45 Tasty Side Dishes For Your Christmas Dinner

We all get excited about the entrée being served for a holiday meal, but the stuff of Christmas memories is baked into the sides. Roasts and turkey are to be expected, but dinner wouldn't be complete without grandma's cornbread, your cousin's green beans, or dad's famous potatoes.

Christmas dinner features a spread that varies from home to home, with culturally influenced dishes that can help us trace our family history — no matter how far back it goes. And few things invoke hunger more than the sight of a Christmas plate piled high with the seasonal sides you've been waiting to dig into all year. They're the essential complement to the main event, and when it's time to load up on leftovers, a reheated roast is easy to pass over when it comes to a sublime side. Whether it's a classic recipe or a new twist on an old favorite, Tasting Table has a side dish to please all the palates at your holiday table.

Mashed potatoes get a dose of leafy greens in this traditional Irish dish made with creamy potatoes and cabbage.

Feel free to sub kale or colorful rainbow chard in place of cabbage and sauté in butter with sliced green onions while boiling your russets. Once your potatoes are fork-tender, it's a quick mash and mix with milk and the buttery greens. The whole thing comes together to create a creamy, rich side that will have you considering skipping the ham altogether.

Recipe: Traditional Irish Colcannon

Save the boxed cornbread mix for any other day of the year and impress Christmas dinner guests with scratch-made cornbread dressing that features all the flavors you want in a holiday side.

A southern staple, cornbread dressing is a savory dish that serves up a hint of sweetness guaranteed to bring you back for seconds. It's loaded with celery and shallots and spiced with classic poultry seasoning and sage. Serve it with chopped fresh herbs like basil and parsley, or situate it next to the entrée to help soak up gravy goodness.

Recipe: From-Scratch Cornbread Dressing

This vintage side harkens back to 1953 when chef Leif Elisson at Swedish restaurant Hasselbacken created the accordion-style potato.

Cross-cutting the potatoes opens them up while maintaining their shape, leaving just enough room for the sweet and savory goodness of melted butter mixed with garlic powder, red pepper flakes, and maple syrup to seep into the spuds while they roast in the oven. Garnished with chopped sage, our Hasselback sweet potatoes' soft texture and balanced flavors will surely make them a regular on your holiday menu.

Recipe: Easy Hasselback Sweet Potatoes

The herbal, mild licorice flavor of fennel makes it an acquired taste, but when caramelized and swiftly braised in flavorful veggie stock, it becomes a side dish that everyone will want to try.

When shopping for fennel, look for tightly-packed, white bulbs with healthy green fronds. Browning the bulb of this herb (yes, fennel is an herb) enhances its natural sweetness and releases its hunger-inducing aroma to entice guests to the table. As an added bonus, fennel aids in digestion, which is something every diner needs after filling up on a Christmas meal.

Recipe: Braised Fennel

Holiday goodies often include copious amounts of gluten, turning your Christmas feast into a holiday fiasco for sensitive stomachs. There's no reason that dietary restrictions can't be delicious, and nobody will miss a bland dinner roll when they bite into flavorful cornbread instead.

In this recipe, gluten-free all-purpose flour combines with golden cornmeal, eggs, almond milk, and a little sugar to create a classic cornbread that appeals to those with gluten (and dairy) intolerance with a rich and sweet flavor that can be enjoyed by all.

Recipe: Gluten-Free Cornbread

When you're going for a stunning presentation at your Christmas meal, these simple green beans are deliciously dressed to impress with a generous bacon wrap.

Green beans are a consummate Christmas crowd-pleaser made better when baked in salty bacon sprinkled with a sweet kiss of brown sugar. This easy veggie side tastes great (because bacon) and, despite its simplicity, looks fancy enough for a special holiday meal.

Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans

Whether you spoon it on liberally or avoid it altogether, cranberry sauce is a seasonal staple on many holiday tables. If you find the classic fruit sauce to be overwhelmingly sweet, this recipe provides a savory twist that updates the taste while maintaining its traditional tangy essence.

