Christmas Dinner Foods, Ranked From Best to Skip
Every Christmas table has its heroes and its dead weight. We're ranking the 26 dishes that show up most, from the centerpiece roasts to the sides nobody asked for but somehow always get made.
This list leans on how fans and critics actually talk about these dishes, year after year, in forums and reviews and family arguments. Some calls are easy. Others, like gravy versus cranberry sauce or mashed versus roast potatoes, split rooms right down the middle. We picked a side. Tell us where we got it wrong.
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SS Tier: The reasons the table exists
Roast turkey
The default centerpiece for a reason. Nobody actually agrees it's the best-tasting protein on the table, but it's the one dish that makes the day feel like Christmas, and a well-brined one with crisp skin can genuinely compete with anything else here.
About Roast turkey
A whole roasted turkey is the traditional centerpiece of Christmas dinner in the US, UK, and several other countries. It's typically brined or buttered before roasting and served with gravy and stuffing.
- Common pairing
- Gravy and stuffing
- Origin
- Popularized in US/UK holiday tradition
Glazed ham
Sweet, salty, and almost impossible to mess up badly. The glaze crust, whether it's brown sugar or honey-mustard, is the best bite of the whole meal more years than people like to admit.
About Glazed ham
A cured ham baked with a sweet glaze, often brown sugar, honey, or mustard-based. A common alternative or companion to turkey on Christmas tables.
- Typical glaze
- Brown sugar or honey-mustard
Mashed potatoes
The real centerpiece, even if turkey gets top billing. Butter, cream, maybe a little gravy pooling in the middle, this is the dish people quietly go back for thirds of.
About Mashed potatoes
Boiled potatoes mashed with butter and milk or cream. A near-universal side dish on Christmas tables.
- Key ingredients
- Potatoes, butter, milk/cream
Stuffing
Herby, crisp on top, soft underneath, and arguably better than whatever meat it's sitting next to. Fans are split on bread versus cornbread versions, but almost nobody puts stuffing below the top tier.
About Stuffing
A savory bread-based side, seasoned with herbs and sometimes sausage, cooked inside or alongside the main roast.
- Base
- Bread or cornbread
Gravy
The connective tissue of the whole plate. A dry Christmas dinner without good gravy is a disaster, and a great one can rescue mediocre turkey and bland potatoes in the same pour.
About Gravy
A sauce made from meat drippings, stock, and often flour, poured over turkey, potatoes, and stuffing.
- Base
- Meat drippings and stock
AA Tier: Big players, no complaints
Prime rib
Expensive, impressive, and worth it when someone in the family actually knows how to work a meat thermometer. The horseradish on the side does a lot of heavy lifting too.
About Prime rib
A roasted cut of beef rib, known for its tenderness and rich flavor. Popular as a premium Christmas main in the US, often served with horseradish sauce.
- Cut
- Beef rib roast
- Common side
- Horseradish sauce
Pigs in blankets
Small, sausage-wrapped, and gone within minutes of hitting the table. British and Irish tables treat these as non-negotiable, and once you've had them you understand why.
About Pigs in blankets
Small sausages wrapped in bacon, a staple side on British and Irish Christmas dinner tables.
- Main ingredients
- Sausage and bacon
Roast potatoes
Crispy-edged, fluffy-middled, cooked in goose or duck fat if anyone's being serious about it. The main rival to mashed potatoes for best starch on the table, and plenty of fans will argue these actually win.
About Roast potatoes
Potatoes roasted in oil or fat until crisp outside and soft inside. A staple especially on British and Irish Christmas tables.
- Often cooked in
- Goose or duck fat
Pecan pie
Sticky, sweet, borderline a candy bar in pie form. It doesn't need Christmas to be good, but it earns its spot at the end of the meal every time.
About Pecan pie
A sweet pie filled with pecans in a syrupy filling, a popular American holiday dessert.
- Main ingredient
- Pecans
BB Tier: Reliable, not thrilling
Cranberry sauce
The tart cut-through the meal needs, assuming it's not just the can-shaped jelly served out of habit. Homemade with orange zest, it's genuinely great; straight from the can, it's mostly tradition.
About Cranberry sauce
A tart-sweet sauce made from cranberries, served alongside turkey or ham. Common in both jellied and whole-berry homemade forms.
- Main ingredient
- Cranberries
Dinner rolls
Warm, buttery, useful for mopping up gravy at the end. Nobody picks rolls as their favorite dish, but a table without them feels incomplete.
About Dinner rolls
Small soft bread rolls served warm alongside the main meal, often with butter.
- Typical serving
- Warm with butter
Deviled eggs
More of an appetizer than a dinner dish, but they show up on plenty of Christmas spreads anyway. Reliable, a little old-fashioned, always the first tray emptied at smaller gatherings.
About Deviled eggs
Hard-boiled eggs halved and filled with a seasoned yolk mixture, usually served cold as an appetizer or side.
- Serving style
- Cold, halved
Roast goose
Rich, fatty, and the traditional British choice before turkey took over. Harder to cook well than turkey, which is probably why it's fallen out of favor, but done right it's genuinely special.
About Roast goose
A traditional British Christmas main that predates turkey's popularity. Known for rich, fatty meat and crisp skin.
- Tradition
- Pre-20th century British Christmas staple
Beef Wellington
A showpiece for people who want to prove something in the kitchen. Gorgeous when the pastry stays crisp and the beef hits medium-rare, a soggy mess when it doesn't.
