Our 30 Most Popular Christmas Recipes
Whether you're on the hunt for a show-stopping main course, appetizer or breakfast for a crowd, you can't go wrong with any of these popular recipes. From roasted turkey and braised beef to sheet-pan omelets and big-batch pancakes, these recipes will ensure that your Christmas is as delicious as it can be. Recipes like our Eggplant Parmesan and Fig & Goat Cheese Puff Pastry Roll will fit into your holiday menu with ease.
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Melting Potatoes
The name for these spuds hints at their creamy interior. Roasting these melting potatoes at high heat ensures they get crunchy on the outside. Then, adding a little broth at the end allows the potatoes to absorb the liquid, making the insides extra moist.
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EatingWell's Eggplant Parmesan
Here we bake breaded eggplant for crispy results with fewer calories to boot. This makeover of the classic recipe was originally developed by our Test Kitchen in 1995 and got an update in 2020 for our 30th anniversary issue.
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Herb-Roasted Turkey
This easy method produces all the good looks and moist flavor you dream of in an oven-roasted turkey. Make sure you show this beauty off at the table before you carve it. Garnish your serving platter with fresh herb sprigs and citrus wedges for a show-stopping Thanksgiving turkey.
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Easy Italian Wedding Soup
Forget the marble-size meatballs you find in many versions of this soup. In this easy recipe, they're full-size, full-flavored and plenty filling.
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Sautéed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon & Onions
Fresh herbs, onion and bacon sauté alongside Brussels sprouts in this easy vegetable side dish recipe. This savory dish is delicious in the fall and winter months, when Brussels sprouts are in season. If you can find them still attached to the stalk, don't be intimidated--buy them, as they're likely more fresh. Recipe adapted from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters.
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Bev's Chocolate Chip Cookies
EatingWell reader Beverley Sharpe of Santa Barbara, California, contributed this healthy chocolate chip cookie recipe. She gave chocolate chip cookies a healthy update by cutting back on sugar and incorporating whole grains. To increase protein, Sharpe replaces the rolled oats with 1 cup almond meal.
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Sheet-Pan Eggs with Spinach & Ham
Making a big batch of eggs has never been easier with this one-pan oven-baked eggs recipe. Whether you are making brunch for a crowd or just want to meal-prep healthy breakfasts for the week, you'll have 12 servings ready in just 45 minutes.
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Slow-Cooker Braised Beef with Carrots & Turnips
The spice blend in this healthy beef stew recipe--cinnamon, allspice and cloves--may conjure images of apple pie, but the combo is a great fit in savory applications too. Serve over creamy polenta or buttered whole-wheat egg noodles.
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Slow-Cooker Vegetarian Lasagna
Sure, the slow cooker's great for stews and soups, but it also happens to make a mean lasagna! In this ingenious slow-cooker recipe, all you have to do is chop your veggies, then layer the ingredients (raw) into the crockpot. Serve with: Garlic bread and a green salad.
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Garlic-Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Speed up roasting vegetables, like these lemon-and-thyme-infused Brussels sprouts, by cooking them on two large baking sheets instead of just one. This basic roasting technique also works for other root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and potatoes.
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Slow-Cooker Balsamic Short Ribs
Now here's a healthy beef short ribs slow-cooker recipe you can serve to company--even on a holiday. Serve with mashed celeriac or mashed potatoes, steamed green beans and a bold Italian red wine that has a touch of sweetness (think amarone or brunello).
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Garlic-Parmesan Melting Potatoes
Crispy, buttery, cheesy, garlicky potatoes--what else could you ask for? Serve these melt-in-your-mouth potatoes alongside steak, pork chops, chicken or fish. If you have leftovers, throw them into a breakfast scramble the next morning.
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Sheet-Pan Pancakes
Pancakes are a weekend brunch necessity (mimosas, too), but making them for a crowd is time-consuming. Instead, bake four kinds of pancakes--peanut butter, chocolate chip, raspberry and blueberry--at once with this easy sheet-pan pancake recipe. Making several different pancakes in one batch means you can easily please your whole brunch party, including yourself!
