🍲 Potluck Dish Assignment Calculator

Figure out how many dishes you need for a potluck based on your guest count and how many people a typical dish serves.

Total guests

Guests divided by how far one dish goes

dishes for a category = ceiling(total guests / serves per dish)

Each row carries its own serves-per-dish figure, and the page starts with three: mains at 8, sides at 10, desserts at 12. Forty guests therefore need 5 mains, 4 sides and 4 desserts - 13 dishes in all, or one for roughly every three people. The round-up is per category, so 41 guests tips the mains to 6 while the other two rows stay put.

What "serves 8" looks like on a table

Dish	As a main	As a side
9 x 13 casserole	8 - 10	12 - 15
6 qt slow cooker	12 - 15	20
Large salad bowl	-	10 - 12
9 in pie	-	8 slices
Half sheet cake	-	24 slices

The same pan feeds half as many people as a main as it does as a side, which is the whole reason the two rows carry different numbers. Add a row for anything the defaults miss - bread, appetizers, drinks - and set its serves figure from what the container holds, not from the recipe's optimistic yield.

The arithmetic assumes each guest takes a full portion of one dish per category. At a real potluck people take a spoonful of everything, which works in your favour on sides but leaves the mains short if two of the five arrive half-sized. Ask for the dish, not the category, when you assign: "a tray of lasagne for ten" gets you the portions, "a main" gets you a bowl of pasta salad.

Frequently asked questions

How many dishes for a potluck of 40 people?

Thirteen: 5 mains, 4 sides and 4 desserts at the default servings. That is one dish from about every third guest, or from roughly every household if couples are bringing between them.

How many people does a 9x13 casserole feed?

Eight to ten if it is the main event, twelve to fifteen if it is sitting beside two other dishes as a side. Both figures assume a normal spoonful, not a plate piled high.

Do the people bringing dishes count as guests?

Yes - the guest number is everyone who eats, cooks included. The only people to leave out are young children, who between them rarely finish one adult portion.