Enjoy a Festive Celebration With These 10 French Christmas Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is traditional French Christmas dish? ›

Main Dish. The French main event is, more often than not, a turkey, usually served with a seasonal chestnut stuffing (it's no surprise my poor butcher was so confused!) But if you're not keen to repeat the same roast you enjoyed in November, you could also opt for other poultry, such as duck or capon.

Christmas Dinner

Dishes might include roast turkey with chestnuts or roast goose, oysters, foie gras, lobster, venison and cheeses. For dessert, a chocolate sponge cake log called a bûche de Noël is normally eaten. Another celebration, in some parts of France, is that 13 different desserts are eaten!

The Christmas meal

The main event is generally roast poultry—turkey or capon—served with chestnuts or even truffles. A cheese course follows, which may feature seasonal cheeses like rich Brillat-Savarin with a layer of truffles, or nutty Comté aged 36 or 42 months.

Bûche de Noël is a traditional French Christmas dessert shaped and decorated like a log. This recipe takes some time, but we promise it's worth it.

Families usually kick things off by opening a bottle of fine Champagne, like the Champagne Paul Michel. Others may choose to begin with a traditional method French Crémant from the Loire, Limoux or Burgundy and bring out the Champagne later in the meal.

As it is in so many places, Christmas in France is all about family, friends, and food. While it's generally a low-key affair marked by gatherings of relatives and treats for children, it also has the culinary high point of the year: Le Réveillon de Noël (Christmas Eve dinner).

That said, the traditional French Christmas dessert, la bûche de Noël or Yule log, is a glorious concoction of chocolate, cream and sponge, one I would personally choose over a Christmas pudding, which – dense as it is – can be akin to being hit in the stomach by a canonball.

The main focus of the traditional réveillon was the food. The menu varied from family to family, but common dishes included tourtière (a meat pie made with pork and beef or veal), ragoût de boulettes (meatballs in brown gravy), les pattes de porc (pigs' feet cooked slowly until incredibly tender), and potatoes.

Traditional Christmas dinner features turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, and vegetables. Other types of poultry, roast beef, or ham, are also used. Pumpkin or apple pie, raisin pudding, Christmas pudding, or fruitcake are staples for dessert.

In France, Christmas dinner might feature a variety of foods including oysters, foie gras, roast meats like duck or turkey, and a range of cheeses. Dessert often includes a traditional Yule log cake called “Bûche de Noël.”

What is the traditional Christmas candy in France? ›

Candied chestnuts are luxury confections characterized by their translucent flesh bathed in sugary liquid, and were reserved exclusively for the elite up until the 19^th century. They became more widely popular in Ardèche thanks to artisans from the villages of Privas and Aubenas.

France's Christmas breakfast is full of sweet pastries. Many families will partake in pain au chocolat, croissants and brioche doughnuts. You may even find a quiche Lorraine on the table as well.

On Christmas morning, French children open their gifts from Père Noël that were left in their shoes or under the tree. After Christmas. The French celebrate the arrival of the 3 Kings during La Fête des Rois on January 6^th. The Galette des Rois, or King's cake, is a treat served for the Epiphany.

Le Réveillon is a traditional late-night feast or party held when families return from la Messe de Minuit (Midnight Mass) on Christmas Eve. While the food tradition varies from region to region, the meal is full of lavish delicacies including oysters, foie gras, escargot, and roasted fowl.