Slimming-Friendly Recipes for a Christmas Party
The countdown to Christmas is ON! Celebrating the most wonderful time of the year is the perfect excuse to eat, drink and be merry. While there can be temptations everywhere during the party season, if you’re following a diet plan or counting calories, you don’t have to feel like you’re missing out.
Proving party food can be slimming-friendly AND delicious, we’ve created plenty of lower-calorie recipes that make for perfect festive finger food (and don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten an alcoholic tipple or two).
Whether you’re hosting or you like to be the guest who brings the best plate for the buffet, we’ve got you covered with these slimming-friendly recipes for a Christmas party.
Festive finger food
Every party needs a centrepiece, and this Pigs in Blankets Christmas Wreath is guaranteed to impress every last guest. Not only is it made up of everyone’s favourite part of Christmas dinner, we’ve added crunchy, golden pastry to take it up an extra notch.
It may look impressive, but this wonderful wreath is deceptively simple to make. The secret to keeping the calories down is to switch your ingredients to leaner alternatives (that taste just as good). Low-fat chicken chipolatas, lean bacon medallions and light puff pastry mean that you can pop one pastry-wrapped piggy on your plate for just 112 calories.
Catering for a crowd means making sure you have plenty of veggie-friendly recipes in your back pocket. Anyone who’s looking for the meat-free platters will be happy to spot a tray of these Halloumi in Blankets. Just as tasty as the sausage alternatives, the chunks of salty, squeaky halloumi come all bundled up inside juicy courgette blankets.
A coating of cranberry sauce gives your cheese a festive twist – bake them in the oven until they’re golden and completely irresistible. You’ll find it tricky to only help yourself to one of these (good job they’re only 83 calories each!).
Shaped like Christmas crackers and filled with a moreish mixture of turkey, basil, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese, these Filo Crackers are another party essential. Who can resist biting into that crisp, glossy pastry?
A great way to use up leftover turkey, these are perfect for Boxing Day. They’re so quick to make and only 90 calories each. You can even make a vegetarian version so no one has to miss out on the fun – the recipe for Veggie FIlo Crackers can be found here.
You can’t have a buffet without a sausage roll in sight. We’ve spruced up our classic slimming-friendly pastry snack to make these Festive Sausage Rolls, and you need to give them a try.
The Christmassy flavour comes from switching the filling to turkey mince, adding in some fragrant sage, and not forgetting a good dollop of cranberry sauce. Rolled up and baked inside a low-calorie tortilla wrap, these aren’t going to last long on the buffet table.
Bigger buffet bites
If your guests are especially hungry, they’ll be glad to see a few heartier dishes on offer. Turning the best Christmas flavours into a handy snack, this Christmas Calzone is ideal if you have some extra turkey and brie hanging around.
Recipes don’t come much easier than this, so if you have a few guests to cater for, you won’t need to be stuck in the kitchen for ages. Fold everything up inside a low-calorie wrap, crimp the edges and bake it until the cheese has melted and the outside is golden.
At 471 calories per serving, it’s a Weekly Indulgence recipe, but if there was ever a time to indulge, Christmas is it!
Chips, wedges, potato salad – no buffet table is complete without the humble spud. Whatever form it comes in, your party menu needs potatoes. Loaded with festive goodness, these Christmas Hasselback Potatoes have ‘crowd-pleaser’ written all over them.
Not only are the hasselback slices stuffed with sweet cranberry sauce, they’re smothered with sage, onion, bacon and cheese before being baked to perfection. There’s not a chance you can resist that melted cheese topping!
Feast your eyes on these BBQ Turkey Sliders with Christmas Slaw. If you’ve ever been peckish at a party, you’ll know how glad your guests will be to spot these on the table. Sliders are a smaller version of a traditional burger, perfect for grabbing and eating as you mingle. These ones are filled with tender pulled turkey and our unmissable Christmas slaw.
Made with cabbage, shredded sprouts, carrots, green beans and spring onions, the slaw is so crunchy and refreshing. Loaded up with the turkey, cheese slices and a spoonful of our Cranberry and Pomegranate sauce, you can’t go wrong.
Add some colour to your seasonal spread with our Pigs in Blankets Skewers. It’s all the best bits of a Christmas dinner, on a stick! Golden potatoes, baby carrots, Brussels sprouts, cherry tomatoes, and we can’t forget the all-important bacon-wrapped chipolatas.
Everything gets coated in a sticky sweet and savoury glaze made from honey, mustard and Marmite; trust us, it really brings all the flavours together. You might want to make a few extra of these…everyone is sure to want one on their buffet plate.
Drinks and desserts
Room for something sweet? It’s not Christmas without mince pies, so you’ll want to make sure you have a few festive baked treats on standby. You could go for Chocolate Orange Mince Pies, Mini Spiced Christmas Apple Pies or even Mini Mince Pie Pasties, but we’ll take any excuse to make this Mincemeat Christmas Wreath.
Not only does it really look the part, it’s brimming with festive flavour too – the circle of golden pastry is filled with sweet, delicately spiced mincemeat and finished with a drizzle of Christmas-coloured icing. Serve slices of it on its own, or pop a jug of Brandy Sauce nearby.
For anyone that’s all about chocolate at Christmas (and who isn’t?) our Christmas Chocolate Log will do the job nicely. Our fatless sponge keeps the calories nice and low, without compromising on rich, deep chocolate flavour.
If you’ve never made a Swiss roll-style pudding before, rolling it up can take a bit of practice. The key is to roll the sponge while it’s still warm; if it’s too cold it’s more likely to crack. Baking this classic treat is such a lovely festive activity – you could even get the kids involved with spooning on the creamy frosting.
If all that isn’t enough to get you and your party guests in the festive spirit, a glass of Eggnog should do the trick. Christmas in a cup, our recipe is lightly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. You’ll notice there’s no alcohol, but you can add in 100ml of brandy for an extra 40 calories.
If you make more than you need, save some leftovers to make this Eggnog Latte the day after your party.
Pop some sparkle into your celebrations with a pitcher of this Cranberry Fizz. The very merry combination of Prosecco, cranberry juice with Russchian pink soda and a dash of lime, is zingy, refreshing and lower in calories than most other cocktails (101 per glass).
Our recipe makes enough for 4, but it’s super easy to scale up if you’re throwing a bigger bash. Best of all it only takes 5 minutes to mix it together, so if you run out, you can quickly make some more!
What’s on your Christmas party menu?
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You can also head across to our Facebook group if you’re looking for ideas and inspiration. With almost 1 million members, it’s the place to be for motivation and support on your slimming journey.