The Menu:
A Fall dinner party menu that covers all the bases
- Appetizer – Slow Roasted Gapes with Ricotta on Crostini drizzled with honey and lemon zest.
- Soup – Carrot soup with a hint of ginger and leek and fennel bulb
- Salad – A fall twist on a classic Caesar with roasted and spiced pumpkin seeds
- Side – Butternut squash risotto served in mini-pumpkins
- Main – Pan roasted bone-in pork chop with apples and onions
- Dessert – Mini pumpkin Bundt cakes with maple frosting
Click on each link below for a recipe. You can always scale back a dish or two for a smaller dinner party or replace one of the dishes with your own idea.
Why it Works
This Fall dinner party menu is a feast for the eyes thanks to all the colors of Fall on a plate. Each dish highlights one key Fall ingredient and ties together beautifully with the other flavors.
But remember, a dinner party should be, above all, fun. You put a lot of energy into what to make, the table setting, what to pair with it, and who to invite so you want to make sure you get to enjoy the evening, too! Planning a menu that is seasonal, delicious, and has some do-ahead steps is key to ensuring you get to do just that. This dinner party menu has everything you need to come off looking like a Dinner Party Pro.
How to Build a Menu:
What do you think of when you think of Fall ingredients? Try starting with one idea or one ingredient. Keep it simple. For me, Fall is synonymous with apples. Maybe that’s because we live near a place called Apple Hill and every Fall my kids and I take an annual trip up the hill just for their apple cider donuts and hot cocoa. We finish the day by taking a hayride around one of the farms and picking a pumpkin or two, then bringing home one of their famous apple-caramel pies. So naturally I picked apple as my Fall ingredient. And what pairs well with apples? Juicy, tender thick-cut pork chops. And that was the start of my Fall Dinner Party Menu. It doesn’t always have to be your main dish that you arrive at first. It can be dessert or a salad or an appetizer, just pick something that you love to eat excites you to make.
What Next?
Now that you have one dish settled on you can build the rest of the menu by asking yourself a few simple questions:
- What other seasonal flavors goes with this dish?
- Pumpkin, warm fall spices, onions, thyme, rosemary pumpkin seeds
- What makes a complete menu for this dinner party?
- Mine was a family style casual fall dinner so I wanted comfort food that was delicious and not fussy. I decided an appetizer, a salad and dessert would round out my dinner. But if I were doing a small bites and wine-pairing party or a formal occasion dinner party then my menu would look different. I added in this butternut squash risotto dish for those of you going a little fancier.
- Is this dish a do-ahead dish or a last-minute dish?
- If it’s a do-ahead dish, then what you make with it can be more time-intensive at the end. Since pork chops need to be cooked stove top, I decided to make a topping (apples & onions) that was do ahead and focus the rest of the menu on dishes that had more-do ahead steps and only required assembly at the end. You only have two hands, right? Biggest mistake people make is picking recipes that all need a lot of time and attention at the end.
- Make at least one thing on your menu something you’ve made before.
- It’s great to try new things but don’t do it all at once. Stick with what you know you can pull off and try one new ingredient or dish at a time until you have nailed that one.
Do Ahead Steps:
- Appetizer – slow roast the grapes and make crostini ahead of time so all you need to do is assemble right as guests arrive
- Soup – this carrot ginger soup holds for several days in the fridge. Make ahead and just rewarm and serve
- Salad – you can roast the pumpkin seeds with spices ahead of time and make the salad dressing and croutons ahead of time as well. Just toss and serve when you are ready to plate.
- Side – butternut squash can be roasted ahead of time so then you only need to make the risotto at the last minute and toss the roasted squash back in. If you are new in the kitchen, then this dish may be the most challenging one for you to try but you’ll love the results
- Main – the toppings for the apple and onion can be done ahead of time. I provided a link to a one-pot pork chop and apple recipe. I like to caramelize my onions first and cook down with apples and thyme and a little Dijon. Then I can just focus on searing my pork chop and finishing it in the oven right before serving.
- Dessert – these mini-Bundt cakes can be done the morning of. Make sure they are fully cooled before you drizzle the yummy maple frosting and sprinkle with cinnamon.
Decor & Table Setting
I like simple and just used a few touches of fall colors and white dinner plates and bowls to accent what is already a colorful meal. This is what my table looked like with a burlap table runner and some old fall-colored placemats I love to use each year. I added a few Birch wood candles, mini-pumpkins and fall leaf votive holders to round out the look.
Here’s a few items that I like for this menu and a Fall table setting:
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