It’s almost Mother’s Day so start planning how to show the woman who raised you how much she means to you. That begins with exploring some Mother’s Day menu ideas, so look no further – we’ve got you covered.
Read on for great Mother’s Day meal ideas or click here for our pick of Mother’s Day food gifts.
Mother's Day Breakfast Ideas
Mother’s Day, like every day, begins with breakfast – perhaps the most divisive meal of the day. From gut-busting fry-ups, to nourishing smoothies, to nothing at all, nobody can agree on the best way to start the morning, so who are we to tell your mother hers?
The best thing to do is simply to put the effort into making her usual breakfast that extra bit special. If she likes her first meal of the day to be light and sweet, then why not try baking these chocolate muffins with a soft and decadent filling? If you’re not a morning person, you can always make the muffin batter the night before and leave it covered in the refrigerator until you’re ready to bake (or if you’re not sold on those, try one of these delicious muffin options instead).
On the other hand, if your mother likes to fill the fuel tank with something more substantial, you can’t go wrong with a room-service standard egg breakfast. We’ve got a great healthy recipe for vegetarian eggs Benedict right here, but there’s nothing stopping you from swapping the tomato slices for bacon rashers if she’d prefer. Mother knows best, after all.
For this recipe, you cook a couple of handfuls of spinach in a pan for two or three minutes, and poach four very fresh eggs in a pan of salted water. Butter the two English muffins and arrange the spinach and tomato slices on them, adding salt and pepper. Then place the eggs on, smother it all in Hollandaise sauce, grill for two minutes, and bring it to Mom hot.
Otherwise, check out these 7 different ways to cook eggs for more gourmet inspiration – from Spanish tortilla to stunning marbled tea eggs.
Mother's Day Brunch Ideas
Brunch isn’t just for those who choose to skip breakfast. It’s still very much on the cards, whether you’ve already eaten or not. After all, it’s a special day.
Taking a break between breakfast and lunch should give you time to enjoy one of the highlights of your Mother’s Day meals. Again, we present a choice of sweet or savoury, so you’re good to go whether you decide to match the breakfast vibes or counter them.
Representing savoury, we’ve gone for a delicious cheese, bacon and leek quiche recipe, given the suitably cheesy name of 'quiche leekraine' and originally published in the Jamie Oliver magazine. But be warned, the salty bacon and cheddar cheese make this a very rich way to start the day, so it might be a better option for following breakfast rather than starting the day.
For the sweet option we recommend this roast plum French toast recipe at Great British Chefs. OK, so it’s a bit early in the year for plums, but the French toast recipe itself is second to none. If you can’t get your hands on any decent plums then swap in any red fruits you can get your hands on, or pineapple rings instead.
Mother's Day Lunch Ideas
Having had breakfast and brunch, your mother probably won’t want to sit down to lunch until a little later than usual. That’s good. It gives you plenty of time to work on something special in the kitchen.
However, since we’ve already had two meals, let’s keep it light. We’ve gone for two very different gourmet-grade dishes that look minimalist on the plate, but pack enough flavour to get the crowd hyped at a hip-hop show.
If creamy and comforting is the order of the day, then you can’t go wrong with these gorgeous Parmesan-crusted crepes filled with ricotta and fresh mixed herbs. They’re ridiculously delicious and, if you’re already experienced in making crepe (or pancake) batter, then you’re sure to find them ridiculously easy too.
Or maybe you’d prefer to opt for something more on the healthy side? We get it. After all, if you’ve stuck to our menu options so far, you may have already cracked more eggs than a paragliding chicken.
In that case, let’s go for something completely different with this flavorful Cantonese-style steamed salmon. The dish itself only uses 5 ingredients and takes just 20 minutes to make. The secret is investing in the best quality salmon steaks you can find.
Here’s how to do it:
Take 4 salmon fillets and season them with salt, pepper and lime juice. Then heat sesame oil and lightly fry eight cloves of garlic. Remove from heat and stir in chopped scallions. Steam the salmon for 7 minutes, then drizzle the oil and sprinkle onions over the fish.
If neither of those are quite what you’re looking for, then click here for more delicious drinks and dishes that your mother is sure to love.
Mother's Day Dinner Ideas
Mother’s Day dinner is arguably the most important meal of the day. It is, of course, the closer – the last meal of the day – and therefore the one your mother is likely to remember the rest of this year’s Mother’s Day by. Don’t fluff it up.
That said, you don’t want to overthink it either. Take inspiration from a time-honoured classic like carbonara and give it a fresh twist to remember your effort by. Mother’s Day precedes the beginning of spring, so why not throw in some delicious fresh spring peas?
That’s what the Good Housekeeping test kitchen did for this wonderful spring pea carbonara recipe. Be sure to use a good quality pasta, not just the cheapest your supermarket has to offer. In fact, if you have time, give mama something (else) to be proud of and make your pasta dough from scratch. We’ve got a fool-proof recipe for homemade pasta here.
To make this surefire dish, you:
Bring water to boil, and in a separate pan cook up 6 ounces of slab bacon in a tablespoon of olive oil. Remove the bacon, wipe out the skillet, and heat another tablespoon of oil to toss with garlic and bread crumbs. Then boil the pasta, adding a cup of peas in the last minute or so. Separately whisk four eggs and fresh Parmesan and mix into the pasta, along with the bacon and black pepper. Serve it with more Parmesan and the bread crumbs.
Good Housekeeping also offers another brilliant Mother’s Day dinner option in this exquisite lemony herb roast chicken. It’s succulent inside, crispy on the outside, and the balance of herbs is nigh-on perfect. We’ll go so far as to say it might be the only roast chicken recipe you’ll need for life. All that’s left is to choose a side dish your mother will love here.
So there you have it – a pick-n-mix selection of surefire Mother’s Day menu hits that we’re sure will keep the whole family happy. Just remember to keep a note of her favourites for this time next year.
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