Burns Night Recipe Round Up
On the 25th of January each year, Scotland celebrates poet Robert Burns with a country-wide birthday bash! Households recite Burns’ poems over a traditional Scottish feast, complete with music and a dram of whisky.
While it’s tradition to enjoy mouth-watering Scottish staples like haggis, neeps and tatties and cranachan on Burns Night, it can be tough to stay on track while you’re celebrating.
If you’re looking to lighten the calories this time around, we’ve put together a round up of hearty, Scottish-inspired recipes that’ll bring you all the warming Burns Night comfort for less calories.
Whether you’ll be raising a toast to the Scottish bard or just looking to put on a proper warming family feast, these starters, mains and desserts are guaranteed to impress.
Burns Night Starters
Everybody will be hungry and expecting a feast on Burns Night, so it’s only right that we prepare you with a full spread of Scottish-inspired dishes that’ll leave the whole family full and satisfied. First thing’s first, these Cheese and Pickle Twists are an absolute treat that’ll keep your dinner guests busy while they wait for the main event.
These seriously cheesy nibbles can be prepared in advance too, so there’s no missing out on any of the fun – simply pull them from the fridge and reheat. How’s that for convenient?
On a typical Burns Night menu, you might expect to spot a traditional creamy, Scottish soup by the name of Cullen Skink; it’s a tasty blend of smoked haddock, leeks and potatoes. Our Smoked Haddock and Spring Onion Fishcakes are a light alternative that’ll keep haddock on the menu without high calorie creaminess. To make sure our fishcakes are slimming friendly, we’ve swapped out ordinary breadcrumbs for panko ones that are just as crispy and satisfying.
Still fancying soup for starters? Enjoying a bowlful of warming Scotch Broth this Burns Night doesn’t have to take you off track. With tender lamb, plenty of veggies and herbs, this low calorie winter warmer isn’t just for Burns Night – these classic flavours work together time and time again.
We love that you don’t have to worry about this recipe. Just leave your ingredients bubbling away in the slow cooker for 4-5 hours. Easy!
Burns Night Mains
You can’t have Burns Night without neeps and tatties, the traditional accompaniment to the star of the show: haggis. When your haggis has finished cooking and is ready to serve, our Layered Potato and Swede Gratin would work really well on the side. At only 216 calories per serving, the herby, breadcrumb-covered tatties in our gratin will look right at home.
Burns Night is all about serving up your veggies with an indulgent twist, so a rich side like our Creamed Cabbage and Leeks would complement your Burns Night spread perfectly.
We only cook ours for 10 minutes so that our cabbage leaves have a nice bite to them, but you can keep them going for longer if you’d prefer them on the softer side.
Who said sprouts are just for Christmas? With a rich, Parmesan coating, even fussy eaters will gobble up our Creamy Garlic Sprouts recipe! Packed with filling goodness and rich flavour, they’ll add to your Burns Night festivities for only 132 calories per serving.
Why not pair a serving of garlicky sprouts with our homely Smoked Haddock and Cheese Gratin? This fishy showstopper has all the means to impress with a creamy middle and mashed potato topping (and there’s not an ounce of milk, butter or cream in sight!).
Best of all, you won’t be stuck in the kitchen all night – you can batch cook and reheat your pre-made gratin on the day, without compromising on flavour!
Burns Night Desserts
Later in the day, when everyone’s settled and ready for something sweet, it’s traditional to indulge with a bowlful of creamy cranachan for dessert.
To keep the calories a little lower without losing the sweet, fruity flavours from cranachan’s raspberry layer, why not serve up our White Chocolate Mousse with a Raspberry Coulis? We’ve used hot chocolate powder (yes, really!) to infuse sumptuous white chocolate flavours into these nifty, slimming friendly dessert pots. So sweet and refreshing, they’re bound to give even the most tired family members a pick-me-up.
Ready in 5 minutes, they’re low fuss to prep on the night and you can freeze them too!
When it’s chilly out, a chilled dessert option isn’t necessarily what you fancy. Warming and sweet, our Pear and Ginger Crumble recipe uses cranachan-esque crunchy oats instead of a sugary crumble topping. For your party spread, you can serve individual crumbles or make one large tray bake – whatever works best!
We love how well sweet pear complements zingy ginger, but if those flavours aren’t for you, you can always swap the pear out for an alternative fruit filling.
If a warm, fruity pud won’t satisfy everyone in the family on Burns night, why not try these gooey, melt-in-the-middle Chocolate Lava Mug Cakes instead? They’re so quick and easy to make, you could easily serve them up with a selection of other dessert options.
Heat them up in the microwave or oven until they’re risen and spongy-feeling on top. We like to top them with raspberries if we’re feeling fancy!
What do fruity crumbles and chocolate cakes have in common? They’re HEAVEN combined with cream… To give your after-dinner treats a Burns Night twist, you could always combine a hint of Scotch whisky with some half-fat double cream – just be sure to count the added calories. Cheers to that!
Which of our slimming friendly Burns Night recipes will you be making first?
Will you be making a hearty gratin or a sweet coulis? Take a picture and don’t forget to tag us!
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