All the New Year’s Eve Menu Ideas You Need

Ring in the new year with the perfect collection of New Year’s Eve Menu Ideas! Our favorite New Year’s recipes are the best way to kick off the start of a great year. From the best New Year’s Eve appetizers to our favorite New Year’s Eve dinner recipes, this list has all the traditional New Year’s Eve food ideas!

Whether you’re throwing your own New Year’s Eve Party or enjoying a quiet night with your family, these New Year’s Eve food ideas are just what you need.

New Year’s Eve Food Ideas

Happy New Year! Well, almost! If you’re like us, you like to plan ahead for your holiday meals. We pulled together all of our favorite New Year party food ideas for this list, and we’re sure you’ll love them as much as we do.

Let’s start off with everyone’s favorite: New Year’s Eve appetizers! These easy appetizer recipes are perfect for a New Year’s Eve party or even a toned-down at-home celebration.

New Year’s Eve Appetizers

Seafood Appetizers

Some of the best appetizers for New Year’s Eve are easy seafood appetizers like shrimp. Seafood makes some of the best appetizer recipes of all time, so when we’re planning our New Year’s Eve menu, these are the first on our list.

• Shrimp Scampi Linguine: Make it with or without the pasta for a delicious plate of garlic butter shrimp.
• Cucumber Canapes with Shrimp: These fancy cucumber cups with shrimp are easy to make ahead of time and taste amazing.
• Shrimp Shumai Recipe: Our shrimp shumai recipe is elegant and delicious. You’ll want to make extra!
• Steamed Crab Legs: Flavorful crab legs are a tasty New Year’s Eve menu idea chock full of flavor from garlic herb butter sauce.
• Cucumber Bites with Creole Shrimp and Guacamole from Life Tastes Good are spicy-sweet and low carb!

Chicken Appetizers

We love chicken appetizers for any occasion. There is just so much you can do with chicken! Some of our favorite New Year’s Eve menu ideas use chicken, both for appetizers and dinner.

Here are our favorite appetizers with chicken:

• Dragon Chicken Recipe: This spicy Chinese chicken recipe is a must-try as an appetizer or main course. It’s a delicious way to kick off the New Year!
• Chicken Taquitos Recipe: These simple baked chicken taquitos are the perfect balance of easy and elegant. Give them a try!
• Southwest Baked Egg Rolls: We use ground turkey in these southwest baked egg rolls, but they’re so delicious, they deserve a spot here with the chicken appetizers!
• Thai Chicken Meatballs: These little Thai chicken meatballs are completely irresistible, especially with the dipping sauce recipe they come with!

Pork & Bacon Appetizers

Let’s face it, bacon appetizers are irresistible. Plus, they’re so easy to make! We serve bacon up as much as possible for New Year’s Eve – just one batch of bacon and you can make a variety of recipes like these.

We have some of our favorite pork appetizers here, too: simple-to-make appetizers that are amazing New Year’s Eve food ideas!

• Candied Bacon Recipe (Millionaire Bacon): With a name like Millionaire Bacon, you know this recipe is going to bring you luck in the New Year. Or at least, you’ll feel pretty lucky eating it!
• Prosciutto Pinwheels: Irresistible ham and cheese pinwheel pastries you will not be able to get enough of. Trust us, you’ll want to make extra because pinwheel appetizers are so fun to make. The possibilities are endless.
• Spinach Puff Pastry: This spinach puff pastry is complete with a sprinkling of bacon that really emphasizes the other flavors of the pastry.
• Thai Sausage Rolls: Little sausage bites everyone loves! These are made with chicken sausage.

Potato Appetizers & More

Drumroll, please: here come some of our favorite New Year’s Eve appetizer recipes! Who doesn’t love potatoes? Potato appetizers are some of our favorites, especially for New Year’s Eve!

We have some more favorites for you, too, like our shishito peppers recipe and stuffed mushrooms. Yum!

• Blistered Shishito Peppers with Dipping Sauce: One of our favorite appetizer recipes of all time. Mild Japanese peppers with a citrus pesto dipping sauce that is out of this world!
• Marquis Potatoes (Pommes Marquise): Tasty whipped potatoes with tomato gravy. Totally irresistible!
• Vegetarian Stuffed Mushroom Recipe: Little stuffed mushrooms perfect for an appetizer serving. They are so tasty!
• Potato Pave with Bacon and Parmesan: Layers of thinly-sliced potatoes with bacon and parmesan… you will dream about these after you try them!
• Jalapeno Popper Deviled Eggs: A classic made new with all of the flavors of a Jalapeno popper recipe!

New Year’s Eve Recipes – New Year’s Eve Dinner Ideas

New Year’s Eve appetizers maybe some of our favorites, but we love serving up special dinners, too! These New Year’s Eve dinner ideas are perfect for serving up to your family or even as party meals.

• Korean Braised Short Ribs (Galbi Jjim): Galbi Jjim is a Korean dish often enjoyed for special occasions, so it’s perfect for New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day!
• Portuguese Peri Peri Chicken Recipe: Peri Peri Chicken is a somewhat spicy chicken dinner recipe that would make an amazing start to the New Year! A Peri Peri menu is sure to wow your friends!
• The Best Chicken Cordon Bleu: We make our chicken cordon bleu recipe with a creamy Parmesan sauce, and you have to try it to understand just how delicious it is. It’s perfect for New Year’s!
• Creamy Penne Pasta with Sliced Prime Rib: The best part about our creamy penne pasta recipe is that it uses sliced prime rib, so you can make it with your leftovers!
• Slow Cooker Beef Short Ribs Recipe: Short ribs are just a perfect choice as a New Year’s Eve menu idea. Try these or the Korean Braised Short Ribs above, and you’ll be set.

• Chinese Prawns Recipe (Shrimp Stir Fry): This Chinese prawn recipe is a great choice for a New Year’s Eve family dinner. It’s garlicky and delicious!
• Slow Cooker Beef Tips and Gravy: Beef tips and gravy are one of our favorite beef recipes, period, and this one is ideal for New Year’s.
• Lobster Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce: Start the New Year off a little fancy with our Lobster Ravioli! The sage butter sauce is irresistible. You’ll want to lick your plate!
• Easy Steak Diane Recipe: Steak Diane is a classic dinner recipe. Its delicious depth of flavor will leave you wanting seconds!
• Reverse Sear Instant Pot Prime Rib: Who says cooking prime rib has to be hard? It’s easy- this Instant Pot Prime Rib recipe proves it!

New Year’s Eve Cocktails

It’s just not a New Year’s Eve party without cocktails! These New Year’s Eve Cocktails have it all, and are some of the most simple mixed drinks to make.

• Bourbon Flip Cocktail Recipe: The perfect warm winter cocktail recipe!
• Spiked Mulled Cider: Mulled cider is one of the best winter cocktail recipes and is so full of flavor from cinnamon and star anise!
• Caramel Apple Sangria (Apple Pie Sangria): Our all-time favorite fall & winter cocktail recipe. It just does not get any better than this easy sangria recipe!
• Frosé Recipe (Frozen Rosé): You can make this easy frozen rosé cocktail with your favorite fruit!
• Pickled Strawberry Cocktail: Pickled strawberries make this the most unique strawberry drink you’ll ever try – it’s SO tasty without being overly sweet!

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Which of these New Year’s Menu Ideas are you planning to try? Let us know in the comments below! We love to hear from you.