The Type Of Dish You Should Be Serving For A Relaxed Lunch Party

If you find dinner parties overwhelming to host, lunch parties are a great alternative. They're often more low-key, informal, and reserved for a smaller number of guests. However, you can still overcomplicate things if you're picking the wrong dishes for the menu. One of the best tips for hosting a relaxed lunch party is to keep it simple on the food front — you don't need a five-course menu with three different types of protein or seven side dishes. All you need is a one-pot dish that matches the easy-going vibe of your gathering.

Using only one pot narrows down your recipe options, so you're not getting caught in a cycle of decision fatigue. It also leaves you with more time to decorate the setting before the party, as well as fewer dirty dishes to clean up afterward. Additionally, cooking for a group can also be stressful as you need to juggle various cooking time frames for whatever you're serving so that everything can be put on the table simultaneously. One-pot meals eliminate this problem entirely because every component of the dish is cooked together. The meals themselves also tend to be simpler, reflecting the casual atmosphere of the gathering and putting your guests at ease. Not to mention, the more you simplify the cooking process, the more motivated and excited you'll be to host again soon!

Stews are the most foolproof one-pot meals that can easily be cooked up in larger quantities. They're hearty and flavorful, combining the comfort of a warm soup with the satiety of a rich meal. You can make something simple like our spicy harissa eggplant stew or opt for something more complex and fancy like a venison stew with Guinness and pickled walnuts.

Rice and pasta dishes are great contenders for one-pot meals, too. They both cook up really nicely with a variety of ingredients while simultaneously absorbing a bunch of flavor. Our recipes for fragrant chicken biryani or Greek chicken drumsticks with orzo are great examples. You can also use a base of couscous, millet, or buckwheat for some variety. If you're welcoming a vegetarian crowd, then stir-fries, casseroles, and curry dishes can really come in handy. As for the seafood lovers, you can't go wrong with a single-pot creation like New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp.

It's impossible to talk about one-pot meals without giving a quick shout-out to the trusty slow cooker. Although it's usually used for dinner prep, there are some dishes you can make in a time span shorter than the standard six to eight hours. Easy slow cooker Mongolian beef, for example, only takes four hours. But, we can't forget about dessert, either. If you want to continue the one-pot trend for the final dish of your party, one-bowl dark chocolate olive oil cake is the perfect crowd-sized pick.