Crisp leaves and cooler weather; casual dinner parties and no-fuss recipes that feed a large group of friends…these are a few of our favorite things. It only makes sense, then, to combine them all together. Big-batch recipes for fall? Genius. Big-batch fall recipes that are also made in one pot, one pan or one trusty slow cooker? Even better. Presenting 30 fall dump dinners that will feed a crowd, from cheater’s beef bourguignon to 3-cheese pumpkin pasta.
30 Fall Dump Dinners That Will Feed a Crowd
Cozy and crowd-pleasing
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Published Aug 24, 2024
Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
1. 30-Minute Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Orecchiette
- Time Commitment: 30 minutes
- Why I Love It: <10 ingredients, ready in <30 minutes, high protein
- Serves: 4
Salty, savory and tangy, this pasta is ready for fall. As written, it makes four generous servings, but can easily be scaled up for a larger crowd.
2. Cheater’s Slow Cooker Beef Bourguignon
- Time Commitment: 8 hours, 20 minutes
- Why I Love It: make ahead, slow cooker recipe, beginner-friendly, special occasion–worthy
- Serves: 6
Don’t tell Julia Child, but I’m suggesting you take some major shortcuts with this classic French dish. Namely, you’ll throw everything into your slow cooker and never look back.
3. Cheater’s Italian Wedding Soup
- Time Commitment: 1 hour
- Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, slow cooker recipe, kid-friendly
- Serves: 8
Parmesan, pasta, beans, kale and juicy meatballs…all in one bite? Say no more, I’m already on my way to your place.
4. Slow Cooker Chicken Potpie Soup
- Time Commitment: 7 hours, 35 minutes
- Why I Love It: make ahead, slow cooker recipe, beginner-friendly
- Serves: 8
The secret to making this as low effort as possible is in the store-bought biscuit dough. No one will know you didn’t make it yourself (but they’ll gobble it up).
5. Slow Cooker Pasta e Fagioli
- Time Commitment: 7 hours, 35 minutes
- Why I Love It: slow cooker recipe, make ahead, high protein
- Serves: 6
This hearty, make-ahead soup calls for a crackling fire, a candlelit table and many, many cocktails.
6. Creamy Vegan Lentil Roasted Vegetable Bake
- Time Commitment: 1 hour, 25 minutes
- Why I Love It: vegan, crowd-pleaser
- Serves: 8
Hello, ultimate cold weather comfort food. The caramelized roast vegetables are reason enough to make this on repeat…but the cashew cream puts it over the top.
7. Slow Cooker French Onion Soup
- Time Commitment: 7 hours, 25 minutes
- Why I Love It: slow cooker recipe, one pot, beginner-friendly
- Serves: 6
No need to toil over a hot stove when you can simply press a button on your Crockpot and get back to that Netflix queue of horror movies waiting for you.
8. Cheater’s White Wine Coq au Vin
- Time Commitment: 55 minutes
- Why I Love It: one pan, special occasion–worthy, gluten free
- Serves: 6
This elegant meal has “impromptu dinner party” written all over it. Your guests will be so impressed with the flavorful, white wine-infused sauce that they’ll never suspect it took you less than an hour to make.
9. Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
- Time Commitment: 7 hours, 5 minutes
- Why I Love It: make ahead, slow cooker recipe, kid-friendly
- Serves: 6
Who needs to bundle up when this creamy beauty is on the menu? She’s kind of like a blanket in a bowl.
10. 30-Minute, One-Pot Cheater’s Bouillabaisse
- Time Commitment: 30 minutes
- Why I Love It: special occasion–worthy, ready in <30 minutes, one pot
- Serves: 6
Wondering how to shave 90 minutes off the cooking time of this rustic French soup? Easy: Just use one or two types of shellfish instead of a billion. Serve it with a bottle of wine and wait for the compliments.
11. White Turkey Chili with Avocado
- Time Commitment: 1 hour
- Why I Love It: one pot, gluten free, beginner-friendly
- Serves: 8
If you’re not serving a big batch of chili at your game-watch party, is it even fall? This version calls for canned white beans—you can use any kind, like navy or cannellini.
12. Skillet Gnocchi with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe
- Time Commitment: 30 minutes
- Why I Love It: ready in <30 minutes, one pan
- Serves: 6
You had me at gnocchi, and again at one-skillet dinner. Thanks to a few smart shortcuts (store-bought pasta, for one), this meal takes a mere 30 minutes to make.
13. Autumn Braised Chicken Escabèche with Roasted Apples and Grapes
- Time Commitment: 45 minutes
- Why I Love It: special occasion–worthy, high protein, one pan
- Serves: 6
Escabèche is just a fancy way of saying “pickled,” but don’t let that raise your eyebrows. This fall dump dinner is packed with seasonal fruit and a sweet-and-sour sauce that’s obsession-worthy.
14. One-Pot Creamy Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
- Time Commitment: 20 minutes
- Why I Love It: ready in <30 minutes, one pot, beginner-friendly
- Serves: 6
’Tis the season for all things pumpkin (and I’ll admit I’m not mad about it at all). The squash adds a certain je ne sais quoi to this crowd-pleaser that your dinner guests won’t be able to resist.
15. Curried Kale, Potato and Lentil Soup
- Time Commitment: 45 minutes
- Why I Love It: gluten free, dairy free, vegan, one pot
- Serves: 8
Comforting yet healthy is my M.O. when it comes to cool-weather cooking. This plant-based, one-pot lentil soup checks both boxes.
