Greek Christmas recipes are by far the epitome of Greek cuisine. If you are planning to spend Christmas in Greece or you are looking to experiment with Greek Christmas recipes then you are in the right place. Indulge yourselves in a delicious guide made by Alios Tours foodies and prepare your Greek Christmas dinner the right way.
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls In Egg & Lemon Sauce – Lahanodolmades
Cabbage rolls filled with minced meat and rice and topped with a thick egg and lemon sauce is a favorite winter dish. In Greece, we call them “Lahanodolmades” (lahano=cabbage, dolmades=rolls), with “Avgolemono” (avgo=egg, lemono=lemon).
Stuffed Cabbage Rolls are served as an entree to share; what we Greeks call family-style serving. The lemony gravy sauce, along with the boiled cabbage and meat’s ground flavor place the dish among the most popular Greek Christmas recipes.
Greek Pie with Pastirma
Pastirma pie is a traditional Greek Christmas recipe coming from the Greeks of Asia Minor. But you will ask, what is pastirma? Pastirma is made usually from beef or water buffalos. The meat is salted and rinsed before being dried and pressed. Then, the pressed meat is covered with spices and smashed garlic. The entire process takes a full month.
The pastirma pie is very easy to make. You will need Greek phyllo, pastirma, Greek kasseri cheese (or provolone if you can’t find kasseri), tomatoes, and black sesame seeds.
Christmas Salad
A traditional Greek Christmas salad consists of seasonal vegetables and greens. The ingredient that is never missing a Christmas salad is pomegranate. It gives color and levels up the taste. I always make my Yiayia’s Christmas salad with lettuce, spinach, pomegranate, parmesan, walnuts with honey balsamic vinaigrette.
Stuffed Turkey
Stuffed turkey is not a common dish in Greece unless it’s Christmas. On Christmas Eve the stuffed turkey is the star of the Greek Christmas dinner. It’s a difficult recipe, with long hours of roasting in the oven but the result totally deserves the effort. The filling consists of minced meat (60/40 ground beef and pork), rice, resins, chestnuts, orange juice, red wine, and various spices. When the filling is prepared, we stuff the turkey, sew the holes, and roast it in the oven. My grandmother says that the stuffed turkey needs 1 hour of roasting for every kilo, ie a 3kg turkey takes 3 hours to cook.
45 minutes before the turkey is cooked, add some halved potatoes and let them cook in the turkey’s juices. An there you have it, the best Greek Christmas recipe!
Greek Christmas Cookies
Melomakarona and Kourambiedes are the most popular Greek Christmas cookies! It is very rare to find them any time except Christmas and that’s what makes those Greek Christmas cookies unique. Usually, the baking period starts in late November and the last batch is baked before New Year’s Eve.
Honey Cookies With Walnuts – Melomakarona
Melomakarona are made with flour, olive oil, orange juice, cinnamon, dipped in honey-made syrup, and topped with sprinkled walnuts. The recipe is very easy and once you try it you fall for their taste.
Almond Cookies – Kourambiedes
Kourampiedes are another typical Greek Christmas cookie. They are made with butter, flour, rose water almonds, and then they are dusted with icing sugar. I have to admit, I love the buttery taste with crunchy bites of almonds. Be careful, they are so delicious that you might develop an addiction!
