Let me tell you the secret to a successful potluck dessert: find a new twist on an old favorite. When it comes to desserts, people are usually craving a familiar flavor, but adding an unexpected element makes it a real party. For example, don’t just make regular banana splits; make a Banana Split Lasagna. It’ll feed a crowd, and everyone will be interested in trying it.
Dessert casseroles and no-bake desserts are your best options for potlucks because they’re inexpensive and easy to make in a large batch. Cake is great, but many people won’t try a piece because they think it will be too filling or they have potluck paranoia. If you make a gooey, fruity dessert, people won’t mind taking a spoonful.
Cool whip recipes are just as irresistible because they’re light and refreshing. Of course, one of the biggest draws is that you can prep it ahead of time and pop it in the fridge. Whether you’re making an ice box cake recipe or a fruit salad recipe, you’ll love that these recipes save time and appeal to guests of all ages. They’re really easy potluck ideas.
If you’re obsessed with taking the easy route, be sure to check out our contest below where you could win three easy cookbooks! Here’s our round-up of the best summer desserts for potlucks.
12 Summer-Style Potluck Desserts
Dessert Casserole Recipes
- Banana Split Lasagna
- Vanilla Dessert Lasagna
- OMG Chocolate Lasagna
- Just Like Paula Deen’s Peach Cobbler
- So Many Layered Desserts, So Little Time
No-Bake Dessert Recipes
- Mini Cheesecake Recipe with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
- OMG No-Bake Dessert
- Caramel Crack Bars
- Easy Strawberry Refrigerator Pie
- Drool-Worthy No Bake Cookies & Bars You Need In Your Life
Plus, check out our free eBook for cake mix desserts!
Cool Whip Recipes
- Banana Cream Pie Sex in a Pan
- Sex in a Pan
- Lemon Lush Lasagna
- Cream Puff Cake
- 23 Cool Whip Desserts You’ll Love
Bonus Giveaway!
We’re excited to give away Ryland, Peters & Small cookbook prize packs to three lucky winners! Each prize pack includes the following books:
- Easy Baking by Linda Collister
- This easy-to-follow cookbook includes delightful easy desserts like Chocolate Pound Cake and Tangy Lemon Bars! Learn how to make homemade bread, the easy way.
- The Easy Kitchen’s Pies and Tarts
- Learn to make a variety of pies with flavors from around the world, from Moroccan Apple Pie to traditional Shepherd’s Pie. This cookbook covers all pies sweet and savory.
- Learn to make a variety of pies with flavors from around the world, from Moroccan Apple Pie to traditional Shepherd’s Pie. This cookbook covers all pies sweet and savory.
- Easy Cakes & Cookies: Cupcakes, Brownies, Muffins, Loaves & More
- Your favorite desserts from cheesecakes to pies are guaranteed to be in this super-cute collection of 100 recipes.
How to Enter:
Leave a comment below answering the following question:
What’s your favorite easy dessert?
Official Rules:
- There is a maximum of one entry per person. The entry will be based upon a comment left on this blog post. Duplicate comments will be deleted and are not tallied.
- The winner will be selected at random from the comments on this blog post.
- Winner will be announced here on the blog as well as contacted by the email address provided.
- You have until Sunday, July 5, at 11:59p EST to leave your comment on this blog post. Comments posted after that will not be counted.
- Contest open to anyone 18+ in US.
Good luck!
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Pineapple dump cake… Only 3 ingredients 🙂
A trifle made with whipped cream, cake cubes and fresh fruit.
I agree with “trifles”! yummmm
Homemade Banana Pudding
MY FAVORITE DESSERT IS A BROWNIE WITH ICE CREAM AND HOT FUDGE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP.
Chocolate chip cookies
Brownies!!! Just mix together mix, oil, egg, water. Pour into the pan and bake. Eat warm.
Snickerdoodle Ice Cream Sandwiches
Cupcakes or honeybun cake.
