Do you want to break from tradition a bit this Christmas when it comes to your holiday meal? If you’re looking to shake things up, I’ve got ideas for a non-traditional Christmas dinner that your whole family will love!

Every culture that celebrates Christmas seems to have a traditional Christmas meal. In my family of origin, that’s ham. My husband’s family of origin, on the other hand, does beef and a whole bunch of fish dishes. To be clear, we are both American, so this varies widely over specific geographic locations.

Traditional meals are great, please don’t get me wrong. But sometimes it’s fun to mix it up and try something new to make the holiday a little more exciting. This is especially true if you have a little bit different of a holiday ahead of you this year.

A casual Christmas

I started leaning into non-traditional Christmas dinner options a few years ago as our family holiday dynamic began to change. We live in the same city as my husband’s parents and siblings, but very far away from my parents and sister. Because we have small children and don’t them to be away from their house on Christmas, that means we largely celebrate Christmas with my in-laws. My husband’s family focuses on Christmas Eve for their big Christmas meal, which leaves us largely on our own for Christmas Day. When it’s just the four of us (or five, if my mother-in-law joins us), it doesn’t seem worth it to make a whole spread. So, I’ve gotten creative for our Christmas Day meal recently.

If you’re in a similar casual Christmas situation or you just want to have some food fun this Christmas, why not try a non-traditional Christmas dinner menu? I’m sharing below some I have tried in the past and some I’d like to try in the future. Let’s consider non-traditional Christmas dinner ideas, shall we?

Non-Traditional Christmas Dinner Ideas

               BBQ

               Italian

               Tex Mex

               Cook-out

               Pizza

               Sandwiches

BBQ

Who doesn’t love a BBQ feast? OK, if you or any of your guests are vegetarian, this might not be the best fit for you, but if you are meat eaters, give this non-traditional Christmas dinner a try!

Meat

You’re welcome to pull out all the stops for the meat for your Christmas meal if the spirit moves you, but my suggestion is to keep it simple and use your crock pot. It’s amazing how delicious a hunk of meat rubbed with some spices plus store-bought BBQ sauce can be when it comes out of an 8-10 hour hang in the slow cooker. My favorite meats to cook this way are chicken breasts and pork shoulder. Both turn out pretty perfect every time and they couldn’t be easier to prepare.

Sides

Everyone has their ideal sides to eat at a BBQ feast, so go with your favorites. If you want some inspiration, here are my favorites.

Mac & cheese

Don’t skimp and make a stove-top version of mac and cheese. Baked is always the way to go. I always always use the Southern Living baked mac and cheese recipe. It comes out exactly how I want mac and cheese to taste every time.

Cole slaw

There is no topping my favorite cole slaw from my favorite restaurant, but you can get a pretty good slaw with not a lot of effort at home. Just buy a package of pre-shredded cole slaw mix (I like the package that includes carrots, but this is a personal preference) and make a quick dressing from a scant ½ cup mayo, 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, a tsp or two of white sugar, salt, pepper, and a sprinkling of poppy seeds. Mix the shredded veggies with the dressing and let it hang in the fridge for an hour or two before it’s time to eat. The perfect topping for your meat of choice!

Baked beans

I love baked beans so much, but I rarely make them. A BBQ Christmas dinner would be a perfect excuse! I take a doctor up canned beans approach, courtesy of How Sweet Eats for my baked beans. The only thing I change from her recipe is that I use classic Bush’s Baked Beans rather than the Grillin’ Beans she suggests.  

Rolls

Grab some from the store. Even the cheap ones will suffice.

Italian

I don’t have a drop of Italian blood in me, but man do I love Italian food. I know I’m not alone. If you and your family like Italian food too, why not try an Italian feast for Christmas dinner?

To me, an Italian feast will always be a baked pasta. I’m pretty partial to baked ziti, but lasagna or stuffed shells or whatever baked pasta you like best are equally fabulous non-traditional Christmas dinners. If you want to go the ziti route, here is how I make baked ziti.

Baked ziti

As is typical for me, I don’t really follow a recipe. Cook a pound of ziti pasta until it is al dente. Mix the hot pasta with an egg, a 16 oz container of ricotta cheese, a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese, and a ladle-full or two of the sauce of your choice. Take another ladle-full of the sauce you are using and pop it on the bottom of one 9 x 13 baking dish or two 8×8 baking dishes (this is the move if you’re not feeding many but you like leftovers). Spoon the pasta mixture into the pan. Cover the pasta with sliced mozzarella cheese. Cover the cheese with more sauce, then sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Bake covered at 350°F for about 30 minutes, then take the tin foil off and bake another 5 minutes or so until the cheese browns.

