23 Easy Holiday Recipes to Use This Season

By Food & Wine
Updated December 04, 2019
Whether it's an easy dip as an appetizer or a simple salad or side to share at the table, every cook needs some go-to simple recipes for holiday gatherings. From a three-ingredient prime rib roast to a garlic-and-herb-crusted leg of lamb, here are some of our favorite easy holiday recipes.
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Three-Ingredient Prime Rib Roast

Credit: © Con Poulos
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Coffee and prime rib seem like unlikely partners, but Ryan Farr’s recipe reveals they both have an earthy quality that makes them a natural match. Just be sure to scrape off any excess coffee rub from the meat before serving.

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Mussels on the Half Shell with Curried Crumbs

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This starter is inspired by mouclade, the classic Bordelais mussels in saffron or curry cream. Here, plump mussels are topped with garlic-curry-bread-crumb butter and broiled until sizzling.

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Smoked-Trout-and-Caper-Cream-Cheese Toasts

Credit: © Michael Turek
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Inspired by the classic combination of bagels with lox and cream cheese, Tory Miller devised this variation using smoked, locally raised trout and homemade English muffins. It would be equally good on other breads, such as a baguette, or even the bagel that inspired it.

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Speck-Wrapped Haricots Verts with Date Molasses

Credit: Caitlin Bensel
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Wrapped in salty speck and glazed with date molasses, these bundles of crisp, tender haricots verts are the perfect pairing for beef or duck. Date molasses is thinner than standard molasses, so it needs to be cooked down to reach a glaze consistency; if it sets up too much, gently reheat it.

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Beet-Carrot Slaw with Garlicky Labneh

Credit: Caitlin Bensel
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This sweet, tart, and creamy jewel-toned slaw is filled with freshly shredded beets and carrots and tangy labneh. Make fast work of shredding carrots and beets using a food processor fitted with a grating attachment.

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Date, Goat Cheese and Pancetta on Walnut Bread

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Holiday Make-Ahead Tip: The sandwiches can be covered with a dish towel and kept at room temperature for up to 2 hours.

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Smoked-Duck Salad with Walnuts and Raspberries

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Traditional southwestern French flavors—meaty duck breasts, duck cracklings, toasted walnuts and nut oil—pair with sweet, tangy raspberries and slightly bitter frisèe to make this completely original salad.

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Spiced Cashew Brittle and Chocolate Crunch Bark

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Cayenne-spiked cashew brittle is delicious alongside crunchy chocolate bark.

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Blood Orange and Red Onion Salad

Credit: © Marcus Nilsson
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Mike Price drizzles blood orange slices with a Greek olive oil called Iliada. Pressed from kalamata olives, the oil’s gentle fruitiness and lack of bitter finish make it ideal for salads. If blood oranges aren’t available, navel oranges or tangerines are excellent substitutes.

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Garlic-and-Herb-Crusted Leg of Lamb

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This leg of lamb is perfectly juicy in the center, with a fantastic crust. The recipe is so easy that it’s ideal for a dinner party.

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Miso-Infused Cream Cheese Spread

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Cooks in Japan cure all kinds of food in miso, from fish to tofu. Inspired, chef David Myers uses the fermented soybean paste to flavor cream cheese.

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Green Beans Two Ways

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Instead of just steaming or boiling green beans, Katie Workman first sautés them in butter and garlic, then simmers them in chicken broth. For adults, she adds fresh herbs and citrus—both zest and juice—giving the beans a fresh, vibrant flavor.

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Silky Cauliflower Soup

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Holiday Make-Ahead Tip: The soup can be made in advance and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

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Baked Huevos Rancheros

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For a Holiday Brunch: Traditional huevos rancheros are fried eggs served over tortillas and smothered in sauce and cheese. Here, Grace Parisi bakes eggs, tortilla chips and cheese in a seasoned tomato sauce in individual gratin dishes. For more sophisticated eaters, swap pepper Jack for the Monterey Jack to get a spicy kick.

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Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Thyme

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Chef Nuno Mendes separates brussels sprout leaves by hand before sautéing them, an extremely time-consuming task. Thinly slicing the sprouts vertically—by hand or with a food processor fitted with a slicing blade—gets similar results in a fraction of the time.

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Tomato Tartlets

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These luscious little tarts are filled with fresh ricotta. The trick to making the cheese silky is to puree it before spreading it on the flaky pastry and topping it with oven-roasted tomatoes.

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Sautéed Radishes with Orange Butter

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Emeril Lagasse sautés radishes and their greens with bacon, shallots and orange juice until they’re perfectly crisp-tender.

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Puff Pastry Pear Tartlets

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“I had the honor of cooking for Julia Child’s 80th birthday party at the home of a former F&W editor in chief,” says Grace Parisi. “At the end of the evening, Child graciously asked, ‘Who made that looovely dessert?’ I managed to croak out, ‘I did.’ These tartlets are a variation on that recipe.”

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Two-Bite Parmesan Biscuits

Credit: Caitlin Bensel
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These addictive biscuits are baked on a bed of grated Parmesan cheese, resulting in a crispy, cheesy crust around the bottom of each biscuit.

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Roasted Cauliflower with Green Olives and Pine Nuts

Credit: © Fredrika Stjärne
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Roasting cauliflower caramelizes the florets, making them supersweet. Tossed with crunchy pine nuts and salty olives and capers, this dish is perfect with roasted chicken or steamed fish.

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Everything Twists

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Inspired by the “everything” bagel, Melissa Rubel Jacobson coats buttery puff pastry twists in a mixture of seeds and spices.

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Warm Spinach-Artichoke Dip

Credit: Justin Walker
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Filled with four kinds of cheese and plenty of tender artichoke hearts, this dip is creamy with a crisp, golden top. Be sure to drain the thawed frozen spinach well to avoid excess water, which can break the cheese sauce.

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Espresso Date Log with Greek Yogurt

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For this five-ingredient dessert, Maura Kilpatrick simmers dried dates with espresso to make a thick paste, which she molds and freezes. When she slices the log to serve, she tops it with pistachios and tangy Greek yogurt.

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