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Combine food and family the Italian way with this Italian Christmas dinner menu featuring antipasti, hearty mains, sides, and classic sweets!
Food and Family!!!
Food + family = the Italian way, especially at Christmas! For our holiday Cenone, we love kicking off with easy antipasti, plenty of pasta, and warm breads, then finishing with something sweet.
Whether you’re hosting the whole crew or keeping it simple, this collection rounds up our favorite Italian and Italian-American dishes to mix and match into a stress-free menu. You’ll find quick appetizers, make-ahead mains (hi, lasagna!), comforting soups, fresh salads, and bakery-style desserts. Pick one or two mains, add a couple of sides and a bread, and you’re set.
Everything here is tested in our kitchen, family-friendly, and great for feeding a crowd. Buon Natale!
PRO TIP: Pin or bookmark this list so you’re ready with delicious Italian recipes to make your Christmas celebration warm, festive, and full of flavor.
Top 10 Most Loved Italian Christmas Dinner Ideas
Enjoy our favorite Italian Christmas dishes that bring a touch of old-world charm to your holiday table.
1 Easy Lasagna Recipe
Easy Lasagna Recipe
Total Time: 1 hourhour10 minutesminutes
Our family's favorite lasagna recipe – not only because it's delicious but because it's so EASY! With beef, Italian sausage, three cheeses, and tons of seasonings, you know this recipe is going to be a hit!
These Italian Pork Chops require just a few ingredients and are baked in the oven with loads of veggies. Have it ready and on the table in just 30 minutes!
Do NOT forget the bread! We almost love the bread more than the main event, especially when it’s any of these easy recipes.
16 Focaccia Bread Recipe
Focaccia Bread Recipe
Total Time: 8 hourshours55 minutesminutes
Crisp yet fluffy bread topped with delicious herbs and seasonings. This flavorful focaccia bread is so easy to make, and is perfect for sandwiches, dipping in soups, or enjoying on its own!
This is by far our favorite Garlic Bread recipe. It takes minutes to put together and is SO cheesy and delicious. It’s the perfect side dish for any meal, but especially for pasta and Italian dishes!
Combine food and family the Italian way with this Italian Christmas dinner menu featuring antipasti, hearty mains, sides, and classic sweets!
Servings: 9
Prep: 40 minutesmins
Cook: 25 minutesmins
Rest Time: 5 minutesmins
Total: 1 hourhr10 minutesmins
Video
Ingredients
1tablespoonvegetable oil
3 – 4teaspoonsminced garlic
2tablespoonsfresh basil
salt and pepper,to taste
6cupstomato sauce
1poundbeef
1poundpork
1 (16-ounce) containersour cream
2cupslow fat cottage cheese
1cupshredded Parmesan cheese
2cupsshredded mozzarella cheese,more if needed
1packageno-boil lasagna noodles
shredded Parmesan cheese,to taste
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pan over medium heat, sautee garlic in vegetable oil for 2-3 minutes. Stir in basil, salt, dash of pepper and tomato sauce. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
In another pan over medium heat, cook beef and pork until no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Drain fat.
Add meat to the tomato sauce mixture, cover and simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
Combine sour cream, cottage cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
In a 9×13 pan, spread 1 cup of the tomato sauce on the bottom. Layer lasagna noodles over the sauce and then spread another cup of tomato sauce on top of the noodles.
Add 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the tomato sauce and then half of the sour cream/cottage cheese mixture on top of the mozzarella cheese.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles, followed by a cup of tomato sauce, the last cup of shredded mozzarella and then rest of the sour cream/cottage cheese mixture.
Then, add one more layer of noodles and the remainder of the tomato sauce.
Add shredded Parmesan cheese to the top and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let set for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Texture Tip. For the best texture, be sure to use the right ingredients. A few things can cause too much moisture in lasagna. If you use a thin tomato sauce or nonfat sour cream and cottage cheese, the added water content in your ingredients will cause the lasagna to be too soupy.
Kristyn Merkley is a published cookbook author, wife, mom of six, and major food enthusiast! For the past 15 years, she has been sharing foolproof, family-friendly recipes—each one tested in her kitchen—that anyone can master. As a seasoned recipe creator, she loves making cooking simple, stress-free, and totally doable for everyone!
I appreciate the explanation of the courses of an Italian dinner as well as the recipe suggestions that fit. I’ve already made several of your appetizers and cant wait to work through the different pasta dishes.
We do a different theme for Christmas dinner every year, and this year is Italian. So glad I found this GREAT collection of recipes to help me put together my menu!
I appreciate the explanation of the courses of an Italian dinner as well as the recipe suggestions that fit. I’ve already made several of your appetizers and cant wait to work through the different pasta dishes.
Amazing recipes looking forward to making them
I love this list!! I make your tortellini salad all the time!! It helps to see all the options on this one post, so thank you!
Thank you so much, these are even better than my Italian grandmother’s cookies!
We do a different theme for Christmas dinner every year, and this year is Italian. So glad I found this GREAT collection of recipes to help me put together my menu!
Aside from Mexican this is the next best dinner for us……Italian! We love pretty much anything pasta. The food is great and not hard to make.
The students really liked the layout of this website.