Best Soul Food Southern Potluck Side Dishes
This post may contain affiliate partner links. View our privacy statement HERE.
Soul food Southern potluck side dishes are a collection of tasty, savory, and sometimes sweet creations to accompany the stars of any Southern soul food meal.
Soul food Southern potluck side dishes usually feature traditional Southern classics to the more contemporary dishes you’ll find at any Southern block party.
It is a collection of tried-and-true recipes, tried and tested by the folks who call the South home. Anyone with a taste for Southern cooking will find something to enjoy in Southern potluck side dishes.
No matter the time of year, there’s always a time and a place for a Southern potluck. And the sides are just as important as the main dish.
From succulent slaws to savory side sauces, Southern potluck delicious side dishes bring everything together. So, turn your next shared meal into a real crowd-pleasing feast!
Southern potluck sides are a collection of recipes from some of the South’s best side dishes.
Recipes can be easy to make as long as they cater to the crowd.
What is it called when everyone brings a dish?
A potluck!
And potlucks can be in the form of a cookout, block party, pool party, picnic, or even an upscale function.
It’s a potluck as long as guests contribute to collectively make up the food at the event.
What is a potluck dish?
A potluck gathering involves each guest bringing food to share. The sharable food item is called a potluck dish!
Most potluck dishes are prepared for shareable family-style eating.
Guests often bring their favorite foods to eat and share with a more significant number of individuals.
The foods served at a potluck event are usually prepared by the people attending the gathering.
Potlucks are to credit for how pig pickin cake became a thing!
What is a Southern pig pickin?
At a pig pickin, a whole pig is cooked and served as guests gather and “pick” the tender meat from the roasted pig.
Folks also bring their favorite pot luck dishes and desserts to pig pickin events.
Pig pickin cake was singled out as the favorite dessert amongst all the potluck cake testers from all the potluck dessert dishes.
The same as potato salad is donned as the official side dish for any Black folks’ cookout menu.
Southern pig pickin cake is the official dessert of pig roasts and pig pickins!
Although the cake, itself, is a vegetarian dish, it’s named after the iconic Southern-style BBQ event it belongs to.
What should you bring to a Southern cookout or potluck?
What do you serve at a Southern cookout? Or potluck?
Serve the same recipes that also answer the question, “What are good Southern sides?”
From Southern potato salad to soul food creamy mashed potatoes, these are the BBQ side dish recipes you need to have at your next potluck.
What should you bring to a soul food potluck?
- Black folks Southern potato salad
- Soul food Southern baked beans
- Southern soul food green beans
- Soul food creamed corn pudding casserole
- Soul food creamy mashed potatoes
- Soul food Southern cabbage
- Southern creamed corn salad
- Soul food macaroni salad
- Southern coleslaw recipe
- Soul food red beans and rice
- Southern pasta salad with Italian dressing
- Southern deviled eggs
- Soul food Southern mac and cheese
- Soul food homemade cornbread
- Soul food sweet potato pie
What’s your favorite easy recipe for a Southern potluck?
You can’t go wrong with good old potluck party foods like potato salad or coleslaw.
Check out this gorgeous and mouthwatering Black folks’ Southern potato salad recipe HERE!
A favorite among families across the South goes great with fried fish, meat, or other vegetables. The recipe begins with an array of ingredients seasoned with a touch of vinegar, salt, pepper, and savory soul food seasonings.
Ripe onions and sweet pickles are common additions. A mandatory inclusion is hard-boiled eggs that provide the base for the creamy preparation. Comforting and delicious, this soul food potato salad is the perfect potluck side dish recipe for your next family reunion.
Which foods pair up well with traditional Southern potato salad?
BBQ! Or really any cookout food.
- Homemade soul food burgers
- Buttermilk fried chicken
- Soul food baked mac and cheese
- Southern soul food coleslaw
- Southern macaroni salad
- Southern baked beans
And, of course, what would any good Southern gathering be without a bit of Southern sweet tea to wash it all down?
What are the best potatoes for Southern potato salad?
I recommend using waxy potatoes like russet or Yukon gold. They’re high in moisture and starch and have a floury and crunchy texture ideal for this recipe.
And since russet potatoes do not have a high protein or sugar content, they hold their shape well when cooked.
Can potato salad be made ahead of time or the night before?
Yes, you can prepare this potato salad in advance. It can be made one day in advance, which lets the flavors blend more. So it’ll taste even better when you wait!
Just keep it refrigerated until you’re ready to serve.
Soul food Southern potluck sides FAQs
What sides to bring to a cookout?
