Our 21 favorite holiday foods

In our holiday meal production, the role of bread is usually played by a buttery, flaky biscuit—but we won’t discriminate if you’re a bigger fan of crescent rolls, cornbread, or classic dinner rolls. They say don’t fill up on bread, but it’s difficult when freshly baked bread is so darn delicious.

The term “candied” gets thrown around a lot. We’ve had candied yams, candied beets, and even candied bacon, but none of them really tasted like candy. Candied pecans, on the other hand, are just as sweet, addicting, and satisfying as actual candy thanks to their hefty coating of sugar or brown sugar on something that’s already a common candy ingredient: nuts.

You might be saying, “Cannoli? That’s not a holiday food.” Well in our family, these tube-shaped fried dough desserts stuffed with a ricotta-based filling absolutely are. Every Thanksgiving and/or Christmas, a family member from the Boston area would pick up some cannoli from Mike’s Pastry in the North End, and we’ve never been able to break that association. If they’re not festive enough for you, try adding some red and green sprinkles.

We think cheese is an every-occasion food, so of course, a charcuterie board is part of almost every holiday gathering. If you’re looking for some inspiration, we usually include one soft cheese (like a Brie or Camembert), one hard or semi-hard cheese (like a Gouda), and one blue cheese (like an English Stilton). We also include a meat or two like prosciutto or salami, a dab of fig spread, some olives or gherkin pickles, maybe a little fruit, and bread or crackers.

Cheesecake is actually one of the most popular desserts during the holiday season, and we really don’t know why. There’s nothing inherently Christmas-y or Hanukkah-esque about it, nor is it tangentially tethered to Thanksgiving. But hey, it’s delicious at any time of year, our family always had cheesecake around the holidays, and we’re just going to keep embracing it.

We’re going to apologize for our elitist attitude toward cranberry sauce, as we don’t think the canned variety is worth serving—especially when it’s so simple to make it from fresh cranberries. (Even frozen ones will do!) Just wash the berries and heat them in a pot with water and honey. Then add some orange zest, let it cool, and serve.

Most people have that crazy family member—usually an uncle—that insists on making a deep-fried turkey every year. Sometimes it’s for Thanksgiving, sometimes it’s for Christmas, sometimes it’s for both! Either way, we all feel our holiday gets a bit more exciting (and dangerous) when this dish is being prepared. Cook with caution, enjoy with appreciation.

Of course, eggnog is a drink and not a food, but it’s a staple in our household when the holidays arrive, so we had to include it. Eggnog is made of milk, cream, sugar, and eggs, but there are now plenty of soy milk, almond milk, and vegan-friendly varieties—or you can make your own! 

Whoa, how often do we get to put a house in a list about food? In this case, it works, because this structure is completely edible—from the gingerbread walls and roof to the frosting that holds it all together and gives it detail, to the gumdrops and candy canes that turn it from a house into a home. Bring milk.

There’s something comforting about a big bowl of glazed carrots. The recipe is so satisfying, yet so simple—consisting of just carrots, butter, brown sugar, salt, and maybe some thyme, dill, or parsley. Not every part of your holiday meal needs to be complicated.

Gravy is a condiment, which makes it food, right? Whatever you call it, we call it an essential part of our holiday meals—or at least the ones that include turkey and/or potatoes.

Speaking of simple yet satisfying side dishes, let’s not forget about green bean casserole. All you need is green beans, a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, and some crispy fried onions for the topping.

When we say we like mashed potatoes, we mean we like actual, from-scratch mashed potatoes. None of that instant stuff on our table. We’re not trying to be snobby, we just like the lumps that you can only get from mashing whole potatoes. And butter. We also really like butter.

What about breakfast? Our favorite first meal for this time of year is the pumpkin muffin. It probably has something to do with the fact that pumpkin muffins are only available for a limited time, and the scarcity makes them even more desirable—like the McDonald’s McRib. Of course, we could also make pumpkin muffins at home in the holiday offseason, but that’s cheating.

Pumpkin muffins are our favorite breakfast, but pumpkin pie is our family’s favorite dessert for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our tips for simplifying things? Use a premade pie crust and buy some blended pumpkin pie spice so you can skip several steps.

Consider a big dish of root vegetables for your next holiday meal. They’re healthy, colorful, easy to bake, and they have this comforting, earthy flavor that’s perfect around the holidays. Try a mix of yams, potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips, onions, and some garlic, and toss them in olive oil and some spices.

When the weather outside is frightful and you’ve no place to go, make a batch of rum balls. All you need are crushed vanilla wafers, cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, and delicious, delicious rum. Don’t worry about sipping on some of the rum as you make these—they’re no-bake, so you won’t even need to operate an appliance when you’re half in the bag.

Stuffing is basically just bread that’s chopped up, tossed in some herbs, and served as a side dish. Weird, right? But it’s so good with holiday meals, and need not be cooked inside the bird. In fact, for safety, it’s generally advised that you cook stuffing separately. 

When baked just right—slightly golden in color but still soft on the inside—sugar cookies can be one of the tastiest holiday desserts. But our favorite part is decorating them, as this can be a fun activity for the whole family. Be creative and have fun with it—it doesn’t matter how professional they look, they’ll basically taste the same.

Every holiday season, we serve sweet and sour meatballs as an appetizer at least once. They’re bite-sized, tasty, and super easy to make. Our version is just frozen mini meatballs, chili sauce, and a can of whole cranberries. What do sweet and sour meatballs have to do with Christmas? No idea. Let’s pretend they’re Santa’s favorite hors d'oeuvre or something.

In our opinion, all you really need for sweet potato casserole is sweet potatoes, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, vanilla extract, pecans, and mini marshmallows. Simple ingredients, but somehow when mixed together and baked, it creates magic in a dish. If you need another helping of sweet potato casserole, you’ll find it next to us.