If you ask 100 people why we observe St. Patrick’s Day, a few of them might be able to tell you it’s in honor of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Almost all of them, though, would know that it’s the one day of the year when Kermit the frog is wrong because it is easy being green! For this list, I’ve pulled together some of our favorite naturally green desserts and spiced them up with a few others that you’ll make green specifically to celebrate the holiday. They’re all green, and they’re all delicious, but you don’t have to wait until St. Patrick’s Day to break them out. Green desserts are also perfect for Christmas, Dr. Seuss Day, Earth Day, and just about any time you want to make them. Let’s get to it!
1. Mint Chocolate Pudding Cookies
If you’re looking for an easy way to pull off green desserts, you can never go wrong with mint. No, mint won’t make things physically turn green. However, thanks to mint chocolate chip ice cream and grasshopper pie, we all assume things made with mint should be green. That’s why mint chocolate pudding cookies are perfect. Soft, chewy, and chocolatey, these yummy cookies are a lovely mint green color, and you can make three dozen in 20 minutes.
2. Grasshopper Pie
Speaking of grasshopper pie, it deserves a place on the list, as well. The filling is so light and cool. It’s such a refreshing treat. Even so, there’s no denying that its minty green color makes it perfect for St. Paddy’s Day. Plus, the crunchy cookie crust and topping give it a wonderful contrasting texture.
3. St. Patrick’s Day Crispy Treats
It’s beyond simple to turn Rice Krispies treats into St. Patrick’s Day treats. Simply add some green food coloring and stick a gold-wrapped chocolate coin on top. Every piece will be like finding some of the leprechaun’s gold. (Bonus points if you use cookie cutters to shape them like shamrocks.)
4. Leprechaun Shortbread Bites
These incredible shortbread bites require fewer than 10 ingredients and only 45 minutes to make a whopping 81 squares! They’re a lovely green color, and they’re unbelievably soft and will literally melt in your mouth if you leave them on your tongue too long. They’re perfect and work just as nicely for Christmas.
5. St. Patrick’s Day Green Fudge
At first, it may be hard for people to wrap their heads around green fudge, but once they take a bite, they’ll love it, too. This fudge is made with sugar, vanilla, half-and-half, butter, white chocolate chips, and marshmallow fluff. It’s creamy, decadent, and adorably in-season, thanks to the green food coloring and shamrock sprinkles.
6. Shamrock Shake
Every year, around mid-February, McDonald’s adds the Shamrock Shake onto its menu. And every year, in late March, I mourn it when they take it off the menu again. This year, I decided it was time to stop mourning and learn to make my own! With this recipe, I can make two copycat Shamrock Shakes in about 5 minutes. Must be the luck of the Irish.
7. Green Velvet Cupcakes
These have the same rich cream cheese flavor of red velvet cake, but they’re a fun shade of green for St. Patrick’s Day. They’re also super easy to make, so bookmark this recipe for sure.
8. Green Velvet Cake
Like the cupcakes, this cake is a red velvet cake; only it’s green instead of red. It’s the ideal dessert for St. Patrick’s Day. However, if you have a large family and are cooking for Christmas, you can make one of these and one standard red velvet cake for matching Christmas cakes, too.
9. Mint Chocolate Dip
This mint chocolate dip is tons of fun for any St. Paddy’s Day occasion, but I think it’s especially awesome for kids. Set it out in the middle of the table with some Teddy Grahams or Goldfish Grahams for dipping, and they’ll have a blast. You could also bake cookies in shamrock or pot of gold shapes.
10. Key Lime Pie
So I may be pushing it a little with key lime pie, but seriously, is there ever a wrong time to eat key lime pie? Of course not! Furthermore, if you decorate it with some green lime zest, it totally fits the “green foods” theme.
11. Lucky Green Oreos
I love these green Oreos, not just because they taste amazing (and they do!) but also because they look incredible. Usually, when I make them, people ask which bakery made them for me. That’s how professional and fun they look, and they don’t take much work or time at all. Simply melt your white chocolate chips (almond bark also works) and add green food coloring. Then coat each Oreo in the melted green chocolate and decorate with chocolate drizzles and shamrock sprinkles. You can use red and green food coloring and stars and tree sprinkles for Christmas, red dye and hearts for Valentine’s Day, orange and black dye and bats for Halloween, etc.
12. Green Grape Caterpillars
This adorable snack is tasty enough for dessert but healthy enough for an appetizer or midday snack. All you’ll need are skewers, green grapes, chocolate chips, and cream cheese. Skewer the grapes lengthwise, covering the entire skewer. Add two dots of cream cheese on the first grape and attach the chocolate chips for the eyes. Instant caterpillars!
13. Grape Salad
Grape salad is another tasty way to incorporate grapes into a fun St. Patrick’s Day dessert. It’s sweet, crunchy, and takes about 15 minutes to whip up. Plus, it’s not nearly as fatty and decadent as many other desserts on this list.
14. Green Fruit Salad
Grapes aren’t the only green fruit you can use for St. Paddy’s Day desserts. Pears and kiwis work, too! For this simple dessert, just rinse, peel, and slice. Cutting some of the fruit into shamrock shapes is an additional fun touch, but it’s not strictly necessary. If you want to add even more fruit to the mix, you can also slice up some green apples, ambarellas, feijoas, and a few lime slices for those who like tart treats.
15. Watergate Salad
You can whip up this five-ingredient Watergate salad in 10 minutes or less. All you’ll need is some pistachio pudding mix, marshmallows, crushed pineapples, whipped topping, and chopped walnuts. Simply mix everything in a bowl and let it sit for about 2 hours in the fridge.
16. Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
March isn’t the most typical time of year to break out the ice cream machine, but you can always make an exception for mint chocolate chip on St. Patrick’s Day! This ice cream is creamy, rich, and has a pleasing, fresh taste that leaves your mouth feeling even cleaner after eating it. You may have to add a few more drops of food coloring than what the recipe calls for if you want a more vibrant green color.
17. Avocado Lime Cheesecake
I never look too closely at dessert recipes that claim to be “healthy” because I’m always afraid that I’ll find out they’re not. In the case of this avocado lime cheesecake, though, I was pleasantly surprised. It uses raw, natural ingredients, is vegan-friendly, and gluten-free. Plus, it tastes great and isn’t hard to make. Also, don’t panic at the 4-hour, 20-minute prep time, as 4 hours of that is chill time in the fridge. Finally, the crust, made from pecans, coconut, cacao nibs, cocoa powder, dates, and coconut oil, is phenomenal.
18. Beginner’s Luck Green Smoothie
This yummy, bright green smoothie contains two cups of leafy greens and three cups of ripe fruit. I feel healthier and more responsible just typing up the recipe. Despite how healthy it is, it also tastes great and looks lovely. It’s perfect for your health-conscious friends who still want to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
19. Pistachio Cookies
Like mint, pistachio is another one of those ingredients most people associate with the color green. While these cookies aren’t actually green, they are scrumptious, and with some green food coloring or green sprinkles, you can easily make them fit the St. Patrick’s Day theme. These cookies are super soft and delightfully crumbly, similar to party cookies (what some people call fingerprint cookies). They’re sweet and buttery, and you won’t be able to stop at just one. Luckily, they’re small, so you don’t have to feel guilty about that.
20. Shamrock Pretzel Pops
All you’ll need to make these adorable shamrock-shaped treats is a bag each of light green and dark green candy melts, a bag each of pretzel twists and pretzel sticks, and green and white sprinkles. Then it’s just a matter of melting the candy melts and arranging your pretzels. I’d never noticed it before finding this recipe, but three pretzel twists with a stick in the middle do make a shamrock shape! They’ll look even better once you dip them in green. Finally, cover them with festive sprinkles and freeze them. (You can also let them sit at room temperature for half an hour if you’re not in a hurry and don’t want them cold.) Click on a star to rate it!
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