15 Potluck Dishes Everyone Brought to the Party in the 1970s

The 1970s were the glory days of potlucks, when everyone came up with excuses to get together and share a meal around a fondue pot or assortment of casseroles. They happened at neighborhood street parties, church basements, and backyard barbecues, and the food usually involved a lot of canned soup, Jell-O, and cake mix. Here are some of the most popular potluck recipes from the 1970s, including many that have withstood the test of time — and some that are a little more questionable these days.

Cheese Balls

Cheese balls are due for a comeback. These cream cheese-heavy blobs, often rolled in chopped pecans for crunch and filled with shredded sharp cheddar, graced every 1970s party, complete with a halo of assorted crackers. Sometimes they could get a little crazy, too, like those crushed pineapple ones your great-aunt Betty always made.

Try it yourself: Tastes Better From Scratch

Jell-O Salad

Jell-O salad is a deceiving name, because it’s not at all a salad like a bowl full of greens. It’s a dessert, and in the ‘70s, it meant molded in a fancy tin, usually with various fruits, creamy stuff like cottage cheese, and weird things like marshmallows suspended in it. It always felt like a surprise.

Try it yourself: Budget Bytes

Deviled Eggs

Deviled eggs are one of those retro party foods that have withstood the test of time. At its simplest, it’s a mix of mayo, mustard, and mashed egg yolks — always with a sprinkle of paprika on top for color. You weren’t anyone unless you had a dedicated tray for transporting your deviled eggs to parties. 

Try it yourself: Downshiftology

7-Layer Salad

Just like that deviled egg tray, everyone had a clear glass bowl for 7-layer salad decades ago. (Bonus points if it had a fancy pedestal on it.) You could switch up the layers to make it your own, but you’d always see iceberg, frozen peas, bacon, and cheese — plus that thick layer of sweetened mayonnaise dressing.

Try it yourself: Julie’s Eats & Treats

Devils on Horseback

Though it may sound a little scary, devils on horseback was just a fun name for a somewhat unusual combination. Whole dates are stuffed with almonds or blue cheese, then wrapped in bacon and coated in a sweet and savory sauce. They’re tasty little morsels and everyone loved them in the ‘70s.

Try it yourself: AllRecipes

Grape Jelly Meatballs

There was nothing easier than good old grape jelly meatballs, and they were always gone at the end of the potluck. It’s only three ingredients — grape jelly, ketchup or chili sauce, and frozen meatballs — but the end result was irresistible. 

Try it yourself: Spend With Pennies

Harvey Wallbanger Cake

The Harvey Wallbanger cake is named after a cocktail that was popular in the 1970s, and it uses a lot of the same ingredients and flavors in a bundt cake form. Orange is the predominant flavor, and of course it was made with a convenient boxed cake mix.

Try it yourself: AllRecipes

Swedish Meatballs

Swedish meatballs aren’t just for Ikea. They were super popular in the ‘70s and were practically designed for holding in slow cookers at a potluck with a little cup of toothpicks on the side as your only utensil. Allspice and nutmeg are the key to the distinct flavor of the meatballs. 

Try it yourself: Tastes Better From Scratch

Black Forest Cake

Black forest cake had been around for a while before the ‘70s, but that’s when everyone started calling it “gateau” and bringing it everywhere. It’s a chocolate layer cake stuffed with cherries and whipped frosting, so you can imagine it was a popular dessert at a neighborhood gathering. 

Try it yourself: Taste of Home

Tuna Noodle Casserole

No, casseroles weren’t just for the family dinner table in the 1970s, including the divisive tuna noodle version. It was cheap to make, hearty, and filling, and you could use up whatever odds and ends you had in your pantry and freezer. Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup was a must, of course.

Try it yourself: Campbell’s Kitchen

Mississippi Mud Pie

There are a lot of variations on Mississippi mud pie out there, but in the ‘70s, it was usually a chocolate-on-chocolate concoction that included pecans, whipped cream, and sometimes coffee. It was layered for maximum oohs and aahs and usually contained shortcut ingredients like Jell-O pudding and Cool Whip.

Try it yourself: Real Housemoms

Seafood Pasta Salad

Whether you used imitation crab or tiny little shrimp (but never anything more expensive), seafood-filled pasta salad was an easy potluck go-to recipe. It didn’t take long, and it was a little upgrade from standard old macaroni salad — especially if you broke out the jar of dried dill. 

Try it yourself: AllRecipes

Watergate Salad

Kraft’s instant pistachio pudding was first sold in 1975, and it came up with a recipe called Pineapple Pistachio Delight in order to sell it. Not long after the Watergate scandal, it was republished with the name Watergate Salad by a Chicago newspaper, and now it’s forever known by that name. It’s a creamy, green, fruit fluff concoction that is, once again, not remotely a salad.

Try it yourself: Food.com

Crudite and Green Goddess Dressing

There must have been something about green food in the ‘70s, because green goddess dressing and dip blew up as well. The herby, creamy condiment popped up on potluck tables as a healthy alternative to all the other “salads” and heavy stuff, and we think it should make a comeback. 

Try it yourself: Love and Lemons

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

What looks more mouthwatering on a potluck dessert table than pineapple upside down cake? In the 1970s that meant canned pineapple rings and bright red maraschino cherries, of course. It was always sickly sweet, but somehow no one minded back then.

Try it yourself: Sugar Spun Run

More Delicious Nostalgia You’ll Enjoy

• 12 Retro Casseroles That Ruled Middle-Class Kitchens in the 1970s — From King Ranch chicken to tuna noodle casserole, these classic recipes still hold up.
• 13 Foods Every ‘70s Kids Had In Their Lunchbox — Snack Pack Pudding Cups? Bologna sandwiches? Time to unpack these lunchtime favorites.
• If You’re Not Making Homemade Hamburger Helper Yet, You Should Be — Hamburger Helper was a 1970s staple in many kitchens. But did you know you can make a better version at home?