16. Baked Chicken and Mushroom Risotto
- Time Commitment: 45 minutes
- Why I Love It: one pan, gluten free
- Serves: 6
Earthy mushrooms just scream “autumn,” so why not add them to this hands-off risotto? Oh, I almost forgot to mention: Since it’s baked, you hardly have to stir anything.
17. Healthy Instant Pot Turkey Chili
- Time Commitment: 33 minutes
- Why I Love It: Instant Pot recipe, <500 calories
- Serves: 8
Throw everything in your Instant Pot and, in record timing, you can marvel at the tasty results. (Don’t forget the sour cream and cheese.)
- Time Commitment: 55 minutes
- Why I Love It: one pot, vegetarian, dairy free
- Serves: 8
Thanks to the addition of freekeh (an heirloom grain), this veggie soup rivals even the heartiest of meat-based meals. If you want a thicker, stew-like texture, just add slightly more freekeh than the recipe calls for.
- Time Commitment: 1 hour
- Why I Love It: gluten free, dairy free
- Serves: 8
Raise your hand if your mom used to feed you this classic every week from September to November. Yep, that’s what I thought. (I bet hers wasn’t this effortless to make, though.)
20. Super-Easy One-Pot Lasagna
- Time Commitment: 1 hour
- Why I Love It: special occasion–worthy, kid-friendly, one pot
- Serves: 6
Behold, the fall dump dinner to end all others. If I had known you could whip up a big batch of lasagna in a single pan, I would’ve been doing this years ago.
21. Pomegranate-Sumac Chicken with Roasted Carrots
- Time Commitment: 1 hour, 20 minutes (+ marinating time)
- Why I Love It: sheet pan recipe, special occasion–worthy
- Serves: 8
Now that it’s cool enough to return to your oven, it’s time to embrace the sheet pan meal. This one’s packed with warm Middle Eastern spices and will have your crowd begging for the recipe.
22. Slow Cooker Spicy Green Chicken Chili
- Time Commitment: 6 hours, 15 minutes
- Why I Love It: slow cooker recipe, make ahead, gluten free
- Serves: 6 to 8
Switch up your usual watch party fare with this new take on chili. FYI, it freezes beautifully, so you can make it in advance or stash leftovers for later.
- Time Commitment: 30 minutes
- Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, vegetarian, one pan
- Serves: 6
Want to modernize your favorite childhood meal? Look no further than the protein-packed lentil, which is the key to making these vegetarian Joes. They’re just as quick-cooking and convenient for healthy weeknight dinners, and no one will miss the ground beef.
24. Deb Perelman’s Ginger Garlic Chicken Noodle Soup
- Time Commitment: 45 minutes
- Why I Love It: crowd-pleaser, one pot, <500 calories
- Serves: 4 to 6
Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman magically transforms chicken and water into a rich meal in just 45 minutes. The secret, she explains, is using thigh meat. “Chicken thigh cutlets have more fat than breast cutlets,” she says, “and the richness helps build a more flavorful soup here.”
25. Instant Pot Baked Potato Soup
- Time Commitment: 30 minutes
- Why I Love It: <30 minutes, Instant Pot recipe, crowd-pleaser, <10 ingredients
- Serves: 6
If chicken noodle is the queen of fall soup, baked potato is the king. Instead of the usual three hours of simmering, this version takes 30 minutes to come together in your pressure cooker.
26. Sheet Pan Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Radishes and Olives
- Time Commitment: 1 hour
- Why I Love It: sheet pan recipe, crowd-pleaser, special occasion–worthy
- Serves: 4 to 6
The secret to roasting a whole chicken in just about an hour? Spatchcocking, which flattens the bird and increases the surface area for faster cooking.
27. Instant Pot Mushroom Wild Rice Soup
- Time Commitment: 45 minutes
- Why I Love It: Instant Pot recipe, crowd-pleaser, vegetarian
- Serves: 4 to 6
With an Instant Pot in tow, it takes less than an hour to put together this creamy, comforting (and never gloppy) soup. Use any type of ’shroom you like, swap the chicken broth with vegetable to make it vegetarian and (because we know you’re wondering) the leftovers reheat like no one’s business.
28. Orzotto with Winter Squash and Rosemary
- Time Commitment: 50 minutes
- Why I Love It: one pot, beginner-friendly
- Serves: 4 to 6
Wait, what’s orzotto? It’s like risotto, but without all the stirring and stove babysitting. Using starchy pasta instead of rice makes this fall dump dinner creamy without any effort. Choose any winter squash variety you like, such as butternut or kabocha.
29. White Bean Stew with Marinated Radicchio
- Time Commitment: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Why I Love It: vegetarian, make ahead
- Serves: 4 to 6
I like that the lemony, bitter radicchio cuts through the richness of the bean stew beneath it, but if you prefer a different green, you could try Lacinato kale for a similar effect.
30. 3-Cheese Pumpkin Pasta Casserole with Spinach
- Time Commitment: 50 minutes
- Why I Love It: one pan, vegetarian, make ahead
- Serves: 6
This easy casserole is creamy, comforting and big enough to feed a crowd, but still feels modern thanks to dollops of ricotta and plenty of spinach (you know, for #health). If you want to make it ahead for the nights you don’t feel like cooking, it freezes like a dream.
