Best Easter Side Dishes

April light through the kitchen window, the ham pulling out of the oven with the glaze cracked across the top, butter and lemon in the air from a sheet pan of asparagus that just came off the heat. Easter dinner is the meal where the main gets the photograph and the sides get the second helpings. The twenty below are organized by the role each one plays on the plate, starch anchor, spring vegetable, bright counter, make-ahead workhorse, Easter classic, so a host can pick three to five and end up with a spread that actually balances instead of a table buckling under five potatoes and zero green.

Gear That Helps Here

Easter side cooking spans gratins, roasts, marinated salads, and the kind of serving platter that earns its place once a year. The kit list is short but specific: an enameled cast iron gratin dish that goes from oven to table without a transfer, a serving platter built for deviled eggs (the indented well version, not a flat plate), a large ceramic bowl that holds eight cups of salad without crowding, an oval roasting pan sized for a ten-pound ham, and a set of spring linens that pull the table together.

Recommended Reads

• Christmas side dish guide
• Best fall side dishes
• Friendsgiving side dishes
• Best Thanksgiving side dishes
• Complete Thanksgiving food guide

How to Build a Balanced Easter Side Spread

Most Easter side roundups give you fifty recipes and leave you to figure out which three actually go together. The list below sorts the table into five roles. A starch anchor (potato, rice, bread) carries the weight of the plate next to the ham or lamb. A spring vegetable (asparagus, peas, baby carrots, radish) does the seasonal lift the holiday is named around. A bright and acidic side (citrus salad, herb-led grain, fruit-and-greens) cuts through the richness of the main. A make-ahead workhorse (casserole, marinated salad, ambrosia) bakes the day before so the morning of belongs to the ham. And the Easter classics (deviled eggs, glaze, cornbread) carry the table because nobody at the table will accept Easter without them.

Pick three to five total, one from at least three of the five roles. Ham on the table pulls from the starch anchor, the make-ahead workhorse, and an Easter classic, because the ham is sweet-salty and the spread needs the structural pieces around it. Lamb on the table pulls from the spring vegetable, the bright and acidic, and an Easter classic, because lamb wants the green and the citrus more than the casserole. A vegetarian table builds itself out of the spring vegetable column with one starch anchor and one bright side. The point is balance across the roles, not the dish count.

Starch Anchors

The four dishes that ground the plate next to the ham or the lamb. Pick one. Two starches on an Easter plate is a holiday-table mistake, and the wedge between them is the make-ahead behavior: gratin holds, mashed potato wants to be made same-day, risotto wants to be made at the table.

1. Cheesy Potato Gratin With Thyme

Gratin earns its Easter slot because it does everything a holiday side needs at once: bakes ahead, holds in the oven on low while the ham rests, and reads as the kind of side that took real work even though most of it happens unattended. Thinly sliced potatoes, cream, thyme, a heavy hand of gruyere and parmesan, baked until the top is bronzed and the inside is barely set. Bake it the morning of, hold it at low heat under foil while the ham finishes, and uncover it for ten minutes at high heat right before serving to crisp the top again. Full method over here.

2. Brown Butter Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potato but with brown butter instead of straight butter, which gives the dish a nutty back-note that holds up next to a ham glaze without competing with it. The wedge here is the brown butter step: cook the butter past golden until the milk solids smell like toffee, then fold it through riced potatoes with warm cream and salt. It’s the starch for the table that wants the comfort dish but doesn’t want a casserole pan taking up oven space. Make the potatoes within an hour of serving, then hold them on a double boiler. Recipe is over here.

3. Spring Pea Risotto

Risotto is the starch for the Easter table that’s gone lamb, or for the vegetarian guest who needs a centerpiece-side hybrid that earns its plate. Carnaroli rice (the one with the bite), good stock, a fistful of frozen peas folded in at the end, and butter and parmesan to finish. The catch is timing: risotto wants the last twenty minutes of the cook with someone at the stove, which means it’s the dish to make for an intimate Easter of six rather than a buffet of fifteen. Pair it with a pile of roasted asparagus and a green salad and the menu’s already done. Recipe right here.

4. Buttery Dinner Rolls

Dinner rolls are the starch that does the second job of soaking up the ham glaze that pools at the edge of the plate. Pull-apart, soft, brushed with butter and flaky salt while they’re still hot, served in a basket with a clean linen napkin tucked around them. The make-ahead move is to bake the rolls in the morning, let them cool fully, then re-warm them in a low oven covered in foil for ten minutes before guests sit down so they hit the table soft. They’re the side for the table that wants the visual of a bread basket without the four-hour proof window of a yeasted loaf. Full breakdown is here.

