41 Top Food Bloggers Share Their Christmas
We asked 41+ INSPIRED and top cooks the same question: “If you wanna surprise your family with an easy (and non-traditional) Christmas dinner idea, what will it be?”
The recipes we received were absolutely AWESOME. We’ve listed them here:
1 – Shrimp Saganaki or a Classic Lasagna:
Jennifer Segal from Once Upon a Chef
Being Jewish, my family doesn’t technically celebrate Christmas, but since everything is closed for the holiday, we do think of it as a special day to be together and cap it off with dinner.
We’re not adhering to any special Christmas dinner traditions, so anything is up for grabs!
If I want to keep it really simple, I’ll opt for something easy like shrimp saganaki and crusty artisan bread.
My family loves Italian food, so if I don’t mind spending a bit more time in the kitchen, we’ll dive into a classic lasagna with some focacciaand a big Italian salad on the side.
The kids get to pick dessert—some of their favorites are New York cheesecake or chocolate cream pie.
2 – Mexican-themed Dinner:
Sylvia Fountaine from Feasting at Home

Every once in a while we do a Mexican-themed dinner for Chrismas- enchiladas, mole, Mexican rice, slaw and festive hibiscus margaritas.
It’s a fun way to mix things up and keep thing interesting over the holidays.
3 – Alice Springs Chicken:
Meggan Hill from Culinary Hill

If you want to surprise your family this Christmas, do it with Alice Springs Chicken!
It’s an Outback Steakhouse copycat recipe with marinaded chicken breast in honey mustard sauce, then topped with mushrooms, bacon, and way too much cheese!
Perfect as a quick meal, but also fancy enough for a holiday. So delicious!
4 – Sheet Pan Lemon Garlic Butter Salmon:
Averie Sunshine from Averie Cooks

Juicy salmon at home in 30 minutes that’s EASY and tastes BETTER than from a restaurant!
The butter is infused with lemon and garlic and adds so much FLAVOR!
5 – Brown Butter Spaghetti with Parmesan and Romano Cheeses:
Julie Clark from Tastes of Lizzy T

For a quick and easy holiday dinner, I make our Brown Butter Spaghetti with Parmesan and Romano Cheeses.
It’s a non-traditional spaghetti recipe with amazingly rich brown butter flavor.
It has just 5 ingredients and takes less than 30 minutes to make so you get more time with the family around the table. Serve with a side salad and garlic bread.
6 – Crispy Golden Pork Belly:
Jennifer Lee from Kirbie Cravings
If I wanted to surprise my family with an easy and non traditional Christmas dinner idea, I would make my crispy golden pork belly.
This recipe produces perfectly golden and crispy pork belly, just like something you would get at a restaurant, but without all the work.
The prep work is very minimal and uses a no-fail salt crust technique to produce incredibly crispy skin.
7 – Homemade Sliders:
Ben Gorges from Fox Valley Foodie
My family is not very formal, so we often enjoy non-traditional holiday meals just to change things up.
This year for Thanksgiving I actually made everyone Philly Cheesesteaks rather than a holiday turkey.
However, my favorite effortless Christmas dinner idea has always been making pull apart homemade sliders in the oven.
They are a huge hit with the kids, and I get more time to enjoy with my family rather than spending Christmas day working in the kitchen.
8 – Veggie En Croute:
Becca Heyes from Easy Cheesy Vegetarian
If you want to go the vegetarian route, don’t feel you just have to serve up side dishes.
Instead, make sure you choose a centrepiece for your meal, like this show stopping veggie en croute from Easy Cheesy Vegetarian.
It’s a perfect pastry parcel, stuffed with plenty of roasted vegetables, along with salty feta cheese and crunchy pumpkin seeds.
Feel free to adapt the recipe to use your favourite roasted veggies!
9 – Sausage Tortellini Soup:
Kayti & Diane from Homemade Food Junkie
For an easy and non traditional dinner we would serve a warm and filling winter soup. Our sausage tortellini soup is a great option.
We would also make a batch of our soft homemade dinner rolls with a delicious chopped salad for a side.
For dessert we would serve our sourdough cinnamon rolls. Our hot peppermint coffee cocktail would also accompany this dinner nicely.
10 – Stuffed Cornish Hen:
Carla from Chocolate Moosey
Cooking a small Christmas dinner this year? Make it special by roasting this Stuffed Cornish Hen recipe with homemade stuffing.
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