Whew, I can’t believe it’s already time to usher in a new year. I hope your year in the kitchen was amazing and full of good food experiences!
What are some new year traditions you grew upwith? Are there any you still do?
I have to admit that as a child, I had a love/hate relationship with new year’s traditions and superstitions. My mother insisted on ensuring we rang in the new year without any dirty laundry or dishes to do, so I had to help with my least favorite chores on the Eve. Luckily (no pun intended), on New Year’s Day, she ensured we filled up on cooked greens, black-eyed peas, and pork – a good hearty meal in any Southern family’s new year repertoire. I was the kid excited to eat, especially if she decided to fry up pork steaks or chops.
Fast forward 20-something years, and I’m rushing to get the laundry done and will likely make my favorite leafy green side dish: Swiss Chard Gratin. I now appreciate these traditions and look forward to celebrating the new year each year. Even if I go to a restaurant for New Year’s Eve, I look for dishes that fit the theme.
Here’s the Round-Up…
New year traditions can be fun, memorable, and delicious!
As 2022 comes to a close, I wanted to take the time and share some festive recipes from fellow food creatives. Therefore, I created this round-up of 28 recipes that will help us all ring in the new year in the most delicious way.
Below you’ll find several categories of celebratory foods and recipes! Some are traditional new year’s foods from varying cultures, and some are foods tied to superstitions. Others are festive crowd-pleasers for your party that are worth serving yearly.
Happy New Year, everyone! I wish you the best in 2023.
Lucky New Year Foods from Around the World
Korean Rice Cake and Dumpling Soup
This easy, 30 minute Tteok Mandu Guk, or Korean Rice Cake and Dumpling Soup, is perfect for a cold winter's day! A light and flavorful Asian-style broth is filled with chewy rice cakes and mandu dumplings before being topped with seaweed and egg strips. Cozy, delicious, and soothing! It's also a traditional New Year's dish in Korean culture.
In Germany and Ireland, green cabbage is considered lucky. Enjoy it in a lemony Savoy Cabbage Salad that's flavorful and easy to prepare in 15 minutes.
This easy Vietnamese Garlic Noodles recipe is the perfect New Years dish! Long noodles represent longevity and luck. Chewy Asian-style noodles are coated in a buttery garlic sauce that's great with shrimp, chicken, or beef.
Marzipan pigs are gifted on New Year's Day in Germany to wish family and friends good luck. Horseshoe, chimney cleaner, four clover and a red mushroom count as good luck givers as well.
A twist on classic hummus, with lucky Black-eyed peas in place of the chickpeas. This smoky black eyed pea hummus is a wonderful appetizer or snack that's gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan.
This recipe for Texas Caviar (aka Cowboy Caviar) is loaded with black-eyed peas, black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, and peppers. And if you are from the south it is a tradition on New Year’s Day to eat black-eyed peas.
This classic Indian curry with black eyed peas is made with basic pantry staples. It's a very flavorful dish to celebrate the new year with family and friends. The recipe includes instructions for both the Instant Pot and stovetop.
hese festive vegan stuffed mushrooms are a perfect appetizer for the holiday season. Umami-packed mushrooms filled with cheesy vegan ricotta, spinach and garlic and topped with vegan parmesan.
Many families have a long ritual of eating pork on New Year’s Eve. Because pigs root roughly with their snouts pushing forward, pork represents progress for the following year.
This slow cooker pork and sauerkraut recipe is the easiest way of cooking a traditional German dish—tender pork infused with those delicious sauerkraut flavors.
n easy, boozy and fruity holiday cocktail. This pomegranate gin fizz is a simple yet classy drink that is quick to make in a large batch or just for one or two people at a time.
This aromatic sparkling wine is combinwse with ed with just a few simple ingredients to make a beautiful cocktail that is perfect for end-of-year celebrations.
Take your New Year’s celebration up a notch and serve this French 77 Cocktail instead of champagne. The gin, elderflower liqueur, and lemon juice mix not only tastes sweet and floral but can be made well before your guests arrive.
Eating 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight is said to bring good luck for the year to come. Why not make them extra tasty with this Chicken Salad with Roasted Grapes!
This dish will surely please and impress your guests! It's an elegant recipe worth making for your celebration. It also includes spinach if you're looking for another way to incorporate greens into your menu.
Cranberry Jalapeno Cream Cheese Dip is a festive holiday appetizer you will be making all season long! Sweet, tart, creamy and with a hint of spice, this cranberry dip is delicious crowd pleaser.
Here's another delicious recipe featuring grapes for good luck. This appetizer has a great balance of sweetness from roasted grapes and nutty flavors from the brie.
Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Scallops are an easy-to-make yet impressive and elegant appetizer. The perfect finger food for serving at your special occasion.