What are good foods for food-making parties?

March 13, 2023 4:52 PM

I'm looking for foods that are good and "fun" to make in an assembly line-type process. Classic examples: dumplings like gyoza or pierogies, freezer burritos, and tamales. Any other ideas? Recipes not needed (but appreciated!).
posted by miltthetank to Food & Drink (20 answers total)

Can't go wrong with pizza. The 15 minute turnaround between baking one pizza and the next makes for a lot of assembly-line activity. You can add silliness by having random mystery ingredients appear and finding topping combinations to go with them.
posted by pipeski at 5:04 PM on March 13, 2023 [7 favorites]

Dolma/stuffed grape leaves. Someone's got to make the filling ahead of time but it's nice to have a crew to chat with while you roll them.
posted by potrzebie at 5:29 PM on March 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Any cookies that need cookie cutters and/or icing!
posted by ASF Tod und Schwerkraft at 5:30 PM on March 13, 2023 [3 favorites]

Puff pastry treats - savory, sweet, open-face, turnovers, and most commercial puff pastry dough (check the label) is vegan. Very similar premise: canned crescent roll dough (and you can now buy crescent roll rectangles).
posted by Lyn Never at 5:31 PM on March 13, 2023

Best answer: A friend of mine used to have parties centered around sausage making - some of which we would then immediately grill.
posted by kickingtheground at 5:38 PM on March 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Lumpia or eggrolls or spring rolls
posted by hydra77 at 5:40 PM on March 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Kabobs, or anything else on a skewer.

Crepes, if you're eating them at the time.
posted by snuffleupagus at 5:42 PM on March 13, 2023

Cupcakes in a jar with lots of layers and decorations!
posted by mochapickle at 5:46 PM on March 13, 2023

Maybe some sort of filled pasta? Making fresh pasta usually requires more than one person to begin with & then there's the filling/folding/etc.
posted by edencosmic at 5:54 PM on March 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

vegetarian sushi
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 6:51 PM on March 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Sort of like dumplings but different: pelmeni, then serve with different sauces/toppings. Ravioli with different fillings. Even lasagna with everyone adding a different layer in their assembly line. You can make extras for Lasagna Love to deliver to a local person in need!
posted by never.was.and.never.will.be. at 6:55 PM on March 13, 2023

Harvest processing parties
posted by aniola at 7:23 PM on March 13, 2023 [4 favorites]

Preparing fruit for canning.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:35 PM on March 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Tamales are traditionally made this way.

My mother would be upset if I didn't mention West Virginia Pepperoni Rolls...that's not the recipe she uses but you get the idea. The technique works well for an assembly line.
posted by mmascolino at 7:45 PM on March 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

Gỏi cuốn (Vietnamese summer rolls) or variant like bò bía, very customizable
posted by eyeball at 6:42 AM on March 14, 2023

Orecchiette pasta is formed by hand and can be done party style.
posted by xo at 10:49 AM on March 14, 2023

Out of season now, but we just finished making hamentaschen, which definitely fit the description (and taste good all year anyways)
posted by Mchelly at 12:47 PM on March 14, 2023

Nigiri and maki sushi rolls.
posted by porpoise at 1:25 PM on March 14, 2023

Maybe not quite what you're looking for, but we've done butchering parties in the past. We started with a friend who raised hogs and chickens, but since he moved away we've occasionally ordered hog sides from local farms and then set up tables in the yard to break them down. Everyone would bring knives, grinders, vacuum sealers, and tubs and make a day of it.

Nacho parties have also been very popular. Not on the same day, of course.
posted by backseatpilot at 1:26 PM on March 14, 2023

Best answer: Samosas! I would keep a vat of oil going to fry and eat while we made them, and then each person made a dozen that I froze so they could take it home at the end of the evening. Guests can help prep the fillings or you can do that beforehand. I use store bought round wonton wrappers for the dough.
posted by ananci at 1:55 PM on March 14, 2023 [1 favorite]