Make-ahead Christmas Recipes and Ideas
Spending all day long in the kitchen is not our idea of a great Christmas Day, so we’ve put together a handy list of dishes that you can make in advance to help you get the most out of the holiday season. You can find plenty of slimming-friendly ideas for your festive feast here.
Whether you want to start your prep a day, a week or even further in advance, we’ve got a wide range of recipes that can help you get ahead this Christmas! Remember that a lot of these recipes can also be frozen up to a couple of months in advance, and we’re made sure to specify if this is the case.
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First, let’s talk about planning!
You’re probably reading this because you’re someone who loves to get ahead of the Christmas chaos. We’ve got the perfect gift to help you stay organised and ahead of mealtimes in 2025: the first-ever official Pinch of Nom Calendar.
As well as including 12 step-by-step seasonal recipes, we’ve also added large monthly date panels, giving you plenty of space to jot down notes, keep on top of appointments, birthdays, and plan meals week by week.
Tap the image below to take yours home, and kick-start smashing your slimming goals for January and beyond!
Prepare up to 3 months ahead of Christmas
Some desserts and sweet treats can be made and frozen up to 3 months in advance which is a great way to get ahead during the festive season! You’ll need some freezer-proof containers to store these dishes in which you can find online.
The perfect addition to pretty much any festive dessert, our Winter Berry Ice Cream is bursting with moreish fruitiness. Keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months – it’ll still be delicious!
There’s nothing to stop you preparing the raw dough for our Spiced Christmas Biscuits in advance; it’ll keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, ready for when you want to bake a festive sweet treat. Just remember, once they’re baked and decorated with fun toppings, they’ll keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
It’s really important that you freeze this Christmas Chocolate Log before it’s been coated in the frosting, as it may crumble away from the sponge after it’s thawed.
Store the rolled, filled sponge in a freezer-proof container until you’re ready to serve. Then defrost and coat with freshly-made frosting on the big day!
Prepare a week ahead of Christmas
When the big day is just around the corner, that’s your cue to whip up these dishes – some of them can be made even earlier, if your freezer is involved.
Take our Cranberry and Pomegranate Sauce for example, this juicy-sweet, zesty condiment can be kept in the fridge for up to a week, before you’re ready to scoop it onto sandwiches, sliders or crackers. It can also be frozen, if you’d like to keep a batch for longer.
We always like to serve our BBQ Turkey Sliders and Christmas Slaw recipe with a generous dollop squeezed in.
The ultimate Christmas nibble, you can never have too many mince pies! Try a treat that’s a little different this year with our Chocolate Orange Mince Pies. With orange zest and melty chocolate chips, it’s a wonder they taste so good for only 115 calories per serving.
They’re a batch-cook dream too. Keep them in the fridge for a few days after making, or freeze them in advance to defrost on Christmas Eve.
Prepare 3 days ahead of Christmas
Many of the components for your Christmas Day roast dinner can be prepared 3 days in advance which means more time enjoying yourself on the day!
Remember that if you plan to reheat any of these dishes in the microwave then you’ll need to make sure that you’re using a microwavable bowl.
In our house, it’s not Christmas until the Eggnog is pouring. Whip up a batch of our slimming-friendly recipe to stir in an airtight container in the fridge. That way, you can pull it out to enjoy when ever you fancy – for around 3 days or so.
Topping it all off with a swirl of cream, and a sprinkling of dark chocolate is a must. It’s Christmas in a cup!
Our Chestnut Stuffing and our Chestnut Roast can both be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days, to be reheated just before serving. As an added bonus, they’re both freezable too, meaning you can make them up in advance for any vegetarians that will be at your Christmas table.
You must try them with all the trimmings…you might never go back to ‘normal’ roasts again!
It’s always a good idea to make sure there’s a batch of Christmas Meatbaubles in the fridge or freezer, in time for Santa’s arrival. They’re perfect for a Christmas eve buffet, but you could also bring them out on Boxing Day as a nice change to leftover turkey.
Best of all, our recipe includes a sticky-sweet cranberry sauce that can be poured over the meatballs or served as a dip.
You’ll never regret prepping some veggies in advance! Roast Potatoes and Balsamic Roasted Sprouts are absolute staples of any Christmas dinner in our opinion and both of these dishes can be kept in the fridge for 3 days. They’re also able to be frozen, but we think they’re best when stored in the fridge or made fresh.
Slimming-friendly Gravy that tastes amazing and can be stored in the fridge for 3 days before serving? Yes, really! Store in a container with a lid, or freeze ahead of time if you’d prefer. Simply warm it through until piping hot and serve!
Prepare 1-2 days ahead of Christmas
A bit of time spent preparing dishes on Christmas Eve will help free up some extra time on Christmas Day – it’s well worth it! You can prepare this Christmas Bread Sauce 2 days before Christmas Day and store in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
If you wanted to freeze it to serve with your Sunday roast at other points throughout the year, then that’s absolutely fine too.
Our Festive Fruit Salad tastes even better when made a day in advance, in our opinion! This is because it gives the flavours more time to mingle together, so don’t be afraid to get this prepared on Christmas Eve.
Enjoy as part of your Christmas Day breakfast, or as a light dessert after your dinner.
So, this one’s cheating a little bit as you can’t really make it ahead of time, but it’s such a great way to save time on Christmas Day that we simply had to mention it!
Our Slow Cooker Christmas Turkey Joint recipe means that you can just pop your turkey, veg and gravy ingredients into your slow cooker and leave it to cook for around 3 hours while you get on with enjoying the festivities.
We’ve given a rough cooking guide in our recipe, but you can find even more information about slow-cooking a turkey in our article.
What’s on your Christmas Day menu?
Don’t forget to give us the gift of sharing your wonderful photos with us! You can tag us in your story on Instagram (@pinchofnom) or share snaps of your creations in our friendly Facebook group (there’s almost 1 million community members waiting to answer any questions you might have).
Visiting our Gallery is a great way to find out what everyone else is putting on their festive menu. You’ll want to sign up to a free website account to upload and share your photos (it’s really easy, and we’ve even got a step-by-step guide you can follow).
If you liked this article, there’s more where that came from. Explore our blog to browse for recipe ideas, kitchen equipment recommendations, money-saving tips and more.