Christmas Dinner Recipes: Simple and Festive

"With just three ingredients and a few minutes you can have a beautiful and festive holiday appetizer to share with friends and family. This Honey Almond Baked Brie recipe is salty, sweet, creamy, and crunchy -- making it the perfect party food for any gathering!"

"This Holiday Crostini Trio is simple and delicious, and has something for everyone! There's shrimp and avocado for the seafood lovers, prosciutto and provolone for the meat-eaters, and mushrooms with herbed mascarpone for a vegetarian option.."

"Full of beautiful flavors and textures from pomegranate, red grapes, candied pecans, pears, and cheese, this Christmas Salad with Champagne Vinaigrette is an easy, festive recipe for your holiday table!"

"This classic ham recipe is made with the most incredible maple, brown sugar glaze. With just a few ingredients, this will be a hit with everyone!"

“Subtly spiced with a ras el hanout butter and stuffed with a bejeweled stuffing, this turkey breast is rolled for easy serving. The only tricky part with a rolled turkey breast is the butterflying process, but most butchers will do this for you if you ask.”

"This recipe– though stunning– is actually much easier to make than it seems. And if you’re willing to give it a go, the rewards (in both flavor and appreciation) are astronomical. Roast this baby up for Christmas dinner and your whole family will think you’re a superstar. Swear it."

“Meltingly tender and full of flavor, prime rib is a festive main course for a Christmas feast, and it couldn’t be easier to make, leaving you time to enjoy your guests. Here we’ve included two classic accompaniments, both horseradish cream, and a red wine jus, but feel free to make only one or the other if you prefer.”

"A traditional ham is the perfect choice if you’ve got a full house with lots of people to feed. We always cook ours on Christmas Eve so that it can be enjoyed on its own and then there is plenty leftover for the festive lunch."

"The great thing about doing a whole rib roast is that you don't have to concentrate," Michael Mina says. "Season it right with salt and pepper, put it in the oven and then you can focus on all the dishes that go along with it."

“The beef is seasoned simply with crushed peppercorn, kosher salt and Dijon mustard. If you don’t like mustard, don’t let that scare you off. It adds flavor, but in a subtle way. You’d never guess the mustard was there, but trust me, you need it.”

“Soaking the turkey in a saltwater brine produces tender, juicy meat. In this recipe, our brine mixture also includes buttermilk, which adds flavor to the turkey and helps keep the meat incredibly moist.”

“For an easier to carve option this Christmas day, try this rolled turkey breast, which is stuffed with a sweet and aromatic stuffing.”

An easy Roast Turkey recipe with Apple Cider and Thyme that's a simple, foolproof method for roasting a juicy, deliciously flavored turkey for your feast.

“Have your butcher cut the ribs from the roast and tie them back on. Use muffin tins if you don’t have popover pans. Preheating the pans makes the popover batter start cooking and fluffing the second you pour it in.”

A holiday tradition, "Porchetta Pork Tenderloin is an Italian savory and tender boneless pork with traditional spices of rosemary, fennel, thyme and garlic. Wrapped is bacon and served over mashed potatoes, it’s a feast for the eyes as well the palate."

“Tender lamb caramelized with agave nectar is quick and easy to make, but looks like a showstopper at the center of the table.”

"A stunning roast goose recipe, with a selection of bright, zesty 'friends' and a Swiss chard stuffing. This recipe is a must for those seeking something a little different to the traditional Christmas goose."

“An easy yet elegant centerpiece for a celebratory meal, this recipe uses our focaccia stuffing mix and turkey gravy base to streamline prep, though you can substitute your own favorite stuffing and gravy if you prefer. During roasting, the stuffing will absorb the flavorful juices from the turkey. Ask your butcher to butterfly the turkey breast halves for you, so they can be opened out like a book.”

“Each guest can enjoy his or her own bird when you serve these perfectly portioned Cornish game hens. Remember to season the cavities before adding the sausage and cornbread stuffing, and dot the top of each bird with butter for evenly browned skin. A honey-sweetened balsamic glaze finishes the dish nicely.”

