Confession: I typically lose sleep the night time earlier than internet hosting a cocktail party. I blame it on a mixture of pleasure and nerves, however wow, entertaining might be aggravating. As a part of my mission to resolve my internet hosting nervousness, I’ve compiled a listing of scrumptious, straightforward, and cheap meals for big teams that I at all times return to—and that each visitor will love.
These recipes resolve the dilemma of deciding what to prepare dinner for big teams however keep away from the hefty price ticket that may typically include group dinners. As we all know, cooking for greater than 4 folks can get actual expensive, actual quick. The underside line? Spectacular doesn’t should imply costly. These meals make the most of grocery retailer staples, store-bought substances, and inexpensive meats—with out sacrificing taste or high quality.
Learn on for my go-to cheap meals for big teams, plus Camille’s ideas for cooking for a crowd.
Camille’s High Suggestions for Cooking for a Crowd
Do all attainable prep upfront to be able to benefit from the night, too. Something that may be made beforehand is vital. It takes the stress out of your day-of prep and makes certain you get to benefit from the social gathering your self. Soups, sauces, and salad dressings might be made totally upfront so when the clock strikes glad hour, you’re forward of the sport. It’s additionally useful to do any knife work upfront and retailer your chopped items within the fridge. That approach, when it’s time to prepare dinner, you’ve already carried out quite a lot of the grunt work.
Select crowd-pleasing dishes that everybody can get pleasure from. While you’re cooking for a bunch, it’s necessary to contemplate your friends’ dietary wants. Dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, and/or vegan recipes fare properly for big teams. That approach, everybody can savor the second collectively. Comforting meals are additionally at all times a success at dinner events. If it’s one thing you’re keen on, the percentages are excessive that your friends will adore it, too!
Leverage batch cooking and “build-your-own” elements. Sheet pan recipes, casual spreads, and topping bars are heroes in the case of meeting. Prep the principle elements and let your friends construct their completed items. Not solely does this make your job simpler, but it surely’s an effective way to spark dialog and creativity!
Meat & Rooster Recipes for Massive Teams
Why We Love It: These simpler-than-they-seem Mexican-inspired tacos are one in every of Camille’s favourite summer season meals for weeknights and entertaining. Due to a zesty marinade and the right mixture of garlic, herbs, and spices, they pack loads of daring and vibrant taste. Plus, they use flank steak—a scrumptious however comparatively low-cost minimize that makes for tasty tacos. Merely add toppings of your alternative and luxuriate in!
Hero Ingredient: Tacos are nothing with out their toppings. I go for loads of cilantro and salsa verde. And don’t skimp on the guacamole.
Serve With: 4-Ingredient Watermelon Mint Margaritas, please.
Why We Love It: Camille took this traditional methodology of getting ready hen and turned the amount up with a twist. Marinating hen in yogurt tenderizes the meat, lending tons of taste and making a scrumptious crust. It makes for the right cheap meal for a big group as a result of you may merely scale up as wanted, marinate forward of time, and throw your hen on the grill. No stress!
Hero Ingredient: This recipe is about as straightforward and easy because it will get. With so few substances, what’s included all performs a key function. That being mentioned, the lemon infuses your marinade with recent, summery taste.
Serve With: The Finest Easy Inexperienced Salad and a crisp, chilly glass of rosé.
Why We Love It: There are such a lot of explanation why I really like this easy sheet pan dinner. It’s quicker than takeout, full of loads of entire and nutritious substances, and tastes merely divine. It additionally occurs to align with varied diets as a result of its exclusion of grains, processed substances, and added sugars.
Hero Ingredient: Any recipe with goat cheese has my coronary heart.
Serve With: Rosemary and Olive Oil Focaccia
Why We Love It: This saucy hen and veggie meal will get higher the longer it marinates, and it’s the right flavorful meal for greater than two. This recipe might be made with hen breasts or thighs and a wide range of cheap spices and pantry staples. Serve over a mattress of white rice for that cozy, home-cooked meal you crave all day.
Hero Ingredient: Coconut milk provides this slow-cooker meal an added creaminess.
Serve With: Baked Chili Miso Broccoli
Why We Love It: Soup is without doubt one of the finest issues to serve to massive teams as a result of it’s cheap and many of the cooking time is hands-off. Plus, so long as you may have a large enough pot, it’s straightforward to double. To this present day, this Rooster Tortilla Soup is one in every of Camille’s hottest Instagram recipes, so if you happen to haven’t made it but, that is your signal. It’s the right serve-yourself recipe for large gatherings as properly.
Hero Ingredient: The selfmade tortilla strips are next-level.
Serve With: Skillet Vegetarian Cornbread Stuffing
Why We Love It: Bone-in, skin-on hen thighs get the low and sluggish therapy on this easy sheet pan recipe. They’re roasted alongside artichokes, purple onions, cherry tomatoes, garlic, lemon slices, and inexperienced olives till golden brown and scrumptious. The most effective half? All it’s important to do is throw all the things on a sheet pan and roast for an hour. That is a kind of recipes that’s a lot greater than the sum of its elements.
