St. Patrick’s Day is one of the few feast days we celebrate during Lent, and it has an important heritage for many of us. If you’ve forgotten to plan for the celebration this Lent, or if you are already busy fitting things in before Easter, try these shamrock pretzels and find other super simple food ideas for St. Patrick’s Day inspiration.
The Two Easiest St. Patrick’s Day Food Categories
The way I see it, if you want to celebrate St. Patrick, the easiest way to get inspired is color and country.
St. Patrick is the patron Saint of Ireland. Have some Irish food! Or, by extension, green is Ireland’s color and very closely associated with the holiday already.
Depending on your heritage and diocese, you might want to be more or less extravagant. It is Lent, after all.
Trinity Shamrock Pretzel Snacks
This is our treat for St. Patrick’s day. I wanted something fun for the kids to help with. This uses basic pantry supplies (in my pantry, anyway). When we made them, we explained to our kids how Saint Patrick used the shamrock to teach people about the trinity. Three persons in one God, as three leaflets make up one plant.
How to Make St. Patrick’s Shamrock Pretzels
You can pretty much tell what I did by looking at the picture! I melted vanilla almond bark, dyed it green, and dipped 3 pretzels (and a little pretzel segment for the stem). Then I arranged them on a sheet, touching so they harden up as one piece. Finally, I sprinkled them with green sprinkles I had on hand.
I highly recommend lining the sheet with silicone, parchment paper, wax paper, or something else you can easily peel off the back. You can also chill the pretzels to help them set up faster.
If you don’t have almond bark, I think these would look great with regular chocolate as well, especially if you still have some sprinkles.
And, if all else fails, pretzels themselves are symbols of the trinity, too!
The kids helped with pushing the microwave buttons to melt the chocolate. They helped a bit with stirring, and they sprinkled the sprinkles. They also did a lot of taste-testing! And helped clean the spatula and chocolate bowl—with their fingers and tongues.
If you choose another route, here are some ideas for your inspiration (sweet and savory):
Green Food Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day
- Seafoam or Watergate salad
- Peas!
- Lime jello
- Pistachio pudding
- Lucky Charms cereal
- Shamrock pretzels!
- Stuffed green bell pepper
- Mint or pistachio ice cream
Irish Food Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day
There are lots of Irish food options for St. Patrick’s Day. My Irish husband is a picky eater, though, and I’m trying to keep this list as low-prep as possible. So just know that there are lots more options out there for more adventurous cooks and palates.
- Potato, in any form! Mashed, boiled, in a stew. 😉
- Potato soup, tater tots, colcannon, shepherd’s pie
- Irish brown bread
- Irish scones
- Apple pie?
- Irish soda bread
I hope you got some inspiration from this post! Get some food ideas for Marian days here.
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