Simmering cranberries in rich chicken stock with sprigs of rosemary, sage, and thyme infuse the sauce with a complex, savory flavor that provides a complimentary counterpart to the main entrée without giving you a toothache

Recipe: Savory Cranberry Sauce

For many, it's not officially the holidays until a sweet potato casserole hits the table. And for those who prefer to leave the mini marshmallows to the desserts, this casserole is a real winner.

Once they are spread into the casserole dish, chunky-mashed sweet potatoes get topped with rich, nutty Gruyére cheese and crisp bacon bits. The mild sweetness of the spuds combined with bacon and cheese strikes a salty-sweet balance that will have diners hungry for more.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Casserole With Bacon

If you bring these deliciously decadent buttermilk biscuits to Christmas dinner, prepare to be the official biscuit provider for all upcoming holiday meals.

Cold butter and two types of cheese ensure that your biscuits bake up with flaky layers full of rich flavors. Biscuit mishaps often happen when the dough gets overworked through kneading and rolling, but because these beauties are drop biscuits, you can feel confident that you will be bringing tender, cheesy buttermilk bites to the table.

Recipe: Easy Buttermilk Biscuits With Cheddar & Parmesan

For those who prefer a savory indulgence instead of super sweet holiday desserts, this side of lobster mashed potatoes checks all the boxes.

Even diners who aren't fans of seafood often enjoy the mildly sweet flavor and delicate texture offered by tender, decadent lobster meat. Boiling the potatoes in discarded lobster shells infuses the spuds with the mellow crustacean flavor before mashing them with butter and cream. Chunks of lobster can be either mixed in or go on top of the creamy mash, creating a side that will rival anything else on the table.

Recipe: Lobster Mashed Potatoes

Cold-weather meals just aren't complete without a side of comforting stuffing. This aromatic and flavorful dish smells and tastes like the holidays, and tucking into this savory side lets you know that the season is in full swing.

This traditional side starts with rustic country bread toasted and tossed with classic stuffing ingredients like celery, onion, chicken stock, and thyme. Dried cranberries add a hint of tart sweetness that rounds out the savory flavors, bringing you closer to Christmas with every bite.

Recipe: Autumn Country Bread Stuffing

Traditionalists who wait all year to eat holiday fare must have their green bean casserole! It's a staple for good reason, as diners of every age can't pass up the sweet flavor and snappy texture of green beans baked with cream of mushroom soup and topped with fried onions.

This classic recipe is simplified by using frozen green beans and canned soup, although homemade soup and fresh green beans can be subbed in if preferred. A surprise kick of Worcestershire sauce will keep guests guessing at the secret ingredient as they come back for another serving of this classic holiday side dish.

Recipe: Classic Green Bean Casserole

This holiday side dish treats your body just as well as your palate, which can be a tough feat to accomplish during the indulgent holiday season.

A powerhouse vegetable packed with nutrients and fiber, cauliflower has a mild flavor that acts as a blank canvas for other ingredients. After a light boil, cauliflower florets are baked in a rich sauce made from whole milk, butter, Parmesan, and Gruyére cheese to create the bubbly, rich goodness of a classic gratin. The finished dish has a delightful texture that is creamy without being mushy and can compliment any main you plan to serve this Christmas.

Recipe: Cauliflower Au Gratin

Butternut squash is a versatile winter veggie that imparts its mildly sweet and slightly nutty essence to all it's combined with, which easily stands alone as a signature seasonal flavor.

In this recipe, the squash's natural savory-meets-sweet profile is enhanced when seasoned simply with maple syrup, cinnamon, salt, and pepper before being roasted to caramelized perfection in the oven. Use pre-cut butternut squash to help make you the holiday hero of side dishes in under 30 minutes.

Recipe: Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash

If you're staying close to home for the holidays but wish you were traveling, try bringing a little bit of Italy to your Christmas table by including a side of fried cardoons.

