Usher in the new year with a mouthwatering meal enjoyed with family and friends. These New Year’s Day main course ideas will give your guests a tasty reason to celebrate.
Grilled pizzas fit for a new year
You’ve made your New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, and we’ve got a delicious and nutritious pizza that will help you keep your goal. Forget those typical flabby-dough cheese and pepperoni pizzas laden with grease and too many calories. Guiltlessly sink your teeth into one of these grilled personal-sized pizzas from Blissful Basil. They are made with a grill-crispy whole wheat crust that is scrumptiously scattered with nutrient-rich caramelized vegetables and slivers of fresh basil, and topped with just enough melted mozzarella and tangy goat cheese to satisfy your indulgent pizza cravings.
Shepherd’s pie with potato and sweet potato mash
Kickstart the new year with a plate of this hearty shepherd’s pie with potato and sweet potato mash from Blogtastic Food. Featuring a rich lamb filling and a light, slightly sweet artistically swirled mash of sweet potatoes and potatoes, this comfort food meal will fill your belly and warm you all over with every savory bite. The lamb filling is delectably flavored with fresh herbs, red wine, Worcestershire sauce, and tasty bits of onion, carrots, celery and garlic. The billowy mashed potato topping melts in your mouth with a buttery taste and texture along with a lovely hint of freshly grated nutmeg. This shepherd’s pie is the kind of dish that makes you long for cold winter nights just so you can cozy up to a big helping of yum!
Salmon en croute with lemon dill sauce
Celebrate family, friends and a new year with this impressive — yet simple — salmon en croute with lemon dill sauce. En croute is just a fancy French term that means “in crust.” This version of the classic French dish, from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice, features skinless, boneless salmon fillets that are individually wrapped in puff pastry with fresh stalks of asparagus and brushed with mustard. You wrap it up and bake the salmon until the puff pastry is a gorgeous golden brown. Slice each scrumptious salmon en croute in half and generously drizzle with the homemade lemon dill sauce. This mouthwatering main course can be served hot or at room temperature, which means you can make it ahead of time and serve it at your leisure.
Ham and cheese rolls with caramelized pineapple and onions
If you’re looking for a fun, finger-licking good meal to serve on New Year’s Day, the search is over. These ham and cheese rolls with caramelized pineapple and onions, from Closet Cooking, will have your family and friends racing to the table to fill up their plates. Made with crescent roll dough, deli ham, Swiss cheese, caramelized onions and pineapple, and a homemade sweet mustard sauce, these rolls are ready in 30 minutes and disappear faster than their prep time. Every roll flaunts spirals of melted cheese and hot slices of ham entwined with a golden brown roll smothered in a sweet tangy sauce, toasty onions and pineapple. Make an extra-large batch because no one can stop at just one.
Kale salad with chicken
Need a fresh and flavorful meal to serve on New Year’s Day? This tasty kale salad with chicken, from Cooking with Confetti, is a welcome change from the heavy glut of holiday sweets, drinks and feasts. Loaded with delicious bites of kale, chicken, cucumber, pumpkin seeds and avocado, this light yet satisfying dish will get blanket approval from all of your New Year’s Day guests. You’ll definitely approve when you see how quickly it comes together. All you have to do is toss the kale with a homemade lemon mustard vinaigrette, sauté the chicken breasts in butter and olive oil, and assemble the salad with a generous scattering of other nutrient-rich ingredients.
Rabble-rousing roasted duck
Get your New Year’s Day dinner guests fighting over the first bite with this rabble-rousing roasted duck recipe from Dishes Delish. It is slow roasted, crazy crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. If you’ve never roasted a whole duck before, this recipe will make you a pro! Roasting a duck is surprisingly easy. You cut slits in the fat skin, stuff the bird with orange slices and garlic cloves, and put it in the oven. Flip the duck a couple of times and baste it with a salty-sweet homemade sauce during the roasting process. Three hours later, you’ll be pulling out the most impressive poultry meal you’ve ever cooked.
French dip sandwiches
After a night of New Year’s Eve revelry, treat your family and friends to a belly-filling plate of comfort food. These French dip sandwiches, from Jenny Steffens, are heartily stuffed with slices of tender roast beef and provolone cheese. Before you serve them, they are laid open on a baking sheet and broiled for a couple of minutes to heat the beef and melt the cheese. Finish them off with a thick slather of mayo and Dijon mustard. Give your guests something warm and wonderful to dip their sandwiches in. Offer up steaming hot bowls of French onion soup (recipe included).
Bacon spinach feta chicken
Need a low-carb keto recipe that will please your New Year’s Day dinner crowd (and help you keep your keto diet resolution)? Make this bacon spinach feta chicken, from Fake Ginger, and watch your guests eagerly gobble up their meal. A tasty 30-minute recipe that will get rave reviews, this dish features flavor-rich chicken thighs pan-fried in bacon fat (you can’t go wrong with bacon!) that are draped with a luscious spinach cream sauce and generously garnished with crumbled feta. Serve the chicken with a big vegetable salad or spiralized zucchini noodles to keep it low-carb and keto.
Cuban roasted Cornish hen
Start a New Year’s Day dinner tradition with this Cuban roasted Cornish hen recipe from Foolproof Living. To make this elegant and impressive main course, you simply marinate 1 pound of Cornish game hens in a lip-smacking good marinade of fresh-squeezed lime juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin and oregano, then roast them for about two hours. Serve the juicy, Cuban-inspired hens whole on a plate with a side of black beans and rice to stay with the Cuban theme. Your most etiquette-minded guests will want to eat these scrumptiously roasted birds with their fingers, but you can always insist they use a knife and fork, if table manners are a requirement for your New Year’s Day meal.
Sirloin tip roast
Sirloin tip roast isn’t just for the occasional Sunday dinner. This herb-crusted sirloin tip roast recipe, from the Canadian food blog Frugal Mom Eh!, is a fabulous entrée to serve on New Year’s Day. You’ll get oohs and aahs from your family and friends when you set juicy, flavorful slabs of this oven-roasted meat on their dinner plates. This roast boasts a generous coat of dried herbs and spices — including oregano, basil, chili powder, turmeric, cumin, garlic, onion powder, salt and pepper — that is seared onto the exterior of the meat. The roast then cooks to heavenly perfection in the oven. If you’re new to cooking roasts, this straightforward and fail-safe recipe is for you.
Chicken Lazone
Give your New Year’s Day guests a succulent southwestern meal that will have them begging you for the recipe. This
chicken Lazone, from Gonna Want Seconds, is a memorable main course that will please a crowd and the cook. Your family and friends will love the taste, you’ll love the minimal prep and time it takes to make this dish. All you have to do is pan-fry perfectly seasoned chicken breasts and make a spicy cream sauce using the same skillet. Simple, scrumptious and irresistibly delicious, this is a meal that you’ll want to make all year long.
