Whether you're Irish or wish you were, most of us love getting festive once a year in honor of St. Patrick's Day. You may call upon the most traditional Irish American dinner recipes, from corned beef and cabbage to mashed potatoes. Once you finish your St. Paddy's Day dinner and have had all the green beer you can drink, what's for dessert?
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Take a deep dive with us into St. Patrick's Day desserts with everyone in mind. You might be on the lookout for authentic Irish desserts such as soda bread or apple cake. If you have kids, your St. Patrick's Day desserts will probably center on leprechauns, pots of gold, or anything green. For the adults, don't forget about a variety of sweets with a kick of Irish whiskey or Guinness stout. You'll even find a version of the famous Shamrock Shake to tantalize your taste buds!
These delicious St. Patrick's Day dessert recipes are plenty festive and will delight anyone who gets to enjoy them after dinner. From a tasty bite to a bright-green showstopper, there's a dessert made for you and those you're with. Celebrate a day of Irish pride with St. Patrick's Day dessert recipes you can follow to the end of the rainbow.
Green Velvet Cake
Food Network
One of the best things about red velvet cake is that its flavor doesn't change by changing the color. It's so simple to swap out red food dye for green in this layer cake recipe. Buttermilk keeps the velvet cake ultra-moist, so it stands up against the sweetness of cream cheese frosting. Garnish this green cake with shamrocks, edible green glitter or Lucky Charms.
Key Lime Pie Doughnuts
Daily Dish
When you love key lime pie as much as we do, there's no reason it can't play into St. Patrick's Day desserts. The batter has key lime juice and zest for a double punch of lime. The recipe saves time by using store-bought green icing to decorate. They're easily baked in a doughnut tin, so you can spend your time adding coconut flakes and graham cracker crumbs for added flavor.
St. Patrick's Day Brownie Trifle
The Cookin' Chicks
A trifle is just another word to describe a dessert with layers of sponge cake, cream or almost anything sweet. Layers of instant vanilla pudding, Cool Whip and crushed mint Oreos create a ridiculously sweet brownie trifle.
Set out the trifle ingredients and help kids construct this tower of deliciousness one layer at a time. With some green food coloring, the trifle transforms into an ideal end to St. Paddy's Day festivities.
White Chocolate Lucky Charms Cookies
The Recipe Rebel
Lucky Charms may symbolize one of your happiest childhood memories of breakfast cereal. It's still around today and can make almost any dessert recipe into one approved by both kids and leprechauns.
With the crunchy marshmallow cereal bits in the dough, these cookies show off a beautiful rainbow once baked. White chocolate chips provide even more of a sweet treat that little leprechauns will love.
Frosted Lucky Charms Treats
Recipe Lion
If you're dead set on a making a Lucky Charms-inspired dessert but are short on time, try these frosted treats. They're a much more interesting and colorful version of a Rice Krispies treat you can have kids bring to school. If you decide to put a few aside to enjoy by yourself with a glass of milk, we won't tell!
Mint Chocolate Lasagna
My Natural Family
Speaking of easy St. Patrick's Day dessert recipes, have you ever tried a dessert lasagna? This version is a green take on chocolate and mint, and it requires no baking. Use Oreo cookies for the base and alternate minty cream cheese and chocolate pudding layers. Though it's quite sweet, this mint chocolate lasagna is technically gluten-free, unlike savory lasagna.
Whiskey Dark Chocolate Truffles
Gimme Some Oven
Now that you've seen some kid-friendly recipes, here's one for you whiskey lovers on St. Patrick's Day. These dark chocolate truffles only contain five ingredients, which include one-third cup of whiskey (preferably Irish). Once the truffles chill, roll them into balls and coat them with cocoa powder or sprinkles for a potent chocolatey dessert.
Slice-and-Bake Rainbow Sugar Cookies
Cook. Craft. Love.
If you're looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, try these slice-and-bake rainbow sugar cookies. They're simple to prepare by dividing sections of the same dough and coloring them to form a rainbow. Layer the rainbow cookies in a roll and slice each cookie before baking. Add some edible gold dust or sprinkles at one end to represent the leprechaun's gold.
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake
Southern Living
What's more perfect than pairing ice cream and chocolate cake for St. Patrick's Day? All you have to do is prepare three layers of devil's-food cake and alternate with mint chocolate chip ice cream. Use a springform pan so it all doesn't stick to the sides when released. The minty ice cream and homemade chocolate cake is a leprechaun's match made in heaven.
Chocolate Stout Cupcakes
Broma Bakery
Many of us love indulging in some dark and velvety Guinness stout for St. Patrick's Day. Did you know it's just as tasty when used in dessert recipes? In this case, you'll appreciate each mouthwatering bite of these chocolate stout cupcakes.
Both the cupcake batter and chocolate frosting contain Guinness, which adds deep, rich flavor notes. Add a pinch of flaky sea salt for a unique touch — or any decorative St. Paddy's additions, such as shamrock sprinkles.
Shamrock Shake
Dinner at the Zoo
Every year, McDonald's brings back its famous green Shamrock Shake, because people love the taste. Why not make a copycat version at home using vanilla ice cream, milk, peppermint extract and green food coloring? This ice cream shake is always lucky. It takes five minutes and is easily altered if you prefer a grown-up version with booze.
