What to serve with Duck

Duck is a delicious main dish with crispy skin and rich flavors. If you aren’t sure what to serve with duck, this collection of exciting side dishes for duck will give plenty of delicious ideas!

Duck is no longer a dish just for holidays or a special occasion. It’s a great alternative to chicken and roast duck is easy to prepare. Picking a delicious side dish makes it a perfect choice for dinner parties or a tasty change up from roast chicken.

Try our easy recipe for Whole Duck or any favorite duck recipe with any of these best side dishes.

Whether you are cooking duck breast or whole duck there are some things that differentiate duck meat from other poultry. Duck meat is darker than chicken but still considered a white meat. It is richer in flavor mainly due to a higher fat content of the skin.

Any way you’d prepare chicken, you can do with duck. Because duck has a richer, stronger flavor due to the higher fat it is often prepared like red meat more so than chicken.

How to pick a Perfect Side Dish

Because of duck’s richness picking the right sides requires consideration of two things:

Substantial dishes. Though duck is considered a white meat the strength of flavor works best with more substantial dishes to balance a meal.

Flavor. Stronger flavored side dishes make a perfect pairing for duck. Root vegetables, sweet potatoes, a delicious sauce like orange sauce, cranberry sauce or red currant gravy that have some sweetness or sweet and tangy flavor complement the rich flavor of the savory duck.

Duck Side Dishes

You won’t go wrong with any of these easy side dishes! Pick one or a few for a perfect meal. You may find some new favorite side dishes too!

Potatoes. Smashed potatoes, roasted potatoes with Parmesan cheese, dauphinoise potatoes, potatoes au gratin, mashed potatoes with creamy texture are all a great accompaniment with duck as a main course.

Vegetables. Adding in vegetables is always a great choice whether it be simple green beans, or a combination of roasted vegetables with fresh herbs. Almost any vegetables dish is a good choice with easy recipes to choose from.

Salads. Salads like spinach salad with pomegranate seeds or peppery arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette deliver big flavors are a good option that go with the flavor with a duck dish. Salad is a simple dish and with the right ingredients are a perfect balance with the richer duck fat in the crisp skin.

Potatoes and Polenta

Soul-warming comfort food is always a perfect dish to pair with duck. These recipes aren’t just ordinary recipes. Hearty potatoes and creamy polenta each with unique flavors you’ll love any time.

Mashed Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes

Mashed Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes are easy, fast and delicious with just a handful of wholesome ingredients!

Check out this recipe

Instant Pot Sour Cream Garlic Mashed Potatoes

For creamy mashed potatoes made fast, the Instant Pot pressure cooker can’t be beat.  These potatoes cook for 8 minutes, are drained and the other ingredients added in the Instant Pot insert. No extra bowls to clean up. 

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Roasted Garlic Buttermilk Smashed Potatoes

Creamy Garlic Smashed Potatoes have a little tang from buttermilk. As the garlic roasts the potatoes may be boiled to time out when the garlic is done which leaves the cooking time to be 30 minutes total.

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Pan Fried Polenta with Sautéed Greens

Fried polenta is has a wonderful consistency of a more of a cake of polenta than traditional looser form. The blend of flavors and textures with the sharp-flavored braising greens and whimsical garlic scapes are a soul-satisfying dish. The greens on top may be modified to add onion, traditional garlic or anything you like.

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Pumpkin Polenta with Maple Bacon Gravy

This mouthwatering comfort food combo is perfect as a main dish or side dish! Creamy polenta with the light pumpkin flavor topped with sweet and salty maple bacon gravy that's irresistibly good!

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Noodles

Noodles can be a fun option especially is cooking duck breast that will be sliced and served on the noodles.

10 Minute Spicy Ramen Noodles

These spicy restaurant-style noodles are packed with Asian flavors and heat. They are fast to make and incredibly satisfying. Lots of ways to change them up too.

Check out this recipe

Spicy Spiralized Garlic-Cinnamon Sweet Potato Noodles

Spiralized Sweet Potato noodles pass for traditional grain pasta with loads more flavor, nutrition and fewer calories. Tossed in a simple garlic, red pepper flake and seasonal spice browned butter makes a richly flavored filling option in less than 30 minutes.

Recipe can be doubled or tripled keeping the ingredient proportions the same. See the Notes section for a link to an Spiralizer alternative.

Check out this recipe

Salads

Regular green salads can be an easy side dish choice using a brighter flavor dressing with balsamic vinegar for instance. Or choose one of these salads with stronger flavored ingredients, some sweetness, tanginess or spicy heat.

Fennel and Orange Salad

Fennel Orange Salad is an exciting mix of sweet and spicy flavors. It's a simple, fresh winter salad perfect for any meal.

Check out this recipe

Warm Cranberry Honey Dressing and Winter Salad

This flavor packed seasonal salad will make salad in winter something exciting!  Warm Cranberry Honey Dressing compliments spicy winter greens, sweet fruit and crunchy seeds.  It can also be made and kept in the refridgerator to dress up greens when the mood strikes.

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WARM DANDELION AND BACON SALAD (Pissenlits au Lard)

This simple warm Dandelion and Bacon Salad is bursting with delicious flavors and ingredients.

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Roasted Pumpkin Salad with feta and almonds

Sweet roasted pumpkin, salty crumbled feta cheese and crisp dry roasted almonds on spicy arugula with an orange vinaigrette. A perfect fall salad any time and for Thanksgiving.

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Strawberry Salad + fresh Strawberry Poppy Seed Dressing

Fresh colorful Strawberry Salad is full of vibrant flavors and wholesome ingredients. Topped with an easy sweet Strawberry Poppy Seed Dressing for a delicious main or side dish.

Check out this recipe

Vegetables

Roasted vegetables are both colorful and add a hearty side dish to a meal. It’s a great way to use seasonal vegetables you love that add caramelized sweetness to a meal.

Rosemary Maple Roasted Vegetables

Colorful assorted vegetables are roasted to a caramelized finish with maple mustard drizzle. Perfect easy side dish any time.

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Balsamic Roasted Fall Vegetables with Sumac

This easy recipe for roasted fall vegetables is packed with flavor and flexible to be changed up with your seasonal favorites.

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Creamy Scalloped Ginger Sunchokes

This ginger scalloped sunchoke dish is irresistibly good. Lightly crunchy sliced sunchokes in a creamy ginger sauce, topped with golden toasted breadcrumbs and pecans.

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Herb Roasted Garlic Brussels Sprouts Sweet Potatoes and Carrots

Roasted fall vegetables with simple herbs, lemon zest, and garlic always make a deeply flavorful side dish that is easy to prepare. The combination of Brussels sprouts, sweet potato and carrots makes a wonderful medley of flavor as well as a colorful combination to adorn the dinner table.

Check out this recipe