My Gluten Free Christmas Dinner Menu

*Written before the Tier changes were announced. Our Christmas suddenly got a bit smaller, but I will still make a mini version of this for my family*.

It’s been a strange year hasn’t it, and for the first time ever the task of cooking a full gluten free Christmas dinner has fallen to me. Despite being in my 30s, I admit we normally benefit from my parents or in-laws making us a lovely feast. However, as we can’t see them this year I am chef for my little family plus my sister and her partner.

Even though we are a small bunch, I really want to make Christmas delicious and special for everyone. Making a gluten free Christmas dinner is easily done and everyone can enjoy it. (Honestly no one can tell the difference between a gf and non-gf pig in blanket). It makes the day a lot less stressful for the coeliacs involved too.

Speaking of stress, I sat down today to make myself a little cooking plan, to ensure I have a relaxing day. Plus I have lots of willing helpers ready to pitch in! Then we can all have a drink while we prep, before enjoying the spoils later on. As I was writing it anyway, I thought sharing details might be helpful. I am sure many of you are in the same boat as us this year.

For loads of gluten free Christmas recipe ideas, see my 41 Festive Gluten Free Recipes round up post. Otherwise scroll on down to see what I am making this year!

My Gluten Free Christmas Dinner Menu

Here’s what I plan on making for our main Christmas meal, ensuring there will be plenty of leftovers for sarnies in the evening and for Boxing Day lunch.

Christmas Nibbles

We tend to eat our main meal later in the day, so it’s nice to have nibbles for the morning. We have bought some party food (see my Gluten Free Party Food Guide for loads of great shop-bought options), but may also make a few extra bits of pieces to enjoy over the festive period:

Christmas Lunch – Main Course

The main event, I’m going for a fairly classic spread with a bit of a twist as we don’t need a whole turkey for our small gathering:

Pancetta-Wrapped Turkey Breast with Lemon and Pine Nut Stuffing – this is a BBC Good Food recipe, which I haven’t tried before but it looks lovely. Turkey breasts are pretty huge too, so I have ordered a 1.3kg one to make my own gluten free version of this.
Slow Roasted Honey Ham – one of my own recipes, which I have made dozens and dozens of times. It never fails me and it utterly delicious, with slow-roasted ham that pulls apart. I will prep this the day before, then it only needs 30 minutes to finish on the day.
Sage, Onion, Pork & Cranberry Stuffing Log – a festive, showstopper stuffing log! This one can be prepped in advance too and it tastes gorgeous. Plus any leftovers will be added to our big brunch spread on Boxing Day.
Pigs in Blankets – most supermarkets do gluten free pigs in blankets, which you’ll find within the main ranges. I’ve got some from Marks & Spencer, as we picked them up as part of their party food deal.
Cheesy Leeks or Cauliflower Cheese – I’ve not quite worked out which to make yet, but I have a naturally gluten free cauliflower cheese recipe that you might like to try. Having cheesy sauce to compliment the salty ham is a very yummy combo.
Roast Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes – roasties are so easily made gluten free. Simply grab any recipe online and use plain gluten free flour or cornflour in place of gluteny flour, if called for. I like to add some sweet potatoes to the mix too, as they roast up beautifully.
Whole Honey Cumin Roast Carrots and Parsnips – a recent Dave addition to our roast dinner scene, these are delicious and ideal for Christmas as minimal effort is required. We leave them whole and unpeeled, or de-coring any large parsnips. Then roast them in the oven with oil before finishing with cumin seeds and honey.
Braised Red Cabbage with Redcurrant Jelly – my mum makes this every year and I have her recipe featured in the linked post (ignore the roast pork). You can make it the day before and reheat when ready to serve. It’s one of my favourite parts of Christmas dinner!
Veggies – I think I’m going for tenderstem broccoli, sprouts and sweetcorn this year. The latter for Alba! I’ll just steam them and then added to
Bread Sauce – my sister is a huge bread sauce fan, so this is a must have addition to our Christmas dinner. Morrisons and M&S are both doing gluten free premade bread sauce this year, which makes life easy for us.

Christmas Desserts

Oh this part has been hard to choose! Obviously there are all the festive classics, but you can easily pick up gluten free Christmas cake and Christmas pudding in the shops these days. I’m not a fan of either, so instead plan on making a yule log and a cheesecake for our dessert. Although I am struggling to decide which cheesecake!

Salted Caramel Yule Log – my latest festive dessert creation was a huge hit in our house and a firm addition to our Christmas menu. Gluten free chocolate sponge swirled with mascarpone cream and salted caramel, frosted with whipped chocolate ganache.
White Chocolate & Passion Fruit Cheesecake – I think we are making this lovely cheesecake as our second dessert, seeing as we all love it and have just had a passion fruit delivery in our weekly veg box! It pairs white chocolate with passion fruit and tastes divine.
Choco-Vanilla Baked Cheesecake – but I do also LOVE this baked cheesecake and it was firm in my plans until this week….I think I’ll bake it in the days after Christmas instead.

Next year I’ll make some Christmas Pudding Truffles and Triple Chocolate Truffles as a dessert extra, when we can finally have some full family celebrations.

Boxing Day

On Boxing Day we will have a nice brunchy start to the day, then leftovers from Christmas dinner with baked potatoes and salad for lunch. In the evening I plan on making a Moroccan Beef Tagine with Jewelled Rice. It’ll be nice to have a change from all the bacon-focused foods after all!

I think we’ll still have some puddings leftover, but it not I’ll whip up my gluten free sticky toffee pudding for afters.