Whether you’re looking for appetizers, sides, easy dinners or desserts, we’ve got the holiday recipes you need!
Just like everything else in 2020, the upcoming holiday season promises to be a different one. Whether you’re suddenly taking on preparing all the holiday meals or joining with a few others to celebrate, chances are you’re going to be cooking over these next couple of months.
So, I’ve pulled together 30 recipes for appetizers, sides, easy dinners for busy nights and desserts to help make your holiday season easier.
You’ll find some delicious food and recipes that may have you drooling on your keyboard or phone! You’re going to want to Pin this post so you can come back to it time and again.
I knew I couldn’t come up with everything on my own, so I turned to some of my blogger friends to help me share mouth-watering recipes you and your family are going to love!
Appetizer recipes
These recipes can legitimately be appetizers, but they can also be left out as snacks for people to nosh on while they wait for dinner to start or in between meals. And, honestly, they can often make easy weeknight dinners when you are busy during the holiday season!
Anything with pizza in the name is sure to be a crowd pleaser. This veggie pizza recipe from Cassie at Get Your Holiday On has a buttery crust and is stuffed full of fresh veggies and a special sauce.
Similar to the veggie pizza, this delicious BLT pizza recipe would be great as an appetizer, snack or even dinner. You can customize it based on what your family likes. It tastes good served warm, room temperature or cold.
Pizza flavors are always a hit with my family, and I’d guess that’s true for most families. These pepperoni pinwheels are easy to come together and make a great appetizer, snack or dinner. Using canned pizza crust makes them even easier!
If you’re combining bacon, ranch and cheese, you know you’ve got a hit on your hands. This bacon ranch cheese bread starts with frozen bread dough to make it easier. It’s a terrific for snacking!
You can’t get an easier appetizer or snack that tortilla chips and salsa. To kick it up a notch, try making your own salsa using this pantry salsa recipe. It’s super easy and will impress people to know you made salsa from scratch in the middle of cold weather!
Side dish recipes
If you’re looking for an alternative to canned, jiggly cranberry sauce, Heather from The Supermom Life has you covered with this recipe for fresh cranberry orange relish. Served cold, this simple recipe features fresh cranberries and oranges. Check out the adorable way she garnished it as well!
Stuffing is essential to holiday meals. It can be tricky, though, for those who are gluten free, have allergies or are vegan. Rebecca from Strength and Sunshine, which specializes in delicious gluten-free and allergy friendly recipes, has a Gluten-Free Vegan Stuffing recipe that will have all your dinner guests asking for seconds!
If a recipe includes bacon and even onion, then I’m pretty much on board! Heather from The Super Mom Life has a recipe for collard greens that will make you want to try them if you never have. She serves them up regularly at holiday dinners for her family.
Another delicious stuffing or dressing recipe comes from Heather of the Super Mom Life. This dill stuffing recipe can be used to stuff a turkey or be made as a separate dish.
Potato gratin goes by a variety of names from scalloped potatoes to party potatoes. I don’t really care what they’re called. Anything with potatoes and cheese has my tastebuds excited! Emma from Emma Eats & Explores has a slight twist on this dish by using sweet potatoes instead! Easier to digest, fewer carbs and more vitamins, sweet potatoes offer a healthy and delicious alternative. This cheesy sweet potato gratin recipe is creamy, crispy and cheesy. It’s sure to be a hit!
Getting kids to eat veggies can be a challenge. But Cassie from Foster to Adopt has a way to make veggies fun. These baked broccoli chips are great as a side dish or for snacking at the holidays. They are low carb and a yummy, easy way to eat veggies. It’s a win all around!
Easy dinner recipes
One-pot dinners are always a great for easy dinners during busy times — like the holiday season. Even better are ones that don’t need a lot of ingredients! Mindy from Mindy Jones Blog has an easy 3-ingredient chili recipe to keep you warm and full on cold, busy nights.
I could (and do!) eat breakfast food any time of day: breakfast, lunch or dinner. So this next recipe could be an easy dinner or a nice warm breakfast to get your day started off. It’s perfect if you find yourself with extra guests for breakfast as well. This hearty and sweet apple sausage hash casserole from Jenny at Wholesome Family Living can be made ahead and is freezer friendly.
