietary issues like needing to eat gluten free.)
- Sloppy joes, green salad, and chips.
- Barbecue burgers, baked beans, and potato salad.
Save these ideas for later, Pin this to Pinterest!:
These look like delicious recipes! We love meatloaf, I am going to have to give you recipe a try!
Thank you 🙏🏼! All these recipes sound mouthwateringly delicious