If your family serves the same foods each holiday, you probably already have your Hanukkah menu planned. But maybe you’d like to add an unexpected dish, or it’s your first time hosting and you truly want to make the menu your own. You’ve come to the right place for inspiration. Below, we have eight easy and stunning dishes—including beet latkes, brisket, and duck-fat fried fingerling—for the ultimate Hanukkah dinner.

Serious Eats / Qi Ai

For the smoothest, most delicious hummus, start with dried chickpeas, which are much more flavorful than their canned counterparts. Puréeing the garlic directly in lemon juice helps prevent the formation of sharp, pungent compounds, delivering a balanced flavor, and blending the chickpeas while they’re still hot means you can use a blender instead of a food processor for the silkiest texture.

Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt. Video: Serious Eats Video

Roasting cauliflower wedges at high heat helps caramelize the vegetable, turning it nutty and tender. A sweet, tangy vinaigrette of olive oil, sherry vinegar, honey, capers, pine nuts, and raisins complements the cauliflower’s earthy flavors.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

What do you get when you add shredded beet, garlic, and walnuts totraditional potato latkes? A brightly colored pancake that straddles the line between sweet and savory. Serve with horseradish sour cream, and you have a match made in heaven.

Serious Eats / Daniel Gritzer

Most people settle for dry brisket—but that doesn’t mean you have to. The key is to seal the brisket in a cooking vessel, which helps it retain its juices by preventing moisture loss, ensuring the meat turns out tender and moist. When it’s finished, thinly slice the beef before adding it back into its braising liquid so it can absorb the juices.

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Vicky Wasik

This fried chicken is known in Italian as Pollo Fritto per Chanukkà. To make it, you’ll briefly marinate the poultry with lemon juice, garlic, salt, and a dash of pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then batter and fry it in a simple dredging of flour and beaten egg. For an extra-crispy crust, fry it once, let it cool, then fry again.

Vicky Wasik

These delicious fried artichokes—which could be a side dish or an appetizer—call only for trimmed artichokes, lemon, oil, and kosher salt. A two-stage cooking process first tenderizes the artichokes, then crisps them. A few lemon wedges and a sprinkle of salt are all you need for serving.

Serious Eats / Mariel De La Cruz

The secret to the tenderest, juiciest salmon? A gentle, cold-start poaching method. While the fish gently cooks, you can make a simple dill-yogurt sauce, which is cool, tangy, and herbaceous—the perfect complement to the salmon.

Serious Eats / Diana Chistruga

If you aren’t comfortable with your deep-frying skills, you can breathe a sigh of relief. These crunchy potatoes are pan-fried in duck fat, which gives them a rich, savory flavor. If you don’t have duck fat, or would rather roast potatoes in the oven as your potato side, try our best crispy roast potatoes ever.