If you’re looking for twist on tacos for an easy dinner, check out this taco cornbread bake. It has all the flavors of tacos in a warm bake that is easy to serve up to your family on a busy night. You can easily double the recipe and feed a crowd.
One pot dinners are super easy. Having fewer dishes to clean is always a good thing! And this one pan autumn chicken dinner from Tabatha at A Joy Fueled Journey is perfect for busy weeknights in the midst of the holiday season. The chicken and veggies cook all together for a yummy and filling dinner.
If you’re craving comfort food for an easy dinner but want to make sure it’s healthy and satisfying to both your vegan and meat-eating crowd, this Vegan Cauliflower Lentil Loaf from Rebecca at Strength and Sunshine will hit the spot. It mimics classic meatloaf but is gluten-free, nut-free and soy-free.
Recipes for the slow cooker that you can put together and then forget about are great for busy seasons. This slow cooker potato soup is one such recipe. By using frozen hash browns, it literally takes about five minutes to put together and results in a warm, hearty dinner. You can double the recipe and fed a huge crowd with it.
Dessert recipes
Is monkey bread a breakfast or a dessert? I don’t know and don’t even care. I just know it’s delicious! Kate from My Joy in Chaos has this ultimate homemade monkey bread recipe you and your family will love. This make-ahead monkey bread is a full platter of fluffy dough bursting with cinnamon sugar and coated in a homemade caramel sauce.
Chocolate and mint are delicious. And the holidays are a great time for making cookies. Combine all of that together and get a mouth-watering peppermint chocolate chip cookie that Lorie from lemons + zest has perfected. It’s a soft, chewy cookie packed with candy canes and chocolate chips that Santa will love — and so will your family!
Speaking of cookies (which are totally my thing during the holiday season), these peanut butter cookies are easy and delicious. They are soft on the inside with just the right amount of crisp to the outside.
I would be remiss if I didn’t share this toffee cookie recipe. The perfect mix of chewy and crunchy, these cookies are the most requested item I make. Just beware that they are kinda addicting!
For a classic fall flavor, these apple pie bars from Jenny at Wholesome Family Living are a nice alternative to a traditional apple pie. They are sugar-, dairy- and gluten-free apple pie bars that can also be made vegan. They’re ideal for folks who don’t like a lot of crust because they have a more filling-to-crust ratio!
One of the best kind of recipes for the busy holiday season is one that is quick, easy and doesn’t require many ingredients. That describes this whipped pudding pie recipe perfectly! With only four ingredients, you can pick any flavor of instant pudding mix to use. Butterscotch, chocolate or mint chocolate work incredibly well for cooler weather. And, you don’t even have to use your oven for this one. So easy and so delicious!
Mmmmmmm. Chocolate! I love chocolate, you guys! And this recipe for chocolate chestnut pots from Emma at Emma Eats and Explores is a deliciously rich and decadent treat. It would be a scrumptious ending to any meal.
Whether you love everything pumpkin spice flavored or not, pumpkin pie is surely a staple throughout the holiday season. Katie from The Curated Mom has a recipe for mini pumpkin pies. Seriously anything in mini form is so fun to eat — and it feels like it’s less calories by doing so!
Speaking of pumpkin, my favorite way to enjoy pumpkin and its flavors is through pumpkin bread. It makes me happy. While I’m listing it under desserts, because it surely can be a dessert, our family has it for breakfast, snacks and dessert!
Another great pumpkin option that goes beyond pie is pumpkin pie truffles. This recipe from Jenny at Wholesome Family Living combines yummy pumpkin with decadent chocolate for a flavor explosion your family and friends will love.
Sometimes the best recipes are less recipe and more hack. If you can start with a box mix that’s easy and then kick it up a notch, why not?! This one hack can make a brownie mix so fudgy good that everyone will ask you for the recipe. It’s up to you if you tell them how easy it is!
Another “hack” sort of recipe uses a boxed cake mix. If you’re making a cake or cupcakes, check out these four easy tweaks to make a cake mix taste better than a bakery cake.
And then, of course, you’re going to need to top your cake or cupcakes. This quick and easy buttercream will make you swoon. Even my non-icing liking family members (who I completely don’t understand) love this icing!
