Alternative festive food ideas

The traditional feast of turkey and all the trimmings can begin to feel a little boring, especially when you’ve had it every Christmas you can remember!

With so many exciting food options available to us that can be just as tasty as our usual Christmas carbs, from vegan alternatives to exciting cuisines, why not branch out this year and try some alternative festive food ideas?

We’ve got some great recipe you can take inspiration from, including easy Christmas food ideas for kids. Take your pick from our mouth-watering alternative Christmas mains and desserts.

Try cooking Christmas dinner a little differently this year and opt for one of these tasty alternatives to your classic mains, desserts, and drinks:

1. Miso-glazed roast ham – this BBC Good Food recipe is sure to delight all the family this Christmas, with its sticky, juicy deliciousness. You’ll want to get yourself really decent roasting dishes for this recipe though, so try our set of 3 roasting tins for an incredibly hardwearing set.
2. Porchetta – the Hairy Bikers struck gold with their Italian alternative to roast pork for Christmas, a flavourful and delicious substitute for dry roast turkey! This recipe involves a lot of herbs and prepping, so we’d recommend updating your cupboards with some of our high-tech and ultra-handy food prep gadgets.
3. Christmas tacos – these delicious flank steak and cranberry tacos from Oh So Delicioso really are an alternative take on Christmas dinner. This recipe requires a good quality slow cooker, and you’re sure to feel the heat when the weather gets chilly on Christmas day with all the jalapeños in the cranberry salsa!
4. Pumpkin and sweet potato doughnuts – although Christmas pudding is a tried-and-true classic staple of the Christmas dinner table, you also can’t beat enjoying a new dessert recipe, especially this one from The Spruce Eats. With only 83 calories per doughnut, you don’t need to feel too naughty for eating a whole bunch of them on the sofa after dinner!
5. Figgy sparkler cocktail – although not a food, this delicious alternative to classic Bucks Fizz will surely excite and surprise your guests at any Christmas party! You can complete your beautiful drinks with some of our luxurious entertainment-ware, including stylish glassware and cheeseboards.

Another great option you can try with your alternative Christmas feast this winter is to create a beautiful Christmas platter of everyone’s favourite foods!

Creating a Christmas food platter is a great festive food idea; you can cater to a lot of people without having to bust a gut in the kitchen making a Christmas roast for everyone. You can layer up meats, cheeses, fruits and nuts, and olives for a really beautiful meat and cheese platter, a classic concept for Christmas.

Or, if your family doesn’t do savoury, you can create a dessert platter – pile it high with mince pies, cream tarts, luxurious cream puffs, and chocolatey profiteroles for a tasty tower of treats. You could even use a classic dessert maker to make mini waffles or whip up a batch of flavoured ice cream.

Alternatively, you could even create a tapas-style platter with mini versions of all the Christmas favourites – pigs in blankets, mini-Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes on cocktail sticks, Brussel sprouts dipped in honey – there are so many options!

If none of these festive food ideas tickle your tastebuds, you might want to try some of our really tasty meat alternatives for the veggies and vegans.

Image courtesy of @halal_travelgrams

With so many people converting to vegetarianism and veganism in recent years, finding vegan alternatives to Christmas dinner has never been easier, thanks to the creation of loads of really great vegan-friendly alternatives and Christmas recipes.

There are plenty of incredible vegan ideas for Christmas dinner out there, perfect for your veggie relatives or if you’re conscious of your meat consumption, including one of our favourites - the stuffed Christmas butternut squash from MOB Kitchen.

You could also try making the ultimate Christmas food: pigs in blankets, as a vegan alternative with Vegan Food and Living’s vegan pigs in maple parsnip blankets. Those tasty little treats are ideal for keeping your veggie and vegan loved ones happy, and nobody feels missed out!

If you plan on catering for both veggies and carnivores this Christmas, you will want to invest in as much cooking equipment as possible, so try our stacked mixing bowls to ensure you have enough room to cook it all!

A great way to get your kids on board with trying new things is to get them to help you come up with some creative Christmas food ideas.

Create fun shapes out of vegetables, like mashed potato, pea and carrot snowman faces, or use our stainless steel ice cream maker to make exciting ice cream flavours using their favourite cereals or fruits.

Children are so creative, so getting them to come up with some cute foodie inspiration shouldn’t be a problem!

Maybe even ask them to help you come up with some fun cocktail ideas for the family party they can’t come to, or some sweet Christmas food ideas for the party-going folk.

We hope our festive food ideas have given you some inspiration this winter to help you change things up and branch out.

Feeling creative? Why not check out our blog for more Christmas DIY and fun ideas?