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Stuffed French Toast
One slice of French toast oozing with cream cheese and drizzled with melted fruit spread does not have many more calories or grams of fat than a bowl of most breakfast cereals.
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Lasagna with Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce
Slow-roasting the tomatoes gives the tomato sauce for this lasagna recipe an intense depth of flavor--which is then enhanced by the umami in onions, Parmesan and spinach. The lasagna noodles are layered into the lasagna uncooked; the moisture from the fresh spinach cooks them perfectly as the lasagna bakes in the oven.
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3-Ingredient Cranberry-Brie Bites
Baked Brie is a perennially popular appetizer. Here, we complement the Brie with tart cranberry sauce and bake it in pretty individual tartlets using premade pie crust for an ultra-easy crowd-pleasing appetizer.
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Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Goat Cheese & Pomegranate
This gorgeous warm salad with nutty roasted Brussels sprouts, sweet-tart pomegranate seeds and creamy goat cheese is perfect for any winter meal--from a weeknight dinner to Christmas dinner or any other holiday celebration. The recipe is easily doubled if you are entertaining a crowd: just be sure to spread the sprouts out (use 2 pans if necessary) so they roast instead of steaming.
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Caramel Cream Cheese Custard (Flan de Queso)
Every panaderia (bakery) in Puerto Rico has many flavors of flan, from vanilla to guava. Reduced-fat cream cheese gives this version a rich, comforting texture.
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Bourbon Hot Cocoa
Chocolate and bourbon? Say no more. Make this delicious hot chocolate recipe from scratch on a cold winter day.
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Easy Stuffed Mushrooms
This healthy stuffed mushroom appetizer is a nice balance of soft mushrooms, creamy filling and crunchy topping. This combination tastes downright decadent, but it's actually good for you. Be sure to get all of the moisture out of the chopped mushrooms before moving on to the next step; if not, the filling will be soggy and make the mushroom caps watery.
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Beef Tenderloin with Cabernet-Mushroom Sauce
For this classic roast beef recipe, cremini or white mushrooms are delicious in the sauce. But if you want to get fancy, mix in some wild mushrooms, such as oyster, maitake or porcini.
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Honey-Chile Glazed Baked Brussels Sprouts
We jump-start this baked Brussels sprouts recipe by preheating the baking sheet for quick roasting.
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Crab Wontons with Brie
In this riff on crab Rangoon, we bake this wonton recipe instead of frying to lighten things up. Preheating the pan and coating the bites with cooking spray ensures they still get crispy.
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Instant Pot Garlic & Rosemary Roast Pork Loin
It's remarkable that a pork roast can be so good so quickly! The gravy is rich and flavorful and the meat is moist and perfectly cooked--using an Instant Pot is a real game changer for pork loin roast.
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Blueberry-Almond Overnight French Toast
Pick your favorite table-worthy baking dish for this healthy French toast recipe--the breakfast casserole goes straight from the oven to the table. Serve with pure maple syrup.
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Cranberry Crumble Bars
These cranberry-orange bars freeze well. Make a batch on a free afternoon and pop them in the freezer so you'll always have a healthy dessert on hand when company calls.
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Simple Roast Chicken
There's no reason to get overly fussy with complicated techniques for a flavorful, rich and simple roast chicken, the ultimate comfort food.
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Fig & Goat Cheese Puff Pastry Roll
Buttery puff pastry is a tasty shortcut ingredient that can be used in many delicious ways. Here we roll out a pastry sheet and cover it with fig jam and crumbled goat cheese, then roll it up into a log and bake it. The end result is a sweet-and-savory appetizer that looks and tastes impressive, especially considering it has just three ingredients.
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Strawberry Sheet-Pan Pancakes
Sheet-pan pancakes feed a crowd, without your standing over a hot skillet or griddle for long periods of time. This easy pancake recipe calls for sprinkling strawberries on top of the batter, but you could personalize toppings for guests with a variety of fruits or nuts.
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Baked Brie with Jam in Puff Pastry
Serve this decadent yet easy appetizer with apple wedges and crackers and watch it disappear in seconds! It's bound to be your new party go-to.