20 Christmas Side Dishes That Will Steal the Show From the Main Course
This post is about 20 Christmas Side Dishes
Can we be honest about something? At Christmas dinner, the sides are the main event. Nobody talks about the turkey or the roast the next day.
They talk about the scalloped potatoes that were so good someone went back three times. The green beans with the crispy shallots. The cranberry sauce that tasted nothing like the canned version and everything like actual fruit.
The roll that was somehow both crispy and soft at the same time and disappeared in four minutes flat.
The sides are where Christmas dinner actually lives, and these 20 Christmas side dishes are the ones worth making. Some are classic and timeless, some are unexpected and impressive, and every single one of them can be made at least partially ahead so you are not spending all of Christmas Day standing over a stove.
Potato Dishes
1. Scalloped Potatoes au Gratin
Thinly sliced potatoes layered with a rich gruyere and parmesan cream sauce, baked until golden and bubbling with crispy caramelized edges. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — mandoline slicer for potatoes] This is the Christmas side dish that people talk about for the rest of the year. The gruyere gives it a nuttiness that regular cheddar simply cannot match and the cream sauce soaks into every layer during the long slow bake. Make it the day before and reheat gently — it gets better overnight.
2. Duchess Potatoes
Silky mashed potatoes piped into elegant swirled mounds and baked until golden with crispy ridged edges that shatter slightly when you cut into them. This is the potato side that makes Christmas dinner look like it came from a restaurant without requiring any more skill than making regular mashed potatoes plus one piping bag. The presentation is stunning and people always ask how you made them which is your moment to casually say oh it was nothing.
3. Hasselback Potatoes with Herb Butter
Whole potatoes sliced almost all the way through into thin accordion-like fans, brushed with garlic herb butter and roasted until crispy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — basting brush set silicone] These look extraordinarily impressive on the Christmas table and taste like the best roasted potato you have ever eaten because all that butter gets into every single slice as they fan open in the oven.
4. Twice Baked Potato Casserole
All the flavors of a twice baked potato — cheddar, bacon, sour cream, chives — in casserole form that feeds a crowd effortlessly. Make it entirely the day before, refrigerate and bake Christmas Day — this is the make-ahead potato side that requires zero effort on the actual holiday and tastes like everyone’s favorite baked potato in every single bite.
Planning the full Christmas dinner spread? My Christmas Eve Dinner Ideas post has 20 main course ideas that pair perfectly with every side dish on this list.
Vegetable Sides
5. Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Balsamic
Brussels sprouts roasted at high heat until deeply caramelized and crispy, tossed with crispy bacon crumbles and a drizzle of sweet balsamic glaze right before serving. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — large sheet pan set rimmed] This is the vegetable side that converts people who think they hate Brussels sprouts because the high heat roasting changes everything about them. The combination of bitter caramelized sprout, salty bacon and sweet balsamic is genuinely perfect.
6. Green Beans Almondine
Fresh green beans blanched until bright and just tender, tossed in brown butter with toasted slivered almonds and a squeeze of fresh lemon. This is the elegant classic green bean side that belongs on every Christmas table — simple, beautiful and ready in fifteen minutes. The brown butter is the detail that elevates it from ordinary to something people specifically ask about.
7. Roasted Carrots with Honey and Thyme
Whole or halved carrots roasted with olive oil, honey, fresh thyme and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt until caramelized and tender with slightly crispy edges. These are the carrots that people who claim not to like carrots eat enthusiastically because the honey and roasting transforms them into something sweet and deeply savory at the same time. They also look absolutely beautiful on a Christmas table.
8. Creamed Spinach
Fresh spinach wilted and folded into a rich cream sauce with nutmeg, garlic and parmesan until thick and luxurious. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — large saute pan with lid] This is the steakhouse side dish that belongs at Christmas dinner alongside a beef tenderloin or prime rib and it comes together in twenty minutes. Make the cream sauce ahead and fold in the spinach right before serving for the freshest result.
9. Honey Roasted Root Vegetables
A medley of parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes and beets tossed in honey, olive oil and fresh rosemary and roasted until caramelized and tender. The color of this dish on the Christmas table is absolutely stunning — deep oranges, purples and yellows against a white platter look like something from a food magazine. Sheet pan in the oven, forty minutes, done.
Bread and Stuffing
10. Brown Butter Dinner Rolls
Soft pillowy dinner rolls brushed with brown butter straight from the oven so they arrive at the table shiny, fragrant and impossibly good. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — 9×13 baking pan for rolls] Make the dough the day before and do the second rise and bake on Christmas Day — the smell of fresh dinner rolls coming out of the oven on Christmas morning is worth every minute of the process. These disappear faster than anything else on the table. Make extra.
11. Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing
Crumbled cornbread and white bread cubes mixed with Italian sausage, celery, onion, fresh sage and chicken broth, baked until golden and crispy on top with a soft custardy center. This is the stuffing that people who grew up on boxed stuffing eat and immediately recalibrate their entire understanding of what stuffing can be. Make it the day before, refrigerate and bake Christmas Day.