Strawberry cheesecake
Pops
Yellow cake mix with drained, crushed pineapple mixed in and cream cheese icing. Easy and tasty!
Microwave 5 Ingredient Fudge
Banana cream pie – 5 ingredients in a store-bought graham cracker crust.
Next time make your own graham cracker crust and add to it finely chopped toasted coconut..WoW !!
Chocolate chip cookies my grandmother’s recipe
Cheesecake
I love anything with banana , chocolate and coconut in the recipe..Mmmmmmm
My homemade butter tarts.
Cream cheese squares.
I love gluten free peanut butter cookies ! It is simply ground roasted salted peanut and sugar ( I use saccharin) and a couple eggs and vanilla. bake for 10 mins. until brown.
Banana Bread 3 ingredients.
Pineapple upside down cake
Chocolate chip pound cake
Cheesecake
Banana Pudding!
s’mores dip
Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Apple Turnovers
Hawaiian Cheesecake–made with instant pudding, cream cheese, crushed pineapple and sweetened shredded coconut. M-m-m-m!
My family loves Rice Crispy bars. Thanks for the great giveaway.
My sister-in-law’s Hot Fudge topping sauce over ice cream.
Banana cream pie made with instant vanilla pudding , sour cream and milk over a graham cracker crust
Chocolate cream pie
Homemade Classic New York-Style Cheesecake, (recipe from Anna Olsen on the food network. Absolutely love the recipe and make it frequently. My friends and family members request it every time there’s a special occasion. They say it is the best ever! I totally agree with them, a hit every time.
I don’t have one yet 🙁 newbie to celiac
Apple crisp and no bake cookies.
I use a prebaked graham cracker pie shell, make pumpkin pie jello, put half in the pie shell as made, then mix the other half with cool whip, put that in, then cover the top with the remaining cool whip. Maybe garnish with a few toasted chopped walnuts. Eat it up.
Anything that taste good with a couple of ingredients?
Chocolate Mousse with a big dollop of Cool Whip on top! Elegant, but easy – that’s the name of my game!
chocolate mayonnaise cake, yum
Banana Pudding ! – vanilla wafers, bananas and instant vanilla pudding.
fresh summer white peach cobbler
home made cheesecake Yummy
an old recipe for xtra fluffy tapioca using whole milk and Mexican vanilla making it each time in a triple batch !
I would just like to win something before I hit the ground!
It’s hard to pick just one! Anything peanut butter! The newest recipe I found is peanut butter cookies made with 3 ingredients, peanut butter, sugar and egg. Great, now I gotta go make them ?
So many desserts, so little time. My favorite is a cake mix dessert using any flavor and a pie filling to go with it, such as butter pecan and peach or devil’s food and cherry.
My favorite is chocolate chip cookies!:)
Dump cake, Pea Pickin’ Good Cake –anything easy and chocolatty — it’s all good and better!
Chocolate Cherry Fudge Cake – a Pillsbury Bake-Off winner and always a hit!
I love refrigerator sheet cakes (AKA jello poke cakes!!) Light and refreshing!
I LIVE to cook. Unfortunately my money runs out before the end of the month. I like to try new recipes for me and my husband to try. The ones I like the most are dessert recipes, but I also try the dinner recipes. My friends say it is not SARA LEE IT’S MARALEE!!
Better Than Sex Cake…yellow cake, Sweetened condensed milk, caramel, Cool Whip and Snickers…I get asked for the recipe after the first bite and it’s so easy to make
Jello with fruit. An oldie, but a goodie
Brazo de Mercedes or another version is Canonigo – it’s a meringue roll with heavenly custard. Delish!
Peanut Butter cookies – just three (3) ingredients!
Lemon Pudding Cake
Nestle Toll House cookies or rice krispy treats – both are delicious and easy!
I am a new baker, and I am looking for new things to try, but my favorite is no bake chocolate peanut butter cookies.
