Christina's Cucina

An impassioned Italian Scot sharing how to cook authentically, and travel with enthusiasm.

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Home » Course or Meal » Authentic Italian Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Recipes

Authentic Italian Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Recipes

December 8th, 2018 | 28 Comments

These authentic Italian Christmas Eve and Christmas Day recipes will help you to plan a holiday just like my Nonna Chiarina used to have.

Serving of Zuppa Inglese

Originally published December 16, 2016.

The following Italian dishes are the types of food my southern Italian family (some of whom are now all over the globe) makes at Christmastime, both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

They may not be exactly the same as other southern Italian families’ recipes, but I can assure you one thing: they are authentic. Nonna taught my mother how to make most of these recipes, and my mother taught me. I hope you enjoy them and find something to add to your Christmastime menu. Maybe you can even introduce some dishes to start an Italian tradition in your own home. Buon Natale!

Click on the photos for the recipe.

Italian Christmas Eve Dishes

As is the tradition in Italy, the Christmas Eve meal consists mainly of seafood and no meat. Often called Feast of the Seven Fishes (Cena della Vigilia).

Insalata di Baccalà ~ Salt Cod Salad

Insalata di Baccala Salad

Deep Fried, Battered Salt Cod ~ Very delicious!

Fried salt cod

Spaghetti with Anchovies ~ Super quick and easy recipe

spaghetti with anchovies

Oven-Baked Fish -White fish topped with tomatoes, breadcrumbs and spashed with vinegar, this is a super easy yet delicious seafood dish.

Oven baked fish on a plate

Linguine and clams – Nonna didn’t make this, but families nearer the coast would (spaghetti alle vongole).

Linguine and clams

Frittelle ~ called many different ways, these are Italian style Christmas doughnuts

Frittelle: Italian Christmas Eve Doughnuts

Christmas Day Dishes

Lupini with Olives ~ Super healthy and nutritious snack

lupini beans with olives

Chicken Soup with Grattini all Uovo ~ Homemade pasta for soup

Grattini all uovo in chicken soup

Cioffe ~ Light and crispy fried ribbons of slightly sweetened pastry.

Italian Christmas cioffe

Cicerchiata ~ Cioffe, made and served in a different style.

Cicerchiata Italian Christmas

Pizzelle ~ Crisp, flat pastries made in a special pizzelle iron.

Pizzelle by Christina's Cucina

Zuppa Inglese ~ A no bake dessert made from biscuits/cookies.

Christina's Zuppa Inglese for an Italian Christmas

Panettone~ A very traditional lightly sweetened yeast bread. No Italian Christmas is complete without this classic Italian bread which is almost like a cake.

Panettone made in bread machine and cooked in the oven for an Italian Christmas

Ceppo di Natale or Tronchetto di Natale ~A Yule Log

yule log with pine needles

Zuccotto ~ a pumpkin shaped dessert that is lined with sponge cake and filled with cream.

Zuccotto on a cake plate

I’ll keep adding to this post as I publish more authentic recipes for the holidays, so check back every now and then.

If you’ll be doing any gift buying, check out my Amazon shop and my gift list for foodies and travelers.

Thank you!

Christina’s Amazon Shop

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Appetizers, Course or Meal, Cuisine, Desserts, Italian, Main Courses · Christmas, Italian

Reader Interactions

28 Responses

  1. Shumaila says:
    December 19, 2016 at 10:56 am

    Love how you can preserve generations of recipes through your blog. Always happy to see recipes that are family traditions. Thank you for sharing :)

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 20, 2016 at 12:10 am

      Isn’t that wonderful? Thank YOU, Shumaila!

      Reply
  2. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says:
    December 19, 2016 at 5:31 am

    Lovely to see a different side to holiday food, with some delicious looking dishes.

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 19, 2016 at 7:48 am

      Thank you, Helen!

      Reply
  3. Tara says:
    December 19, 2016 at 4:49 am

    Such a wonderful collection of holiday recipes! So many I want to try, particularly the Pizza Inglese and Chicken Soup with Grattini all Uovo. Beautiful photos

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 19, 2016 at 7:48 am

      Hope you do, Tara! They’re soooo good! Thank you!

      Reply
  4. Sarah says:
    December 19, 2016 at 3:38 am

    What a great collection! These all look delicious…especially those frittelles, yum!!

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 19, 2016 at 7:47 am

      Yess!!

      Reply
  5. Shashi at RunninSrilankan says:
    December 19, 2016 at 3:15 am

    Such a delightful collection of Italian dishes! My daughter and I pick something we hadn’t tried before and make it for Christmas – this list gives us so many more intriguing and delightful things to choose from. Merry Christmas to you and your family.

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 19, 2016 at 7:47 am

      Wonderful!! Merry Christmas to you too, Shashi!

      Reply
  6. Marina says:
    December 17, 2016 at 4:54 pm

    Some of these dishes are similar to Portuguese traditional Christmas dinner, namely the salt cod, and especially the cioffe, which I loved scoffing as a child. Our cioffe -same stripes shape- (in Portugal) were covered in sugar and cinnamon, hmm so delicious, I remember it well now. My mum used to make them. I moved to the UK 25 years ago, and I have not seen them/eaten any since. I never did learn how to make them so, thank you, very much, for sharing this. I shall try your recipe, and attempt to do the cinnamon (Portuguese) variation. Lupini, with or without olives, is also a Portuguese snack, although it is eaten mostly in the Summer (mostly in cafés by the beach), downed with the great Portuguese beer, Sagres. As for the salt cod, yours is also a variation of a Portuguese dish. Salt cod, accompanied with boiled potatoes, cabbage and egg, all drizzled with a good measure of good olive oil, is actually the traditional main Christmas meal in Portugal, well, at least it was, in our home. Doesn’t sound very appetising but, as a child, I used to love mashing the potatoes on my plate, with my fork, and they’d taste so good with the olive oil. Thanks for the lovely memories which your post has brought me.

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 18, 2016 at 5:27 am

      How lovely to hear of the similarities with Portuguese cooking, Marina! I’ve never been to Portugal, but just got back Tuesday from my very first time in Spain, so I’m getting closer! :) There was SO much salt cod there.

      Happy that you found the cioffe recipe. Let me know how they turn out and Merry Christmas!

      Reply
  7. Cathy says:
    December 17, 2016 at 2:51 pm

    Makes me wish I was Italian! ;)

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 17, 2016 at 2:52 pm

      You can be an honorary Italian, Cathy! ;)

      Reply
  8. 2pots2cook says:
    December 17, 2016 at 2:37 am

    Good gracious ! It brings me back to my childhood …. It seems that I shall make a major change of plans :-) Thank you for sharing all the beauties !

    Reply
    • Christina says:
      December 20, 2016 at 12:11 am

      Oh that’s wonderful!! You are very welcome! Merry Christmas to you! :)

      Reply
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Meet Christina

A Scottish Italian cook living in Los Angeles, Christina is usually cooking, baking or (cr)eating something scrumptious. When she isn't in the kitchen, she loves to travel, near and far, as long as good food is involved. Christina is on a mission to save authentic Italian dishes from extinction, and is constantly promoting Scottish (and British) food as some of the best cuisine the world has to offer—one steak pie and sticky toffee pudding at a time.



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