Simple and Festive Christmas Dinner Recipes

When it comes to the holidays, Christmas Dinner is the showstopper. The culmination of all your planning and baking and shopping… and working. It’s the gathering close of those you love. Here are some simple and festive Christmas Dinner Recipes and Ideas to browse.

Christmas Main Dish Recipes & Ideas

Jeweled POT ROAST MOROCCAN TURKEY BREAST

“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.”
Get the Recipe: Jeweled Pot Roast Moroccan Turkey Breast

Rosemary Rubbed Prime Rib

“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.”
Get the recipe: Rosemary Rubbed Prime Rib

Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Mushrooms and White Wine Cream Sauce

“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.”
Get the Roasted Beef Tenderloin Recipe

Buttermilk Brined Turkey

“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.”
Get the recipe: Buttermilk Brined Turkey

Rolled Turkey Breast with Sweet Apricot Stuffing

“For an easier to carve option this Christmas day, try this rolled turkey breast, which is stuffed with a sweet and aromatic stuffing.”
Get the recipe: Rolled Turkey Breast with Sweet Apricot Stuffing

Herb-Crusted Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding with Red Wine Jus

“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.”
Get the recipe: Herb-Crusted Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding

Grilled Lollipop Lamb Chops

“Tender lamb caramelized with agave nectar is quick and easy to make, but looks like a showstopper at the center of the table.”
Get the recipe: Grilled Lollipop Lamb Chops

Rolled Stuffed Turkey Breast

“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.”
Get the Recipe: Rolled Stuffed Turkey Breast

Holiday Hens with Fig Glaze and Cornbread Stuffing

“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.”
Get the Recipe: Holiday Hens with Fig Glaze and Cornbread Stuffing

Glazed Ham for the Holidays

“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.”
Get the Recipe: Glazed Ham for the Holidays

Easy Instant Pot Turkey Breast with Gravy

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!
Get the Recipe: Instant Pot Turkey Breast with Gravy

Christmas Sides

Spicy Garlicky Green Beans

“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!”
Get the Recipe: Spicy Garlicky Green Beans

Crispy Cheese Potato Stacks

“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.”
Get the Crispy Cheese Potato Stacks recipe

Truffle Potato Gratin

“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.”
Get the recipe.

Bacon Potato Au Gratin

“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.”
Get the Recipe: Bacon Potatoes Au Gratin

Creamed Spinach

“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.”
Get the Recipe: Creamed Spinach

Easy Baked Mac and Cheese

Becoming a holiday mainstay, both as a side and a main dish, there’s no reason not to add this easy Baked Mac and Cheese to your Christmas menu!
Get the recipe: Easy Baked Mac and Cheese

Roasted Squash with Brown Butter and Cinnamon

“This warm, spiced side dish also works well as a ravioli filling or a soup when enriched with milk and cream. Molasses and dark brown sugar create a crackly sweet surface on the butternut squash as it steams in the oven.”
Get the Recipe: Roasted Squash with Brown Butter and Cinnamon

Stuffed Acorn Squash with Quinoa and Kale

An easy and healthy side dish, pretty enough for Christmas with its red and green colors.
Get the recipe: Stuffed Acorn Squash with Quinoa and Kale

MAPLE ROASTED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH BACON AND TOASTED PECANS

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

Christmas Salads

Endive and Apple Salad with Candied Walnuts

“In this pretty winter salad, candied walnuts and sweet apples are the perfect partners for Belgian endive, a crisp winter green with a slightly bitter flavor. If your blue cheese is firm rather than crumbly, you can cut into small, thin wedges instead of crumbling it, if you prefer.”
Get the recipe.

Winter Farro and Kale Salad

“This salad is packed with so many things that I crave, like dark leafy kale and hearty farro; and to make it extra festive – hazelnuts and pomegranates. It’s the salad that looks like a Christmas tree.”
Get the recipe: Winter Farro and Kale Salad

Arugula and Roasted Fruit Salad with Panettone Croutons

“This unique Italian salad strikes just the right balance of sweet and savory with peppery arugula, creamy lemon dressing, and tender butter-glazed roasted fruit.”
Get the Recipe: Arugula and Roasted Fruit Salad with Panettone Croutons

Winter Greens with Pomegranate and Blood Oranges

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

Christmas Soups

French Onion Soup

“It has a touch of red wine. And then it’s topped with these majorly delicious toasts that are loaded with Gruyere cheese and a few thyme leaves. It’s perfection and it’s exactly what we need this time of year.”
Get the recipe: French Onion Soup

Curried Carrot Soup

This Curried Carrot Soup is an easy seasonal favorite, permeated with healthful and fresh ingredients. And oh-so-delicious on the Christmas table.
Get the recipe: Curried Carrot Soup

Creamy Chestnut Mushroom Soup

“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.”
Get the Creamy Chestnut Mushroom Soup recipe.

Christmas Desserts

Red Velvet Roulade with Raspberries

“If your family are anything like mine, Christmas pudding is more of a show rather than something people actually want for dessert. This is why a red velvet roulade is the showstopper you have been looking for to round of the perfect modern Christmas dinner.”
Get the recipe: Red Velvet Roulade with Raspberries

Figgy Pudding

“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.”
Get the recipe: Figgy Pudding

A Soft and Spicy Gingerbread Bundt Cake

“It’s spicy and gingery, and soft and moist… and incredibly delicious. Every bite bursting with the flavors you expect in gingerbread.”
Get the recipe: Gingerbread Bundt Cake

Chocolate Espresso Coffee Cake

A timeless classic coffee cake filled with a moist and rich dark chocolate flavored with a touch of espresso. It’s super good and a Christmas favorite in our house.
Get the recipe: Chocolate Espresso Coffee Cake