23 Recipes for Easter & Fun Kid-Friendly Activities

This bumper post features over 23 recipes for Easter – from scrumptious Southern side dishes to Easter dinner ideas. Keep scrolling to discover lots of activity ideas for the kids too.

I’ve put together a list of some of the many things we’ll be serving at our Easter dinner. Just click on the link below each picture to be taken to the recipe. Beneath each of these recipes for Easter, you’ll see notes as to how far ahead I assemble the dishes in case you want to streamline your Easter so you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time with your family!

This post contains ideas and links to a range of recipes for Easter, including side dishes, bread, main courses, desserts, and beverages!

Recipes for Easter

Overnight Stuffed French Toast

Nothing says Easter brunch like a serving of our overnight stuffed French toast. As the name suggests, making this ahead of time is the aim of the game.

Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are a classic Southern staple. You’ve gotta have at LEAST one tray of deviled eggs at Easter because they are so good. This recipe is for keto-friendly deviled eggs.

Can make two to three days ahead of time.

Jordan Rolls

A popular Easter bread recipe is my unleavened bread. But this is my personal Jordan Rolls recipe and I just love them. If you are serving ham, they make the best sandwiches with leftover pieces.

Make these fresh the day of the meal.

The Ultimate Easter Side Dishes

For me, the ultimate Easter dinner includes three delicious Southern side dishes: Granny Jordan’s English pea pimento casserole, MeMe’s mashed potatoes, and cheesy hash brown casserole.

Can assemble each of these the day before meal. Bake the casseroles in the oven just before serving and reheat the mashed potatoes in the microwave.

Sweet And Sour Green Beans

This recipe uses frozen green beans but makes them taste garden fresh!

Can make now and freeze, reheating the day of the meal. Otherwise, make it two days ahead of time, store it in the fridge, and heat it in the microwave.

Roasted Asparagus

I’m still fairly new to the world of folks who eat asparagus, but I’m a definite convert! If you’re firing up the grill this Easter, you might also like my grilled asparagus recipe.

Macaroni Salad

Mama and Grandmama are ga-ga over this macaroni salad. But it’s easy to see why when it’s so easy to make and delicious to boot.

Can make two days ahead of time.

Candied Carrots

When it comes to quick and easy recipes for Easter, you can’t look past these delicious and lightly sweet carrots. They can be made a day ahead of time and reheated to make Easter dinner prep easier.

Buttermilk Congealed Salad

This is just a classic buttermilk congealed salad, but it’s also fun because you can change the color and flavor just by using different flavors of gelatin.

Can make three days ahead of time.

Broccoli Salad With Bacon and Raisins

This is one of my favorite recipes and I must at any Easter celebration. I mean, I love this stuff and so does everyone else in my family, including my Daddy, Mama, and Grandmama. One bite and I think you’ll be joining our fan club too!

Can make three days ahead of time.

Relish Tray Ideas for Kids

If you’re feeding children who tend to be on the picky side, a relish tray on the table is the way to go! All of their favorites that they can put on their plate, but all healthy options, too! This is how I round out the meal for my pickiest eaters.

Make the day of the meal.

Baked Ham With Easy Glaze

One of the most popular recipes for Easter dinner is baked ham. Luckily, you only need a few ingredients to make this easy peasy glazed ham.

Cook your Easter ham the day before and reheat.

Creamy Macaroni & Cheese

We have to have this every year at Easter or the men and children will disown us. This is my Mama’s creamy version, my stringy version of mac and cheese can be found by clicking here.

Make the day of the meal.

Mama’s Chicken Poulet or “Chicken Chicken”

In case you’re not in the mood for ham, here is a chicken recipe that is assembled the night before and baked just before serving. Wait a minute, why wouldn’t you be in the mood for ham? ~blinks~ Well on the off chance ya are, here ya go!

This recipe must be assembled the night before and baked just before the meal.

Lemon Meringue Pie With Cookie Crumb Crust

Let’s move on to Easter dessert, shall we? If you can tear yourself away from the Easter chocolate, this is the MUST HAVE pie each Easter. While store-bought ones are all good and well, anyone can make this homemade version in about the same amount of time it would take you to go buy one at the grocery store and I can guarantee you the reviews will make your efforts more than worth it!

A lemon meringue pie unlike any other. Click the name to view a full photographic tutorial and get the recipe!

Can make up to two days ahead of time.

Fresh Strawberry Pie

I love this pie so much and it’s one of my favorite dessert recipes for Easter. Mama always makes two so she can send one home with me! Don’t forget the whipped cream on top!

Can be made a day ahead.

Bananas in Red Stuff

What a delightful dessert! Serve it as a side salad along with the Easter meal if you like.

Make no more than one day ahead of time.

Grandmama’s Coconut Cake With No-Fail Seven Minute Frosting

Looking for an Easter treat in the form of a delicious Easter cake? Well, this is one of the best (and easiest) coconut cakes I’ve ever had!

Can make two to three days ahead of time.

Daddy’s Coconut Cake

This is my Daddy’s favorite cake for Christmas and Easter. Some folks around here call it “rotten cake” because it is sooooo good you want folks to think it’s rotten and keep it all to yourself!

