Some food trends from the 1960s were creative. Others make you wonder what people were thinking when they opened a can and called it dinner. From casseroles that doubled as dessert to color-drenched salads and dishes that made mayo a main ingredient, these recipes bring back every wild detail. These 21 picks prove the 1960s had no fear when it came to mixing bold flavors, strange textures, and a whole lot of ambition.
Christmas Pecan Pralines
Pecan pralines reflect the sugary decadence that dominated 1960s dessert tables. Their rich, caramelized coating and nutty crunch made them a holiday favorite, often wrapped in wax paper or served on candy trays. Sweets like this were less about balance and more about bold, buttery flavor. Bringing them back feels like stepping into a tinsel-covered living room with a dish of something dangerously addictive.
Get the Recipe: Christmas Pecan Pralines
Ground Beef Zucchini and Rice Casserole
Casseroles ruled the 1960s, often combining whatever was in the fridge into something that fed a crowd. This beef, zucchini, and rice version channels the era’s love of hearty, oven-baked meals that didn’t need to make perfect sense to work. Texture, convenience, and cream-of-something vibes were all part of the charm. It’s the kind of dish that made second helpings feel like tradition.
Get the Recipe: Ground Beef Zucchini and Rice Casserole
Russian Potato Salad (Olivier Salad)
Creamy, mayo-heavy potato salads were practically a food group during the 1960s. This one, packed with peas, carrots, and pickles, doubles down on richness and adds a briny bite. It’s colorful, cold, and bold—the kind of side dish that made paper plate buffets feel like a celebration. Bringing it back is like setting the table for a retro backyard bash.
Get the Recipe: Russian Potato Salad (Olivier Salad)
Black Eyed Pea Masabacha with Tahini, Tomatoes, Garlic, and Hot Peppers
The ’60s kitchen was starting to branch out, and this mash-up of Southern and Mediterranean ingredients would’ve turned heads in the best way. Creamy black-eyed peas, garlic, tahini, and spice come together in a dip that hints at the era’s growing interest in bold, cross-cultural flavors. Dips were the star of every coffee table spread, and this one brings drama and depth. It’s exactly the kind of dish that would have been scooped up with celery sticks and questionable enthusiasm.
Get the Recipe: Black Eyed Pea Masabacha with Tahini, Tomatoes, Garlic, and Hot Peppers
Easy Vegetarian Seven Layer Dip
Layered dips became a retro party trick, where visual flair mattered almost as much as flavor. This vegetarian version nails the look and leans into the decade’s obsession with sour cream, guacamole, and beans stacked like edible artwork. It’s easy to assemble and even easier to spot on the buffet. If your goal was to impress a room with Cool Whip tubs reused as serveware, this was your move.
Get the Recipe: Easy Vegetarian Seven Layer Dip
Pecan Pie with Maple Syrup and Maple Dulce de Leche Cream
Rich, sticky, and unapologetically sweet, this pie captures the essence of 1960s dessert philosophy. Maple syrup and dulce de leche feel right at home in a crust that doesn’t hold back, just like the decade’s love for pies that pushed sugar to the limit. It wasn’t about subtlety—it was about wow. This pie belongs on a linoleum counter next to a pot of instant coffee and a centerpiece made of candles and walnuts.
Get the Recipe: Pecan Pie with Maple Syrup and Maple Dulce de Leche Cream
Salmon Sheet Pan Casserole
One-pan meals took over mid-century kitchens, and baked salmon with vegetables fits the era’s practical mindset. It’s straightforward, a bit plain, and totally reflective of the time when presentation was optional and efficiency was king. Canned or frozen seafood often stood in for fresh, but the goal was the same: no mess, no stress. This is what you’d serve when company was coming and you had ten minutes to make it look like you tried.
Get the Recipe: Salmon Sheet Pan Casserole
French Onion Chicken Skillet
Skillet meals were gaining steam in the ’60s, and anything with melted cheese and onions was an easy win. This dish captures that obsession with deep flavor, a golden crust, and meals that made weeknights feel just a little dressed up. Inspired by the French onion soup craze, it delivered restaurant vibes without ever leaving the stovetop. It’s the kind of recipe that would’ve landed on a Betty Crocker card with a cartoon onion smiling next to it.
Get the Recipe: French Onion Chicken Skillet
Russian Beet Salad
The brighter the food, the better it looked on a 1960s table, and this beet salad proves it. Vinegary, colorful, and just earthy enough, it stood out in a sea of molded gelatin and mayo. It was also a sign of the growing interest in Eastern European flavors creeping into potlucks. A dish like this made you stop and ask, “What is that?” before taking the biggest spoonful.