Spring Vegetables

The five dishes that earn the holiday its name. April through May is when asparagus, peas, baby carrots, radishes, and spring onions are actually in season, and an Easter table without at least one of them reads as a holiday menu pulled from a fall cookbook. Pick one or two.

5. Roasted Asparagus With Lemon and Parmesan

Asparagus is the default green of the Easter table for a reason: in season, fast on a sheet pan, and dressed simply enough that it lets the ham keep the spotlight. Trim the tough ends, toss with olive oil and salt, roast hot until the tips crisp and the spears bend without snapping. A microplane of lemon zest, a heavy snow of parmesan, and a squeeze of juice the second they come out of the oven. The wedge is the heat: a hot oven for twelve minutes, no longer, or the spears go limp. Get the full method here.

6. Honey-Glazed Baby Carrots With Dill

Baby carrots with the tops still on (the rainbow kind from the farmers market if you can find them) glazed in honey and butter and finished with a heavy handful of chopped dill. Pairs specifically well with a ham because the honey echoes whatever’s going on with the glaze, and pairs well with lamb because the dill cuts through the richer meat. Cook them on the stovetop until the glaze tightens and the carrots are just tender, no oven space required, which makes them the side for the Easter where the gratin is already taking up the rack. Recipe is over here.

7. Spring Peas With Mint and Shallot

Spring peas with mint is the British Easter side that gets remembered next to a leg of lamb, and it’s almost embarrassingly easy: shallots sweated in butter, peas added at the last minute, mint chopped in off the heat. Use frozen peas without apology unless it’s late April and the farmers market has fresh ones (it usually doesn’t). The dish goes from pan to bowl in eight minutes and holds at room temperature for thirty without losing the color. Method’s here.

8. Roasted Radishes With Brown Butter

Radishes get sweeter and less peppery when they roast, which is the trick most home cooks haven’t tried. Halve the radishes, roast them hot until the edges char and the centers turn creamy, then toss them in brown butter with flaky salt. Pair specifically well with a ham because the brown butter bridges the salty-sweet glaze, and they take up almost no plate real estate so they slot in between the bigger sides. Step-by-step is over here.

9. Charred Spring Onions With Romesco

Spring onions blistered on a grill pan or under a broiler until the green tops go black and the white ends turn jammy, served on a platter with a bowl of romesco for dipping. It’s the Catalan calçotada move on an Easter table, and it gives the spread a visual hit a bowl of green vegetables never does. The romesco can be made three days ahead and lives in the fridge waiting, which makes this the side that looks like effort and isn’t. Full recipe is here.

Bright and Acidic Sides

Three salads that do the structural work of cutting through the richness of the main. The ham is sweet-salty. The lamb is fatty. The gratin is buttery. Without something bright on the table, the plate reads heavy. Pick one of these and the menu lifts.

10. Shaved Fennel and Orange Salad

Sicilian-style salad that pairs almost perfectly with a ham because the orange cuts the glaze and the fennel adds the licorice back-note that the dish wants. Shave the fennel paper-thin on a mandoline, supreme the oranges (segments only, no membrane), toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and a scatter of olives if you want it more savory. Assembles in fifteen minutes, holds for an hour, and earns its place on a buttery spread by being the cold-and-bright dish nobody else thought to make. Recipe over here.

11. Herby Grain Salad With Farro and Spring Herbs

Farro cooked in stock, cooled, then folded with a wild count of spring herbs (parsley, dill, mint, chives), shaved scallion, lemon zest, olive oil, and a generous shower of feta. The dish does the dual job of starch-and-bright in one bowl, which makes it the side for the Easter where the gratin slot is already taken. It holds in the fridge for forty-eight hours and tastes better day two as the grains take on the dressing. Full breakdown here.

12. Strawberry-Spinach Salad With Poppy Seed Dressing

Strawberry-spinach salad is the throwback Easter side that almost every Southern table has run for forty years, and it works because the strawberries and the poppy seed dressing both cut through ham fat. Baby spinach, sliced strawberries (early-season strawberries are the right move here), red onion, candied pecans, and a sweet-tart poppy seed dressing whisked in a jar. Dress it at the table, not in the kitchen, or the spinach wilts before the meal starts. Recipe is here if you want it.

Make-Ahead Workhorses

Four dishes that bake or assemble the day before so Easter morning belongs to the ham and the deviled eggs and the cup of coffee the host actually deserves. Pick one or two for any Easter spread larger than six guests.

