Whether you celebrate Easter as a religious holiday or simply love egg decorating with your family, Easter weekend is a great time to celebrate with your loved ones – and eat plenty of delicious food. While every celebration is unique, many of our Easter staples in Canada are steeped in years of tradition. Check out our top-rated Easter recipes that are perfect for brunches, appetizers, traditional dinners, and desserts.
![hot cross buns](https://mccormick.widen.net/content/dkk4upideb/original/hot_cross_buns_575x323.jpg)
Hot Cross Buns
Easter wouldn’t be complete without this tradition that goes way back to medieval England. Top buttermilk biscuits with a homemade icing and enjoy the delicious treat for breakfast, brunch, or as a low-stress appetizer for your Easter celebration. Learn how to make hot cross buns with this quick and easy recipe!
Easter Eggs
Beautifully decorated hard-boiled Easter eggs are one of the most iconic traditions, and one of the most fun crafts to do with young ones. Use food colouring to make a variety of patterned eggs, such as fun polka dot, marbelized, striped, or even two-tone!
Easter Ham
If you always cook an Easter ham for the holiday, don’t be afraid to experiment with different flavours and ingredients. A spiral cut ham topped with a spiced orange marmalade glaze makes an impressive main dish that works for both brunch and dinner. Want to free up your oven for other dishes? Try this hands-off slow cooker ham recipe instead.
Easter Lamb
As an alternative to ham, lamb also makes a delicious main dish for Easter dinner! Take part in the tradition by making flavourful cinnamon-braised lamb shanks in the slow cooker. If you’re short on time, speed up the cooking process by making a savoury, herbed lamb in your Instant Pot.
Easter Cake
The most traditional Easter dessert is the Simnel cake, but it can be very time-intensive to cook. A great alternative is a spiced date cake, topped with a delicious caramel sauce and vanilla whipped cream. Since carrots are associated with Easter, a Carrot Cake Poke Cake also makes a perfect holiday dessert.