Our 14 Best Indoor Picnic Recipes So You Can Pretend It’s Summer All Year Long

Accompany these recipes with a basket and a blanket for the ultimate picnic in your living room

By March 09, 2018

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Farideh Sadeghin

Just because it’s cold or raining outside doesn’t mean your picnic dreams have to be ruined. Grab a blanket and a picnic basket and set up camp in your living room. You can make all the traditional foods, like pimento cheese sandwiches, pasta salad and bite-sized hors d’oeuvres. Finish the meal with a few desserts, like chocolate and peanut butter buckeyes or chocolate chip cookies. Keep it authentic and try not to make anything that requires heat (but, obviously you have the luxury of your oven being in the next room if you’re craving a warm finger food). With our best indoor picnic recipes, you can spice up a winter day or a rainy summer one without letting the weather get you down.

Sausage and Arugula Pasta Salad

Pasta salads are essential summer food: they travel well; they’re easy to adapt to whatever produce you have on-hand; and they’re simple to make in large portions, making them perfect dishes to carry to parties, picnics, and barbecues. Get the recipe for Sausage and Arugula Pasta Salad »

Pappardelle with Mixed Mushrooms, Ricotta, and Walnuts

A mix of sautéed mushrooms, toasted walnuts, ricotta, thyme, honey, and pappardelle, this pasta dish needs only a green salad on the side. Get the recipe for Pappardelle with Mixed Mushrooms, Ricotta, and Walnuts »

Jude’s Perfect Potato Salad

A healthy dose of celery seeds and sharp Dijon mustard add a kick to this mashed potato and egg salad. Get the recipe for Jude’s Perfect Potato Salad »

Nut and Cheese Gougères

Pecan gougères

Pigs in a Blanket with Herbed Mustard Dipping Sauce

The dough, a variation on a Southern-style biscuit dough, is rolled out and folded several times to ensure delicate layers. Leftover dough and scraps can be rolled out again and cut and baked into biscuits. The dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen until ready to use. Get the recipe for Pigs in a Blanket with Herbed Mustard Dipping Sauce »

Deviled Eggs With Crab

Chef Yves Camdeborde assembles these haute deviled eggs—the whites marinated in soy sauce and pomegranate vinegar—à la minute at his stand-up bar L’Avant Comptoir de la Mer in Paris, but you can make the filling up to a day in advance and keep it refrigerated. Be sure to drain the whites immediately after 15 minutes of marinating so they don’t toughen. Get the recipe for Deviled Eggs With Crab »

Grilled Peach with Rosemary, Smoked Country Ham, and Toasted Pistachios

Grilled Peach with Rosemary, Smoked Country Ham, and Toasted Pistachios

Pimento Cheese Sandwich with Homemade Pickles

Pimento Cheese Sandwich with Homemade Pickles

Ricotta and Honey Sandwich

A dollop of ricotta on earthy-sweet oat bread is delicious; add a drizzle of sourwood honey and it’s elevated to the exquisite. (For a bit of sophisticated heat, top with a sprinkle of freshly-crushed red pepper flakes.) Get the recipe for Ricotta and Honey Sandwich »

Cucumber, Pear, and Sumac–Onion Salad

Cucumber, Pear, and Sumac–Onion Salad

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

Peanut Butter Buckeyes
More Sweets From Dorie Greenspan

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Swedish Cinnamon-and-Cardamom Bread

Fika means “to drink coffee” in Swedish. But it’s more than just that. It’s a moment to take a break, chat with friends, and enjoy a pastry—a tradition worth emulating. And one that’s charmingly detailed in Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall’s upcoming book Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break (Ten Speed Press, April 2015). Get a fikasugen (a fika craving) for proper Swedish coffee snacks like this cinnamon-cardamom bread. The yeasty cardamom-spiced dough is cut into a decorative pattern before baking. Get the recipe for Swedish Cinnamon-and-Cardamom Bread »

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