Passover Appetizers

Some of the best appetizers for Passover are also easy to make. Try these recipes for your starter course to get your seder meal started right. You can even pair these appetizers with a delicious kosher wine.

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Potato Kugel with Fried Shallots

PHOTO © LUCY SCHAEFFER

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Kugel is a baked pudding, usually made with noodles or potatoes. This version, prepared with shredded potatoes and fried shallots, is crispy at the edges and deliciously creamy in the middle.

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Roasted Sweet Potato and Onion Salad

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Roasted sweet potatoes and onions pair perfectly in this healthy salad—perfect to share as an appetizer.

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Artichokes with Scallion Vinaigrette

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A generous portion of bay leaves in the steaming liquid here permeates the artichoke leaves and hearts with flavor and provides an enticing aroma as you serve the dish. The scallion vinaigrette balances the sweetness of the artichokes.

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Oven Fries with Roasted Garlic

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Skin-on potatoes, like the ones used for these crispy, low-fat fries, are high in vitamin C and potassium; they're also a good source of dietary fiber and vitamin B.

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Crunchy Cabbage Salad

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Sometimes Jacques Pepin makes this simple salad with just one color of cabbage; sometimes he arranges it in alternating rows of color. The tangy-salty anchovy dressing would also be delicious on other crisp salad greens, such as escarole or chicory.

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Whole-Grain Matzo

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Cookbook author Marcy Goldman started baking matzo with her young sons after touring a temporary factory at a local synagogue that produced shmura matzo—the traditional, handmade variety. "As a baker and a Jewish mother, I thought, I can do that," she says. The whole-grain flours in this recipe create a more crackly, sandy texture than white-flour matzo.

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Roasted Asparagus with Almonds

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This quick asparagus dish is done in less than 30 minutes.

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Cashews with Crispy Sage and Garlic

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For a quick snack or appetizer, try pan-frying cashews with fresh sage and garlic.

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Lemony Asparagus Soup

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Though Shelley Lindgren hasn't cooked professionally—her 20 years of restaurant experience have been front-of-the-house—she has picked up several recipes from hanging out in the kitchens of places where she's worked. This silky, citrus-spiked soup, which can be served warm or chilled, is adapted from a dish from Acquerello, an elegant San Francisco restaurant where Shelley learned the basics of Italian cooking and wine.

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Roasted Delicata Squash with Quinoa Salad

John Kernick

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Quinoa is definitely a superfood: A grain-like seed, it's a "complete" protein containing all eight essential amino acids (another plus: it cooks much more quickly than most grains). To create a terrific vegetarian main course, Michael Symon of Cleveland's Lola tosses quinoa with arugula, apple, raisins and fresh herbs, then spoons the salad into a halved baked squash (a great source of iron and vitamins A and C).

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Lemony Quinoa Salad with Shaved Vegetables

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Eating quinoa is a great way for vegetarians to get protein. Jeremy Fox tosses nutty-tasting quinoa with crunchy shaved vegetables for a refreshing salad loaded with vitamins and minerals.

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Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Apples

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This delicious, super-healthy quinoa salad is a great meal-in-one; it makes an ideal vegetarian option at the Thanksgiving table.

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Passover Appetizers

1 of 12

Potato Kugel with Fried Shallots

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Roasted Sweet Potato and Onion Salad

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Artichokes with Scallion Vinaigrette

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Oven Fries with Roasted Garlic

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Crunchy Cabbage Salad

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Whole-Grain Matzo

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Roasted Asparagus with Almonds

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Cashews with Crispy Sage and Garlic

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Lemony Asparagus Soup

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Roasted Delicata Squash with Quinoa Salad

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Lemony Quinoa Salad with Shaved Vegetables

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Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes and Apples

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