15+ French Easter Recipes
Easter recipes in France start with two things: eggs and asparagus. Easter here means a long lunch with the family, an egg hunt in the garden, and the first proper taste of spring after winter. These are my French Easter recipes for the whole day: little things to nibble before lunch, an Easter dinner built around fish and spring vegetables, a relaxed brunch, and desserts worth saving room for. And lots of them can be made ahead, so you get to sit down with everyone too.
Why French Easter recipes start with eggs and asparagus
Eggs were a symbol of spring and new life long before Christianity. People in Persia, Egypt and Rome already gave each other eggs at spring festivals. Then came Lent: forty days without eggs, while the hens just kept on laying! So by Easter Sunday, there were plenty to celebrate with. In the Middle Ages, people even painted them red. No wonder eggs are all over this collection, from the mimosa eggs to the meringues.
And then there’s asparagus. The French season starts around March, so Easter lands right at the beginning of it. White, green or purple, hot or cold, in a starter or on the side, it’s exactly what you want after a winter of heavy food.
The funny thing is, Louis XIV was reportedly obsessed with it. He wanted asparagus all year round, so his gardener at the Potager du Roi in Versailles, Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, found ways to grow it out of season. He managed to have asparagus ready in December, which was a small miracle back then! So if you’re wondering why asparagus shows up more than once here, blame the Sun King.
Easter in France: fish, bells and chocolate
You might notice there’s no lamb in this collection. Lots of French families roast a leg of lamb on Easter Sunday, but Good Friday (Vendredi saint) is traditionally a meat-free day, so fish is everywhere that weekend. Walk into any French supermarket that week and you’ll see piles of salmon and trout! That’s the side of Easter I’ve gone with here: fish and the first spring vegetables.
Another fun thing: in France, it’s not a rabbit that brings the chocolate, it’s the church bells! The bells stay silent from Holy Thursday until Easter as a sign of mourning. The story we tell children is that they grow wings and fly to Rome to be blessed by the Pope, picking up chocolate on the way back. On Sunday morning, when they ring again, someone shouts “les cloches sont passées !” and off we go hunting for eggs. That’s why our chocolate shops fill up with chocolate bells every April (although you’ll find rabbits, eggs, hens and fish too).
And the word Pâques? It comes from the Hebrew Pesach, meaning “passing over”, the same root as Passover. Easter Monday, Lundi de Pâques, is a public holiday here, so it really is a long weekend of eating.
Easter appetizers
A few things to nibble while everyone arrives. All of them can be made ahead.
1
Mimosa Eggs (French Deviled Eggs)
Hard-boiled eggs filled with a smooth, creamy mixture of yolk, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard, finished with a dusting of grated yolk that looks like mimosa flowers. The filling is rich and softly tangy, lifted by fresh herbs. Simple, elegant, and perfect for apéro-time!
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2
Spinach Ricotta Tarts
Golden, flaky puff pastry cups filled with a creamy ricotta, spinach, and pea mixture. Light yet rich, with a mineral note from the spinach and sweet bursts from the peas, all wrapped in buttery pastry. Perfect for picnics, snacks, or as elegant appetizers!
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3
Chive Blossom Butter
Rich, creamy butter infused with a gentle onion sweetness from the blossoms, a clean green note from the parsley, and sea salt that makes all of it taste brighter.Brilliant over grilled fish, spring vegetables, or just perfect on it's own on crusty bread!
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4
Brandade de Morue
Fresh cod poached and beaten with warm olive oil, garlic and potato into a smooth, creamy mash, then grilled until the top is golden and crisp. The inside stays soft and rich, the garlic runs all the way through it. It’s rustic yet refined, it's the southern coast of France in one dish.
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Easter dinner
A sharp green soup, fish four ways, and the first asparagus on the side.
5
Sorrel Soup
Sorrel melted down with shallots and butter, simmered with potatoes and finished with crème fraîche. The flavour is sharp, silky, and intensely lemony, with that bright spring acidity that makes it taste unlike any other soup!
