Favorite Easter Recipes: Simple Baked Ham, Best Mustard Sauce, Hot Cross Buns, Lemon-Ricotta Cheesecake and More

Below you will find my favorite Easter recipes, from this simple baked ham with the best mustard sauce to rack of lamb with tzatziki. On the side, you can’t go wrong with scalloped potatoes or this showstopping hasselback potato gratin. There is nothing like a buttermilk pull-apart roll on the holiday table, though focaccia is easy and festive as well. Orange and olive oil cake and Chez Panisse almond torte are two favorite, easy, crowd-pleasing desserts. Find many more ideas below.

Finally, don’t forget to prep your hot cross buns a few days before Good Friday for an effortless morning. This post is organized as follows:

---

Hot Cross Buns

Spiced with a dash of nutmeg and freshly grated orange zest, these hot cross buns are perfectly sweet and such a treat! Find step-by-step instructions in the post for making hot cross buns from scratch two ways: same day or days beforehand.

---

Easy-Peel Hard-Cooked Eggs

If you’re dyeing eggs for Easter and are dreading the peeling process, dread no more! Here are two easy-to-peel egg-cooking methods: stovetop and Instant Pot. In both, the eggs are steamed, which makes the shells slip right off. While I love my instant pot, more and more I favor the stovetop steaming method, which I use in this deviled eggs recipe and this egg salad sandwich.

---

Easter Brunch Punch

If you’ve never made a “house” punch, I highly recommend it, and I highly recommend this one: Philadelphia Fish House Punch, a mix of brandy, cognac, rum, fresh lemon juice, and simple syrup.

---

Brunch (Sweet)

Brioche Cinnamon Buns

Prep these buns on Easter Eve. Rise to frosted brioche bliss … (and to very happy humans).

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Ten years after posting this recipe, buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake continues to be one of the most popular recipes on the site:

Overnight French Toast

This is the easiest French toast you will ever make, and I believe it’s one of the best, too. It’s crisp on the exterior and custardy on the interior. It emerges from the oven piping hot, ready for syrup, fruit, powdered sugar, or all three. Recently I made it with homemade brioche, and it was exceptional.

Blueberry Scones, Blueberry Muffins

Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal, Oatmeal Muffins

---

Brunch (Savory)

---

Dinner

If you’ve ever toiled over a roast turkey — from the brining to the basting to the carving — a baked ham feels like a complete dream. For one, there’s no marinating or brining. Second, you can’t overcook it, because it’s already cooked! You’re simply heating it through. Find all of my baked ham tips here.

We’ll be baking a brown sugar glazed ham this year and serving it aside my grandmother’s mustard sauce (the best). If you make a ham, be sure to save the bone and make this split pea and ham soup with it afterward.

Split Pea and Ham Soup made with the ham bone and leftover ham:

If you’re making lamb, here are two nice condiments:

And if you’d like to keep it simple but festive, here are two great chicken options:

---

Potatoes

Crispy Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

---

Salads & Sides

With so many rich foods on the Easter table, a simple green salad on the side is nice. I love this lemon vinaigrette, which is light and bright, and which I use to dress simple salads composed of tender spring greens, shaved carrots, radishes, feta, and walnuts. Here are two other favorites:

If you’re looking for a heartier salad or vegetable side dish, here are a few more ideas:

---

Dessert

The Ultimate Carrot Cake

I recently revisited an old carrot cake recipe, which I have long loved but which has gotten lost in the archives. I added weight measurements, simplified the mixing process, baked it in a 9×13-inch pan (as opposed to two 8-inch pans), and I frosted it with my favorite whipped cream-cream cheese frosting, which I use in this one-bowl birthday cake recipe. This carrot cake was just as delicious as I remember, and the family devoured it. Highly recommend!

---

No-Knead Bread 🍞