Get the Recipe: Russian Beet Salad
Chicken and Date Casserole
The ’60s were big on mixing sweet with savory in ways that still surprise people today. This casserole, made with chicken, dates, and olives, checks every box for wild combos that somehow worked. Casseroles were always a blank canvas, and this one painted with bold brushstrokes. It’s the kind of dish that makes you squint at the recipe card but keep eating anyway.
Get the Recipe: Chicken and Date Casserole
Salisbury Steak in the Slow Cooker
Salisbury steak was practically a food group for 1960s households, showing up in TV dinners and freezer trays alike. Ground beef, shaped into patties and drenched in brown gravy, was easy, familiar, and filling. This slow-cooker version reflects the era’s craving for convenience without much clean-up. It’s the meal you made when you wanted to feel fancy with a packet of onion soup mix.
Get the Recipe: Salisbury Steak in the Slow Cooker
Chicken à la King
Creamy, buttery, and served over toast or rice, Chicken à la King was the height of ’60s elegance in a saucepan. It combined ease with perceived luxury, which is exactly what weeknight cooking aspired to at the time. This dish relied heavily on pantry staples and canned mushrooms, and nobody minded. It’s the kind of meal that made people feel fancy with a can opener.
Get the Recipe: Chicken à la King
Healthy Tuna Noodle Casserole
Tuna noodle casserole was a rite of passage for 1960s kitchens. With canned tuna, cream-of-whatever soup, and egg noodles baked until golden, it checked all the boxes: cheap, fast, and oddly comforting. It didn’t need to be healthy—it just needed to stretch to seconds. This dish is the edible equivalent of a Pyrex dish passed down through three generations.
Get the Recipe: Healthy Tuna Noodle Casserole
Pulled Pork Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs were the finger food of choice for every bridge night and church supper in the ’60s. This version gets a bold upgrade with pulled pork, but the spirit of the original still shines through. Anything creamy and piped onto a halved egg was sure to go fast. It’s the bite-sized snack that always disappeared before you got a second one.
Get the Recipe: Pulled Pork Deviled Eggs
Tomato Soup Cake
Nothing says 1960s cooking like turning a can of tomato soup into dessert. Spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, this cake confused people just long enough for it to win them over. It’s retro pantry magic at its best—equal parts resourceful and ridiculous. If the name doesn’t make you pause, the first bite will.
Get the Recipe: Tomato Soup Cake
Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cognac-Soaked Raisins
Sweet noodle kugel thrived in the ’60s, when the line between side dish and dessert was blurry at best. Cream cheese, egg noodles, and raisins baked into one dish made it rich, starchy, and just strange enough to stand out. The soaked raisins give it flair, but the comfort is pure mid-century. It’s the kind of dish you didn’t understand until the second helping.
Get the Recipe: Sweet Noodle Kugel with Cognac-Soaked Raisins
Gluten-Free Carrot Soufflé
Carrot soufflé would’ve been right at home on a 1960s Easter table, billed as a vegetable but acting like dessert. Light, fluffy, and slightly sweet, it was a sneaky way to dress up a side dish in a casserole dish. It had just enough sugar to earn a place near the pies. It’s what you made when you wanted a vegetable to taste like it belonged next to whipped cream.
Get the Recipe: Gluten-Free Carrot Soufflé
Savory French Toast Casserole with Bacon
If you could pour eggs over it and bake it, it had a place in a 1960s recipe box. This savory casserole, layered with bacon and soaked bread, gave brunch the same cozy feel that dinner had all week. Make-ahead meals were the name of the game, especially if they baked in a 9x13. This is the kind of dish you’d serve on a Sunday with orange juice in a punch bowl.
Get the Recipe: Savory French Toast Casserole with Bacon
Pecan French Toast Casserole
Mid-century kitchens weren’t afraid to blur the line between breakfast and dessert, and this French toast casserole fits that mold. With a brown sugar and pecan topping, it gave every brunch spread a golden centerpiece. It baked up gooey and crisp, just the way sweet casseroles were expected to behave. If it didn’t stick to the spatula, it wasn’t done right.
Get the Recipe: Pecan French Toast Casserole
Grasshopper Pie
With its shockingly green color and crème de menthe kick, Grasshopper Pie was a showstopper that looked like it came straight out of a sci-fi film. No-bake pies had their moment in the ’60s, and this one delivered cool mint and chocolate with every chilled slice. It was flashy, sweet, and proudly artificial. This is what dessert looked like when your hostess tray matched your phone cord.
Get the Recipe: Grasshopper Pie
Amish Macaroni Salad
Mayonnaise-laced pasta salads were required eating at mid-century cookouts and potlucks. This sweet and tangy version brings crunch from celery and peppers, and just enough sugar to raise eyebrows. Every family had their own “secret” version, usually handwritten and stuck to the fridge with a novelty magnet. If there wasn’t a cold noodle salad on the table, it wasn’t a real gathering.
Get the Recipe: Amish Macaroni Salad
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