how to do a family raclette dinner: make it fun, special, memorable -

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Because we are huge fans of family fondue nights, when I heard about Raclette, I knew I had to give it a try.

I knew we needed to have a family raclette dinner!

“Raclette” is the name of a semi-hard Swiss cheese which, for centuries, was thickly sliced and then melted over a fire. Now, of course, we can bag the fire and use a special grill to melt the cheese and make the meal.

Just like there are about a million ways to “do fondue”, there are a ton of ways to “do raclette” as well. We made our raclette meal super simple, and honestly, with kids, simple always seems to be better.

What we love about this meal is that every, single thing is catered to individual people—you can eat whatever you like!—and there’s a lot to choose from.

I’m thrilled to share this because I think the more we can spend special times together as a family, the better.

Here’s the skinny. . .

How to Do a Family Raclette Dinner — Make it Fun, Special, and Memorable

We had our first raclette meal this past Christmas, when everyone was stuck at home. I wanted to make our holiday a little more special since it looked so different from what we were all accustomed to.

Our raclette grill was a “family” Christmas gift.

Part of the surprise was that I secretly bought all the ingredients we’d need earlier that week.

So here’s what you’ll need to have if you want to “do raclette” like we did.

Preparation

You will need:

a Raclette grill: We used a Hamilton Beach grill that runs about $50 on Amazon.
small tongs: We used these little silver tongs, and it’s better for everyone if each person has his or her own.

Ingredients

1½ – 2 lbs Raclette cheese (Swiss, Gruyere, or Emmentaler cheese will also work)
1 – 2 lbs small creamer or small potatoes, boiled or roasted until fork tender
French Cornichons (Gherkin pickles work)
Any vegetables you like (mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower)
Crusty bread, sliced
Cured meats (Prosciutto, Salami, Pancetta, etc. or cooked, thinly sliced prime rib or roast beef)
Pickled or pearl onions
Any dips, seasonings, or sauces you’d like

fancy drink with fruit — Fun, fancy, non-alcoholic drinks made the meal even more festive!

How to make a raclette dinner

Clean and ready the grill for its first meal!
Place all ingredients on a tray or in bowls on the table.
Cut cheese into slices and place into trays under grill. Don’t cut off the rinds–they crisp up nicely when heated!
Put any food on the grill. Remove warmed, grilled food using the small tongs.
When cheese is melted, using the scraper, place the cheese on top of the grilled items.
Consider: bread, meat, pickle, cheese; potato, pepper, cheese; anything goes!
Enjoy!

We made a creamy horseradish dip for our meal, and it was amazing.

Here’s the recipe:

Creamy Horseradish Sauce

Ingredients

¾ cup sour cream
½ cup mayo
2T horseradish drained well
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt

Directions

Combine all ingredients. So simple and so, so good! Enjoy!

Some combinations we enjoyed

What’s cool about this meal is that in that each person can really create his or her own, individualized meal.

We particularly loved:

potatoes with cheese
brussels sprouts with cheese
crusty bread with warmed meat, melted cheese, pickle
bread with mushrooms and cheese
potatoes, broccoli, cheese
bread with peppers, meat, and cheese
the possibilities are endless!

What did we think about our raclette meal?

It was a lot of fun, and though we do love fondue, we also loved raclette.

We loved that:

each person had his or her own little tray for melting cheese
there was much more control with raclette
every person created their own meals
it was super easy to prep
it was incredibly easy to clean (much easier than fondue!)
the grill was really easy to use
there was enough room for everyone to comfortably

I can see us having raclette dinners often in the future, any time we want to celebrate something or make dinner just a bit more special.

Remember, if you are thinking about trying this with your crew, this is not the kind of dinner that you can zip through in 10 minutes. Raclette, like fondue, is a dining experience.

So slow down, breathe deeply, and enjoy the food journey!

bread, cheese, and meat in front of a raclette grill

bread with melted raclette cheese and meat

Want to learn a bit more about raclette?

Challenge your kids to find more information about this new and exciting meal. Check out these sites for recipes, tips, and more:

family table full of food and raclette grill

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