Can make three days ahead of time.

Skillet Carrot Cake from Southern Cast Iron

A lot of folks enjoy carrot cake with their Easter celebration, so here’s a scrumptious skillet carrot cake recipe with cream cheese frosting.

Sweet Tea: The Elixir Of The South

We can’t forget drink recipes for Easter. Seeing as we’re the Southern Plate, you bet we have a glass of sweet tea at Easter. In fact, we have one with every meal, every day, without question :). I make mine with Splenda.

We always make the tea fresh every day.

Fresh StrawberryAde

This is such a treat, especially for your guests who are watching their sugar! So easy to whip up and such a treat!

Can make two days ahead of time.

Blushing Apple Juleps

Folks of all ages enjoy these deliciously fruity drinks!

Can be made two to three days ahead of time. Add cherry juice and cherry just before serving.

However you celebrate Easter, I hope you have a wonderful time.

Spring is nature’s way of saying,

“Let’s party!”

~Robin Williams

Game and Activity Ideas

Easter Sunday is BIG DOINGS where I’m from so today I’m going to share with you some fun ideas for the kids and some yummy Easter ideas for your table!

My mother makes Easter FUN by taking part in all sorts of neat activities with the kids (of all ages!)

Old-Fashioned Party Games

We all gather at Mama’s house for Easter Dinner and a big egg hunt in her backyard. The kids most look forward to the old-fashioned party games my mother plays with them.

Drop the Clothespin in the Jar

Give each child a clothespin and place a large mason jar at their feet. Have them hold the clothespin at chest level and try to drop it in the jar.

Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Place a drawing of a donkey or Easter bunny on the wall. Give each child a tail with tape on the end of it. Blindfold them and turn them around a time or two, then point them in the direction of the wall and let ’em go!

Egg Race

Give each child a spoon with an egg on it. Line ’em up at a starting line and send ’em off! Whoever gets to the finish line first with their egg still on their spoon wins.

Egg Toss

Have two kids face each other, one with an egg. Toss the egg to the child opposite them and then take a step back. Toss the egg back. Take another step back. Repeat until someone drops the egg. The team that makes it furthest apart wins! Mama never cooks the eggs so this one is always a little more exciting and someone ends up having to wash the egg off their hands.

Vaseline Cotton Ball Pickup

Place a dab of vaseline on the tip of the kid’s noses and have them move cotton balls from one bowl to another using just their vaseline-tipped noses, seeing who can move the most in an allotted amount of time. We’re weird, but we have fun!

Egg Hunt

In recent years we’ve stopped putting prizes in the eggs and started awarding prizes instead. We have the same prizes and numbers for every kid in the family but they haven’t caught on that they’re all winning the same things and in equal amounts just yet. Mama will sit everyone down and have them go through their baskets to find out who has the pinkest eggs, who has the bluest eggs, who found the most two-tone eggs, etc.

Dyeing Eggs

Last year we found that not all of the kids in our family had got to dye eggs at their house, so Mama cooked up a dozen eggs for each child and we set up a big table for them to dye the eggs on Easter day. I just brought my kid’s eggs and dye supplies with me and they had a lot of fun getting to do it with all of their cousins. Even though a lot of folks aren’t doing this anymore, it is one of my most cherished memories as a kid at Easter and I encourage you to continue this simple tradition with your kids, too!

Besides, deviled eggs, egg salad, ham salad, chicken casserole, and many more delicious recipes await you the following week as a result! Don’t forget to store your dyed eggs in the fridge! Hint: Just to make sure you know, you’re never too old to have fun dyeing Easter Eggs! 

Peeps Jousting

My mother has always had a fun spirit and loves to do new things to thrill the kids. Since we have mostly boys, she’s decided to let them do peeps sword fighting last year. You take two marshmallow peeps of different colors, have them face each other on a plate, and stick a toothpick in each one like it’s a sword. Place them in the microwave and turn it on and watch. As they heat up they will expand and the one who sticks the other with his little toothpick first wins. Of course, these will eventually explode in your microwave so you wanna watch and stop the fight when the opponent is stuck. I’m just glad this is Mama’s microwave and not mine but she’s right, the kids love it (and think she is a cool grandmama, too!). 

Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt

A few years ago when we moved into our new house, we found out that the community hosted a flashlight Easter Egg Hunt! We took the kids, looking forward to some fun, but upon seeing how it was executed and the crowds involved we quickly realized this was not a safe event for our kids to participate in. Not wanting the kids to miss out on our planned fun, we headed to our local dollar store and picked up some prizes to come home and have our own. Flashlight egg hunts are SO easy and fun to pull off in your own backyard because there is no real need to hide anything due to the dark.

We divide our backyard in half and each kid gets their own exclusive hunting grounds. I hide tons of eggs but also include some other random goodies as well. Since we had to set it up on the fly that first year, I ended up using some odd things as prizes but they’ve stuck as tradition now! This means that in addition to eggs in the yard, the kids will also find a random can of Pringles and whatever else I can come up with (chicken noodle soup, fruit snack packs, etc). We usually do this the night before Easter and it has become one of the things we all most look forward to.

I’d LOVE to hear what you do at your house on Easter in the comments section!

HAPPY EASTER!