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Easy Christmas Recipes: Holiday Cookies, Candy, Breakfast & Dinner

Make the holidays merry, bright, and stress-free with our best easy Christmas recipes for every gathering on your calendar. Whether you are prepping a make-ahead Christmas morning breakfast like Brown Sugar Pecan Overnight French Toast Casserole and Gingerbread Waffles, planning a festive Christmas dinner around Slow Cooker Ham with Maple Glaze and Christmas Tree Dinner Rolls, or filling neighbor gift plates with Super Soft Sugar Cookies, Peppermint Bark, and Christmas Crack, you’ll find tried-and-true family favorites below.

Best Christmas Cookies & Holiday Cookie Exchange Favorites

Win your holiday cookie exchange or leave the ultimate plate for Santa with our softest frosted sugar cookies, Grinch cookies, spiced gingerbread, and festive no-bake wreaths.

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Ginger Cookies with Eggnog Frosting

A plate of cookies decorated with chocolate, pretzels, and candies to resemble reindeer faces. The cookies have red noses, white eyes, and pretzel antlers.

Chocolate Reindeer Cookies

A festive green cornflake wreath with red candy decorations arranged on a white surface.

Cornflake Christmas Wreath Cookies

Homemade Christmas Candy, Fudge, Bark & Neighbor Gifts

Fill holiday tins and neighbor gift plates with 15-minute peppermint bark, buttery saltine toffee, homemade sea salt caramels, and no-bake truffles.

Candy

Peppermint Bark

Baking

Christmas Crack

Candy

Homemade Chocolate Caramels with Sea Salt

1 8

A white tray filled with irregular pieces of chocolate-covered toffee bark, garnished with chopped nuts.

Candy

Saltine Cracker English Toffee

Close-up of white chocolate-covered peanut butter balls, one of which is bitten into, revealing the peanut butter filling.

Candy

Peanut Butter Snowballs (No Bake Truffles)

1 15

Pieces of Divinity on wax paper topped with crushed walnut pieces.

Candy

Easy Divinity

Christmas Morning Breakfast & Overnight Brunch Casseroles

Spend Christmas morning opening stockings instead of standing at the stove with these make-ahead overnight French toast bakes, savory breakfast casseroles, and festive gingerbread breakfast favorites.

A stack of waffles topped with whipped cream and cranberries on a white plate, with festive decorations and folded red-striped napkin in the background.

Sweet Breakfast

Gingerbread Waffles

Sweet Breakfast

Brown Sugar Pecan Overnight French Toast Casserole

A pan of T Classic Cinnamon Rolls with a spatula lifting one out

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Biscuits and Rolls

Classic Cinnamon Rolls

5 20

Baked casserole with red peppers and herbs in a white dish, surrounded by eggs, apples, orange juice, and a glass of milk on a table.

Savory Breakfast

Amish Breakfast Casserole

1 7

Christmas

Gingerbread Pancakes

Christmas

Egg Nog French Toast Recipe

Christmas Dinner Mains: Glazed Ham, Beef Roast & Turkey

Anchor your Christmas dinner table with effortless glazed hams, tender garlic butter beef roast, and hands-off slow cooker or Instant Pot holiday mains.

Crockpot Ham (With Maple Glaze) sliced on a serving plate with garnishes in front of a slow cooker.

Pork Main Dishes

Slow Cooker Ham with Maple Glaze

6 5

Sliced glazed ham served on a platter with orange slices and a sprig of green leaves for garnish.

Pork Main Dishes

Dr. Pepper Glazed Ham

Pork Main Dishes

Slow Cooker Honey Baked Ham

3 15

A metal fork holds a sliced ham that is arranged on a piece of foil, covered in a glossy glaze, with juices pooling around it.

Pork Main Dishes

Instant Pot Honey Glazed Ham

Beef Main Dishes

Garlic Butter Beef Roast

1 10

A plate of Slow Cooker Perfect Pot Roast and Homemade Gravy with mashed potatoes and carrots.

Beef Main Dishes

Slow Cooker Pot Roast and Homemade Gravy

8 25

Classic Christmas Dinner Sides, Potatoes & Homemade Rolls

Round out your holiday feast with pull-apart Christmas tree dinner rolls, ultra-creamy mashed and cheesy potatoes, and bright cranberry sides.

Bread rolls arranged in a Christmas tree shape, topped with herbs and pomegranate seeds, on a white surface with additional pomegranate seeds and pinecones scattered around.

Biscuits and Rolls

Christmas Tree Dinner Rolls

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Sauces

Cranberry Sauce

Side Dishes

Funeral Potatoes

Side Dishes

Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

1 15

Biscuits and Rolls

Lion House Rolls and Honey Butter

1 45

Recipes

Green Beans with Candied Pecans

Holiday Appetizers, Cheese Balls & Party Dips

Kick off your Christmas Eve open house or holiday party with crowd-pleasing cheese balls, festive crostini, and warm oven-baked dips that disappear fast.

Small cheese balls coated with chopped nuts and bacon, each with a pretzel stick in the center, arranged on a white plate.

Hot Appetizers

Festive Christmas Drinks, Hot Chocolate & Party Punch

Warm up after caroling or toast the season with rich slow cooker hot chocolate, copycat holiday café drinks, and sparkling cranberry party punches.

Two mugs of hot chocolate topped with whipped cream are in front of a Crock-Pot on a countertop.

Beverages

Christmas Recipe FAQs

What can I make ahead for Christmas morning breakfast?

Overnight casseroles are the easiest way to enjoy Christmas morning without waking up early to cook. Assemble our Brown Sugar Pecan Overnight French Toast Casserole or savory Amish Breakfast Casserole on Christmas Eve, cover and refrigerate overnight, and bake while the family opens gifts. You can also prep the batter or dough ahead for Gingerbread Waffles and Classic Cinnamon Rolls.

What are the best Christmas treats for neighbor gifts and cookie exchanges?

Sturdy, bite-sized treats that hold their shape at room temperature pack and travel best for neighbor plates. Reader favorites include Christmas Crack, Peppermint Bark, Homemade Chocolate Caramels with Sea Salt, Peanut Butter Snowballs, and Andes Mint Cookies.

What is an easy main dish to serve for Christmas dinner?

To free up oven space for rolls and side dishes, cook your holiday main course in the slow cooker or Instant Pot! Our Slow Cooker Ham with Maple Glaze, Dr. Pepper Glazed Ham, and Garlic Butter Beef Roast require just minutes of hands-on prep and come out tender and juicy every time.

What no-bake Christmas treats can kids help make?

Kids love helping with fast no-bake holiday recipes like Cornflake Christmas Wreath Cookies, Melted Snowman Bark, Christmas Reindeer Chex Mix, and 8-minute No-Bake Ritz Cracker Thin Mint Cookies.