The office potluck is the perfect opportunity to show off your kitchen chops with a crowd-pleasing homemade snack or treat. But, what should you bring? You don’t want to go overboard and look like you’re trying too hard to impress your bosses and co-workers, nor do you want to experiment with funky ingredients when you’re cooking for a crowd.
Striking a balance between the impressive and the familiar is key here, so we’ve rounded up five tested and well-loved recipes that do just that. Just try not to eat them all yourself before your co-workers even get a taste.
The Best Bowl of Hummus
Skip the store-bought stuff—you’ve never met a more perfect hummus than this. It manages to have the smoothness of the stuff on the shelves after just 30 minutes (instead of the typical 2-3 hours) thanks to a simple, brilliant trick. You sauté the chickpeas in a little bit of baking soda before you blend them, which helps to break down the skins so you’re not stuck hand-peeling the legumes.
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Chocolate Bundt Cake
This cake is pure deep, dark, fudgy goodness. It catches the eye with a mighty sophisticated look, especially when it’s finished with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. But it’s also incredibly easy to throw together—we're talking 15 minutes of combining ingredients and 45 in the oven before a decadent and teasingly tempting cake emerges.
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Party Pretzel Bites
These golden nuggets are brioche-like soft pretzels in bite-sized form, ideal for picking up and popping in your mouth as you walk around and talk to others in the office. They’re baked until golden brown and then showered in crusty sea salt so there’s that addictive crunch in every bite. Serve with mustard (and beer if your office is down with it).
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Salsa Verde
This variation of salsa takes only 15 minutes to throw together, and since it’s cooked, it can be stored for a few days in the fridge without any loss in flavor or texture (as sometimes happens with fresh salsas). In fact, it improves after a day’s rest, making it an ideal make-ahead dish. Serve it with store-bought chips and you have the perfect DIY party dish.
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Spicy Chocolate Bark
A wave of smooth dark chocolate is spiced with smoky ancho chile, cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper before the whole mix is studded with dried cherries, cashews, and pistachios. The finished product looks lovely, packs easily, and takes a total of about 20 minutes to put together. Just be sure to pack this bark in a cooler with an ice pack if it’s sweltering outside, or else you’ll be serving up a pourable chocolate ice cream topping instead of bars of chocolate candy!
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What are your go-to office potluck dishes? Share your comments below!