“This glazed ham is coated in a sweet brown sugar and honey glaze, then baked until golden brown and caramelized. The ultimate holiday ham that’s super easy to make and always gets rave reviews.”

Cooking a turkey breast in the Instant Pot will result in one of the juiciest turkey breasts you’ve ever had. Incredibly easy to make in under an hour. Perfectly seasoned with herbs and spices and even makes its own gravy!

This Warm Vichyssoise Soup is a vintage potato soup recipe, much like cream of potato soup. It's a French-inspired creamy and velvety soup that is deliciously special and even elegant. Plus, it can be made in 15 minutes or less.

“These green beans are so good they basically taste like candy! Doused with garlic, lemon zest, shallots and a decent amount of spice, you’ll get anyone to love them!”

"This scalloped potatoes with apples dish is delicious with breaded baked pork chops, which you could cook at the same time in another cast-iron pan. We are retired and it's just the two of us, but you could easily double the recipe."

Tis the season for Creamy Chestnut Mushroom Soup. It's also the time of year when I begin dreaming about chestnuts roasting over an open fire.

“These are probably the simplest potatoes ever. Just potatoes, fresh oregano, thyme, butter, cheese, salt and pepper. Seven ingredients and so delish. The secret is definitely the thinly sliced potatoes.”

More Christmas side recipes and which ones are the most popular on every Christmas table.

A simple and delicious soup perfect for Christmas diinner.

:Classically French Potato Anna or Pommes Anna is a beautiful and delicious dish of thinly sliced potatoes with copious amounts of melted butter."

“Ordinary potatoes become a sensational side dish when baked in a rich mixture of cream, crème fraîche, and nutty Gruyère cheese. Finishing it with a drizzle of truffle oil adds an aromatic touch.”

“To get this comforting classic right, be sure to break the crust that the cream forms several times while cooking. It’ll allow the cream and potatoes to meld perfectly — and prevent the top from overcooking.”

“There’s a reason this vegetable side makes its way onto so many holiday tables: It’s a perfect complement to heartier meat dishes (and impossible to mess up). Don’t forget the nutmeg, which adds essential, festive warmth.”

This Sweet Potato Soup is an incredibly delicious hearty vegetable soup that's naturally vegan, velvety in texture, and fragrant with herbs and spices. And quick to make in 30 minutes or less.

Individual servings of this favorite comfort food is a delicious and classic addition to Christmas Dinner!

Sweet, caramelized baked southern candied sweet potatoes make the perfect Fall side dish – especially for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Sweet Potato Casserole is an easy, iconic side dish perfect for the holidays with a smooth, velvety texture and sweet distinctive flavor. Topped with a crunchy pecan streusel and a hint of citrus, it's a classic favorite. 

Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Toasted Pecans is one of my all-time favorite sides for the holidays.

Winter Greens Salad with Pomegranate and Blood Oranges is a sweet and zesty, crispy salad that is perfect for the holidays.

"We bought loads of apples and needed to use them. To help the flavors come alive, I roasted the apples and tossed them with a sweet dressing."

"Warm, soft, pillowy bread bites smothered in garlicky, buttery heavenly goodness. An absolute crowd-pleaser!"

Christmas Swedish Tea Ring, filled with cinnamon, sugar, and raisins and topped with a simple powdered sugar glaze, is a beautiful and delicious Scandinavian recipe for the holiday season!

Spectacularly beautiful and delicious Holiday Loaves and Christmas Bread to bake for the season or special enough to give as holiday gifts.

Rich and utterly divine, this Chocolate Bundt Cake is an easy-to-make, super moist, dense, chocolate pound cake recipe you won't forget anytime soon. Rich but simple with a hint of espresso.

This Christmas Cake is a delicious and moist cake packed with dried fruit, citrus zest, and applesauce. And with every bite, you will taste the holidays.

Figgy Pudding-- the name itself conjures visions of Christmas and sugarplums and family... and tradition. A moist and tender Christmas pudding, redolent with the spices of Christmas, figs, and oranges.