There are so many excellent ways to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, wherever you are, and whether you're Irish or not. You can go the whiskey-swigging, Guinness-gulping route. You can get authentic, with a lovely loaf of soda bread or a hearty bowl of Colcannon. Or you can go green.
Dress in your best green togs and find inspiration in peas, avocados, spinach, and seaweed. Mix up a boozy green drink to kick off the celebrations. Whip up a few green dips to eat while watching the parades. Gather your friends and family together for an entirely green dinner. Then, when you wake up green around the gills from a little too much Jameson, stir up a revitalizing green soup or smoothie. Sláinte, a toast to your health in drinking and eating!
Get the St. Patty's day craic—Irish for good times, or fun—going with these 31 green recipes. —Jenny Xu
1. Suspiciously Delicious Creamed Cabbage
It’s not St. Patrick’s Day without cabbage, and this one is so much better than boiled. A combination of heavy cream and butter makes it a ridiculously, irresistibly silky side dish.
2. Collard Greens Braised in Coconut Milk
I’m going to contradict myself—while cabbage is the traditional St. Patrick’s Day side dish, collard greens are really what you should serve, thanks to their deep green color. Traditionally, the greens are sautéed with bacon or ham, but this version is totally vegan.
3. Our Best Basil Pesto
Five cups of basil are the base of this traditional pesto recipe, which you can smear on a sandwich, stir into pasta, or serve as part of an impressive cheese and charcuterie spread.
4. Nigel Slater’s Minty Pea Soup with Parmesan Toasts
St. Patrick’s Day falls in mid-March, which is just when spring produce is starting to be bountiful. This quick-cooking soup is made with peas, fresh mint, and a robust chicken stock.
5. Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s Grasshopper Shake
Yes, you should drink Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day, but you can also end the night with this boozy minty milkshake. It gets its chocolate-mint flavor—and green color—from a duo of green crème de menthe and white crème de cacao .
6. Pesto Pasta With Green Beans & Potatoes
If you want to do away with corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day, but want to still embrace some green color and seasonal ingredients, this spring-forward pesto pasta will satisfy your inner leprechaun.
7. Parmesan Risotto With Broccoli Rabe
One way to make risotto stand out for St. Patrick’s Day is by giving it a green hue from fresh broccoli rabe (though you can use frozen in a pinch) and fresh parsley.
8. Avocado Toast
If you’re not having a bowl of Lucky Charms for breakfast on St. Patrick’s Day, how about something a little less sugary like avocado toast? For toppings, you can keep it simple with flaky sea salt and red pepper flakes, or add a fried egg and hot sauce.
9. Chou Farci (Stuffed Cabbage)
“The ingredients of ground meat, cabbage, and vegetables are as humble as it gets, but it’s the way they are layered together that make this a show-stopping dish,” writes recipe developer Olivia Mack McCool.
10. J. Kenji López-Alt’s 10-Minute Lime Cracker Pie
Even if you didn’t make it down to Key West for spring break, you can enjoy the very best flavors from south Florida in the form of this uber-refreshing, no-bake pie.
11. Minty Pea Purée on Toast
Start your St. Patrick’s Day festivities with this bright green appetizer. “This dish is pure springtime comfort,” says Gena Hamshaw. “A flavorful, bright green purée of mint, shallots, garlic, and peas meets crispy, rustic slices of toast.”
12. Pistachio Cream Puffs
For a St. Patrick’s Day dessert that isn’t just a pint of Guinness, fill airy cream puffs with this subtly green cream that gets its color (and flavor!) from pistachio paste, which you can find in Italian markets.
13. The Chunkiest, Herbiest, Greenest Guacamole
For an easy St. Patrick’s Day snack, make a big bowl of super green guacamole using ripe avocados, jalapeños, tomatillo, scallions, and cilantro.
14. No-Bake Pistachio Mini Cheesecakes
When it comes to St. Patrick’s Day desserts, anything goes—that is, as long as it’s green. This crowd-friendly no-bake pistachio dessert certainly fits the bill.
