154 ahead recipes

New Orleans-style French Market beignets cut into squares, deep-fried golden, and buried in powdered sugar. Make-ahead yeast dough that chills overnight and improves over a week in the fridge.

Baked curried fruit casserole with pears, peaches, pineapple, apricots, and cherries layered with slivered almonds in a buttery brown sugar curry glaze. A retro holiday side dish that's best made a day ahead.

Boiled beef brisket baked with pinto beans, bacon, hot chilies, corn, and tomatoes in a ketchup-based sauce. A hearty, make-ahead brisket and bean dinner best served the next day over rice.

Crisp-tender cauliflower and green beans marinated in Italian dressing with dill weed, red onion rings, and red pepper flakes. A make-ahead chilled vegetable side that needs at least 4 hours to soak up flavor.

A three-bean salad dressed in tangy molasses-mustard vinaigrette with celery, green onion, and torn curly endive. No-cook, make-ahead, and gets better the longer it marinates. Bring this to the cookout.

Cheese potato puff is a baked mashed potato casserole with cheddar cheese, butter, and beaten eggs that puffs up golden and souffled in the oven. A make-ahead side dish that feeds a crowd.

Fruit nut breakfast bars with rolled oats, chopped almonds, and golden raisins bound with brown sugar and a hit of almond extract. Make-ahead bars that beat any granola bar in the cereal aisle.

Too much fruit salad is a big-batch medley of pineapple, melon, citrus, peaches, kiwi, and banana bathed in apricot nectar and chilled overnight so the flavors meld. A bright, make-ahead crowd salad.

A creamy salmon log rolled in chopped pecans and parsley, made with canned salmon, cream cheese, horseradish, and a whisper of liquid smoke. Mix it a day ahead and let the fridge do the work.

A baked vegetarian pate made from pureed lentils spiced with curry, turmeric, cumin, and chili, bound with eggs and baked in a terrine. Earthy, warm, and spreadable. Freezer-friendly and great for make-ahead entertaining.

Cloverleaf refrigerator rolls: soft, tender potato yeast rolls shaped three balls to a muffin cup so they pull apart into clover-leaf petals. The make-ahead dough chills overnight for fresh-baked rolls on demand.

Crayfish etouffee built on a deep buttery base of onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic, simmered with tomato paste, white wine, and tender crayfish tails. The Cajun classic, served over rice. Best made a day ahead.

Caribbean shrimp and black bean salad tossed in a salsa-honey vinaigrette with celery, red onion, and cilantro. A no-cook, make-ahead summer salad ready after a two-hour chill to let the flavors marry.

Banquet meat loaves are a 50-serving, banquet-scale recipe for tender ground beef loaves bound with sauteed onion, celery, eggs and breadcrumbs moistened with beef stock. Bake-ahead, slice and reheat for caterers and large gatherings.

No-egg bran muffins made with a make-ahead batter that keeps up to 3 months in the fridge. Buttermilk and a double dose of bran cereal deliver tender crumb and serious fiber. Bake fresh muffins on demand.

A vegetarian take on sushi – a one bowl meal, which can be made in advance, keeps well in the fridge and makes for a great lunchbox. If you are going to make it ahead, store the dressing separately until you are ready to serve.