13. Marinated White Bean and Asparagus Salad

White beans (cannellini, drained and rinsed), blanched asparagus cut into bite-size pieces, lemon zest, olive oil, garlic, parsley, and a long sit in the fridge so the beans pull in the marinade. Assemble it the day before Easter and the dish gets better overnight, which makes it the workhorse for the host who wants one fewer thing to do on the day. It plays the cold-protein side role too, which earns it a spot on a vegetarian table. Pairs equally well with ham or lamb. Recipe right here.

14. Spinach and Artichoke Casserole

Spinach-artichoke dip turned into a sit-down side. Layered baby spinach, artichoke hearts, cream cheese, parmesan, panko top, baked until the edges bubble and the top is gold. Assembles the night before, lives in the fridge covered, slides into the oven forty minutes before service. It’s the side for the Easter where one guest has already announced they don’t eat ham and you need a vegetarian anchor that holds up next to the rest of the spread. Get the full method here.

15. Broccoli Salad With Bacon and Cheddar

Broccoli florets, crisped bacon, sharp cheddar, red onion, sunflower seeds, and a sweet-tangy mayo dressing that mellows the raw broccoli overnight. This is the make-ahead salad that lives on Southern Easter tables and the wedge is the rest time: dress the salad the night before so the broccoli softens just enough to lose the raw squeak but keep the crunch. Sits cold on a buffet for two hours without breaking down. Step-by-step is here.

16. Ambrosia Salad

Ambrosia is the Southern Easter classic that earns its place through pure nostalgia: mandarin oranges, pineapple chunks, sweetened coconut, mini marshmallows, sour cream or whipped cream folded through, chilled overnight so the flavors marry. It exists in the make-ahead column rather than the dessert column because that’s how Southern tables have always served it, somewhere between a side and a sweet. Assemble the night before, cover, and pull it straight from the fridge to the table. Recipe is over here.

Easter Classics

Four dishes that nobody at the table will let you skip. The deviled eggs, the glaze, the glazed carrots, the bread basket. Pick at least one. Most Easter tables run two.

17. Deviled Eggs With Smoked Paprika and Chive

Deviled eggs are the side that doubles as the appetizer at the start of an Easter dinner and the leftover the host eats standing at the fridge on Monday. Hard-boiled eggs, yolks mashed with mayo, a small spoon of Dijon, a splash of vinegar, piped back into the whites and topped with smoked paprika and fresh chive. The wedge for Easter specifically is the smoked paprika: a little Spanish pimentón gives the filling depth that plain paprika doesn’t, and the chive ties them to the spring herbs running through the rest of the menu. Boil the eggs two days ahead, hold the filling separately, pipe an hour before guests arrive. Full recipe is here.

18. Honey-Roasted Ham Glaze (Side-Sauce Hybrid)

The glaze is a side dish disguised as a sauce: honey, brown sugar, dijon, apple cider vinegar, a heavy spoon of grainy mustard, simmered until it coats the back of a spoon. Half goes on the ham during the last forty minutes of roasting, the other half goes into a small jug on the table for guests to spoon over slices that have already been cut. The wedge for Easter is the apple cider vinegar: most home cooks skip it, and the acid is what keeps the glaze from collapsing into pure sweetness next to a sweet ham. Make the glaze the morning of and reheat to drizzling consistency. Method’s over here.

19. Glazed Carrots With Pomegranate

Glazed carrots are an Easter dinner default and the pomegranate is the move that lifts them out of beige territory. Whole or halved carrots glazed in butter and brown sugar on the stovetop, finished with a scatter of pomegranate seeds and a sprinkle of flaky salt off the heat. The pomegranate gives the dish jewel-tone visuals on the table and a pop of tart acid against the sweet glaze, which is exactly what an Easter platter wants. The dish holds well at low heat for thirty minutes if the ham is running behind. Recipe right here.

20. Cornbread or Skillet Biscuits

Cornbread or skillet biscuits cover the Southern Easter table where the dinner rolls might feel too refined. Buttermilk cornbread baked in a hot cast iron skillet (the crust is the whole point) or buttermilk biscuits cut tall and brushed with butter while still hot. They pair specifically well with ham because they soak the glaze runoff better than any roll does. Bake the cornbread an hour before guests arrive, slide it under foil while the ham rests, serve in the skillet at the table for the visual. Full method here.

How to Plan the Easter Side Spread

The twenty above turn into a working Easter menu once the make-ahead timeline is mapped against the actual day. Three days, one day, Easter morning. The host who plans this well sits down with the rest of the table.