15. Green Goddess Salad
All of the flavors of a classic Green Goddess dressing in the form of a crisp, crunchy salad. The dressing is made with the usual combination of mayonnaise, herbs, anchovies, and spring onions, and is then drizzled over crisp salad greens and tender herbs.
16. Creamy Watercress, Pea & Mint Soup
Looking for a pot of gold to serve on St. Patrick’s Day? You’ve found it. Except instead of gold, we’re talking about a pot of white beans, frozen peas, watercress, and mint that cook together for a cozy soup topped with a lemony tahini drizzle.
17. Grasshopper Pie
We will always cut a slice of this no-bake dessert that delivers minty, fudgy flavor—frankly, it’s a much-needed refresh after a stick-to-your-ribs dinner like corned beef and cabbage.
18. Mojito
If porters and stouts aren’t really your thing, maybe this classic rum cocktail made with mint syrup and garnished with a generous spring of fresh mint will hit the spot.
19. Steamed Artichokes with Garlic Aioli
Fresh artichokes are at their best in spring, so as soon as the first robin hops across my front lawn, I’m steaming, frying, and braising the ‘chokes as often as I can.
20. Mom's Creamed Spinach à la Julia
This vibrant side dish brings a pop of green to the dinner table.
21. Ina Garten’s Parmesan-Roasted Broccoli
Anything that Ina touches turns to gold, which, in this case, is the crispiest, most delicious broccoli side dish you have ever, and will ever, taste.
22. Matcha Snickerdoodles
Instead of rolling this classic cake cookie in cinnamon-sugar, these white-chocolate studded snickerdoodles are rolled in matcha sugar.
23. My Mother's Lebanese Tabbouleh
“There are a lot of variations of tabbouleh out there—some mostly made of bulgur, some without cucumbers, some with spice—but I always compare those variations to my mother's recipe, and they never stack up. Her recipe has the perfect parsley to bulgur ratio. It has enough lemon to keep it dressed but not soggy. And it has crispy cucumbers that add a nice contrasting bite,” writes recipe developer Cdilaura.
24. Spanakopita Grilled Cheese
This adults-only grilled cheese sandwich stuffs a combination of frozen spinach, dill, crumbled feta cheese, and provolone between two thick slices of bread.
25. Matcha Swiss Roll
A Swiss rolled cake is not something you bake on a whim, but the final product—a soft and pillowy match cake filled with homemade whipped cream—is worth the effort.
26. Caesar and the Goddess
If Caesar salad and Green Goddess dressing had a baby, this would be it. The two classics go head to head and the result is a recipe that our readers voted for as their favorite retro recipe with a modern twist.
27. Cheesy Spinach & Artichoke Frittata With Arugula
Breakfast for dinner? Why not? Three deliciously green ingredients—arugula, marinated artichoke hearts, and spinach—are a welcome addition to this cheesy frittata.
28. Triple-Broccoli Pasta Salad
We call this a triple broccoli pasta dish because no part of the broccoli crown and stalks will go to waste. “Broccoli stalks, which are all too often thrown out, get shaved into curls and ribbons, then salted and rested until they wilt, like the world’s quickest pickle,” explains food editor Emma Laperruque. “The florets show off two ways: Some are blanched to become bright green and buttery tender. The rest are roasted until their frilly tops become crispier than kale chips.”
29. Artichoke Hearts and Peas
This ridiculously simple side dish pairs two of spring’s shining stars—peas and artichokes. The good news is that the recipe is designed to use the frozen version of each, so even if the farmers’ market isn’t fully stocked by St. Patrick’s Day, you can still win dinner.
30. Anchovy Lovers’ Crostini
A zesty, slightly spicy, anchovy-parsley salad tops crusty slices of crostini for a quick appetizer for any dinner party, St. Patrick’s Day or not.
31. Potato Salad With Arugula & Dijon Vinaigrette
You have to have potatoes on St. Patrick’s Day (I don’t make the rules, I just speak the truth). This potato salad is lighter and brighter than the usual creamy, mayo-based version you’d find at a summer picnic.
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