It’s not officially Christmas season until several mandatory traditions commence. Decorating the tree. Watching Elf. Baking at least one batch of Grandma’s gingerbread and The Best Sugar Cookies. Drinking a mug of eggnog.
Certain Christmas traditions are simply a must to maintain each year, true. But who says you can’t add a new rite to the game plan? One way to try this that’s low stakes yet often high reward? Integrating a new Christmas food trend or two into this, the most holly, jolly season.
Use the information to make your list, then check it twice to ensure you have all the ingredients to bring these culinary visions to life. Santa would most definitely approve!
5 Christmas Food Trends to Try This Year
We’ve scoured social media, polled our editors and Test Kitchen experts, and flipped through some of the year’s coolest cookbooks to select a handful of Christmas food trends we predict might be big in 2023.
French Onion All the Ways
French Onion Soup is timeless for a reason. It’s tough to top the cozy and craveable qualities of a bowl of sweet, caramelized onions in savory broth crowned with toast and melted cheese. But this is the year, we’re already seeing all sorts of creative upgrades on the French onion game. The TikTok-trending French Onion Pasta is just the beginning.
The latest crop of French onion remixes are so decadent and showy, we think they’re certainly worthy of a spot on our Christmas food trends list—and are pretty much guaranteed showstoppers at your next holiday gathering. French Onion Mac and Cheese has folks saying, “I want to faceplant in this,” while French Onion Soup Pull Apart Bread had us from “hello” (okay, from first cheese pull). These French Onion Puff Pastry bites are destined to steal the show at your holiday happy hour. And according to its creator, Smoky French Onion Gnocchi is for “those times when you need a meal that feels like a hug.” You can’t go wrong with any or all of the above.
Baked Brie 2.0
Bake Brie en Croûte is one of our signature snack party menu picks year-round. The appeal of a triple-cream cheese flowing in its beautiful melty glory out of a sliver sliced into layers of flaky puff pastry is a show-stopper—and we haven’t even talked about the results once this hits each diner’s taste buds. Dreamy.
One of the emerging Christmas food trends for 2023 appears to be variations on this concept. We were immediately starry-eyed over this tear-and-share Rosemary-Scented Baked Brie Bread that starts with a center of baked brie and extends into a star-shaped wreath of buttery yeast rolls. If you’re not so fond of baking bread from scratch but are in the mood for something similar, try Garlic Butter Biscuit Brie Bake, which starts with a tube of store-bought biscuits. If you’re ready to make the brie itself “extra” without the carb wrapper, consider Brûléed Brie topped with a crunch burnt sugar topping, pomegranate arils, candied pecans, and crumble crispy prosciutto.
A Twist on Tinto de Verano
After spotting it all over social media and restaurant menus this summer, we spotlighted the well-deserved moment that Tinto de Verano was having—and explained how to take the cocktail trend from summer into fall.
But why stop there? The easy cocktail recipe traditionally features an foolproof one-to-one ratio of red wine and citrus soda, and was first a staple in Spain. As a Christmas food trend, we see this cocktail concept hopping from Spain to Italy and getting dressed up for the season. To make the simple party drink, combine equal parts red wine and ginger ale. The resulting red wine spritzer gives a nod to ginger’s prominence in holiday recipes and pays tribute to Rudolph, without being too on the nose.
Related: 12 Festive Holiday Drink Ideas You Can Prep in Only 15 Minutes
Caviar
When you’re investing in holiday decor, Christmas menu ingredients, gifts galore, and travel to gatherings with loved ones, caviar can admittedly sound like an unnecessary splurge. But with “little luxuries” already on the list for Whole Foods’ 2024 food trends and caviar sampling selected as on-the-rise by Yelp, we predict that you’ll see more caviar than ever during the 2023 Christmas season.
You need no sweat about breaking the bank, either. The caviar Christmas food trend can be experienced at a variety of price points. For just $3 each, you can stuff stockings with bags of Caviar Potato Chips, which are dusted with dehydrated caviar. Vegans can get in on the action at $7 thanks to Caviart Black Seaweed Pearls made from seaweed extract and spices. A couple can upgrade a holiday date night with 1 ounce of sustainable California White Sturgeon Caviar for $80. The full pairing experience can be yours for $180, which scores you a Paddlefish Caviar Gift Set, which comes with 50 grams of caviar, a mother of pearl spoon for serving, plus blinis and crème fraîche so everyone can build their bougie bites.
Tahini
Chestnuts shouldn’t get all the glory come December. Admittedly, tahini is made from seeds, not nuts. And those seeds are not roasted by an open fire; they’re toasted in an oven or skillet, then ground into an earthy, rich, and nutty paste.
However, we’re firm believers that tahini should be as ubiquitous as chestnuts, if not more so, as a Christmas food trend. The versatile paste elevates everything it touches. Humble cabbage becomes a “boss vegetable” once you drizzle it in a sauce made with sake, miso, and tahini. Vegan roasted butternut squash soup can taste just as silky and luscious as its dairy-infused peers once you add a generous scoop of tahini. To cap things off on a sweet note, we were delighted to discover that two key ingredients—dates and tahini—are all that’s standing between us and a healthier sticky toffee pudding.