The holiday season is full of special events that allow us to spend quality time with our family and friends. It’s a time to relax and enjoy yourselves while also eating lots of delicious food.
If you’re catering for a holiday event then choosing the right recipes can be a tricky task. Whether it’s a small family gathering or a larger event, you will need to make sure you choose dishes that are delicious but easy to make.
That’s why we’ve compiled this list of 28 easy holiday recipes you are sure to adore. We’ve picked a wide variety of dishes so whether you’re looking for an appetizer, main course, or dessert, there is sure to be a recipe for you.
Let’s get started!
1. Air Fryer Crispy Potatoes
Our first-holiday recipe is a side dish that will match perfectly with any holiday main course.
It makes use of an air fryer so if you’re looking to eat traditional food but want to make it as healthy as possible, then this recipe is a great choice.
You’ll need some baby potatoes and they’re seasoned with garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and, if you wish, some Cajun seasoning.
2. Apricot-Stuffed Pork Loin
If you’re looking for a main course that is a little different from the standard fair, then this apricot-stuffed pork loin is a great option.
The recipe sees a pork loin stuffed with a mix of apricots, garlic, and a pinch of salt. The flavor of the apricot matches perfectly with the pork to make it delicious and succulent.
3. Beef Tenderloin with Roasted Cauliflower and Pomegranate Salad
If pork isn’t your meat of choice and you prefer red meat such as beef, then this recipe for beef tenderloin might be what you need.
You will need to begin roasting the beef with salt and pepper before adding cauliflower, shallots, Dijon mustard, and kale to the pan. Once the beef is cooked to your taste, you can sprinkle it with pomegranate seeds.
4. Butternut Squash Soup
Soup is a great dish for the holidays and it’s sure to keep everyone warm and full during cold nights. Butternut squash is a great fall vegetable as well, which makes it perfect for holiday soups.
This soup is thick and creamy and is made with butternut squash, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion with a base of chicken stock.
5. Broccoli and Cauliflower Gratin
This is a wonderful side dish that will suit any holiday table. It’s made from healthy servings of cauliflower and broccoli and a large amount of Gruyere cheese to make the gratin delicious and tasty.
The gratin is flavored further with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Your family and guests are sure to want second servings of this gratin.
6. Brown Sugar Pineapple Ham
Glazed ham is a very common holiday recipe but we’re sure that your family and guests won’t have eaten a ham like this one before!
You will need to roast the ham for around 60 to 90 minutes first before adding the glaze. This is made from crushed pineapple, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, and garlic and should be pressed into the ham and baked for a further 30 to 60 minutes.
7. Brussels Sprouts with Pickled Shallots and Hazelnuts
Our next side dish takes the traditional Brussels sprouts and makes them into something special. This is the perfect side dish for either Thanksgiving or Christmas.
As well as Brussels sprouts, the dish includes shallots, hazelnuts, and garlic cooked in red wine vinegar and seasoned with thyme.
8. California Roast Lamb
We love lamb and always look to serve it during the holiday season. When cooked correctly, lamb is delicious but it’s very easy to get wrong.
Thankfully, this recipe will help you get your lamb right. The recipe calls for a leg of lamb that is seasoned with salt, pepper, and oregano. It’s then further seasoned with tomato sauce and lemon juice and cooked with artichokes.
9. Cinnamon Roll Wreath
This is the first sweet dish on our list and it makes use of cinnamon, one of the best holiday flavors.
The wreath is easier to make than you might think as it’s based on premade pizza dough that is then filled with a cinnamon mix and topped with a cream cheese glaze.
When the dough is arranged into a wreath, it looks as good as it tastes.
10. Cornbread Stuffing
Cornbread stuffing is one of the most traditional Thanksgiving side dishes so it’s only right that we included a recipe for it on this list.
Although most families might have their own recipe for cornbread stuffing, if you don’t, this recipe will provide delicious stuffing every time. As well as the cornbread, the recipe also includes celery, parsley, nutmeg, onion, and chicken.
11. Corn Salad with Bacon and Honey
From cornbread stuffing to a corn salad. This is a great southern salad that combines a variety of different sweet and savory flavors to make a delicious side dish.
It’s a mix of bacon, shallot, thyme, sherry vinegar, and honey. You can use frozen corn for this recipe, making it even easier to put together.
12. Cranberry Almond Apple Pie
Our second holiday dessert is a delicious and warm pie. This pie has a variety of delicious holiday flavors that are sure to make your family’s mouths water.
The filling of the pie is made from apples, cranberries, and nutmeg and it is all topped with brown sugar, cinnamon, and almonds. The pie tastes delicious on its own but can also be served with ice cream or custard.
13. Cranberry Brie Bites
This is one of our favorite appetizers. It also makes for perfect finger food if you need to cater for a party. The base of the bites is a tube of crescent dough, but you can make your own diet if you wish.
The filling of each bite is made from brie, cranberry sauce, and pecans. The finishing touch comes from a sprig of rosemary.
14. Creamed Spinach
This is a very simple side dish but it is also a very tasty option that everyone around the dinner table is sure to love. You can use fresh or frozen spinach for this dish depending on what you have available.
The spinach is cooked with onion and garlic before being added to milk, heavy cream, and cream cheese. This makes a thick and creamy mixture full of healthy spinach.
15. Crockpot Green Bean Casserole
This is the first of a couple of casseroles on this list. Casseroles are a big favorite during the holiday season and using a crockpot makes them even easier to make.
