Simple Buffet Ideas

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Plan the perfect holiday party with our Simple Buffet Ideas! This collection of the perfect crowd-feeding recipes makes menu planning so easy.

Jump to:

• 🎄 Holiday Menu Planning
• 🍳 Breakfast Buffet Food
• 🍤 Easy Appetizers for a Crowd
• 🥘 Casseroles for a Crowd
• 🥬 Vegetable Side Dishes
• 🥗 Buffet Salads
• You may also like
• 🍽 Main Course Ideas for a Buffet
• 🍰 Buffet Desserts
• 💬 Reviews

🎄 Holiday Menu Planning

Who says holiday menu planning has to be stressful? Serving your meals buffet-style is the perfect solution to holiday stress and gives you more time to spend with your guests.

Buffet food ideas also allow your guests to personalize their dinner, so it’s a great choice when you know you’ll be serving picky eaters or guests with food allergies. And, it’s just plain fun! Who doesn’t love a buffet?

🍳 Breakfast Buffet Food

Make it an all-you-can-eat breakfast with our easy and simple breakfast buffet ideas!

• Easy Sausage Breakfast Casserole: The perfect holiday morning breakfast in casserole form, using crescent rolls as a base. Easy to make the night before!
  
• Starbucks Egg Bites: Easy to make in your oven or Instant Pot, low carb, and budget-friendly! Everyone loves these little egg bites.
  
• Instant Pot Sausage Gravy: Make a big batch, keep it warm, and let your guests dish it out onto biscuits.
  
• Best Banana Bread Waffles: These easy waffles taste like banana bread and are perfect for serving a crowd. Set out with fresh fruit and whipped cream.
  

🍤 Easy Appetizers for a Crowd

Simple party food is a must for a party! Try our favorites:

• Cucumber Canapes with Shrimp: Easy to prepare and served cold! So simple to make ahead of time.
  
• Prosciutto Pinwheels: A must at any party of ours. When you serve these, you will be asked for the recipe!
  
• Spinach Puff Pastry: Puff pastry is a perfect buffet appetizer, especially when it’s this delicious.
  
• Jalapeno Popper Deviled Eggs: Everyone loves deviled eggs! Ours taste like jalapeno poppers and are totally irresistible.
  

🥘 Casseroles for a Crowd

Casseroles make the easiest buffet menu ideas! Our favorites are easy to make, simple to store, and reheat in a pinch. 🔥

• Southern Sweet Potato Casserole: A must for the holidays. Ours has a secret… we don’t use marshmallows, but pecans!
  
• Baked Creamed Corn Casserole: Every time we serve this delicious cornbread casserole, we get asked what our secret is. Give it a try and find out for yourself!
  
• Fresh Green Bean Casserole: A great gluten-free green bean casserole with so much flavor!
  
• Instant Pot Scalloped Potatoes: We love scalloped potatoes, and what could be easier than making them in the pressure cooker?
  

🥬 Vegetable Side Dishes

Vegetable side dishes make such simple buffet ideas! They pair well with everything and are so simple to prepare and serve.

• Best Fresh Green Bean Almondine: One of our all-time favorite side dishes! This is a must-try for a buffet!
  
• Parmesan Garlic Roasted Carrots: Roasted carrots are a perfect side for any holiday party.
  
• Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions: Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions pair especially well with roast beef recipes.
  
• Garlic Roasted Small Potatoes: This easy roasted potatoes recipe is a must for the holidays!
  
  

🥗 Buffet Salads

Salads are a must for filling out your party food buffet ideas! Here are our best salad recipes for a crowd:

You may also like

• Holiday Roasted Artichoke Salad: Beautifully festive, and so delicious! This flavorful salad is a top favorite of ours.
  
• Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad: The flavors in this brussels sprouts salad make it one of the best holiday dishes!
  
• Orange and Fennel Salad: This salad is simple, gorgeous, and full of bright flavors that go well with everything from ham and turkey to roast beef.
  
• Broccoli Apple Salad: Perfect for using up turkey leftovers! This is a delicious holiday salad recipe.
  

Check out our holiday salad recipes for more inspiration!

🍽 Main Course Ideas for a Buffet

These buffet-style main course ideas are perfect for holiday menu planning!

• Easy Grilled Turkey Recipe: Save space in your oven by making a grilled turkey to feed a crowd with!
  
• Slow Roasted Prime Rib Roast Recipe: One of our most popular and simple prime rib roast recipes!
  
• Easy Dutch Oven Pot Roast Recipe: Easy, fall-apart tender, and so delicious! Everyone will come back for seconds!
  
• Easiest Honey Glazed Ham Recipe: We love cooking ham, and this is our easiest classic ham recipe.
  
• Grilled Crab Legs with Garlic Butter: Crab legs are a great choice for a buffet! They’re easy to grill up or even steam, come together quickly, and make plenty to go around.
  
• Easy Lemon Butter Chicken: Creamy, so delicious, and easy to make in a large batch! You will love the lemon butter sauce!
  

🍰 Buffet Desserts

These are the easiest desserts to make ahead of time for a buffet party!

• Almond Ooey Gooey Butter Cake: We love this sweet butter cake recipe for serving at a buffet. You’ll want to come back for more!
  
• Easy Instant Pot Cheesecake Recipe: Making cheesecake in the Instant Pot is simple and perfect for feeding a crowd easily!
  
• Easy Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake Recipe: Yes, we promise, it’s so easy! Even a total beginner can make this cheesecake.
  
• Ooey Gooey Brownies: These ooey gooey brownies are gluten-free and so moist!
  

What’s your favorite dish to serve for a buffet? Did you try any of these party food buffet ideas? Let us know in the comments below! We love to hear from you!