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6
Baked Trout with Dijon Mustard
Whole trout roasted until the skin crisps at the edges and the flesh pulls away from the bone, under a sharp, lightly caramelised coating of moutarde de Dijon and crème fraîche. Butter, dill and lemon steam gently inside as it bakes!
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7
Salmon Florentine
Salmon fillets on a bed of garlicky wilted spinach, blanketed in a creamy Gruyère Mornay sauce and baked until golden and bubbling. The sauce is rich and savoury, the spinach is silky underneath, and the salmon stays tender in the middle!
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8
Garlic Butter Scallops
Sweet, tender scallops seared until golden and caramelised on the outside, finished with persillade, the garlic, parsley and butter melted over the top. The scallops are delicate and slightly sweet, the butter is rich and garlicky, and the whole thing is done in ten minutes!
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9
Broccoli Fish Bake
Flaky white fish baked with broccoli and potatoes in creamy béchamel, finished with golden, buttery breadcrumbs. This is French gratin technique at its best, layers of good ingredients cooked slowly until everything melds together and the top goes crispy.
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10
Baked Asparagus
Roasted green asparagus with whole garlic cloves that turn sweet and sticky in the oven. The asparagus gets tender with crispy, caramelised tips, and the garlic mellows into something soft and almost jammy that you'll want to squeeze out and spread on everything!
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Easter brunch ideas
For a slow Easter morning. Put everything on the table and let people help themselves.
11
Brioche
A rich, buttery French bread that sits somewhere between a loaf and a pastry. The inside is buttery, soft and pillowy and the crust is golden and slightly crisp. Eat it fresh, toast it the next day, or use day-old slices for the best French toast you'll ever make!
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12
Asparagus Omelette with Goat’s Cheese
A softly set French omelette filled with quickly sautéed green asparagus and creamy tangy goat's cheese, served with dressed rocket leaves on the side. This recipe is spring cooking at its most straightforward, seasonal, and tasty!
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13
Blueberry Pachade (Rustic Pancake)
Jammy blueberries sandwiched between two thick, golden pancakes. Soft and eggy in the middle, crisp and buttery at the edges. This traditional Auvergne pancake is gently sweet and denser than a crêpe, almost like a cake!
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Easter desserts
Eggs, chocolate and the first strawberries. If you can only make one, make the strawberry tart!
14
Strawberry Tart
Fresh, ripe strawberries arranged over a light, vanilla-scented diplomat cream in a crisp, buttery sweet shortcrust pastry shell. The cream is somewhere between a custard and a mousse, rich but not heavy. The perfect summer dessert!
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15
Tarte au Citron
Crisp, buttery sweet shortcrust pastry filled with a sharp, silky lemon curd, topped with glossy, soft and light Swiss meringue torched until golden. It's sharp, sweet, and rich all at once!
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16
Meringues
Big, cloud-white meringues that shatters and dissolve into something sweet on your tongue. Crisp all the way through, light as air, with that faint chew right at the centre!
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17
Chocolat eclairs
Light-as-air choux pastry baked until it puffs up and goes crisp and hollow, then filled with cold, silky vanilla-scented crème pâtissière and dipped in glossy dark chocolate. This is a classic!
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18
Oeufs au Lait
Smooth, wobbly baked custard with a layer of amber caramel on top. Delicate and silky, infused with vanilla, and impossibly simple to make with just four ingredients. This is a French dessert that adults love just as much as children do!
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How to plan your Easter dinner or Easter brunch
The French way to survive a long Easter lunch? Do as much as you can before the day.
A classic Easter dinner
I put the mimosa eggs out with some radishes and chive butter while people arrive. Then the sorrel soup, then the baked trout or the salmon Florentine with roasted asparagus. And to finish, the strawberry tart or the tarte au citron.
- Mimosa eggs and radishes with chive butter while people arrive
- Sorrel soup
- Baked trout or salmon Florentine with roasted asparagus
- Strawberry tart or tarte au citron.
