Side Dishes for a Crowd — 17 Big-Batch Sides My Family Asks For
Side dishes for a crowd are the part of the meal I think about hardest. The main dish is usually decided before I ever get to the kitchen — it is the sides that turn one pan of something into an actual supper. These are the seventeen I make on repeat when there are a lot of people coming.
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase through my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting StephanieCooksForACrowd.com!
How to Pick Side Dishes for a Crowd
There are a lot of variables that go into choosing your sides. Obviously, you begin with the main dish and try to pick sides that will complement it. Sometimes, that means you pick something that has a similar spice profile. On other occasions, you may choose a seasonal dish. Or, you may just be looking for good old fashioned comfort food. You may even choose whatever happens to be on sale. And starches are always a good idea when you need to help a crowd get full. But no matter how you choose, your sides need to taste good. And these recipes never let me down.
A word on which of these go where. Some of them travel beautifully — the cold salads and the baked beans will forgive you almost anything. Others are at their best coming straight out of my own oven onto my own table, and the roasted vegetables are the clearest example. Both of those count as cooking for a crowd. It just depends on whose house the crowd is in.
Potato Sides Everybody Fights Over
If I am only making one side, it is usually one of these. Potatoes stretch, they are cheap, and I have never once had any left in the pan.
📬 Want the whole plate figured out?
Deciding what goes with what is the part that wears people out, and it is the part I have already done by Saturday morning. Every week I send a full plan — the dinners, the sides matched to them, and a grocery list. Subscribers also get my meal planner, where you can save any recipe on this site to your own collection and it builds the shopping list for you. Drop your email below and I’ll add you.
Green Beans, Carrots, and Vegetables That Actually Get Eaten
Getting a vegetable eaten is a different skill than cooking one. All three of these have gone in front of people who told me they do not like vegetables, and all three came back to the kitchen empty. These are also my stay-at-home sides. Roasted vegetables want to go from the oven to the table and not much further than that.
Cold Salads That Can Steal the Show
Salads are usually looked at as the “sidekick,” the “tagalong,” the “plus one.” But these salads can enter quietly and leave as the superstar. Yes, you can serve them as a side. But don’t be surprised if you end up getting more compliments on them than you do from your main dish.
Rice, Beans, Bread, and One Southern Surprise
The fillers, and I mean that as a compliment. When you are feeding a lot of people, something starchy on the plate is what makes one pan of chicken go around a table of twelve. The pineapple casserole at the end of this group is the one nobody expects and everybody asks about.
Featured Tools & Ingredients
Sides are where the oven bottleneck happens. Two appliances have done more to fix that at my house than any pan ever has, because both of them cook a side dish somewhere that is not the oven.
- Spacious 7-quart manual slow cooker serves 8+ people or fits a 6-lb. roast
- Set cooking time to high and get a hot meal in no time or set it on low and tonight’s dinner can...
• Seven quarts is the size that matters. Baked beans go in here and stay warm on the counter for hours, which means they are not taking up a rack while everything else bakes. It is also how I keep mashed potatoes hot without drying them out.
- 10 COOKING MODES: Set the perfect temperature with the touch of a button. Smart sensors take the...
- LARGE SLOW COOKER: The 5-quart slow cooker pot holds up to 20 cups plus a removable steam tray, and...
• The rice cooker earns its counter space on crowd days. Herb lemon rice and fried rice both start here, it holds on warm until I am ready, and it is one less burner I have to think about.
I will be honest with you about how far this problem went at my house. When we remodeled our kitchen in 2020, I had a double oven put in, and it was the single best decision we made in that whole project. That is not a fix I can hand to anybody else, so here is the one that works without it: count your oven racks before you plan your menu, not after. If two sides want 400 degrees and the main wants 350, something is coming out cold. Move one of them to the counter and the whole meal gets easier.
Side Dishes for a Crowd FAQ
How many side dishes do I need for a crowd?
Two if the main dish is substantial, three if it is not. If everybody is bringing something, one good side is plenty — the table sorts itself out. What I would not do is make four sides and one main. Ask me how I know.
Which side dishes can I make ahead?
All four of the cold salads, and they are better for it. The potato salad and the coleslaw both want a night in the refrigerator. Baked beans reheat beautifully. I would roast the vegetables the same day, since they lose their edges sitting overnight.
Which of these travel well, and which should stay home?
The cold salads travel best, and coleslaw is the easiest thing on this list to take anywhere — carried cold in one bowl, no wrong temperature for it to arrive at. Baked beans travel well too, especially in a slow cooker. What I would not carry anywhere is the roasted vegetables. They are worth making. Just make them at home and serve them hot.
How do I keep side dishes warm for a crowd?
A slow cooker on warm is the answer for anything saucy or starchy — beans, mashed potatoes, rice. For a baked side, cover it tightly with foil and wrap the whole pan in a bath towel. It will hold heat for over an hour, whether that hour is a drive or just the stretch between when the side comes out and when everybody finally sits down.
What side dish goes with everything?
The World’s Best Green Beans. Four ingredients, they go with chicken or beef or ham without arguing, and I have never put them on a table and had any left. If you only make one thing off this list, make those.
More Crowd-Friendly Cooking You’ll Love
- Recipes for a Crowd — all of my big-batch collections in one place, grouped by mains, sides, and sweets.
- Casseroles for a Crowd — 18 Big-Batch Dinners My Family Asks For — the main dishes these sides are meant to sit beside.
- Desserts for a Crowd — 25 Big-Batch Sweets for Potlucks and Parties — how the meal ends, from sheet cakes to no-bakes.
- Church Potluck Day — Four Recipes, (Almost) Zero Leftovers — the day I packed four dishes into the car and brought all four pans home empty.
- Cookout for a Crowd — Burgers, Dogs, and the Sides Everyone Fights Over — the warm-weather version of the same problem.
Want a little note from my table every Saturday? Join my weekly newsletter — recipes, family moments, and whatever’s happening at the Longstreth house. Sign up here.
Side Dishes for a Crowd — About Stephanie Longstreth
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.