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I absolutely adore Christmas! The decorations are always so beautiful, and it’s the perfect time to spend with loved ones while enjoying some delicious food. Since my family often hosts gatherings, I like to create a festive menu that looks and tastes gourmet but is still easy to make. If you’re in search of a fantastic holiday chicken menu to serve this Christmas, I have some great ideas for you!
The key to success
Having a well-planned and organized meal is crucial to ensure a flawless experience without unnecessary stress and headaches.
I carefully select my appetizers, main dish, sides, drinks, and desserts. I print all of the recipes and create a comprehensive grocery list.
But most importantly, I map out my day. I organize everything, down to the minute. This is the best way for me to enjoy the holiday while ensuring our holiday chicken menu is delightful for all our guests. See how I create my daily schedule below.
How to create a daily schedule
To plan the schedule for your upcoming event, grab a notepad and write down the time of your main meal at the bottom of the page. Then, add a line for every half an hour of the day until 8 or 9 a.m. (which is when you plan to start everything) by working backward. Remember to include your guests’ arrival time in the schedule.
To ensure a stress-free gathering, it’s important to plan when you’ll shower and get ready ahead of time. This may seem like a minor detail, but it’s crucial to think about. Consider scheduling your shower for later in the day to avoid getting your outfit dirty while cooking.
Pro tip: Use a pencil for this exercise (or do it digitally). You will likely erase and move things around until you have a reasonable schedule that makes sense.
Second, review each recipe and see if anything can be done ahead of time. This may include searching for make-ahead recipes that can be completed the day before and identifying tasks that can be performed early, such as washing produce and chopping vegetables. By doing so, you’ll be able to make the cooking process easier and more enjoyable for yourself on the big day.
Next, add to the schedule the time you wish to serve your appetizers at. Going backward from that time, add a note to start each appetizer next to the appropriate time (the time required for you to start if you want to have them served by your desired time).
Then, take each recipe (side dish, main meal, dessert) and add them to the schedule in the same manner. At this point, it’s likely you will have multiple activities required at the exact same time.
This is when you will need to spread things out a bit. You’ll need to be strategic. See what can be moved earlier in the day. For example, could you make the mashed potatoes earlier in the day and heat them up right before the meal.
Be creative on how to best organize your holiday chicken menu day.
Steps for success:
- Select your recipes (See below to simply copy my holiday chicken menu)
- Create your grocery list
- Plan your shopping trip (and make sure you’ll have space for everything in your refrigerator)
- Create your schedule
- Execute and enjoy your delicious meal!
Holiday chicken menu
Here is our fabulous holiday chicken menu for this upcoming Christmas day.
Welcome drinks – Christmas Sangria Holiday co*cktail
Here is a perfect and extremely easy welcome co*cktail to serve your guests. We like to make it with Prosseco rather than Muscato.
You can create a non-alcoholic version of this drink using sparkling white grape juice.
Appetizer 1 – Christmas Wreath Veggie Pizza
We love this super easy appetizer that you can make ahead. It’s festive, tasty, and not too filling.
Appetizer 2 – Pomegranate Christmas Cheese Ball
Who doesn’t love a good cheesecake? This one is not only delicious but absolutely beautiful to look at.
Our favorite crackers to serve with are the Good Thin rice crackers.
Main Entre – Orange cranberry roasted chicken
This is the perfect chicken entre to serve on Christmas. The combination of sweet and savory flavors is divine. Don’t skip on making this fabulous gravy to complete this deal in style.
You can easily double this recipe to make two chickens if you are hosting a larger group.
Side dish 1 – Baked Mushroom Rice
This is a crowd-pleaser for sure. Unless you don’t like mushrooms in which case you could skip them all together and it would be just as delicious.
Side dish 2 – Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad with Maple Butternut Squash, Pumpkin Seeds, and Cranberries
This is the perfect pairing with your holiday chicken menu. This side is so yummy! I even like it cold as a salad the next day. If you prefer, you could substitute broccoli for Brussels sprouts.
Side dish 3 – Green salad
I always add a fresh and crisp green salad to any large holiday meal. I feel that it helps digest and make the overall meal feel less heavy.
Ingredients:
- One or two heads of green leaf lettuce
- 1 yellow or red bell pepper
- 1/2 – 1 English cucumbers
- Green onions
- For the dressing: mix extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice (2 parts olive oil: 1 part lemon juice), salt and pepper to taste
Side dish 4 – Yeast rolls
We just cannot have a proper Holiday chicken menu without yeast rolls. I get them in the frozen section at the grocery and let them rise several hours before making them.
For more wow, you can make cinnamon butter to go with your rolls. Your guests will love them!
Dessert – Mint brownie and Oreo hot fudge trifle
I love anything minty and the Christmas holiday is the perfect time for this dessert. You can create this beautiful dessert in very little time and best of all, you can make it in advance.
My Holiday chicken menu schedule
I’ve put together a Christmas menu that you might find helpful. To make things easier, I’ve also created a grocery list and a schedule for the day. Just a heads up, our guests will be arriving at 2 pm and we’ll be serving dinner at 5 pm.
If you need to make any timing adjustments, you can easily modify the schedule to suit your needs.
The same goes for the grocery list, feel free to add or remove anything to make this work with your own plans.
Get the menu and grocery list printable.
Get the schedule printable.
In conclusion
I find this Holiday chicken menu well-balanced. None of the recipes are very difficult to execute but they are full of flavor and are sure to delight your guests.
Let me know if you tried it and how you might have customized the menu to better suit your family.
Bon Appetit!
Cat xx
Other articles you might enjoy:
Easy holiday leftover recipes to minimize food waste
Fast, simple, and healthy family meal planning
Easy Christmas breakfast ideas for a slow and joyful moment