Hero Ingredient: If you happen to suppose slow-roasted hen is bland—suppose once more! The secret is to crank up the oven for these final ten-or-so minutes to crisp up the pores and skin.
Serve With: It is a full sheet pan dinner by itself, however if you happen to actually need to spherical it out, these crispy potatoes are excellent.
Lime-y Rooster Tacos with Jicama, Avocado, & Mint
Why We Love It: These tacos are one in every of my favourite recipes for the straightforward prep and flavors which might be something however. You can also make the hen beforehand and chop the entire veggies upfront. All it’s important to do is char the tortillas and serve. You don’t even should construct the tacos your self—let the friends assemble their very own.
Hero Ingredient: The lime-y hen is inexpensive and addictive.
Serve With: Mexican Chopped Salad with Honey-Shallot French dressing, Camille’s Basic Margarita
Why We Love It: This roasted hen recipe yields the juiciest fowl with the crispiest golden brown pores and skin. And all you want is olive oil, salt, pepper, and some supporting actors to make that dream a actuality. The cherry tomatoes, garlic, and lemon slices that roast alongside the hen create essentially the most wonderful sauce that flavors the fowl fantastically. Then, a salsa verde elevates your entire creation much more.
Hero Ingredient: The garlic caramelizes to pure perfection and is delightfully spreadable.
Serve With: Make-Forward Vegan Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Root Greens with Gremolata and Whipped Feta, or Apple Walnut Salad
Why We Love It: Speak about a showstopper! This roast hen recipe is simply as scrumptious as it’s visually interesting. It options Brussels sprouts, fingerling potatoes, inexperienced olives, carrots, and copious quantities of garlic and olive oil. The hen roasts to perfection whereas the veggies beneath create a decadent sauce all on their very own. It’s the hands-off masterpiece your subsequent gathering wants.
Hero Ingredient: Don’t you dare waste any of that liquid gold. Switch these pan juices into some form of vessel or pour straight over the hen earlier than serving—you’ll be glad you probably did.
Serve With: Kale Italian Chopped Salad, No-Knead Olive & Rosemary Focaccia
Pasta Recipes for Massive Teams
Why We Love It: This zucchini pasta recipe celebrates the season’s finest flavors. Summer time squashes, nutty parmesan, zesty lemon, and fragrant herbs come collectively for a tasty and easy pasta recipe that each dinner visitor will love. It’s the Italian countryside meal you’ll begin to lengthy for when summer season rolls round.
Hero Ingredient: Grated Parmesan is a top-tier topping.
Serve With: Easy Inexperienced Salad, Summer time Cheese Board
Why We Love It: A whole serving of greens in pasta type? Signal me up. This silky sauce that lovingly coats every noodle is my new favourite strategy to eat greens. With solely 5 substances, this make-ahead sauce is the king of cheap meals for big teams. Merely prep your sauce, select your favourite noodle and accompanying veg, and high with numerous ending touches.
Hero Ingredient: Burrata, toasted breadcrumbs, recent herbs, lemon juice, and flaky salt make glorious topping decisions.
Serve With: Grilled Peach and Asparagus Salad with Spicy Pepitas, Cashew Mozzarella, and Goji Chipotle Dressing
Why We Love It: I really like the concept of serving an enormous bowl of pasta salad for a laid-back gathering. This recipe couldn’t be tastier however isn’t fussy—each impressing your friends whereas additionally making them really feel proper at residence. The briny, fruity flavors of the olives and artichokes are pure Mediterranean vibes. And when mixed with a little bit crispy bacon, stunning issues occur. (Be at liberty to go away the bacon out and maintain a bowl on the facet for additional sprinkling if in case you have vegetarian friends.)
Hero Ingredient: Cavatappi is vital on this recipe. Its quick, twisted form soaks up all the nice inexperienced dressing.
Serve With: That is the right one-dish meal, however we love beginning with this Ricotta with Pears and Honeyed Pistachios and having fun with a candy and tart Salty Canine cocktail alongside.
Why We Love It: All of us love pasta banquet, and this recipe is infinitely customizable and simply doubled. In reality, Camille lays out the entire attainable swaps and her finest ideas for cooking this for a crowd within the recipe publish. Apart from the simplicity of constructing this dish, it has all of my favourite issues: rigatoni, pesto, and crispy Brussels sprouts. If you happen to’re searching for a no-fuss, show-stopping pasta for a big group, that is it.
Hero Ingredient: The caramelized, crispy, garlicky Brussels sprouts style much more indulgent than the noodles.
Serve With: As a result of this can be a one-pot meal, any of these refreshing kombucha cocktails would carry a pleasant, funky twist to the expertise.
Why We Love It: This eggplant lasagna is a comfy one-pot dinner that friends of all ages and palates will love. It’s vegetarian, which is a plus for dinner events the place friends have dietary restrictions, and it’s comforting all the identical. The icing on the cake? Retailer-bought marinara makes prep a breeze.