About Beef Wellington
Beef tenderloin coated in pate and duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry, then baked. A showpiece main dish for special occasions including Christmas.
- Key components
- Beef, mushroom duxelles, puff pastry
Pumpkin pie
More of a Thanksgiving fixture that sticks around for Christmas out of momentum. Perfectly good with whipped cream, just not the showstopper some menus treat it as.
About Pumpkin pie
A custard pie made with pumpkin puree and warm spices, a staple American dessert for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
- Main ingredient
- Pumpkin puree
CC Tier: Fine if it's there
Glazed carrots
Sweet, simple, and does the job of adding color to the plate. Nobody's mad when they're there, nobody misses them much when they're not.
About Glazed carrots
Carrots cooked with butter and sugar or honey until tender and glossy. A simple, common Christmas vegetable side.
- Typical glaze
- Butter and honey or sugar
Candied yams
Marshmallow-topped sweet potatoes read more like dessert than a side dish. Fans are genuinely split on whether this belongs on a dinner plate at all, but it keeps showing up.
About Candied yams
Sweet potatoes baked with sugar, butter, and often marshmallows. A common American Christmas and Thanksgiving side.
- Common topping
- Marshmallows
Brussels sprouts
The most argued-about vegetable on the list. Roasted with bacon and a little balsamic, they're actually great; boiled plain, they're the reason people claim to hate sprouts.
About Brussels sprouts
Small cabbage-like vegetables, often roasted or boiled, and a traditional Christmas vegetable in the UK.
- Family
- Brassica
Mac and cheese
A newer arrival at a lot of Christmas tables, especially in the US, and a genuinely good one if the cheese sauce isn't gluey. Feels slightly out of place next to turkey and cranberry sauce, but people keep adding it anyway.
About Mac and cheese
Pasta in a cheese sauce, baked or stovetop. Increasingly common as a Christmas side, especially in the US.
- Main ingredients
- Pasta and cheese sauce
Yule log
A chocolate sponge roll dressed up to look festive. Tastes fine, rarely tastes memorable, and mostly wins on presentation rather than flavor.
About Yule log
A rolled sponge cake, usually chocolate, decorated to resemble a log. A traditional French and British Christmas dessert.
- French name
- Bûche de Noël
DD Tier: Usually disappoints
Eggnog
Thick, boozy, and the most polarizing drink of the season by a wide margin. People either stock up on it every December or can't get past the texture, and there's not much middle ground.
About Eggnog
A rich, chilled drink made from milk, cream, sugar, and eggs, often spiced or spiked with alcohol. A traditional Christmas season beverage.
- Main ingredients
- Milk, cream, eggs, sugar
Creamed corn
Soft, sweet, and kind of forgettable next to almost everything else on this list. It fills a bowl without really earning its spot.
About Creamed corn
Corn kernels cooked in a creamy sauce, served as a side dish, common at American holiday meals.
- Main ingredient
- Corn
FF Tier: Let it go
Green bean casserole
Canned soup, canned beans, fried onions on top, and a reputation that's mostly nostalgia at this point. Fans defend it hard, but on taste alone it's the weakest thing on the table.
About Green bean casserole
A baked dish of green beans, cream of mushroom soup, and fried onions. An American side most associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas.
- Key ingredients
- Green beans, cream of mushroom soup, fried onions
How we ranked them
We ranked these on taste payoff relative to effort, how essential each dish is to a "real" Christmas dinner, and how often it actually gets finished rather than left on the side of the plate. We weighed broad consensus from cooking forums, food writers and family traditions, then made a judgment call wherever opinion was split. Nostalgia counts for something. So does a dish that's just not that good no matter how many people keep making it.
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Rank these yourselfFAQ
What is the most popular Christmas dinner main?
Roast turkey remains the most common centerpiece in the US and UK, with glazed ham and prime rib as the biggest alternatives.
Is green bean casserole actually a Christmas dish?
It's more strongly associated with Thanksgiving in the US, but plenty of families carry it over to Christmas dinner too.
What vegetable gets the most hate at Christmas dinner?
Brussels sprouts, usually because of how they're cooked. Boiled plain they go soft and bitter, but roasted with bacon or butter they win over a lot of skeptics.
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Image credits
- Roast turkeyPhoto: Patrick Fitzgerald from Atlanta, GA, USA, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Glazed hamPhoto: @joefoodie from USA, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Mashed potatoesPhoto: sousvideguy, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- StuffingPhoto: Dorevabelfiore, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- GravyPhoto: Scott Veg, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Prime ribPhoto: Daderot, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Pigs in blanketsPhoto: Valereee, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Roast potatoesPhoto: CharmaineZoe's Marvelous Melange from England, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Pecan piePhoto: Librarygroover, CC BY 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Cranberry saucePhoto: Veganbaking.net from USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Dinner rollsPhoto: Daderot, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Deviled eggsPhoto: Robert Loescher, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Roast goosePhoto: Suginami, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Beef WellingtonPhoto: Snielsen1112, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Pumpkin piePhoto: Evan-Amos, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Glazed carrotsPhoto: Karen and Brad Emerson, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Candied yamsPhoto: Teresa Trimm, CC BY-SA 2.0 (via Openverse) · License · Source
- Brussels sproutsPhoto: Kelly Sue, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Mac and cheesePhoto: Texasfoodgawker, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Yule logPhoto: Mitantig, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- EggnogPhoto: Dinner Series, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Creamed cornPhoto: Mark Miller, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source
- Green bean casserolePhoto: Rick Kimpel from Spring, TX, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons) · License · Source