When it comes to making Christmas dinner, we often happily offer to host. Even when we don’t, however, we’re still eager to get in on the cooking fun and contribute to the meal! That’s because we’re convinced the holidays offer up the best kinds of recipes all year long. Sure, we love turkey and all, but for us it’s actually the unique and flavourful side dishes that really make the meal! We’ve always got our eyes peeled for exciting new Christmas dinner side dishes to try out on our loved ones.
Just in case you could use some side dish inspiration this year as well, here are 15 of the most delicious looking and unique recipes we could find to help you have a mouthwatering Christmas dinner this season!
1. Cheesy garlic butter rolls
What’s better than having plan dinner rolls with your meal? Garlic bread! What’s even better than enjoying a thick piece of warm garlic bread? The same thing but topped with cheese, of course! This recipe from Delish, however, doesn’t just teach you to make any old cheesy garlic bread. These little Christmas dinner rolls are particularly perfect in texture and taste, making them a great option for dinners that involve lots of hungry guests who you’d like to impress.
2. Maple sage smashed yams with marshmallow butter
Now, being the unique recipe lovers we are, we’ve tried just about every single kind of yam and sweet potato recipe out there, particularly the ones where marshmallows are concerned. There’s just something we love so much about the flavour combination! This particular tutorial from Mom on Timeout, however, teaches you how to take that concept to the next level by adding maple and sage to the mix as well.
3. Cranberry pecan roasted vegetables
We’ll admit it; sometimes we get so distracted with potatoes and other carbs that we forget just how versatile and unique holiday vegetable dishes can be! This incredible cranberry pecan roasted vegetable recipe outlined step by step on Yellow Bliss Road is the perfect example of what we mean. We’ve made this before and received rave reviews from family and friends.
4. Pear, pomegranate, and spinach salad
Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t necessarily meant that every single dish you make has to be served hot on Christmas! We will love adding a salad to the table so that everyone has some delicious, fresh greenery on their plate too. Pomegranate has become a favourite holiday ingredient for us lately, which is why we loved this pear, pomegranate, and spinach salad so much. See how it’s made in more detail on Cooking Classy.
5. Cheesy baked asparagus
Did we really catch your attention when we started talking about cheese recipes earlier on the list but you’ve already got the bread dish covered so you’re looking for an alternative? Then we’re pleased to report to you that cheese tastes just as delicious, if not more so, on vegetables! This amazing cheesy baked asparagus from Delish is no exception.
6. Cranberry fluff salad
If you’ve never tried a fluff salad, or any other kind of sweet or marshmallow based salad, then we’re sorry to tell you that you’ve been missing out! Catch up on the experience ASAP of giving this stunningly flavourful cranberry fluff salad, outlined step by sweet, gooey step on Yellow Bliss Road. Even just the colours makes us feel like we’re in the Christmas spirit!
7. Chicken, sausage, and herb stuffing
We always make sure that there’s lots of stuffing to go around during Christmas dinner but recently we’ve been trying to play with how we make the stuffing! We’ll always love the classic recipe but sometimes it’s nice to add new ingredients or put a spin on things. This fragrant chicken, sausage, and herb stuffing featured on Skinny Taste is the perfect example of what we mean!
8. Garlic and rosemary skillet bread
Just in case you actually would like yo make your family and friends a new, delicious holiday bread to go with their meal but you’re just not feeling the addition of cheese, here’s a more herb based recipe that’s so flavourful no one will even care what you skipped! Check out how Yellow Bliss Road made delicious garlic and rosemary skillet bread in just a few quick steps.
9. Smashed Brussel sprouts
You’ve probably been reading a lot about mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes while you’ve been searching through interesting side dish options, but did you know that those aren’t actually the only things you can smash to help make part of a yummy meal? We love the way Delish mashed and seasoned Brussel sprouts in order to show everyone how delicious they really are despite their bad rep.
10. Cranberry orange sauce
Where we come from, cranberry sauce is an essential part of just about any holiday meal, but that’s especially true about Christmas! Even though we adore that regular player in Christmas dinner, we’re also always open to putting new twists on our favourite things. This super flavourful homemade cranberry orange sauce outlined step by step on Yellow Bliss Road is the perfect example of what we mean!
11. Wild rice stuffing
Perhaps you love the flavours that go into stuffing and you’re intent on making something along those lines but you actually have some relatives who can’t eat bread because they’re gluten intolerant? In that case, we have a feeling you’ll get along much better with something like this fantastic wild rice stuffing recipe outlined step by step on Iowa Girl Eats!
12. Perfect cream cheese mashed potatoes
By this time, we’ve cooked for so many different Christmas dinners that we already know how to make mashed potatoes. In fact, we know how to make all different kinds, in all different ways. Imagine how surprised we were, then, when we stumbled across this recipe from Delish and realized that we’d never tried making them with cream cheese! This tutorial shows you how to make them so they’re perfectly creamy and delicious.
13. Creamy cornbread casserole
If we’re being fully honest with you, we’d never tried a cornbread casserole before. We’d certainly tried traditional cornbread itself, but we had no idea that you even could make it into a creamy casserole dish! That’s why we tried an experimental round of it before the holidays come using this recipe from Yellow Bliss Road and we’re pleased to report that it was a huge success! We’d absolutely make this for Christmas dinner with the family.
14. Cranberry apple pecan wild rice pilaf
Did we really make an impression on you when we started talking about side dishes made from rice and gluten free options? Well, just in case the wild rice stuffing idea wasn’t quite up your alley and you’d like an alternative, here’s a fantastic idea from Carlsbad Cravings! They show you how to make cranberry apple pecan wild rice pilaf (and it’s so good that we actually make this even outside the holidays too).
15. Slow cooker creamed corn
Corn has always been one of our top choices when it comes to picking which vegetables we’ll make to go along with our Christmas dinner and it has been a staple for us for years. That’s why we’re feeling open to changing how we prepare it this season! Right now, we’re feeling pretty tempted by this delicious slow cooker creamed corn recipe featured step by step on Delish.