A relaxed Easter brunch
Make the brioche dough the night before and bake it in the morning. Add an asparagus omelette with goat’s cheese, a blueberry pachade, and meringues with cream and strawberries. Put it all out and let everyone help themselves. Success guaranteed!
- Asparagus omelette with goat’s cheese
- Blueberry pachade
- Meringues with cream and strawberries
Make-ahead timeline
| Friday or Saturday | The brioche dough, meringues, œufs au lait, tarte au citron, the strawberry tart case and cream, the sorrel soup and the chive butter. |
| Easter morning | Bake the brioche, fill the mimosa eggs, put the strawberry tart together and get the fish ready. |
| Just before eating | Roast the asparagus, bake the fish and warm up the soup. |
That way, most of the work is done before anyone rings the doorbell.
Both the brioche and the meringues are much easier with a stand mixer. It’s an investment, but you won’t regret it for so many recipes!
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Cooking outside France?
- Sorrel can be hard to find in shops. Grow a pot (it comes back every year), or use baby spinach with a good squeeze of lemon.
- Crème fraîche is easy to find in the UK. In the US, look near the cheese, or use full-fat sour cream in cooked dishes.
- Strawberries: in France we wait for the first Gariguettes. Wherever you are, go for small, fragrant ones over big pale ones.
- Goat’s cheese: a soft, fresh log, not an aged one.
What to drink with your Easter recipes
In France, we choose the wine for the food, not the other way round. Spring food is fresh, green and often a little sharp, so go for fresh, lively wines rather than big reds. Here’s what I’d pour:
- With the appetizers: a Crémant de Loire. It’s made like Champagne but costs much less, and the bubbles are lovely with the mimosa eggs and chive butter. With the brandade, a cold Provence rosé.
- With the sorrel soup: a Touraine Sauvignon Blanc. It’s lemony too, so it goes with the sorrel instead of fighting it.
- With the trout and the asparagus: Sancerre, or any Loire Sauvignon. Asparagus is famously tricky with wine, but these crisp whites love it.
- With the scallops: Muscadet. It’s the Loire’s seafood wine.
- With the salmon Florentine or the fish bake: something a bit rounder for the creamy sauce, like a Mâcon.
- With brunch: a dry cider from Normandy or Brittany, or a kir.
- With dessert: a Crémant rosé with the strawberry tart, a sweet Coteaux du Layon with the tarte au citron, and Banyuls with the chocolate éclairs (chocolate’s best friend!).
And for the cheese course in between, my cheese and wine tasting e-book walks you through choosing, serving and pairing French cheeses at home.
FAQ
What do the French eat at Easter?
The French Easter meal usually starts with eggs (often œufs mimosa) and spring vegetables like asparagus. Many families serve roast lamb on Sunday, while fish is traditional over Good Friday. Desserts lean on eggs, chocolate and the first strawberries, plus plenty of chocolate bells, eggs and hens.
Why do French children say the bells bring the Easter eggs?
In France, church bells stay silent from Holy Thursday until Easter. Children are told the bells have flown to Rome and come back on Sunday with chocolate, which they drop in the garden. When the bells ring again, the egg hunt starts.
What is a traditional French Easter dessert?
There’s no single one, but strawberry tart, lemon tart and egg-based desserts like œufs au lait are all classic choices. Chocolate is everywhere too: chocolatiers fill their windows with bells, eggs, hens and fish, and nest-shaped chocolate cakes are popular with children.
Can I make Easter dinner ahead?
Yes, most of it. Sorrel soup, tarte au citron, œufs au lait and meringues can all be made a day or more ahead. The strawberry tart’s case and cream can be prepared the day before and assembled on the morning, leaving only the fish and asparagus for the last minute.
Joyeuses Pâques! Spring is finally here, and these Easter recipes are the best way I know to celebrate it.
Which of these Easter recipes are you planning to make? Tell me in the comments, I’d love to know what ends up on your table this year.
