22 Christmas Menu Ideas to Serve at Your Restaurant in 2026

Christmas menu ideas for restaurants include roast turkey, glazed ham, mushroom Wellington, seasonal sides, festive desserts, and holiday drinks. You can serve them as individual specials, a prix fixe meal, or takeout and catering packages.

Once those dishes become holiday party orders, your team needs a clear way to organize preparation, pickup details, and payments. Toast Catering & Events brings those tasks together, helping employees keep track of larger orders while regular service continues.

Here are Christmas dishes to consider, three sample menus, and practical ways to get your holiday offering ready for guests.

Key takeaways

• Roast turkey, glazed ham, salmon, and mushroom Wellington give Christmas menus a mix of traditional, seafood, and vegetarian mains.

• Cranberry toppings, seasonal sides, and drinks like peppermint hot chocolate can give familiar menu items a festive update.

• A Christmas starter, main, and dessert can create a focused holiday offering alongside your regular menu.

• Offer Christmas dishes individually, combine them into a prix fixe dinner, or package them as family meals and party trays.

• Price holiday packages around portions and preparation costs, with clear serving sizes, ordering deadlines, and pickup instructions.

Christmas menu ideas for every course

Start with flavors your guests recognize, then adapt them to your restaurant’s cuisine. A few thoughtful additions can make the menu feel festive while building on dishes your team already prepares well. Use menu engineering to narrow and customize the ideas below.

Christmas appetizers and starters

Christmas appetizer ideas should suit the way guests are eating. An individually plated first course needs a different preparation plan from a tray passed around an office party.

1. Butternut squash soup with sage: Serve a bowl as a starter or a smaller portion within a longer menu.

2. Cranberry and brie tartlets: Offer individual pastries for dinner service or arrange them on party trays.

3. Shrimp cocktail: Prepare individual portions or a sharing platter, with sauces and garnishes ready for assembly.

4. Roasted beet salad with citrus dressing: Add a lighter option that balances richer mains.

Christmas main courses

Choose mains around your kitchen’s equipment, your guests’ preferences, and the portions you can serve consistently. A manageable selection makes menu costing and production easier.

5. Roast turkey with gravy: Build a traditional holiday plate or family meal package, with a clear plan for carving and portioning.

6. Glazed ham: Serve sliced portions with familiar sides, using a glaze that fits your restaurant’s style.

7. Prime rib with horseradish sauce: Offer a premium option after checking supplier prices, serving sizes, and roasting capacity.

8. Roasted salmon: Pair with citrus, herbs, or a seasonal sauce as an alternative to turkey, ham, or beef.

9. Mushroom Wellington: Create a vegetarian centerpiece with suitable pastry and filling ingredients, then test slicing and presentation before service.

Christmas side dishes

Sides can complete a plated meal, fill a sharing platter, or become takeout purchases on their own. A clear kitchen prep plan helps you manage quantities across those uses.

10. Mashed potatoes: Set consistent portions for plates and clearly sized containers for takeout.

11. Herb stuffing: Serve alongside turkey or sell separately, with ingredients clearly described.

12. Roasted Brussels sprouts: Finish with balsamic glaze or another seasoning that complements your mains.

13. Glazed carrots: Add color and sweetness with a recipe the team can repeat at volume.

14. Cranberry sauce: Offer as an accompaniment and use it in other dishes where the recipes work together.

Christmas desserts

Christmas desserts can finish a meal, help someone hosting dinner, or become a holiday gift. Consider individual portions alongside whole desserts available by advance order.

15. Chocolate Yule log: Serve slices in the dining room or sell whole cakes for collection.

16. Gingerbread cake: Offer plated portions or a larger cake for sharing.

17. Sticky toffee pudding: Add a warm dessert with a tested reheating and finishing process.

18. Mini cheesecakes: Use cranberry, citrus, or other seasonal toppings and sell individually or in assortments.

You can also adapt desserts you already serve. Bake Magazine reported that Clementine’s worked with pastry chefs on holiday-cookie-inspired ice creams in 2025, including Anna Gordon’s cranberry-vanilla Linzer flavor. A seasonal flavor or topping can give an existing dessert a holiday update.