12. Parmesan Pull Apart Bread
A loaf of bread sliced in a crosshatch pattern without cutting all the way through, stuffed with butter, garlic, fresh herbs and shredded parmesan and baked until melted and golden. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — bread loaf pan set] This is the bread side that makes people stop mid-conversation when it comes to the table because the smell alone is extraordinary. Pull apart breads look impressive and are genuinely simple — the crosshatch cuts do all the work.
Salads Worth Making
13. Winter Citrus Salad
Mixed greens, segmented blood oranges and cara cara oranges, shaved fennel, candied pecans, shaved parmesan and a champagne vinaigrette. This salad is so beautiful on a Christmas table that people photograph it before they eat it — the deep red and coral citrus segments against dark green leaves look like a holiday still life. Light, fresh and the perfect counterpoint to all the rich heavy sides surrounding it.
14. Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
Roasted beets in red and golden varieties, crumbled goat cheese, candied walnuts, arugula and a honey balsamic dressing. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — salad serving bowl and tongs set] The colors of this salad — deep crimson and golden yellow against white goat cheese and dark green arugula — are genuinely stunning and feel inherently festive. Roast the beets two days ahead and assemble right before serving.
15. Christmas Fruit Salad
Pomegranate seeds, sliced strawberries, green grapes, mandarin orange segments, kiwi and fresh mint tossed in a light honey lime dressing. The red and green color palette makes this the most festive fruit salad in existence and it works as a side dish at Christmas dinner or as part of a Christmas brunch spread. Make it an hour ahead so the flavors meld but the fruit stays fresh. you can find so many more recipes here
Show Stopping Sides
16. Baked Mac and Cheese
A deeply cheesy baked mac and cheese with a sharp cheddar and gruyere sauce, topped with buttered panko breadcrumbs that get golden and crunchy in the oven. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — deep baking dish ceramic large] This is the Christmas side dish that kids request specifically and adults eat just as much of — the ultimate crowd pleaser that works alongside beef tenderloin or ham or literally anything else on the Christmas table. Make it the day before and bake Christmas Day.
17. Cranberry Walnut Wild Rice Pilaf
Wild rice cooked in chicken broth with dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, fresh herbs and a drizzle of orange zest. This is the most festive rice dish that exists — the deep red cranberries and earthy wild rice against the bright orange zest look beautiful on the table and taste like Christmas in every bite. Make it entirely ahead and reheat gently with a splash of broth.
18. Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Classic mashed potatoes made with a whole head of slow roasted garlic squeezed directly into the potato mixture along with butter, cream and parmesan. The roasted garlic is sweeter and more mellow than raw garlic and gives the mashed potatoes a depth of flavor that makes people genuinely stop and think about what they’re tasting. Roast the garlic the day before and mash everything together Christmas Day.
19. Glazed Pearl Onions
Pearl onions blanched, peeled and glazed in butter, sugar, fresh thyme and a splash of white wine until caramelized and deeply savory. [INSERT MAVELY LINK — small saucepan set stainless] This is the classic French side dish that belongs alongside any elegant Christmas main course and feels special precisely because nobody makes it every day. Use frozen pearl onions to skip the peeling step entirely — nobody will know and you will save forty minutes of your life.
20. Yorkshire Pudding
Eggy batter poured into a smoking hot muffin tin that has been preheated with beef dripping or butter, baked until dramatically puffed and golden with crispy edges and a soft custardy center. These look like something you could only make at a restaurant and they are genuinely one of the easiest things on this list — the key is a screaming hot pan and room temperature batter. Serve immediately alongside prime rib or beef tenderloin and watch the table react.
Wrapping Up
The main course gets all the credit but the sides are where Christmas dinner becomes a meal people remember. Pick four or five from this list, make as much ahead as possible and let the sides do what they do best — make everyone at your Christmas table feel completely taken care of. That is what Christmas dinner is actually for.
FAQs
What are the most popular Christmas side dishes?
Scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, roasted Brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls are consistently the most requested Christmas side dishes. Mashed potatoes and stuffing round out the classics that appear on almost every Christmas table.
What Christmas side dishes can be made ahead?
Scalloped potatoes, twice baked potato casserole, stuffing, baked mac and cheese, cranberry wild rice pilaf and roasted beet salad all make beautifully ahead. Assemble or cook completely the day before, refrigerate and reheat Christmas Day.
How many side dishes do you need for Christmas dinner?
Plan for four to six side dishes for a Christmas dinner of eight to twelve people — a potato dish, a vegetable dish, a bread, a salad and one or two extras. More than six sides becomes difficult to manage timing-wise and the table starts to feel overwhelming rather than abundant.
What sides go with prime rib for Christmas?
Yorkshire pudding, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, glazed pearl onions, creamed spinach and roasted Brussels sprouts are the classic sides that pair most beautifully with prime rib. The rich savory beef needs sides that are either creamy and mild or bright and acidic to balance it.
What is the easiest Christmas side dish to make?
Roasted carrots with honey and thyme, green beans almondine and the Christmas fruit salad are all genuinely simple sides that look and taste impressive with minimal effort. Any of the three can be on the table in under twenty minutes.
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20 Christmas side dishes that will steal the show from the main course — from scalloped potatoes au gratin and brown butter dinner rolls to winter citrus salad and Yorkshire pudding.
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