Garlic bread

When I’m making a big Italian dinner, I also often make homemade garlic bread to go with my pasta. My dad’s mom made garlic bread for many family meals when I was growing up (especially if my uncle was in town) and it was one of the only things she made that was truly spectacular. She was many things, but a good cook was not how anyone would have described her. Except for the garlic bread. I use her same technique, but swapped a few things to really push it over the edge. Please try this garlic bread, friends!

Buy a loaf of fresh Italian bread. Don’t get it pre-sliced! Slice the bread such that the bottom of the bread remains connected to the loaf. Melt 5-6 Tbsp butter and to it add 5-6 cloves of minced garlic. Take a pastry brush and paint both sides of each slice of bread with the garlic butter. You should have some left over and you’re going to want to pour that over the top. Wrap your loaf in tin foil and pop it into a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes. Heaven awaits you.

Salad

Don’t forget to serve your carbs with a big green salad. My family likes to keep it simple with Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, croutons, and Italian dressing. If your family prefers a different green salad, make that.

Tex Mex

Just like I’m not Italian, I’m also not Mexican or from Texas. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good Tex Mex meal every once in a while. I think a good Tex Mex spread would make a great non-traditional Christmas dinner.

If I decide to make a Tex Mex Christmas dinner this year, I think I’m going with tacos. I’d probably stick to regular old ground beef taco meat, some soft flour tortillas and crunchy corn taco shells, salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream, thinly sliced lettuce, and maybe some avocado. These certainly aren’t authentic tacos, but they’re tasty, easy to make, and my kids like them. So that makes them winners in my book!

If you’re interested in a Tex Mex Christmas dinner, but tacos aren’t your speed, you have lots more options to choose from! You can make enchiladas, fajitas, burritos, or even a huge sheet pan of nachos. Any Tex Mex meal is incomplete without a bunch of chips and salsa, so make sure you have them at the ready!

Cook-out

Who says you have to save a cook-out for summer holidays? Burgers and dogs are delicious anytime of the year, whether you eat them inside or outside. They’re also kid-friendly crowd-pleasers that can be customized to anyone’s preference. When you sit and think about it, burgers and dogs make a darn good non-traditional Christmas dinner!

If you happen to live somewhere warm, it makes total sense to keep it traditional and cook them outside on the grill. If you live somewhere cold, you can still cook your burgers and dogs outside on the grill if you’re comfortable braving the weather. If it’s just a bit too frigid out there for you, fire up your grill pan and make your meats indoors.

As for what to put on the side, you can absolutely stick with classic pasta salad or potato salad, baked beans, or whatever else you like to make for the Fourth of July. Good food has no season!

Pizza

I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t be excited about eating pizza on Christmas. Heck, you can even shape your dough into fun Christmas shapes like wreaths or Christmas trees. To truly make pizza the ultimate non-traditional Christmas dinner plan, make it do-it-yourself pizza and let everyone who’s coming to Christmas dinner customize their own pizza by adding the toppings of their choice! If you’re going the make-your-own pizza route for Christmas dinner, make sure you talk to your guests first so you can ensure that you have everyone’s preferred toppings on hand and ready to go on Christmas Day!

Sandwiches

Repeat after me: Christmas dinner doesn’t need to be fancy. Perhaps the most non-traditional Christmas dinner you can choose is the humble sandwich. And I’m not talking fancy sandwiches, either. I mean set out a few different bread options, a few different cold cuts, and few types of sliced cheese, condiments, and veggies and instruct your guests to make themselves a sandwich. Open a few bags of chips and you’ve got dinner covered.

You might be laughing at the idea of serving cold cut sandwiches for Christmas dinner but hear me out! I think this is a great idea if you’re playing games or watching movies on Christmas evening. No one needs to take time away from the festivities to cook anything and everyone gets a full belly!

Other posts

Do you need more Christmas help? Check out these posts that I hope are helpful:

Are you giving a non-traditional Christmas dinner a try this year? If so, let us know what you’re making down in the comments or on Instagram @sarainseason.

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