Before I answer this with a soul food seasoned recipe, of course. It might be important to address the giant elephant question in the room…
How do you season food like a Black person?
TikTok creators hilariously show us the Black way to season food like THIS!
But this recipe roundup about Black people’s food will answer the above question precisely.
Now, what are good sides to bring to a BBQ?
What foods are at a Black BBQ?
What can you buy to bring to a brunch potluck?
Brunch is a combination of breakfast and lunch and is often served on the weekend, especially on Sundays.
Brunch is a light meal usually served in the late morning or early afternoon. If you’re going for a brunch potluck, it’s important to know the host’s expectations.
But can you buy something for a potluck?
If the goal is to serve a ready-to-eat meal without cooking, you can buy anything from fruit salad to pastries or cake.
But if you want to impress the host with a heart-felt homecooked meal, try one of these Southern potluck brunch recipes:
- Lemon fruit dip with cream cheese
- Southern tea cake
- Southern pie crust cookies
- Southern lemon meltaway cookies
- Soul food apple pie
- Black folks sweet potato pie
- Southern sweet potato pie
- Southern soul food carrot cake
- Soul food Southern deviled eggs
- Soul food pork jowl bacon
- Chicken and waffles
- Southern stuffed bell peppers
Salads and baked goods like tea cake, pie crust cookies, or lemon meltaway cookies are scrumptious.
So are food-favorite pies and cakes like apple pie, sweet potato pie, or carrot cake.
Egg dishes are excellent for brunch-style potlucks, with Southern soul food deviled eggs at the top of the list!
Whichever you choose, ensure that the food items you bring are flavorful and easy to serve.
What should you bring to an outdoor cookout?
The answer is the same for the question, “What should you bring to a park potluck?”
Consider food from the Southern soul food potluck side dishes listed above that are easy to transport and non-perishable outdoors.
(i.e., So you may want to skip anything chocolate. Spoiler alert – it melts!)
What do you bring to a potluck on a hot day?
Think fruit, and refreshing and delicious!
One of my favorite potluck recipes to beat the heat on a sunny day is a Southern soul food tomato watermelon salad. It’s a beautiful fruit and vegetable medley that’s light, delicious, sweet, tangy, and refreshing!
The combination of flavors is amazing – thus, it’s a soul food salad!
Watermelon with pickled onions, pickled peppers, and zesty cilantro. Yep, it’s a Southern soul food salad!
What should you bring to the last-minute potluck?
This might be the same as “What to bring t a casual get-together?”
My favorite is bringing an appetizer or side dish that’s easy to make and can be finished quickly.
Just like The Soul Food Pot’s mission – “Easy enough for anyone to make and everyone to love!”
So the answer is simple – choose easy…
- Instant Pot soul food recipes
What should you bring to a potluck at work?
Another easy Instant Pot recipe!
Because for the pot alone, you can conveniently transport your cooked dish and keep it warm all day on the ‘keep warm’ setting.
What is the cheapest thing to bring to a potluck?
Even less expensive than paper cups and plates are rice or a homemade beverage (non-alcoholic, that is). They are probably among the cheapest sides to make for a cookout.
Here are a few recipe ideas:
Now, what to bring to a cookout if you can’t cook?
Try one of these easy 5-minute-or-less Instant Pot recipes!
- Southern soul food green beans
- Southern brown sugar glazed carrots
- Caribbean coconut rice
- Southern soul food cabbage
Or you can use one of the below easy-peasy, no-cook soul food recipes!
- Southern soul food coleslaw
- Pineapple coleslaw
- No mayo coleslaw
- Southern soul food tomato watermelon salad
What goes with chili for a potluck?
Chili belongs to the category of comfort food.
It’s a dish with great appeal and versatility. There are many variations of chili, from kidney beans to black beans to corn, that give it a creamy texture and others that are meat-only.
Chili is ideal for a potluck because of its easy preparation, especially in the Instant Pot or crockpot. In addition, it has an attractive appearance and a tasty combination of flavors and textures.
Chili is usually served with cornbread or rice. Easy, ideal, and a potluck perfect side dish.
What is considered soul food?
Soul food is a legacy of how African Americans cook. Recipes elevated by precise seasoning and flavor!
Noted soul food dishes that are present at almost any Black folks potluck or cookout include:
- Main course Southern fried chicken
- Side dishes potato salad, baked mac and cheese, collard greens, and candied yams
- Homemade cornbread
- Soul food Southern sweet tea beverage
- Banana pudding dessert
What is Black soul food?
Black soul food is a term to show the pride of African American people in our culture, history, and love for food adopted from our American ancestors and their African roots.
