Make-Ahead Chanukah Party Menu: Brisket, Latkes, and a Freezer Timeline

Chanukah dinner for a crowd sounds like a lot of frying. It doesn’t have to be. Every main element of this menu can be cooked weeks ahead and pulled from the freezer, so on the night itself you are lighting the menorah, not standing at the stove.

This is a meat menu with pareve sides and dessert. There is no dairy anywhere, so the latkes get applesauce, not sour cream.

The menu

Dish	Make-ahead	Label
Make-ahead brisket	Cook, slice cold, freeze in sauce up to 3 months	Meat
Potato latkes	Fry and freeze up to 3 months	Pareve
Baked sweet potato latkes	Bake and freeze up to 3 months	Pareve
Homemade applesauce	1 week in the fridge, 3 months frozen	Pareve
Roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts	Cut the day before, roast that day	Pareve
Green salad with a jar vinaigrette	Cut the day before	Pareve
Sufganiyot	Freeze dough rounds up to 1 month	Pareve

How much to make for 20

Item	Amount
Brisket	8 to 10 lb raw (it shrinks by about a third), about 2 briskets
Potato latkes	60 to 80 (3 batches of our recipe)
Sweet potato latkes	36 (2 batches)
Applesauce	8 cups (2 batches)
Roasted vegetables	5 to 6 lb raw, on 3 sheet pans
Sufganiyot	30 to 40 (2 batches)

The timeline

When	Task
3 to 6 weeks ahead	Cook the brisket, chill overnight, slice cold, freeze in its sauce. Fry and freeze the potato latkes.
2 to 3 weeks ahead	Bake and freeze the sweet potato latkes. Cut and freeze the donut dough rounds.
1 week ahead	Make the applesauce (fridge) or pull frozen applesauce to the fridge 2 days before.
2 days before	Move the brisket from the freezer to the fridge to thaw.
Day before	Cut the vegetables and salad; store dry. Mix the vinaigrette. Set the table and pull out platters.
Party day, 3 hours before	Donut rounds out to thaw and rise.
1 1/2 hours before	Brisket, covered, into a 325 F oven until hot through, about 45 to 60 minutes. Roast the vegetables at 425 F alongside or before.
30 minutes before	Fry the donuts. Brisket out and kept covered.
15 minutes before	Latkes straight from the freezer onto racks over sheet pans at 425 F.
Serve	Latkes hot, brisket sliced in sauce, donuts filled and dusted.

One oven? Here is the order

Roast the vegetables first, then heat the brisket at 325 F, then raise the oven to 425 F for the latkes while the brisket rests under foil. Brisket in sauce stays hot for 30 minutes covered. If the latkes need to wait, hold them on a rack at 225 F using the method in how to keep latkes warm and crispy.

Lighting first, eating second

The best part of doing it all ahead is that you can light the menorah with everyone, sing, and then eat. Set out the applesauce and salad before lighting, and the latkes go in the oven right after.

Prefer a dairy night? Try our dairy Chanukah party menu. And when Chanukah starts on Friday night, as it does in 2026, see the Shabbos Chanukah menu.