You can prepare the casserole early in the day and then leave it to cook for the rest of the day. The casserole can be made vegan as well as you have the option of using either whole milk or vegetable broth as the base.
16. Grandma’s Cornbread Dressing
For our next recipe, we’re going back to that southern favorite, cornbread. This is another great side dish that is sure to be a favorite for anyone who loves more traditional holiday dishes.
The base of the dressing is made with cornmeal, buttermilk, and flour and this is then dressed with onion, celery, chicken soup, and chicken broth.
17. Ham and Cheese Puff Pastry
Puff pastry is a great ingredient and can be used in so many different ways. It is the base of so many different delicious appetizers including these ham and cheese puff pastries.
You don’t need to make your own puff pastry as frozen pastry is suitable. The pastry is then filled with spinach, Swiss cheese, and ham.
18. Hasselback Butternut Squash
We introduced a butternut squash soup earlier, but this recipe takes these large vegetables and serves them in a completely different way.
After being baked for 20 minutes, you will need to slice the squash in the Hasselback style before adding a sauce made from shallots, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, and apple cider vinegar.
19. Holiday Roasted Vegetables
No holiday meal is complete without a variety of roasted vegetables as a side dish and this recipe will give you a delicious mix of vegetables.
The recipe calls for Brussels sprouts, carrots, pecans, cranberries, rosemary leaves, and thyme to make deliciously seasoned roast vegetables.
20. Molasses Fruitcake
Fruitcake is a little old-fashioned and may have fallen out of favor in recent years, but we’re still big fans of it. It makes for a great dessert but can also be eaten as a holiday snack.
This recipe for fruitcake has several holiday flavors included such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and candied citron. It’s also stuffed full of fruit and nuts in the form of currants, raisins, and walnuts.
21. Pastry-Wrapped Holiday Ham
This is our second-holiday ham. The previous recipe was for a glazed ham but this is instead a pastry-wrapped holiday ham.
The ham needs to be roasted first with a mustard and sugar glaze before it is wrapped in pastry and baked again. The recipe also includes instructions to make a delicious apple cider sauce to accompany it.
22. Pecan Snowflake Cookies
Holidays aren’t just about appetizers, mains, and desserts, but also about snacks and sweet foods such as cookies. We love these cookies for both their taste and their festive look.
The cookies are made from pecans, cinnamon, flour, and vanilla extract and once you’ve made the cookie dough you can use a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter to make beautiful snowflake cookies.
23. Pigs in a Blanket
Pigs in a blanket are a very traditional appetizer and also double as the perfect finger food for any party.
These pigs in a blanket are made in the most simple way possible as they need only three ingredients which are puff pastry, hot dogs, and slices of cheddar cheese. You can use frozen puff pastry to make these even easier.
24. Scalloped Potatoes Recipe
Potatoes are always a popular choice for holiday side dishes and this is one of our favorite recipes for potatoes. It’s a layered dish made from layers of potatoes and onions mixed with layers of butter.
Once layered, the entire dish is covered with milk.
25. Shrimp Cocktail
This is one of the most classic appetizers. The shrimp are poached in a sauce of white wine, water, garlic, lemon, and salt for around three minutes before being served with cocktail sauce and lemon wedges.
It’s a simple but classic dish.
26. Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes
We love sweet potatoes and no holiday season is complete without them. The recipe calls them twice-baked sweet potatoes as the potatoes are backed once with only oil, and then a second time after being shelled and filled.
The filling consists of sweet potato, cheese, sour cream, and seasonings.
27. Ultimate Mac n’ Cheese
Mac and cheese is one of the most popular dishes across the country so we had to include one in our list.
This recipe for the ultimate mac and cheese is delicious and sure to impress as it includes several different kinds of cheese, macaroni, bacon, and several different seasonings.
28. Vegetable Casserole
Our final recipe is the second of two casseroles on this list. It’s a cross between ratatouille and potatoes au gratin while keeping the heartiness and easy preparation that casseroles are known for.
The recipe is vegetarian and can easily be made vegan by substituting cheese and heavy cream for non-dairy options. The casserole is packed full of different vegetables and is sure to be a hit even with meat eaters.
Are there any blue cheese recipes in the 28 Easy Holiday Recipes that I am sure to adore?
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Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some answers to the frequently asked questions about holiday recipes.
There are a lot of flavors that are commonly associated with the holiday season. Any dish that includes these common flavors is sure to be a hit during your holiday dinners.
Look for recipes that use flavors such as cranberry and pecans as these are always closely associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas.
There are many seasonal vegetables you can look out for as well, such as pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Warm spices like cinnamon are also a great addition to your holiday recipes.
If you’re preparing a Thanksgiving meal, then you can never go wrong with an old-fashioned turkey.
Most Americans eat turkeys for Thanksgiving and you can then base your side dish choices around serving a turkey.
Some of the side dishes that complement turkey the best include stuffing, cornbread, and a variety of roasted vegetables.
As Thanksgiving and Christmas both happen during the months when the weather is getting colder and the nights are getting longer, many of the popular dishes are hot and filling.
Casseroles are always popular, as are soups and meals made with traditional American ingredients.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we listed 28 easy holiday recipes you are sure to adore. We included a wide variety of recipes, including appetizers, main courses, and desserts.
There are some vegetarian and vegan options as well as many meat-based recipes. Whatever recipe you’re looking for, there is sure to be something for you.
28 Easy Holiday Recipes You Are Sure To Adore
Directions
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Recipe Video
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