Christmas is such an amazing time to celebrate. It is a time for family, friends and colleagues to get together, relax and enjoy themselves. So Christmas party food and drink are usually at the centre of these celebrations. Consequently having the best party food is an integral part of a good party & entertaining at Christmas. Therefore we thought we would help you with coming up with 10 Christmas party food ideas.
Whether you are hosting a Christmas party at home, at a venue or in the office, good food is required. You need to get the right balance with regard to Xmas party food. What do we mean by that? Well, it needs to be tasty, easy to consume (so not spaghetti!). Likewise it should be substantial enough to soak up the drinks and cocktails that accompany these celebrations. Subsequently if you are the host this can be quite daunting so we want to give you some simple Christmas party food ideas for good homemade Christmas fayre. More over these are easy to prepare but tasty and enough to make your party goers happy and for effortless entertaining.
1. Deep Fried pasta with salsa
This is a recipe that we originally used in the summer during the festival season. However it is also great as a Xmas Party food. The crispy pasta combined with the red Salsa dip gives it a festive feel and is so tasty. Our big recommendation with this Chef in my Kitchen classic is that you make plenty! Take a look at Chef Shokri in action making these delicious bites. You will see the simplicity of them makes for effortless entertaining. In addition as well as Salsa these delicious pasta snacks go well with a sour cream based dips. They are also as equally delicious on their own.
2. Sweet Potato wedges
These wedges are such an easy party food to make. There are hundreds of variations to spice them up. Make them in batches with different herbs and spices to suit all the tastes of your guests. Just heat the oven to 200c/180c fan. Cut the potatoes into thick wedge shapes. Depending on how many flavours you are making put them into bowls and toss together with some Olive oil. Here are a few ideas of herbs and spices to flavour the wedges:
2tsp chilli flakes, 2 tsp cumin, handful of fresh rosemary and thyme, garlic.
1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp turmeric
1tsp dried rosemary, 1tsp lazy garlic
Bash each of the flavour combinations together in a pestle and mortar and combine each with one of the bowl of wedges
This is really an opportunity to use your imagination with your herb and spice rack. If you have time before the party try your own unique combinations
Make your own guacamole by bashing up some avocados with a tomato, onion, garlic and chilli. You can also serve with sour cream and other dips.
We just love this recipe which is perfect for entertaining at Christmas.
3. Small Yorkshire puddings with Pigs and Cheese in Blankets
Pigs in blankets and entertaining at Christmas go hand in hand. However we wanted to give you a small twist on this to make it a bit more interesting than sausages on sticks. It’s up to you; you can either buy some small frozen Yorkshire puddings or make your own. However making Yorkshires need not be difficult. The key is to make the right size as you want them bigger than canapé size but smaller than Sunday Roast size. We recommend using a cupcake tin to put your batter in. The following measures will make you 24.
200g plain flour, 6 eggs, 450ml milk, salt to season. Mix flour with the eggs and gradually add the milk. Put 1/2tsp oil into each hole on the tray and heat in oven. Take out and divide batter equally between the holes. Bake for roughly 20-25 minutes. Keep your eye on them so as not to burn
Take your party sausages and roll in bacon. Take your cheese rolls and roll in bacon and cook for about 20 minutes.
Make a honey mustard sauce
Place your pigs and cheese in blankets in the sauce and cover before adding them to each Yorkshire pudding.
Update – post Christmas 2019. These were the most popular Xmas party food during the 2019 season!
4. Christmas Filled Baked Potatoes
For successful & effortless entertaining you need to cater for all tastes. Not everyone likes Sweet potatoes. For your guests who don’t then a great Christmas party food is mini baked potatoes. Buy small potatoes and cover in olive oil and sea salt. Throw on a baking tray and bake for roughly 45 minutes. Cut each potato in half and scoop out the potato filling. You can make as many fillings as you like and to give you a few ideas:
Cream cheese mixed with a few chilli flakes
Sour cream mixed with chopped chives
Grated Cheese and Tuna
Cranberry and Smoked Haddock
Like the dips for the wedges the list is endless so don’t be afraid to try different flavour combinations.
5. Brie and Cranberry Parcels
For a very festive party food you cannot go wrong with brie and cranberry. There is nothing nicer than good brie melted and combined with cranberry sauce. Take that and wrap in pastry and bake. Now that is mouth watering. Take a look at Chef Shokri knocking these up easily and quickly for one of our easy party food ideas. If you are entertaining at Christmas, your guests will love these.
6. Spicy Chicken Skewers
Like some of our other Christmas party food ideas it is about effortless entertaining and using your imagination for different flavours. Create chicken kebabs with bite size chicken breast pieces. Add peppers, onions and other veg to each skewer. Try marinating different flavours such as honey and mustard, Spicy Indian flavours, Hot Moroccan flavours using harissa, BBQ flavours. Again as we have encouraged in this blog, try your own flavour combinations.
7. Duck Bites
And yet another easy Christmas party food. If you like duck and you like cranberry then you will love this. As you will see Chef Shokri absolutely loves this recipe. We only wish you were all in the kitchen with us to appreciate the aroma of this particular recipe. Let the Chef show you how it is done. Another simple recipe that your guests will love when you are entertaining at Christmas.
8. Snow White chocolate cheesecake
Now this is one of our favourite Christmas party food ideas. Well, we have given you lots of Xmas party food savoury dishes but no good party happens without some delicious sweet treats. We have chosen our ultimate dessert. This is the one all our guests rave about and come back for more. And like everything else here it is deceptively easy to make for another effortless entertaining idea.
2 packets of Maryland double chocolate chip cookies (must be these), 50g unsalted butter, 3 Tubs of mascarpone cheese (full fat), 300ml double cream, 400g of the best white chocolate you can get, 300g ice sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract.
Melt the butter and bash the biscuits. Combine together and line a round cake tin with the biscuit mixture. Place in fridge for an hour. Combine the mascarpone, cream and melted chocolate. Add the vanilla extract and then gradually add the icing sugar. Fold the mixture onto the biscuit base and set in the fridge.
You can simply dust some icing sugar on the cheesecake as a flurry of snow or create a winter wonderland for a more dramatic effect. It’s up to you. It is the best cheesecake you will ever taste. We promise.
9. Mini Christmas Cupcakes
We love mini Christmas cupcakes as they can look and taste amazing. For stunning Christmas party food you can let your imagination run wild decorating the cakes. From White butter cream snow mountains to Red coloured Santa cakes. You can go mad with the decorations and create gorgeous displays with these mini cakes. If you do then please feel free to send us some photos.
10. Cheese and Biscuits
No Christmas party should be without a festive Cheese and biscuit display. Now this really is easy Xmas party food! If you want to push the boat out then order some unusual cheeses, more than just a supermarket. Also don’t forget to have some gluten free biscuits available for your guests.
You have hopefully picked up on the theme through this blog for effortless entertaining. We also want to get your creative food juices flowing and experiment with your own flavours. As professional chefs we spend a lot of time experimenting with flavours. To us there is nothing more exciting than discovering a new flavour combination. We want you to do that as well so our message is: don’t be scared of coming up with crazy ideas. We promise you will surprise yourself with what you can create.
Have an amazing Christmas and New Year and do let us know about any of the recipes you try out. Especially if you create new ones – we would love to hear about them!
