The Ultimate Easy Peasy Christmas Dinner

Want to have a stress-free Christmas Dinner, but still enjoy all your favourites? Want to spend less time in the kitchen this year and more time with your friends and family? Want Christmas Dinner to be ready in one hour? Yes you read that right ONE HOUR! Then read on…

As I guess is obvious from the name of this blog, I am all about delicious food, but without the stress and hassle. And never more so than on Christmas Day. While I love eating delicious food on Christmas Day, I also want to enjoy time with my family, put my feet up and have a glass of bubbly.

What I definitely don’t want to do is be running around like a mad thing all morning, for the sake of a Christmas feast which looks and tastes great, but is gobbled up in 5 minutes flat and then face a mountain of washing up in the afternoon…Well OK it is usually Mr G who does the washing up on Christmas Day in our house, but still, it’s not much fun for him!

Prosciutto Wrapped Turkey Mini Fillets with Sage and Sausage Stuffing

And I guess I am not alone on this one, right? I’m not sure there are many people who actually want to spend their Christmas morning slaving away in the kitchen and their Christmas afternoon washing up. But the problem is, and the reason why so many of us end up doing this is, we want to impress and we want to have a meal that looks and tastes amazing because, well it’s Christmas.

So, what if I told you that I think I have a plan to meet both demands? A plan for a showstopper of a Christmas Day feast AND one which is stress free and easy peasy. And best of all takes ONE HOUR from start to finish?

So here it is, my easy peasy take on Christmas Dinner…

The Ultimate Easy Peasy Christmas Dinner

Prosciutto Wrapped Turkey Mini Fillets with Sage and Sausage Stuffing

First up is my Prosciutto Wrapped Turkey Mini Fillets – OK so it’s not quite as impressive as a whole turkey on the table, but these mini fillets do still look very pretty and taste a whole lot better, in my opinion, than a dry bland roast turkey. Plus they are way cheaper than a whole bird and there is much less likelihood of having too much leftovers. (It makes me slightly ill to think how much turkey must be thrown away each year.) And there’s no carving to be done, either!!

As a bonus you can nestle these little turkey mini fillets in amongst your roast potatoes, thus saving room in your oven and flavouring your roast potatoes beautifully at the same time.

This whole thing takes just 1 hour from start to finish and only 10 minutes of that is hands on time! Plus you can make life even easier for yourself by stuffing and wrapping the turkey fillets the night before!

Cranberry, Feta and Quinoa Stuffed Butternut Squash

Are you veggie? Or do you have a vegetarian coming over on Christmas Day? Make one of these the night before, and all you need to do on Christmas Day is reheat it in the oven for 20 minutes.

These delicious stuffed butternut squash are gluten free too and if you need to make them vegan or dairy free, swap the cheese for nuts or just leave it out – they will still taste good!

Easy Christmas Vegetable Traybake

And to go with your turkey (or butternut squash) – the essential Christmas vegetables! For me these are parsnips, carrots and sprouts – so instead of fiddling about with loads of pots and pans on the hob, while at the same time tending to a tray of parsnips in the oven, why not make life super easy for yourself and make a tray of these easy Christmas vegetables?

The parsnips and carrots go straight in the pan with no par-boiling and cook for 45 minutes and the sprouts are thrown in for the last 15 minutes and taste so much nicer than boiled sprouts!

Make life even easier for yourself by peeling and chopping the carrots and sprouts the night before (but do the parsnips on the day or they will discolour).

Chocolate Tart with Cranberries, Orange and Pistachios

Instead of Christmas Pudding this year, why not try this delicious and very festive looking Chocolate Tart? It is super easy to make and only takes 10 minutes.

Make life even easier for yourself by making the whole thing the night before.

Easy Peasy Cranberry Sauce

This is so quick to make (15 minutes!!), you could even make it on Christmas morning while everything else is chuntering away in the oven, but I personally would make this the night before too and pop it in the fridge covered in cling film, then all you have to do on Christmas Day is get it out of the fridge!!