Hero Ingredient: Because it’s in a skillet, you may place your entire creation straight on the desk and serve it up household fashion.
Serve With: Roasted Heirloom Carrots With Wild Rice And Tahini
Vegetarian Recipes for Massive Teams
Why We Love It: If you happen to’re not placing potatoes in your pizza, take this recipe as an indication. I’m obsessive about the crispy-creamy texture play created by the melt-in-your-mouth potatoes and burrata set towards the skinny, crunchy crust. It’s an amazing possibility for big teams with a light-weight substances record and shortcut methods to make all of it the better. Speak about hostess with the mostess.
Hero Ingredient: I’ll by no means, ever say no to burrata. It does creaminess to perfection.
Serve With: Heat Spinach-Artichoke Salad with Quinoa Crunchies
Why We Love It: Minimal effort meets most taste on this vegetarian tikka masala. It has all the flavour of your favourite take-out meal and might simply be scaled as much as accommodate any-sized group. Once more, it’s nice to set out in “serve your self” style and is straightforward to double as properly.
Hero Ingredient: The Greek yogurt deserves a medal for making this so creamy.
Serve With: Heat naan is essential—and if you happen to actually need to throw a celebration, this Vegan Flatbread with Roasted Carrot and Pink Pepper Hummus is a crowd-pleaser.
Butternut Squash Pizza With Arugula & Almond Ricotta
Why We Love It: If I’m invited to a pizza banquet, 10/10 occasions I’ll settle for. Everybody loves pizza, and this recipe will likely be prepared quicker than Domino’s can ship. If you happen to’re seeking to make this meal the principle occasion of a night, you can even let {couples} customise their very own pizzas.
Hero Ingredient: Do-it-yourself almond ricotta, whereas delish, leans this pizza towards the costlier facet. If you happen to aren’t entertaining a plant-based crowd, be at liberty to swap out with store-bought entire milk ricotta.
Serve With: A number of salads are key. Go all in with this Grapefruit, Avocado, and Golden Beet Salad with Crunchy Chickpeas and Feta or Carrot, Kumquat, and Golden Beet Salad.
Why We Love It: Spiced potatoes stuffed into comfortable bell peppers make for a magical dinner. These are lighter than conventional samosa, however scrumptious all the identical. It’s such a simple make-ahead dinner as a result of the filling will maintain in a single day. When the time comes, merely roast your bell peppers, stuff them with filling, and let friends high accordingly.
Hero Ingredient: Chutney, recent herbs, yogurt, and purple onions make scrumptious ending touches.
Serve With: Chaat Masala Citrus Salad
Why We Love It: Soups are an effective way to feed a crowd with out stretching your pockets. You get much more out of them than you place in, which is pure magic. This candy potato and black bean chili exudes all the autumn flavors with stick-to-your-ribs veggies that make it hearty and wholesome. It’s loaded with black beans, flavorful veggies, and many spices that maintain it heat and comforting. Only a fast sauté of these veggies and a sluggish simmer takes this recipe from pot to bowl in beneath an hour.
Hero Ingredient: As with every comforting soup recipe, the bottom line is within the presentation. Lay out your entire toppings and let friends construct their masterpiece!
Serve With: Tacky Bitter Cream and Onion Biscuits
Seafood Recipes for Massive Teams
Why We Love It: These grilled shrimp tacos are a summer season obsession. With a brief and candy ingredient record and a foremost protein on the cheaper facet, it’s an amazing batch of substances for decent days and grilling outdoors. Change up your toppings with something from slices of creamy avocado to bits of recent cilantro and some squeezes of recent lime.
Hero Ingredient: Pico de Gallo is at all times a winner with these tacos!
Serve With: Guacamole, Spicy Mezcal Paloma
Why We Love It: Camille picked up this recipe from Contramar in Mexico Metropolis and we’ve been modified ever since. It’s additional appropriate for big teams because the elements might be shortly prepped upfront. When everybody is able to dig in, simply set out the tostadas and toppings and let everybody construct their very own!
Hero Ingredient: Avocado mellows out this recipe’s spicy and savory taste mix.
Serve With: Mexican Chopped Salad, Margarita on the Rocks
Why We Love It: My household has a practice of indulging in salmon for no less than one night time of our summer season trip. This salmon recipe has solely 5 substances and comes collectively in a snap. The peach salsa brings all of the summer season fruit flavors, whereas chile lime seasoning provides a kick of zest to this grilled fish.
Hero Ingredient: Peach salsa, want I say extra?
Serve With: Salt & Vinegar Potatoes, Vegan Pink Pepper Pasta
Why We Love It: What’s higher than a taco bar after an extended day of poolside or yard enjoyable? These chimichurri fish tacos are one in every of my go-to cheap meals for big teams, and they are often topped with varied flavorful additions that every one friends can decide and select from.
Hero Ingredient: Cilantro is the hero of this chimichurri sauce.
Serve With: Mexican Avenue Corn Salad
This publish was final up to date on July 11, 2025 to incorporate new insights.
