The best traditional Christmas dinner menu

The sides

Fondant sprouts with bacon and chestnuts
Crisp, buttery sprouts strewn with chestnuts and bacon: it will become your favourite festive side. The recipe uses a nifty two-step cooking process to get the very best out of every little green sphere.

Why they’re the best
If you cook your sprouts like little potato fondants (frying them until crisp, then braising in a good flavoursome stock to cook them through), you get the best of both worlds – a sprout that’s crisp and caramelised on the cut side, then tender and green on top. There’s also a reason chestnuts and bacon are the most popular additions – you just can’t beat that mixture of creamy nuttiness and salty pork.

Rosemary roast potatoes
This is the big one (although gravy certainly comes close). Regardless of how tender your turkey is or how many trimmings and sauces it comes with, if your roasties don’t hit the mark, there’ll be disgruntled elves all around the table. Thankfully, this recipe is failsafe, foolproof and fantastically flavourful.

Why they’re the best
Washing the spuds removes some of their starch, which is the enemy of a crisp finish. You then simmer them gently, just until the outsides are soft enough to rough up, leaving the centres to steam into fluffy deliciousness in the oven. Rosemary salt is the perfect herbal finish.

Butter-roast parsnips with hazelnuts and sage
Parsnips deserve better than to be cut into little pieces, roasted until dried out and burnt in places and left looking sad on the table. Treat them right and they’ll give the roast potatoes a run for their money.

Why they’re the best
Pre-boiling cooks the parsnips through and means less time in the oven, preventing wrinkled, leathery, burnt bits. It also means you can leave them unpeeled, which helps lock in the moisture and gives them a delightfully fudgy texture. Crisp sage leaves complement the texture and flavour of these sweet root veg, while a scattering of toasted hazelnuts provides crunch.

Vichy carrots
This classic French technique is our favourite way to cook carrots, whatever the time of year, but it’s particularly good at Christmas – especially when you add star anise, thyme and lemon to give the dish a bright sweetness.

Why they’re the best
Simmering carrots in butter as well as water is a simple way to add richness. They absorb the butter as they cook, becoming sweet and soft. Simmering in a wide, open pan means the water evaporates quickly, leaving the butter behind, which glazes the carrots towards the end of cooking (it’s a cheffy French technique, hence the term ‘vichy’). The lemon zest and juice give them a wonderful bright tang to finish.

Braised red cabbage
There are a lot of rich, savoury flavours in a Christmas dinner, so you need a few things to cut through them with sweetness and tang. This red cabbage offers up a sweet-and-sour flavour combo packed with seasonal spice, breathing life into everything else on your plate.

Why it’s the best
Apple and black cherry jam lend complex fruitiness, while the braising liquid balances red wine vinegar, port and chicken stock. As for the spices, the citrussy note of juniper really lifts the flavour. A two-hour simmer then allows the punchy aromatics to mellow and the cabbage to soften while retaining some texture. The whole thing finishes up a beautiful purple, with the cherry jam adding superstar glossiness to the dish.

Sausage, sage, prune and onion stuffing
Stuffing can be flavoured in all sorts of ways, be it vegetarian or meaty, served as a loaf or formed into balls (but rarely stuffed inside the bird as it takes so long to cook through). This is our favourite – rich and savoury with a light texture, fragranced with sage and with a hint of sweetness from prunes.

Why it’s the best
The two best stuffings are either sage and onion or sausage and prune (and we will die on this hill). This one contains both, combining the medieval flavours of meat and dried fruit with the more modern (yet still traditional) earthy savouriness of sage and onion.

These stuffing balls are larger than usual and this helps keep them juicy inside and stops them drying out. Also, they’re kept fluffy and light by the fresh breadcrumbs which helps to create a more tender texture and also absorbs the moisture (and flavour) released from the onions and sausagemeat. Those juicy prunes add little bursts of sweetness, cutting through the rich meat. The result is pretty epic!

Marmalade pigs in blankets
Always the first thing to disappear from the table, pigs in blankets are truly great if you make them yourself. These citrus-glazed piggies are worth far more than the 10 minutes it takes to prepare them.

Why they’re the best
Chipolatas are ideal for PIBs – thin enough to cook quickly but big enough to stay juicy and bouncy. Marmalade works beautifully here, providing a sweet, sticky glaze, a festive citrus flavour, plus a bitter note to balance everything.

The main event

Roast turkey
A turkey that’s beautifully presented, richly flavoured, tender and juicy – that’s what you want on Christmas Day. Best of all, it’s a simple process that gently adds fragrant lemon and thyme to every bite.

Why it’s the best
The brining seasons the meat throughout and fills it with moisture, while brushing the bird with mayonnaise will be a revelation if you’ve never tried it – crisp, even browning here we come… The fierce-then-gentle roasting method helps you to achieve that crucial crisp-but-juicy brilliance, while removing the legs solves the eternal problem of getting the breast and the legs cooked to perfection at the same time.

The quality of your turkey is of course paramount – if you can, buy a fresh free-range bird for the very best flavour and texture.

The sauces

Cranberry sauce
Our ultimate cranberry sauce is ready in 20 minutes, you can make it in advance and it’s the perfect balance between tart and sweet, with a heap of citrussy spice thrown in.

Why it’s the best
The perfect balance of tart and sweet is key, but it’s the additional flavours that take this sauce to the next level. We’ve upped the caramel flavour with maple syrup, boosted the sharpness with citrus and brandy, and added plenty of festive warming spice with star anise, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice.

Toasted sourdough bread sauce
In our book, bread sauce is an unsung festive hero and an essential for Christmas dinner. Spooned generously onto the plate and swirled with the gravy, there are few things tastier to dunk a piece of turkey or roast potato into. This version amplifies the flavour of the bread – if it’s not the best bread sauce you’ve ever had, we’ll give you your money back!

Why it’s the best
Infusing the cream overnight gives a highly flavoured sauce that offers so much more than richness. As for the bread, sourdough brings plenty of flavour and lifts everything with a subtle sour tang. Toasting the bread gives it a lovely nuttiness, which then infuses into the cream. Plus… We’ve added crunch to finish!

Turkey gravy
A good gravy with plenty of flavour makes all the difference to your Christmas dinner. If you prepare a deeply flavoured stock in advance, the rest is easy – just make sure it’s served hot!

Why it’s the best
By roasting the giblets or some chicken wings, you get a deliciously deep and flavourful stock when it comes to the infusion. Saved-up veg peelings add depth and colour, while dry sherry cuts through the rich stock. Finally, two not-so-secret additions (Worcestershire sauce and miso) amp up all those wonderful savoury flavours.

Don’t forget to have our full Christmas dinner time plan to hand on the big day.