Something easy to feed 20 adults (plus kids...)

[soloula]

We're having our friends round this weekend for drinks. It's a relaxed, turn up when you can manage kind of thing. BYOB but we're laying on food. There will be about 20 adults plus another maybe 10 kids. I'm panicking a bit as I'm typing this - seemed a good idea at the time....

Any suggestions over and above the usual party nibbles - crisps, nuts, mini sausage rolls etc that I could do as more of a meal but a one dish type thing that would be easy to serve up or let folk help themselves to? Maybe something I could stick in a slow cooker or soup kettle to stay warm through the evening? Something not too expensive either.

So far I'm thinking pulled pork with a load of rolls and coleslaw, relish, pickles and what not. Or a one pot sausage bean cassoulet type thing. My friend suggested chilli but then I'm worried about rice to go with it as I know rice isn't the safest leaving it out for a while...

Any suggestions would be really appreciated. I'm not used to catering for such a big group of people so any advice you can give too would be fAB.

Both of those ideas sound good and I see your reservations about chilli. Many kids certainly partake of a sausage when on offer!

Would you be amenable to putting a pack's worth of normal sized potatoes in the oven to make jackets (not giant ones) as well? That might be nice and not too problematic. Give the option of a bowl of grated cheese for easy topping (in this scenario my DD would be in heaven with spud, sausage dish and cheese!!) If there are any over afterwards, you can then peel them and turn into mash for another meal.

We've been to parties in the past like this. Slow cookers out on the side with delicious curry or chilli in. Chunks of bread and crisps/nibbles.
We definitely had rice, can't remember how it was served but no one got ill.

Chilli with baked potatoes, corn chips, corn on the cob, sour cream etc

Or gammon in slow cooker with macaroni cheese and baby carrots or other easy veg

Couple of big easy puddings like pavlova or apple crumble

Have fun

I think the sausage & bean casserole you mentioned is your best bet, something that most people will like, children, teens and adults. It's also easy and economical.
I'd use two or three types of sausage for interest, one gourmet type, one cheaper, and something like a boiling ring to slice. If you get large sausages, twist and cut into two or three before cooking for ease of serving. Garlic bread would go well with it, if it's practical for you to cook.

Or gammon in slow cooker with macaroni cheese and baby carrots or other easy veg mmm now I have a serious craving!

I think pulled pork always tastes amazing and everyone loves it.

You could do a pulled pork and a chilli so there’s a mix of meats. Then just do jackets, baked potato wedges or yummy bread to go with it.

You could do chilli with jacket potatoes and grated cheddar. However, you’d need to provide everyone with somewhere to sit down as a jacket potato isn’t something you can eat standing up with a fork in one hand!
We had pulled shredded ham hock with baked potatoes, warm bread rolls, grated cheese, apple sauce, tomato chutney, caramelised onions and a green salad.
This year I’m doing two or three tagines (lamb, chicken and chickpea) with a big bowl of couscous and warm flatbreads.

I'd do the chilli or sausage casserole, both with jacket potatoes.
Have a fab time.

Was coming on to say we always do pulled pork rolls but can see you've already thought of that! Usually do one lot of plain with stuffing and apple sauce and one lot bbq with coleslaw. Yum. As you have the rolls it's easy enough to fill them with cheese or ham for anyone that doesn't like pork (our kids won't touch but love sandwiches)

When we have gatherings like this we usually have a slow cooker full of sausage and bean casserole and a big pan of Sam Stern's chickpea, spinach and sweet potato curry (it's in a book so I can't link, sorry). Then to solve the rice problem we have a stack of naans, and some potatoes for the casserole, although we usually end up with most of those left over. It's good to have some decent bread and butter around for people to help themselves to as well, and some salads, coleslaw etc that you've made in advance 🙂

I'd also go with jacket potatoes

Or gammon in slow cooker with macaroni cheese and baby carrots or other easy veg

YY!!!

I'd avoid pulled pork, not everyone does like it and it has become so ubiquitous, I'd do something else.

Either chilli as above with tortilla chips, dips, jacket potatoes, grates cheese etc.

Or Mediterranean food, flatbreads, spicy chicken, Greek salad, tabbouleh, hummus, tzatsiki, herby roasted veg etc.

Jacket potatoes
Do a gammon anyway. Put in to the side.
Chilli in the slow cooker.

Jobs a good'un!

Buy a few packets of microwave pilau rice. Supermarket or home bargains 50p a pack. Then just nuke it if and when needed. No wastage and no worries of getting sick due to it being sst around

Baked potatoes and an obscene selection of toppings plus a big green salad.

Butter
Beans
Source cream
Bacon
Chilli
Coronation chicken
Cheese
Guacamole
Salsa

I’ve done a slow cooked beef brisket before now , it ends up pulling apart like pork and served in barms. Went fine much better than pork. Kids had hotdogs.

In similar situations we've done meatball sandwiches - slow cooker full of meatballs and sauce, slider and club rolls, and mozzarella cheese.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'm still leaning towards pulled pork but loving a pp suggestion to do some plain with stuffing etc and some bbq.

I wasnt planning on doing pudding but I probably should, shouldn't I? 😬