It’s a legacy of how African-Americans make soul food.
What’s the difference between Southern food, soul food, and Black people’s food?
Soul food often gets lost in translation and grouped in with Southern food.
While most soul food is Southern. Not all Southern food is soul food.
That’s why it’s important to distinguish when a recipe or dish is Black soul food – made the African-American way.
What is Black culture food?
Black culture food is soul food. An African American food culture of hearty homecooked meals that you can point out by dishes with plenty of seasoning and rich with flavor!
What is the most popular soul food?
Chicken, especially Soul food Southern fried chicken, might be the most popular soul food.
Chicken is a food thrown on the doorsteps of Black people as a way to identify us.
But, of course, you know, African Americans didn’t invent the chicken. We just perfected seasoning it!
There’s no denying that chicken with a balance of seasoned tender meat on the inside and flavorful skin on the outside is a soul food cooking specialty.
A legacy of how Black people make it.
What sauce goes with Black folks’ soul food Southern fried chicken?
Whether it’s for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or an afternoon snack, one of these condiments is sure to be a favorite when it comes to Southern fried chicken.
- Hot sauce
- Ranch dressing
- Pure honey
- Honey mustard
- Ketchup
- BBQ sauce
How do you celebrate Juneteenth with food?
What do you eat during Black History Month?
What are people saying about The Soul Food Pot’s best Southern potluck side dishes & Black folks’ Southern potato salad recipe?
Did you enjoy these soul food Southern potluck side dishes?
Have you had them?
Would you make them?
Comment below and lemme know.
Then subscribe HERE for all the soul food!
Like this post? Pin the below image to your Pinterest Soul Food Recipes board!
Equipment
- Instant Pot electric pressure cooker optional
- Instant Pot trivet rack (comes with the Instant Pot) or egg rack
- Potato peeler
Ingredients
- 4 russet potatoes
- 4-6 potatoes small red or purple potatoes (optional)
- 2 cups water divided
- 4 boiled eggs
- 1 boiled egg sliced to garnish (optional)
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ⅓ cup sweet pickles diced (or sweet relish)
- ½ cup celery diced
- 2 tablespoons yellow onion diced
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika to garnish
Instructions
You can use the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker to easily boil the potatoes and eggs.
- Peel the russet potatoes and leave them whole. (If you’re using the optional small red or purple potatoes, do not peel them.)
- Open the Instant Pot lid and place the Instant Pot trivet rack inside the stainless-steel inner pot. (The trivet rack isn’t required – but it keeps the potatoes above the water in the pot, so they’re steaming instead of boiling on only one side.)
- Add 1 cup of water and then the potatoes on the trivet rack.
- Close the Instant Pot lid (make sure the valve is up – in the position for sealing) and pressure cook on high for 10 minutes.
- When the cooking time is finished, allow a natural pressure release for at least 10 minutes.
- To open the Instant Pot lid, move the valve to ‘venting’ and manually release any remaining pressure, if applicable.
- Use an oven mitt to remove the trivet rack with the potatoes.
- Allow the cooked potatoes to cool enough so they’re still warm to the touch (but not hot).
- Then coarsely chop the potatoes into medium-sized chunks and add them to a large mixing bowl.
- Pour the vinegar over the chopped potatoes while they’re still warm, and set the bowl aside.
- Add the trivet rack or egg rack inside the Instant Pot stainless steel inner pot.
- Add the eggs to the racks and then pour 1 cup of water over the eggs.
- Close the Instant Pot lid (make sure the valve is up – in the position for sealing) and pressure cook on high for 5 minutes.
- While the eggs are boiling, dice the pickles, celery, and onion and add the diced vegetables to the bowl of chopped potatoes.
- Add the mustard, mayonnaise, sugar, salt, and pepper to the bowl and set the bowl aside.
- When the cooking time for the eggs is finished, allow a natural pressure release for at least 5 minutes.
- To open the Instant Pot lid, move the valve to ‘venting’ and manually release any remaining pressure, if applicable.
- Open the cover immediately after the pressure release. Using tongs (because the eggs will be hot!), place the boiled eggs into an ice bath to cool off.
- Once the eggs are cool to the touch, coarsely chop four eggs and add them to the large bowl of potatoes and seasonings.
- Gently fold the ingredients into the potatoes so that the vegetables, seasonings, mayonnaise, and mustard are evenly mixed to coat the potatoes.
- Garnish this Black folk’s potato salad recipe by sprinkling paprika and then slicing the remaining boiled egg to garnish on top. Serve right away and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition