Potlucks — food-centric gatherings where each attendee brings a dish to share — are part of the social fabric of many faith-based communities.
In the tiny town where I grew up in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I remember going to a church potluck in the park. While the kids worked up an appetite swimming in the public pool, the ward (congregation) members laid out an array of food on long tables.
The menu included various dips, sides and main dishes, all cooked in home kitchens, as well as a rainbow of pastel Jell-O concoctions for dessert.
It wasn’t a competition to see who could bring the prettiest dish (this was before social media, after all). Instead, it was about sharing something delicious and homey.
For our own “church potluck,” we asked three Salt Lake City chefs to share a family recipe that they would bring to such a gathering. Here are their offerings:
Vanessa Sumsion’s barbecue chicken mac & cheese
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Vanessa Sumsion’s barbecue chicken mac and cheese, in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
Vanessa Sumsion, chef de cuisine at Hill’s Kitchen in Sugar House, played off her dad’s recipe for macaroni and cheese in order to create her barbecue chicken mac and cheese.
His original recipe, she said, was a “Sunday staple” when Sumsion was growing up with her brother and sister. “We’d always get pretty excited to come home and see that he was making the mac and cheese.”
Sumsion loved to cook as a child, she said, and she would often help her dad make his mac and cheese by getting the ingredients from the fridge.
To create her own recipe, she subbed out the original’s chopped hot dogs, instead adding diced chicken breasts tossed in barbecue sauce and drizzled more barbecue sauce on top.
Sumsion’s barbecue chicken mac and cheese gets its richness from a creamy sauce made with heavy cream, half-and-half, Gouda cheese and sharp cheddar cheese, as well as the use of bacon drippings when making the roux.
She said her mac and cheese would be good for a church potluck because “it’s easy to share. It’s very filling, and I think a lot of people would enjoy it.”
Here is her recipe:
Barbecue chicken mac and cheese
Ingredients:
For the mac and cheese:
4 slices bacon.
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour.
2 cups heavy cream.
1 cup half-and-half.
16 ounces elbow macaroni.
½ teaspoon black pepper.
½ teaspoon garlic powder.
3 slices Gouda cheese.
6 slices sharp cheddar cheese.
For the toppings:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced.
½ cup barbecue sauce (plus more for drizzling).
Fried onions.
Directions:
- Cook the bacon. In a large skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Transfer to a paper-towel–lined plate and set aside. Reserve the bacon drippings in the skillet.
- Prepare the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the macaroni until al dente according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Make the roux. In the skillet with the reserved bacon drippings, whisk in the flour to form a roux. Cook over medium heat for one to two minutes, until lightly golden.
- Build the sauce. Gradually whisk in the heavy cream and half-and-half until smooth. Stir in the black pepper, garlic powder, Gouda and cheddar. Continue stirring until the cheeses are fully melted and the sauce is creamy.
- Combine. Fold the cooked pasta into the sauce, ensuring it is evenly coated. Transfer the mixture to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.
- Finish with toppings. Toss the diced chicken with ½ cup barbecue sauce. Spoon the barbecue chicken evenly over the mac and cheese. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it on top, followed by a layer of fried onions. Drizzle with additional barbecue sauce and serve.
Jon DuBois’ St. George scalloped potatoes
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jon DuBois, executive sous chef at Spencer’s for Steaks & Chops, holding his his St. George scalloped potatoes in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
Jon DuBois is the executive sous chef at Hilton Salt Lake City Center, where he works at Spencer’s for Steaks & Chops and also helps prepare the hotel’s banquets.
The first thing he said about his family’s recipe for St. George scalloped potatoes is the “St. George” portion of the name is a mystery.
“I’m not from there,” DuBois said. “My mom is from Orem originally.”
She would often make this recipe when DuBois was growing up, because “it’s a casserole,” he said. “You just throw it together, put it in the oven, 45 minutes later, you’ve got dinner — or part of dinner.”
When his birthday came around in February, DuBois would ask his mom to make St. George scalloped potatoes, he said, because the combination of potatoes, cheese and ham was “rib-sticking and delicious.”
The original recipe calls for sour cream and bouillon cubes, but DuBois subbed in creme fraiche and chicken stock for his version.
“My mom made this in the ’80s, when you couldn’t get creme fraiche and chicken stock on demand, all you had was sour cream and chicken bouillon cubes,” DuBois said. “So now these things are definitely a lot more readily available, and I think they do lend to just a slightly more elevated dish.”
DuBois said his mom brought St. George scalloped potatoes to many church potlucks when he was growing up and that it goes well with potlucks because of the “ease of preparing it.”
“Anytime there’s a large gathering of people, there’s always a couple different renditions of potatoes,” DuBois said. “… It’s one of those things that is like a mainstay of where people congregate to have conversation and eat and then relax.”
Here is his recipe:
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) St. George scalloped potatoes by Jon DuBois, executive sous chef at Spencer’s for Steaks & Chops, in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025.
St. George scalloped potatoes
Ingredients:
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes.
1 medium onion, diced.
2 cloves garlic, minced.
1 10.5 oz. can cream of chicken soup.
½ cup creme fraiche.
¾ cup chicken stock.
1 cup (8 ounces) sliced Virginia ham, cut into small squares (you can get this at the deli counter in the grocery store).
½ cup grated Gruyere cheese.
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese.
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper.
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (to butter a baking dish).
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Peel and slice the Yukon potatoes (⅛-inch thickness), using a mandolin slicer if you have one. Once sliced, cut each slice into quarters (stacking the slices makes this part much quicker).
- Sweat the onion and garlic in a little oil over medium-low heat until soft, about five minutes.
- Add the cream of chicken soup, creme fraiche, cooked onion and garlic, chicken broth, Virginia ham, Gruyere, Parmesan, salt and pepper into a bowl, and whisk together thoroughly. Once mixed, add the potatoes and gently fold everything together using a spatula.
- With the softened butter, brush the sides and bottom of an 8-by-8 dish.
- Carefully pour the potato mixture into the buttered dish, and as best you can, make the top nice and even.
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, uncover and check the doneness with a toothpick or knife. Cook uncovered for an additional 15 minutes or until the potatoes are done and the top is nice and brown.
Brian Richter’s chile verde
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brian Richter, executive chef for Temple Square Hospitality, holds a chile verde dish at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025.
As the executive chef for Temple Square Hospitality, Brian Richter oversees The Roof Restaurant and The Garden Restaurant, as well as all of the banquet functions in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in downtown Salt Lake City.
Richter said his recipe for chile verde is influenced by his Arizona roots. He started out with a simple recipe that called for canned chiles, and then eventually switched to using fresh chiles that he roasts himself.
“Just for me,” Richter said, “it’s comfort food.”
As he has developed his recipe over the past 15 years, “I’ve learned different things and done that to kind of make it better,” Richter said, whether those were changes driven by flavor or a new cooking technique.
The first time he made chile verde, Richter said, he invited his friends over to share in the dish. Now that he has a family of his own, it can often be found at all types of gatherings, especially around Thanksgiving, since Richter and his family don’t typically celebrate with a turkey.
Richter’s chile verde can be eaten with corn chips, flour tortillas, he said, “or just in a bowl all by itself.”
The dish would be good to bring to a church potluck because “there’s a lot of flavor to it” Richter said, “… and you’d be able to make a big batch of it and share it with a lot of people.”
Here is his recipe:
Chile verde
Ingredients:
4 pounds pork shoulder or butt (cut into 1-inch cubes and large fat pieces removed).
2 tablespoons vegetable oil.
2 large onions, chopped.
10 cloves garlic, minced.
2 teaspoons ground cumin.
2 teaspoons ground coriander.
2 teaspoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican).
2 bay leaves.
2 teaspoons salt, plus more to taste.
1 teaspoon black pepper.
2½ pounds tomatillos, husked and halved.
8 Anaheim peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped.
4 poblano peppers, roasted, peeled and chopped.
2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped (optional for heat).
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped.
2 teaspoons masa harina (optional, for thickening).
6 cups chicken broth.
2 limes (juice only).
Directions:
- Roast tomatillos, Anaheim peppers, poblanos and jalapeños under a broiler or on a grill until charred. Peel and chop the peppers. Blend tomatillos until smooth.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high. Brown pork in batches. Set aside.
- In the same pot, saute onions until translucent.
- Add garlic, cumin, coriander, oregano, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cook for two minutes.
- Return pork to the pot. Add blended tomatillos, chopped peppers, chicken broth and cilantro. Simmer uncovered for two to three hours until pork is tender.
- Mix masa harina with a bit of water and stir into the chili. Simmer for 10 more minutes. Stir in lime juice. Adjust seasoning to taste.