Irish Whiskey and Bailey's Cheesecake
Boulder Locavore
Once you've decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Bailey's Irish Cream and Irish whiskey can't be far behind. A cheesecake is the ideal receptacle for these bold and boozy flavors to sing. It uses a graham cracker crust and cream cheese, along with a touch of coffee. Adding coffee brings out the beautiful flavors of the Bailey's and whiskey combined in each bite.
Gold Champagne Cupcakes
The Pioneer Woman
Show your love for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow by whipping up these impressive champagne cupcakes. All it takes is a vanilla cake mix and champagne (you can also use cava or prosecco). The time you save with the cupcakes can be used to make the champagne buttercream and decorate with anything gold-colored.
Irish Apple Cake
The View From Great Island
Not all St. Patrick's Day desserts have to involve green food coloring or Lucky Charms. To celebrate the holiday as the Irish do, choose a trusted recipe. Irish apple cake is one of the unsung heroes of Irish baked goods that has been around forever. The cake is full of apples and cinnamon, and includes both a streusel topping and custard sauce for good measure.
Guinness Float
Taste of Home
Get excited about the ultimate ice cream float recipe that's made with Guinness for adults to enjoy. All it takes is vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and Guinness. Because it's a float and not a shake, you can prepare it at the table for guests.
Scoop the ice cream into glasses and top with Guinness and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. They'll be grabbing their spoons as quickly as possible to dig in.
Matcha Cookies
The Endless Meal
While matcha might not sound super Irish, these cookies turn out a bright green that'll suit any leprechaun. The better the quality of matcha you choose, the brighter the green color. The pop of sweetness from white chocolate chips only makes these easy-to-prepare cookies more irresistible. You can also freeze a few when you get a craving post-St. Patrick's Day.
Irish Whiskey Cake
Weekend at the Cottage
Few things go better together than a cake made using Irish whiskey. Many Irish baking recipes are known for their simplicity, which doesn't take from their flavor. This recipe keeps things stress-free by pepping a yellow cake mix with ingredients such as walnuts and pudding. You notice the whiskey since it appears in the buttery sauce topping as well.
Grandma's Irish Soda Bread
Sally's Baking Recipes
Few St. Patrick's Day desserts are as authentically Irish as Irish soda bread. This version from Sally's Baking Recipes honors her Irish grandmother's soda bread, with a few tweaks. Buttermilk is key here, plus you can bake the soda bread in a cast-iron skillet. Soda bread isn't too sweet and is made for dipping into a big cup of Irish tea.
Grasshopper Pie
The Preppy Kitchen
It's easy to run out of interesting ways to make green desserts for St. Patrick's Day. Luckily for you, this grasshopper pie is wonderfully inventive. It doesn't take a long time, since the crust is made from crushed Oreo cookies.
The no-bake marshmallow filling stands out, thanks to crème de menthe and white crème de cacao. Green food coloring transforms the pie into something worth the extra calories on St. Paddy's Day.
Leprechaun Bait
Chelsea's Messy Apron
If you need a St. Patrick's Day baking project for the little ones, call upon this recipe for "leprechaun bait." It almost resembles a sweeter Chex mix that kids will love to put together. The recipe combines Lucky Charms, M&Ms, pretzels and — yes — Chex, and mixes them with gooey melted white chocolate. Who could resist this bait, whether a kid or a leprechaun?
Bailey's Chocolate Mousse
Lemon Tree Dwelling
There is no end to dessert recipes that can be greatly improved by adding Bailey's Irish Cream. If you've got Bailey's on hand, along with 15 minutes, you can have a chocolatey mousse in no time.
It uses cocoa powder, which many of us always have in our cupboards, along with heavy cream, gelatin and vanilla. One spoonful, and you'll be hooked with this dessert you can prepare ahead of time.
Pot of Gold St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes
Sugar and Soul
Few St. Patrick's Day desserts are as creative as these pot of gold cupcakes. They look ambitious, but we promise they're fairly straightforward. Making the chocolate cupcakes and green buttercream frosting takes 30 minutes at most. The fun part comes when you decorate these babies.
Using peanut butter cups, you can create coins with the help of peanut butter and coin sprinkles. A slice of rainbow candy completes the St. Paddy's Day look that kids will adore.
Shamrock Sugar Cookies
Crazy For Crust
You didn't think you'd almost reach the end of our St. Patrick's Day desserts without a shamrock or two, did you? A good sugar cookie goes a long way, once it's been decorated with green cookie icing.
Some green sanding sugar completes the look for cookies that scream St. Patrick's Day. You can prepare the dough ahead of time to cut and bake the cookies when ready to celebrate.
Irish Coffee Dessert Cake
Creative Culinary
Irish coffee is one of the most treasured St. Patrick's Day dessert cocktails. This recipe takes the wonderful flavors of whiskey, coffee and cream, and makes it into an unforgettable cake. Both the cake and the coffee syrup contain espresso to keep you going strong.
The whipped cream topping has Irish whiskey and a hazelnut garnish for a unique take on Irish coffee in dessert form.
Shamrock Macarons
Pies and Tacos
This last recipe draws some culinary influence from the French for the most sophisticated of St. Patrick's Day desserts. The step-by-step instructions will help you create the most airy macarons that happen to be shaped like green shamrocks.
The recipe includes a shamrock-shaped template so your macarons look perfect. The filling contains white chocolate, Bailey's and Irish whiskey, so this French-Irish recipe stays with you!