Also known as artichoke thistles, a cardoon is a Mediterranean vegetable resembling celery that yields a subtle artichoke flavor. Prepping cardoons is a challenge because of their thorny exterior and fiber content that requires a long boil before they can be cooked, but the payoff is worth the effort. After infusing these artichoke thistles with white wine, lemon, and thyme, the cardoon pieces are dredged in seasoned breadcrumbs and fried to crispy perfection while maintaining a creamy interior. Take your taste buds to Rome for Christmas with this unique side dish.

Recipe: Roman-Style Fried Cardoons

The holiday season surrounds us with warm and fuzzy feelings that are enhanced even further by our favorite comfort foods, and few things create a blissful bite like a warm, buttery Southern biscuit. 

Recipe developer Jessica Morone uses cornstarch in this recipe to take the biscuit's delicate texture to the next level and advises bakers to grate frozen butter into the dry mix to achieve ultimate flakiness. These helpful tips will yield a fluffy, classic Southern biscuit to sop up all the delicious flavors on your plate.

Recipe: Fluffy Southern Biscuits

If you're looking to make a dish that is familiar, yet unique, for a Christmas meal, give oyster dressing a go. 

Stuffing is a staple that's often passed over for being boring and dry, but the addition of fresh-shucked oysters to a cornbread base ensures a bite that is moist and full of flavor. Sautéed veggies and oysters simmered in white wine and seasoned with bay leaf, thyme, sage, and red pepper build the complex essence of this extraordinary dressing that will likely make a repeat appearance on the holiday menu year after year.

Recipe: Oyster Dressing

Cabbage often gets passed over as a side option because it can carry an astringent flavor that doesn't appeal to all. These cabbage wedges get their natural bitterness roasted right out of them, leaving a flavorful side dish easily enjoyed by skeptical diners. 

Marinating the cabbage in a lemon-garlic sauce and roasting it in a hot oven changes its flavor profile and emphasizes its natural vegetal sweetness. A light sprinkle of feta cheese brings a hint of richness to this tangy and succulent side dish that might convert guests into cabbage lovers.

Recipe: Roasted Cabbage Wedges

Enjoy eating healthy during the holidays without sacrificing any flavor with a side of green bean casserole. Nutrients abound from the fresh green beans and sautéed baby bella mushrooms that get covered in baked onions with a breadcrumb sprinkle. 

Every bite tastes just as rich as the original recipe when you substitute condensed soup with creamy vegetable broth sauce thickened by a homemade roux. This healthier take on traditional green bean casserole will leave you feeling satisfied without having to loosen your belt.

Recipe: Easy & Healthy Green Bean Casserole

Creating a balanced holiday plate means incorporating a variety of complementary flavors and textures, and this shaved Brussels sprouts salad provides all those elements in one side. 

Raw Brussels sprouts have a milder flavor than cooked ones, and their craveable crunch brings much-needed texture to a plate full of rich and creamy dishes. Leave the cranberries for the sauce and opt for sweet dates instead while building flavor layers with sunflower seeds and manchego cheese. Drizzle a simple yet unique agave nectar-mustard vinaigrette to round out this fresh take on a side salad.

Recipe: Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

This recipe for a sautéed side salad made famous by the Chesterfield Restaurant in Utica, New York, has been pleasing palates for decades.

Cooked greens make an ideal cold-weather side, adding a bittersweet element that elevates other flavors on your holiday plate. Escarole is a bitter green made milder by a quick sauté with aromatic garlic and onions and vibrant cherry peppers. An essential hit of salt comes from savory prosciutto bits that can be subbed with crushed peanuts if you're trying to keep the dish vegetarian. Finished in the pan with breadcrumbs, sharp Romano cheese, and a squeeze of lemon juice, these Utica greens make a delicious side dish.

Recipe: Best Utica Greens

Potatoes are a quintessential Christmas side dish that even the most finicky holiday diner can enjoy. These tender fingerlings are cooked to creamy perfection before resting in rich melted butter infused with smashed garlic that imparts a decadent and piquant flavor. 

After soaking up all that buttery goodness, the potatoes are gently tossed in chopped parsley, adding an essential herbal element to this simple, crowd-pleasing side dish.

Recipe: The Best Parsley Potatoes