Easter is a celebration of new beginnings. The symbolic holiday often features colorful dishes that highlight the bounty of fresh ingredients that warmer spring weather brings. While side dishes of asparagus, leeks, peas, and other seasonal vegetables deserve plenty of attention during Easter, the holiday wouldn't be complete without a showstopping entrée. To help you find the recipe that will serve as the centerpiece of your holiday feast, we've gathered our best Easter main dishes here.
Of course, two of the most popular entrées for the holiday are ham and lamb, and this collection features plenty of options for both. While you can certainly go traditional and serve lamb loins or a crown rack of lamb, why not try something new and fresh this year? Our recipe for Lamb Ghouzi, pictured here, seasons lamb shoulder to perfection with a combination of saffron, ginger, garlic, cardamom, and cloves. The meat is served over a bed of basmati rice with roasted potatoes, as well as an arugula salad that's made with clementines, pistachios, and dried currants. It's delicious, colorful, and refreshing—in short, it's everything an Easter entrée should be.
If you're planning a smaller feast, we recommend salmon. It pairs nicely with spring vegetables, like asparagus and radish and is easy to prepare. If fish isn't your style, roast chicken is another great main for a small crowd. We love it nestled over a bed of potatoes and carrots for a simple one-and-done meal that's as easy to make as it is to clean up.
Our collection of impressive entrées will give you plenty of inspiration when it comes to planning your Easter dinner menu.
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Leg of Lamb with Pistachio Stuffing and Potatoes
This lamb entrée is our new favorite Easter main. It starts with boneless leg of lamb, which is a more economical and more flavorful cut than a rack. The meat is pounded to make it even and spread with a pistachio-scallion stuffing, before being folded and tied—so much easier than making a roulade but just as delicious. The potatoes cook under the lamb so this is almost a one-pan meal!
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Honey-Glazed Spiral Ham
If you're a fan of the classics, put this spiral ham on your must-make list for Easter. Glazed with a combination of honey, ginger, orange zest, and cloves, the meat is full of sweet, spiced flavor.
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Crown Roast of Lamb with Pilaf Stuffing
Are you feeding a crowd this Easter? Then there's no better dish to serve as your main than a crown roast of lamb. Here, the protein is served over a bed of lemony pilaf that's garnished with toasted pine nuts.
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Pomegranate-Glazed Ham with Jammy Cipollinis
A perfect blend of the traditional and the modern, this ham is flavored with an irresistible glaze—it's made from a combination of pomegranate molasses, honey, Dijon mustard, and allspice. The protein is roasted with slightly sweet cipollini onions that impart a caramel flavor when they cook and soak up the ham's drippings.
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Cheesy Asparagus Pasta
Vegetarians and carnivores alike will love this meat-free main. It's a medley of asparagus and pasta tossed in a two-cheese sauce that's made with sharp cheddar and Gruyère. You'll find it's a delicious way to celebrate spring's bounty.
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Lemon-Herb Turkey with Bay Butter and Gravy
If you want to serve turkey for your Easter feast, this recipe is the way to go. Flavored with crushed bay leaves, rosemary, and lemon zest, this bright, fragrant dish is guaranteed to steal the show.
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Cauliflower Steaks with Romesco Sauce
Pack extra vegetables into your holiday dinner by serving them as the star of your feast. Here, cauliflower steaks are roasted until caramelized. The cruciferous vegetable is drizzled with a homemade romesco sauce—a smooth blend of almonds, sherry vinegar, tomato paste, and smoked paprika.
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Virginia Ham with Honey-Mustard Glaze
This stunning ham makes a perfect centerpiece to your holiday spread. Brushed with a four-ingredient glaze made with honey, Dijon mustard, light brown sugar, and ground cloves, it doesn't take much to make this protein shine.
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Wild Salmon and Romanesco Pilaf
Make Easter dinner fuss-free by serving this one-pan recipe. Almond-studded basmati rice, romanesco florets, and filets of salmon are cooked together in a skillet.
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Roast Chicken with Vegetables and Potatoes
Not only does this one-and-done dish give you a delicious roast chicken as a main, but you'll also have an instant side dish of fingerling potatoes, carrots, and shallots to serve with that bird.
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Lamb with Asparagus and Potatoes
Make post-dinner cleanup a breeze by roasting your entrée and vegetables together, as we do in this recipe. An elegant boneless lamb is cooked to perfection along with Yukon Gold potatoes and asparagus.
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Glazed Ham with Horseradish Cream
A spicy-sweet glaze of honey, fresh horseradish, and allspice helps burnish and crisp the skin of this tasty bone-in ham while it cooks.
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Roasted Salmon and Spring Onions with Mint-Caper Pesto
Roasting salmon gives the protein a tender, almost buttery texture. Spring onions caramelize as they cook alongside the fish and a zesty pesto sauce is the finishing touch.
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Butterflied, Rolled, and Roasted Leg of Lamb
For a true spring feast, boneless leg of lamb is rolled with a filling of artichokes, garlic, cheese, and breadcrumbs, then roasted and served atop a bed of peas and and wilted spinach.
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Salmon with Cucumber-Radish Relish
If you're only hosting a few people for dinner, salmon is the perfect protein to serve as your main. Here, the fish is roasted whole and paired with a radish and cucumber relish for a refreshing burst of spring flavor.
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Braised Leg of Lamb with Potatoes and Olives
Try a new technique when cooking your leg of lamb this Easter; we love braising it to form moist, fall-off-the-bone tender results. Cook it alongside potatoes and olives for a quick side dish.
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Rack of Lamb with Mustard Sauce
Pomegranate molasses adds a rich, tangy note to the mustardy pan sauce for roasted rack of lamb. We recommend searing the protein before roasting it to ensure it browns beautifully.
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Roasted Marinated Lamb with Lemon and Rosemary Potatoes
Elevate the flavor of your boneless leg of lamb by marinating it in lemon zest, rosemary, garlic, and olive oil before roasting alongside peeled and boiled Yukon gold potatoes.
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Marmalade-Glazed Ham
Top marmalade-glazed ham with thinly-sliced oranges. The fruit provides an eye-catching contrast to its golden brown crust, and reinforces the glaze's citrus flavor.
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