13 Good Luck Recipes to Help You Start the New Year Off Right

The New Year is a time for fresh starts and big-time planning. No matter how motivated you are to tackle your totally achievable food #goals, you could always use a little extra luck on your side in 2016. That’s where these 13 recipes come into play. Each one is considered lucky in some way — from symbolic colors to special ingredients — so making any one of ’em and sharing the batch with your closest friends and fam is a surefire way to get a leg up on having an extra prosperous year. Plus, most of them double as GREAT hangover breakfast recipes… just sayin’. Scroll through to find your lucky charm dishes ahead!

Banana Donuts With Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

After all your NYE shenanigans, try to find ring-shaped treats, which represent the year coming full circle. These banana donuts are perfect for that — plus, you probably already have everything you need to make them in your kitchen. (via Grab a Plate)

Black Eyed Peas Salad With Roasted Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese

It’s no secret that in the American south, black-eyed peas are considered auspicious because of their resemblance to coins. Besides the GL factor, this fresh salad is a great way to start the new year on a healthy foot as well. (via Sidewalk Shoes)

Corn Bread Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Another southern tradition is eating cornbread on New Year’s Day. Its color resembles that of gold, which of course means you will have a profitable year. (via Food by Mars)

Crostini With Roasted Grapes, Goat Cheese and Pecans

The Spanish and Portuguese eat 12 grapes as the clock chimes 12 times at midnight to symbolize the 12 months of the new year. Try passing around these roasted grape crostini at your NYE party for a tasty twist. (via Feasting Not Fasting)

Herring in Mustard Sour Cream on Rye Bread

In Poland and Germany, pickled herring is consumed at midnight for good luck. Soften the flavor with these rye toasts that would fit right in on your NYE buffet. (via Bon Appetit)

Lime Scented Thai Soba Soup With Poached Chicken

In Japan, long buckwheat noodles symbolize a long life — but only if you eat them without chewing or breaking them, so slurp gently! (via Three Little Halves)

Pomegranate Spritzer

In Greece, when the clock strikes midnight, a pomegranate is smashed on the floor in front of the door. This breaks open the pomegranate to reveal the seeds, which symbolize prosperity and good fortune. The more seeds, the more luck. Save some of the unsmashed seeds to make this pomegranate spritzer and continue dancing the night away. (via Life Is but a Dish)

Chai Rice Pudding

Sweden and Norway have a ritual in which they hide a whole almond in rice pudding — whoever gets the nut is guaranteed great fortune in the new year. This chai rice pudding is the perfect base to hide your lucky almond in — just make sure you’re the one to get it. (via Brit + Co)

Slow Cooker Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin

A lot of people consider pork to be the luckiest of all the foods you can eat on New Year’s Day because pigs are plump, which reflects prosperity. This slow cooker bacon-wrapped pork loin is great because a) double the pork and b) you can set it in the slow cooker ing the morning, and that evening you’ll have dinner ready to go. (via Damn Delicious)

Unstuffed Turkey and Cabbage Casserole

Cabbage, like other greens, is a symbol of prosperity because it’s the color of cash. Serve up a huge amount of luck with this turkey cabbage casserole. (via Life Made Sweeter)

Vasilopita (Greek New Year Cake)

In Greek tradition, a citrus cake called a Vasiopita is baked with a coin inside, and whoever finds the coin gets a year of good luck. Cake and luck? Sounds good to us! (via Tara’s Multicultural Table)

Vegetarian Cajun-Spiced Shepherd’s Pie

This vegetarian shepherd’s pie is the perfect comfort meal. Hearty lentils replace the meat in this dish, and because of their coin-like shape, they are considered lucky in Brazil and Italy. They are even said to have been eaten for luck since the Roman times. (via Healthy Nibbles and Bits)

Whole Grilled Red Snapper

In China, serving a whole fish is New Year’s tradition. It’s important for the fish be served with the head and tail intact to ensure a good year, from start to finish. This whole grilled red snapper is beautiful, and not nearly as difficult to prepare as you would think. (via A Common Connoisseur)