3 Days Ahead

• Order the ham or lamb and pull it from the freezer if frozen.
• Make the romesco for the charred spring onions and refrigerate.
• Make the poppy seed dressing for the strawberry-spinach salad.
• Make the ham glaze base (skip the final reduction until day-of).
• Bake any sweet-and-make-ahead dessert components.
• Boil and peel the deviled eggs and hold whites covered.

1 Day Ahead

• Assemble the ambrosia salad and refrigerate overnight.
• Dress the broccoli salad with bacon and cheddar so the broccoli softens.
• Assemble the spinach and artichoke casserole, cover, refrigerate (do not bake).
• Assemble the marinated white bean and asparagus salad.
• Cook the farro for the herby grain salad and refrigerate.
• Make the deviled egg filling and refrigerate separately from whites.
• Slice the fennel and supreme the oranges for the fennel-orange salad (hold separately).

Easter Morning

• Score and glaze the ham, start it in the oven on a low setting.
• Bake the cheesy potato gratin (hold under foil at 200F until serving).
• Pipe the deviled eggs onto the serving platter and refrigerate.
• Bake the spinach and artichoke casserole forty minutes before service.
• Bake the cornbread or biscuits an hour before service.
• Roast the asparagus and the radishes in the last twenty minutes.
• Glaze the carrots on the stovetop in the last fifteen minutes.
• Toss the fennel-orange salad and the herby grain salad ten minutes before sitting down.
• Pull the make-ahead salads from the fridge thirty minutes before serving so they’re not ice-cold.

Frequently Asked Questions

What sides go best with Easter ham?

Ham is sweet-salty, so the spread wants a structural starch (gratin or mashed potato), a bright-and-acidic counter (fennel-orange salad or the strawberry-spinach), and one or two Easter classics (deviled eggs, glazed carrots with pomegranate). Skip the second sweet side, ham is already carrying the sweetness slot. Three sides plus the deviled eggs is the working number for eight to ten guests.

How many side dishes should you serve at Easter?

Three to five sides plus the main is the right range for an Easter table of six to twelve guests. Three sides reads as a confident host menu, five reads as a holiday spread, anything above five starts to compete for plate space and the host gets stuck in the kitchen plating. Pick one from at least three of the five roles (starch, spring vegetable, bright, make-ahead, classic) and the menu balances by itself.

What is a traditional Easter side dish?

Deviled eggs, glazed ham, glazed carrots, ambrosia salad (in the South), scalloped or au gratin potatoes, dinner rolls, and roasted asparagus are the dishes that show up on the largest number of American Easter tables. Regional variations exist: spring pea risotto on Italian-American tables, leg of lamb with spring peas and mint on British-influenced tables, cornbread and broccoli salad on Southern tables.

What vegetables are in season for Easter?

Asparagus, English peas, snap peas, baby carrots, radishes, spring onions, ramps, fennel, baby spinach, arugula, and (in late April) the first strawberries of the season. The five spring vegetable sides above all use produce that’s actually at the farmers market in April, which is the whole reason Easter dinner reads as different from Christmas dinner. Pulling at least one in-season vegetable onto the table is what makes the menu feel like spring.

What sides go with Easter lamb?

Lamb wants the spring vegetable column and the bright-acidic column more than the casserole. Spring peas with mint, roasted asparagus with lemon and parmesan, the shaved fennel and orange salad, charred spring onions with romesco, and a starch like brown butter mashed potatoes or spring pea risotto. Skip the heavier casserole sides (the spinach-artichoke) on a lamb spread, the plate wants the green and the citrus to balance the richer meat.

Final Thoughts

A working Easter table is not the table with the longest list of sides. It’s the table where the host gets to sit down with a second cup of coffee while the ham rests under foil and the guests are already drifting toward the deviled eggs. Five plates done well beats ten done at half attention, and the role lineup above is the working architecture: starch, spring vegetable, bright counter, make-ahead workhorse, Easter classic.

The leftovers from a properly planned Easter spread cover the next two days. Cold ham sandwiches on the leftover dinner rolls, deviled eggs eaten standing at the fridge, the broccoli salad packed into a lunchbox, the gratin reheated in a low oven for an easy Monday dinner. The meal earns its place across the week, not just Easter Sunday.

If the host is up at midnight assembling the gratin for a noon meal, the menu was too big. Cut a dish, lean on the make-ahead column, or move one role to a store-bought version. The friends and family at the table will not notice the missing side. They will notice the host who never sits down.

Last update on 2026-10-04 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API