10 Christmas Roasts Everyone Will Absolutely Love
Christmas is a time for family and gifts and celebrations. In many households, the focal point of the holiday season is the Christmas dinner—and the focal point of any holiday meal is the roast. Here are 10 Christmas Roasts that everyone will adore.
1. Classic Cranberry Pot Roast
Well Pot Roast is not necessarily exclusively a holiday meal, the cranberries in this dish turn it into a classic Christmas roast. To make this dish, you’ll need a 2-pound chuck roast, half a cup of both sugar and good wine vinegar, one 12-ounce bag of cranberries, one orange, and one teaspoon of olive oil. Heat olive oil in a casserole dish. While oil is heating, dredge meat on all sides in sugar and then brown evenly in a shallow pan. Add vinegar, cranberries, and remaining sugar to the pan, stirring until partly dissolved, and pour into casserole dish with the browned meat. Zest the orange, adding the juice to the dish. Cover and roast for about two hours, turning the meat ever half hour or so until done.
2. Beef Rib Christmas Roast
A beef rib Christmas roast might seem daunting due to the addition of the rib, but the rib provides an unbelievable amount of flavor to the roast. Preheat oven to 485, heavily rubbing butter onto the cut end of the roast. Allow roast to sit, and combine 1/4 cup of flour with a tablespoon of salt and black pepper—rubbing mixture vigorously into the meat. Place meat rib-size down onto a shallow roasting pan, roasting for about 30 minutes—or until meat is nice and dark—then reduce the heat to 350 from another 20 minutes. Let the meat rest for 30 minutes, carve, and serve.
3. Christmas Roast Goose
This Christmas roast is one of the easiest, more traditional Christmas meals. First, prepare the goose—removing any inners, trimming excess fat, and rubbing the skin dry. Allow the goose to rest refrigerated for at least six hours. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 325 and carefully prick the goose all over with a very sharp knife—working at an angle to avoid piercing the meat. After seasoning the goose heavily with salt and ground black pepper, cook for one hour before pouring off the extra fat and continue cooking for another hour. Once the internal temperature has reached 165, allow the gose to rest uncovered on a cutting board for about thirty minutes. Carve and serve with cranberry sauce or, preferably, another fruity side dish.
4. Ham Christmas Roasts
This Christmas roast ham falls between a traditional roast ham and something more like a glazed ham. Regardless, this ham roast is a simple and delicious centerpoint of any Christmas meal. This recipe only requires five ingredients—a bone-in ham of at least 8-pounds, whole cloves, at least a teaspoon of dried mustard powder, a cup of brown sugar, and about 1/4 cup of sherry. Heat the oven to about 325 degrees, centering the ham in a large roasting pan, and creating a diamond pattern across the skin with a sharp knife. Insert a clove into each scored pattern and place in the oven for roughly 25-minutes per pound, adding about a cup of water to bottom the pan. While the ham is roasting, combine the dry mustard powder, brown sugar, and sherry to make a paste—applying mixture to the ham for the last 20 minutes of roasting. This ham makes a classic Christmas roast that will be a hit every year!
5. Budget Christmas Roasts
This budget Christmas roast is tasty and a great fallback for students unable to spend the holidays with their loved ones. This recipes requires a roast of at least two and a half pounds, a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola or any other dark soda, one can of cream of mushroom soup, a package of dry onion soup, and starchy vegetables of your choice. Place the roast in an 8-quart slow-cooker, nestling chunks of vegetables around the roast, top with the dry onion soup powder. Combination the cream of mushroom soup and soda, stirring until smooth, and pour over the roast and vegetables—cook for up to eight hours. This is a great budget Christmas roast that is easy to share.
6. Vegetarian Christmas Roasts
This easy Christmas roast is so tasty it will change your opinion of the flavor of vegetarian cooking. All that is needed is a few large onions, peeled chestnuts, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, ready-to-eat dried apricots, a pinch of sage and red pepper flakes, a few tablespoons of cranberry sauce, and roughly half a cup of breadcrumbs. Combine onions, peeled chestnuts, sweet potatoes, dried apricots, sage and red pepper flakes, cranberry sauce, and bread crumbs in a mixing bowl—chopping and peeling when necessary—and transfer to loaf pan lined with tightly overlapping slices of butternut squash. Bake at 338 for two hours, leaving for 10 minutes to rest. This Christmas roast is great to share with family nad friends!
7. Turkey Christmas Roasts
While turkey is traditionally considered a Thanksgiving staple in the United States, turkey can also become a wonderful Christmas roast. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and prepare and dress turkey while heating, deboning the bird if necessary. Tuck at least ten garlic cloves into the legs, wings, and all the nooks of the turkey, sprinkle with half a teaspoon of thyme, and drizzle with 1/3 cup od warmed butter. Roast turkey, untouched, for twenty minutes—checking every 15 minutes or so until internal turkey temperature reaches at least 165 degrees. Allow turkey to rest, and carve.
8. Christmas Roast Rabbit
Roasted rabbit might be a difficult meal to imagine in the 21st-century—with domestic rabbits being considered pets—but rabbit makes a wonderful addition to the Christmas roasts collection. To create this traditional dish, whisk together a marinade of half a cup of pomegranate juice, half a cup of olive oil, one small minced onion, one tablespoon of thyme, roughly half a teaspoon of ground cumin, one teaspoon of honey, and one teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. Section the rabbit marinade pieces overnight. When ready to roast, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and sear rabbit sections in batches for no more than 10 minutes per side. Place seared rabbit upon a baking sheet and roast—monitoring carefully and removing pieces as they turn golden, no more than 15 minutes.
9. Slow-Roasted Duck Christmas Roasts
Slow-Roasted duck might seem to be a challenge, but this simple recipe will transform duck into the newest in a collection of Christmas roasts. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, remove giblets and neck from duck, cutting off excess fat from the duck’s cavity. Place duck on roasting pan, breast-side up, seasoning heavily with salt and black pepper, and brush with about 1/4 cup’s worth of soy sauce. Roast the duck, undisturbed, for about 30 minutes. Carefully flip the duck, pricking skin all over with a sharp knife and basting with soy sauce. Continue to cook for roughly 20 more minutes, until skin is a crisp and golden, rest for at least 5 minutes, carve, and serve.
10. Vegan Christmas Roast Wellington
This vegan recipe is simple, tasty, and a wonderful alternative for loved ones who don’t eat meat. All you need is one smallish butternut squash, roughly one teaspoon of dried sage, a can of roasted sun-dried tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, one pack of ready-made puff pastry. While oven is heating to 365 degrees, peel, deseed, and cube butternut squash. Place in a roasting pan with a heavy glug of the sun-dried toasted tomato oil, sprinkle with the dried sage, and lightly roast— mash and mix with feta cheese. Unroll puff pastry, spread the butternut mixture across the length of pasty, carefully roll into desired shape, and bake at 356 degrees for 30-40 minutes until nicely browned.