For larger orders, give the team enough preparation time. Steven Rennau, director of operations at Toni Patisserie & Cafe, described the benefit of Toast Catering’s Online Ordering: “It gives us a bit more control as we can set longer lead times and higher minimum order sizes.”

The bakery also introduced a celebration-cake category using those controls. Toast Catering & Events Pro supports catering online ordering with configurable lead times and minimums, helping teams plan around more involved orders.

Christmas drinks

A Christmas drinks menu should include choices for guests who want wine, cocktails, or something alcohol-free. Keep recipes manageable and make optional pairings easy to understand.

19. Cranberry cocktails: Build a seasonal drink around spirits and ingredients your bar already uses.

20. Mulled wine: Offer a warm, spiced option with a consistent recipe and serving size.

21. Peppermint hot chocolate: Serve alongside dessert or as a standalone treat.

22. Sparkling cranberry mocktails: Combine cranberry, citrus, and a sparkling mixer for an alcohol-free celebration.

As sommelier and Trattoria Stella founding partner Amanda Danielson told SevenFifty Daily, “Some people don’t drink wine at all, or they only want by-the-glass, or they drink cocktails all the way through a meal.”

A small selection of winter cocktails, wines, and alcohol-free drinks can accommodate those preferences without making a pairing mandatory.

How to choose the right Christmas menu format

Restaurants can offer Christmas dishes as seasonal specials, prix fixe meals, family-style takeout, or catering packages. The right format depends on how guests will order and what your kitchen can prepare consistently.

If you’re considering holiday catering, start with dishes that work in larger portions. Then build the catering menu around clear serving sizes and service inclusions.

A focused offering can also work alongside the regular menu. In a 2025 L’Hôtellerie Restauration interview, Enguerran Lavaud described adding one festive starter, main, and dessert at Bouillon Pigalle and Bouillon République in Paris. He reported that those dishes represented 10–15% of sales at the restaurants.

Three sample Christmas menus for restaurants

These sample menus show how the dishes can work together. Adapt the selections to your concept, then calculate prices using your own recipes, portions, labor, and service costs. A menu template can help you present the finished offer with clear courses, choices, and prices.

A simple Christmas menu

A simple Christmas menu can be a small collection of specials built around familiar ingredients and preparation methods. Offer the dishes individually or as a clearly priced combination. Plan the extra preparation alongside your regular menu so the holiday additions fit the shift.

• Starter: Butternut squash soup.

• Main: Glazed ham with mashed potatoes and roasted Brussels sprouts.

• Dessert: Gingerbread cake.

• Optional drink: Peppermint hot chocolate.

If you’re deciding what to feature, Toast IQ can help you review historical bestsellers and suggest seasonal specials. Use those ideas as a starting point, then check recipe costs and kitchen capacity.

A Christmas prix fixe menu

A Christmas prix fixe menu offers a defined meal at one price, often with a few choices within each course. It gives guests variety while keeping the overall meal structured. 

• Starter: Roasted beet salad or butternut squash soup.

• Main: Roasted salmon or mushroom Wellington, with potatoes and seasonal vegetables.

• Dessert: Chocolate Yule log or mini cheesecake.

• Optional addition: A separately priced wine or alcohol-free pairing.

Reservations also need to fit the pace of the meal. Toast Tables supports reservations and table management, helping employees organize holiday arrivals and track dining-room activity.

A Christmas takeout or catering menu

A Christmas takeout package should make hosting holiday gatherings easier. Tell guests what they receive, how many people it serves, and what they need to do before serving.

Choose food that travels well and test it in the actual packaging. Include serving counts, ordering deadlines, pickup or delivery details, and dish-specific storage and reheating instructions.

Partial meals can be useful, too. In Circana’s 2025 holiday research, 23% of people celebrating Christmas at their own or someone else’s home said they intended to order some prepared food from restaurants or grocery stores. An example package could include:

• Main: Sliced roast turkey with gravy or glazed ham.