So there you have it…a really easy peasy Christmas Dinner, covering all the main bases with a showstopping veggie option to boot! And, did I mention already…it can all be done in one hour!!

And the washing up? Well depending on what you made the night before, I reckon all you will have by way of washing up is two roasting trays (three if you make the veggie option), a couple of chopping boards and two saucepans, plus maybe a couple of knives…quite a lot less than the usual level of Christmas washing up!!

And don’t forget, not buying a whole turkey means this will come in a lot cheaper than the average Christmas Dinner too!

More Easy Peasy Christmas Recipes

Want more easy peasy Christmas recipe inspiration? Here are a few other ideas to make your Christmas hassle free this year…

Easy Mulled Wine Christmas Ham

Though this isn’t the quickest recipe, it’s a very easy one, with only 5 ingredients and only 10 minutes of hands on time! The ham is gently poached in mulled wine for a couple of hours, before being slathered in a honey and mustard glaze and roasted in the oven.

This is another recipe that can be made the day before and reheated on Christmas Day…I’ve put the instructions for reheating in the recipe.

Gin Brined Chicken (or Turkey)

Perhaps you have your heart set on a whole bird for Christmas? To dramatically improve the flavour, you could brine it in this gorgeous gin brine (which only takes 10 minutes, a day or two ahead of time) and then cook it as normal. The result is so much better than an unbrined one – in fact, I would be tempted to use this brine on a chicken for Christmas Day…a gin brined chicken is so much tastier than an unbrined turkey and so much quicker and simpler to make too. (Not to mention cheaper!)

Baked Apples with Mincemeat, Maple Syrup and Brandy Butter

An alternative to my Chocolate Tart, this would make a great Christmas Day pudding (or why not have both?) The apples take less than 10 minutes to prep and the rest of the time they are doing their thing in the oven, making the house smell delicious! Serve with maple syrup and brandy butter for an easy, but decadent treat! This would also be a great option to make after Christmas too, if you have any leftover mincemeat and brandy butter to use up.

Christmas Turkey Burgers with Cranberry Relish and Sproutslaw

Or perhaps you would like to do something totally different this year – why not make my Christmas Turkey Burgers, served up with a blob of cranberry relish and a big dollop of my sprouty coleslaw AKA sproutslaw? All the flavours of Christmas, but in burger form!! You could add in some of my Easy Peasy Homemade Oven Chips for that roast potato element.

Sprout Salad with Cranberries, Pecan nuts and Clementines

And while we are on the subject of raw sprouts – why not try my sprout salad, which is chock full of Christmassy flavours! This simple salad only takes 10 minutes to put together and would make a great easy peasy starter or side dish.

Turkey, Cranberry and Feta Sausage Rolls

Need an easy peasy snack to munch on Christmas morning? These simple little sausage rolls can be made the night before and cooked on Christmas morning to see you through all that important present unwrapping.

Cinnamon Porridge with Cranberry and Plum Compote

And let’s not forget about breakfast! This simple porridge takes just 20 minutes to make and is so much healthier than traditional Christmas breakfasts, and I think it’s so much yummier too! It’s also gluten free, dairy free and vegan, meaning almost everyone can enjoy it!!

Cranberry, Cinnamon and Pecan Porridge Squares

Or you could try these yummy porridge squares – chock full of Christmas flavours of cranberries, pecans, maple syrup and cinnamon. They take less than half an hour to make and can be made ahead of time, meaning zero prep on Christmas morning!

Easy Peasy Christmas Cake

Still not made your Christmas Cake yet? Do not worry! This simple Christmas cake is good to eat from the day it is made and doesn’t need feeding with alcohol, so the kids can eat it too.

So there you have it…all you need for an easy peasy, stress free Christmas day! I would love to hear about your tips and tricks for a stress free Christmas Dinner. Let me know in the comments below!

Merry Christmas!!

Eb x

P.S. Starting from Wednesday I will be sharing my ideas for lots of easy peasy things to do with your Christmas leftovers…so do pop back, I promise you there are some corkers!! 🙂

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