Cheesecake
My favorite dessert is my grandmother’s peanut butter fudge made with karo syrup and peanut butter. Sometimes we would add marshmallows, chocolate and nuts.
Banana split lasagna
My easiest dessert to make are cream puffs.
Light and refreshing – yogurt and cool whip placed in graham cracker pie crust!
Impossible custard pie with or without coconut, everyone wants to know how it happened.
Looking for some really simple, make-ahead desserts when having guests. Thsnks.
Pies – any types of fruit pies.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal no bake cookies.
We call it “boy pie” but it is a layered pudding dessert that is easy and cool
Peanut butter brownies
Chocolate Cool Whip Pie!
OMG! Those awesome desserts make my mouth drool with “want to make them now”.
chocolate chip brownies
cheesecake
I love the Strawberry Refrigerator Pie. Made with fresh strawberries and a frozen pie crust, this pie take no effort but looks and tastes homemade.
Ice cream sundaes!
Chocolate pudding pie
My favorite dessert is pie, any kind, any flavor, anhy time!
1 can crushed pineapple , I box pistachio pudding , mix well . To this I fold in 1 tub of whip cream. So good.
Lemon meringue pie.
Needed more with NO SUGAR or fake sugar!
Chocolate cake stirred into soft vanilla ice cream.
Oh My! I am going to try these Mini Cheesecakes with Resse’s Peanut butter cups. Yummy!!!!!
Candy cup brownies. Brownie “muffins” with peanut butter cups pressed into them.
Cherry/Pineapple Dump Cake.
cream de-mint parfait cream de mint, poured over vanilla ice cream layered between cool whip ice cream, cool whip yum
Chocolate chocolate chip cookies
Cream cheese pie with cherry topping .
Anytime, my simple favorites will be custard or tapioca pudding but there are many simple desserts that I love and make regularly.
I love to bake chocolate chip cookies, can’t keep them in the house !! Also oatmeal raisin cookies.
But I also like to make bake. My husbands favorite is pineapple upside down cake.
I bake chocolate chip cookies & they don’t last long, also oatmeal raisin cookies. My husband loves
pineapple upside down cake, so make that several times a year. I love bread pudding with warm lemon sauce on top. Also like tapioca pudding, I have to make small amounts, as I’m the only one that will eat it, which is okay with me !
Chilled fruit & cottage cheese. It gets so hot that it is just too hot to even think about being in the kitchen sometimes – but this hits the spot!
watermelon, popcorn, or ice cream
This question can’t be answered with just one. In the winter, brownies are great! But in the summer, ice cream is to die for. But then if you mix the two of them, that is even better.
I like all those categories, it depends on my mood & weather. Winter it’s cookies, cookies. Also like to bake different types of breads
I love chocolate chip cookies, although I usually just end up eating the raw dough.
Cheesecake
Have two favorite go too’s–strawberry short cake & big batch of brownies
My favorite easy dessert is Hot Cocoa mouse with Oreos crushed up in it…just 5 ingredients
Popsicles
I’d have to say that microwave mug brownies are my favorite easy go-to dessert. Great for when you’ve got a brownie/chocolate craving and don’t feel like making an entire pan of them. Flour, sugar, cocoa powder, oil and vanilla, microwave for a minute and you have a warm cup of fluffy, gooey awesomeness.
chocolate pudding is an go to dessert so are brownies. As you can see, my family favors anything with chocolate in it !!
my family loves lemon meringue pie, chocolate chip cookies.
I would really like to win these cook books, so then I can start cooking new recipes
Cherry cha cha is my favorite desert.
Would love to be able to add these cookbooks to my collection.
New recipes for family functions and lots of sharing.
“Icebox Cakes” are the easiest!
Version 1 – layered ice cream sandwiches + cool whip + Heath brickle on top
Version 2 – chocolate wafer cookies + heavy whipping cream + nuts on top (vanilla or almond flavoring in whipped cream really elevates it!)