• Sides: Mashed potatoes, stuffing, glazed carrots, and cranberry sauce.

• Dessert: A whole gingerbread cake or assorted mini cheesecakes.

• Optional extras: Additional sides, gravy, or dessert portions.

Toast Online Ordering supports direct holiday takeout preorders when future ordering is enabled. For larger parties, Toast Catering & Events helps coordinate the additional order details, preparation, and payment.

How to get your Christmas menu ready for service

Before promoting the menu, confirm that your team can prepare, package, and serve it as promised. A prep list can help turn those plans into clear quantities, tasks, and responsibilities.

1. Finalize dishes and pricing

Check current supplier quotes before setting holiday prices. Last year’s ingredient costs may no longer support the same offer.

For example, FOX5 Las Vegas reported that John Mulls Meats & Road Kill Grill’s wholesale prime rib cost rose from $15 to $19 per pound between the 2024 and 2025 holiday seasons. That was one business’s experience, but it shows why fresh quotes matter.

• Confirm availability: Check quantities, delivery dates, and alternatives with suppliers.

• Cost the complete offer: Include ingredients, portions, labor, packaging, and any delivery or staffed service.

• Test the dishes: Evaluate plated meals during service and takeout dishes after transport.

• Document the details: Record recipes, prep quantities, dietary information, and answers to common questions.

xtraCHEF by Toast tracks invoice prices and recipe costs, helping you evaluate holiday dishes using current ingredient costs.

2. Plan holiday orders and production

Set ordering rules around what the kitchen can produce. Clear deadlines and pickup windows give employees time to prepare and help prevent every order from becoming due at once.

• Ordering deadlines: Allow enough time for purchasing and preparation.

• Pickup windows: Spread collections across manageable time slots.

• Order changes: Assign someone to confirm revisions and communicate them to the team.

• Packing and handoff: Check food, labels, utensils, and instructions against each order.

• Catering terms: State minimums, lead times, deposits, and payment deadlines.

Lee Gwinn, owner of Spirits Food & Friends, described the benefit: “Time is money, and we are saving a tremendous amount of time with Toast Catering & Events.”¹

¹Results self-reported, and results will vary.

3. Promote the menu and make ordering easy

Give guests the information they need in one place: dishes, prices, serving sizes, dates, and how to reserve or order. Use your website, email, social posts, and in-restaurant signage to point them there.

• Show the food: Use photos and descriptions that match what guests will receive.

• Explain the offer: State what’s included and which extras cost more.

• Make the next step clear: Link directly to reservations, takeout ordering, or catering inquiries.

• Keep details consistent: Update deadlines and availability across every channel.

• Include a gifting option: Add a gift-card purchase link where it fits naturally.

Toast Gift Cards lets restaurants sell physical and digital gift cards, giving guests a way to share a future visit while purchasing their holiday meal.

Goldilox Bagels owner Lindsey Gaudet described that opportunity when discussing her experience with Toast Online Ordering Pro: “I love that I can include custom links to promote our gift cards for the holidays.”

Bring your holiday plans together

Start with festive dishes your team can prepare confidently and packages that make celebrating easier for guests. As party orders come in, keeping menu choices, preparation plans, and pickup details together helps everyone stay ready for the rush.

Toast Catering & Events brings catering orders, prep lists, invoices, and payments into one place. Your team can spend less time piecing together the details and more time preparing the food guests are looking forward to.

FAQ

What are 10 popular Christmas dishes?

Ten popular Christmas dishes are roast turkey, glazed ham, prime rib, mashed potatoes, herb stuffing, roasted Brussels sprouts, glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, chocolate Yule log, and gingerbread cake.

What is a traditional Christmas Day menu?

A traditional American Christmas dinner often includes roast turkey or ham, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce, and a festive dessert.

What are some simple Christmas menu ideas for a restaurant?

Try butternut squash soup, glazed ham with mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and gingerbread cake, offered as individual specials or a set meal.