20 Passover Apps To Kick Your Seder Dinner Off Right
Passover (April 5 to April 13, 2023) is ALL about tradition, and there are some long-established menu items that must be on your Seder dinner table. Because of that, there are some ingredients (ahem, matzo) that require a little creativity to incorporate them into the rest of your meals that week. We’ve found that apps and starters are great opportunities for innovation, so we’ve rounded up our fave Passover-inspired ones here. Whether you’ve been celebrating your whole life or are new to the Jewish holiday, we hope these recipes can be an inspiration.
If you’re unfamiliar, Passover refers to the biblical stories of the 10 plagues sent by God to convince the Egyptian pharaoh to “let the Jewish people go” and the eventual exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt. As the story goes, they packed in such a hurry that they didn’t have enough time to even let their bread rise and only were able to bring unleavened, cracker-like bread called matzo with them. To celebrate this exodus, Jewish people today continue to remove chametz (or any leavened flour product) from their diets for the duration of Passover, as well as make sure all other ingredients they’re using are specified Kosher for Passover.
They also have a special seder dinner (or Pesach) with specific ingredients meant to represent various aspects of the exodus. We’ve incorporated some of them here, like the horseradish in our house latkes, the hard-boiled eggs in our harissa deviled eggs, and the lettuce in our chicken salad lettuce wraps. Feel free to get creative and make these starters your own.
Since general kosher rules prevent the consumption of dairy and meat in the same meal, we’ve included a number of our favorite vegan apps here too. Our vegan spinach & artichoke dip, our chipotle vegan queso, and our coconut ranch kale salad all make for great starters and apps and keep with the halachah (or Jewish laws).
Want more Passover inspiration? Check out all our favorite Passover recipes, and our best Passover desserts too (we’ve got a flourless chocolate coconut cake you’ll flip over).
(ERIK BERNSTEIN)
The word tzimmes has its origins in Yiddish: To "make a big tzimmes about something" essentially means making a big fuss. Here, there's hardly any! The carrots and dates are quickly braised in an orange sauce and finished with fresh parsley for a pop of green.
Get the Tzimmes recipe.
(ERIK BERNSTEIN)
After making these, buying store-bought gefilte fish will be a thing of the past. Serve these with horseradish leftover from your seder plate for the full experience.
Get the Gefilte Fish recipe.
(Parker Feierbach)
This recipe is perfect for your Seder plate and for serving as an app for anyone dipping their toes into the Passover holiday. Feel free to swap in your preferred nuts and dried fruit!
Get the Charoset recipe.
(Erik Bernstein)
These crispy potatoes are totally versatile; you can top them with cheddar, ranch seasoning (good use for any leftover seder plate karpas, or parsley), or even brie. Skip the Parmesan and swap the butter for olive oil if you want to serve these alongside meat as a side, or put them out alongside toothpicks as an app.
Get the Garlic Smashed Potatoes recipe.
(ETHAN CALABRESE)
These are the cutest way to enjoy matzo ball soup. Make your matzo balls extra small to make these extra adorable.
Get the Matzo Ball Shooters recipe.
(Erika Lapresto)
Make meat and potatoes the cocktail-hour way by serving brisket over potato chips. We prefer thick-cut ridged chips, but any hearty chip will do.
Get the Brisket Bites recipe.
(Erika Lapresto)
Swapping bread for sweet potatoes is the most genius way to get that melty, cheesy flavor you love without the chametz! We topped these with dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, and rosemary, but feel free to switch it up.
Get the Sweet Potato Crostini recipe.
(Jon Boulton)
A creamy, cheesy spinach artichoke dip that’s completely vegan? Not possible! Oh, but it is. Vegan (and kosher) alternatives to cheeses and mayonnaise are thankfully much more common in most grocery stores, making one of our favorite dips and appetizers more enjoyable for everyone.
Get the Vegan Spinach Artichoke Dip recipe.
(PHOTO: LUCY SCHAEFFER; FOOD STYLING: MAKINZE GORE)
This recipe takes a delicious Italian Caprese and puts it inside a tender portobello mushroom for the perfect Passover side or app. Did we mention it comes together in under 30 minutes, thanks to your air fryer?
Get the Air Fryer Caprese Stuffed Portobello Mushroom recipe.
(PHOTO: JOEL GOLDBERG; FOOD STYLING: HADLEY SUI)
When your favorite latke becomes a cup, magical things happen. Feel free top these with classic applesauce and sour cream, or go wild with your toppings.
Get the Latke Cups recipe.
(Erika LaPresto)
Swiss rösti is essentially the fanciest potato latke you’ll ever eat, where the best part is the topping. We view it almost like a Passover pizza. We love classic applesauce, but you can go fancy with a bit of lox, sour cream, fresh dill, and roe for an amazing treat for any celebration.
Get the Rösti recipe.
(Erik bernstein)
We can never get tired of chicken salad. There's so many flavor options, and this lemon-dill chicken salad really tops the list. Swap the Greek yogurt for a non-dairy version here, and you'll be g2g. Want more chicken salad ideas? We love this curried chicken salad too.
Get the Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps with Grapes and Pecans recipe.
(ANNA WATSON CARL)
Classic deviled eggs get a smoky kick from harissa (Tunisian chili pepper paste) in this simple but flavorful deviled eggs recipe. Topped with crispy fried shallots and fresh cilantro, it may stray pretty far from the original, but it’s just as delicious.
Get the Harissa Deviled Eggs recipe.
(Andrew bui)
This vegan queso is so good, it's hard to decipher from the original. Made with cashews in place of cheese, it's awesome for eating alongside meat this Passover (skip the corn topping if you're avoiding kitniyot). Try dipping matzo into it too!
Get the Chipotle Vegan Queso recipe.
(Emily Hlavac Green)
Bye bye bagels and lox, we're putting all our smoked salmon on top of deviled eggs from now on.
Get the Everything Deviled Eggs recipe.
(CHELSEA LUPKIN)
For those of you who wouldn't dream of a bagel without smoked salmon or lox, this recipe is for you. Turns out, it's as just as delicious as a dip for veggies or matzo as it is a breakfast sandwich!
Get the Smoked Salmon Dip recipe.
(Brandon Bales)
We like our eggplant-based baba ghanoush GARLICKY. If you don't, skip grating the raw clove in at the end. Without it, you'll have a more subtle (slightly sweet) garlic flavor that will still make everyone very, very happy. Accompanied by crudités and matzo chips, you really can't go wrong.
Get the Baba Ghanoush recipe.
(Park Feierbach)
This popcorn chicken stands above the rest, thanks to five-spice heightened with some white pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, onion powder, and mildly spicy gochugaru. A touch of brown sugar rounds out the harshness of the vinegar and merges both flavors into tenderizing greatness.
Get the Taiwanese Popcorn Chicken recipe.
(Lucy schaeffer)
Though latkes are commonly served with applesauce and plain sour cream; here, they get a flavor-boost with a spicy horseradish and chive sour cream topping, which adds savory depth to each bite.
Get the House Latkes recipe.
(ERIK BERNSTEIN)
Because this creamy dressing is vegan, you can even serve it alongside a meat dish for Passover. We love using crunchy roasted chickpeas in lieu of croutons, but feel free to swap if you aren't eating kitniyot this Passover.
Get the Coconut Ranch Kale Salad recipe.
(SUZANNE CLEMENTS)These Passover-inspired recipes are great as apps before your seder meal, or as snacks all week long. Chag Pesach sameach!