I’ve spent 34 Christmases in Ireland and, let me tell ya, there are some delicious traditional Irish Christmas foods.
They tend to be served up in stages:
- Stage 1: The big Christmas breakfast (usually a full-Irish)
- Stage 2: The traditional Irish Christmas dinner (with turkey, ham, veggies and potatoes)
- Stage 3: The treats (like the Irish Christmas cake)
- Stage 4: The leftovers (served every way imaginable)
Traditional Irish Christmas foods
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Now, a quick disclaimer before your belly starts rumbling – some of the food and drink below isn’t just munched on in Ireland.
Many of the dishes that fall into the ‘Christmas food in Ireland’ category are eaten in many other countries, like the mince pie!
1. The Christmas breakfast
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In many households, the first of the Irish Christmas dishes to be served up is what’s known as a ‘full-Irish’.
This is a cooked breakfast that contains sausages, black and white pudding, bacon (rashers), eggs and bread.
Depending on the household, there could also be beans, mushrooms and fried bread. It’s generally accompanied by a cup of tea or coffee!
2. The traditional Irish Christmas dinner
A traditional Irish Christmas dinner is made up of meat, like turkey or/and ham, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, gravy and all the trimmings.
Roast turkey is the traditional meat, but many also have boiled ham. In certain parts of Ireland, goose and duck are also served up.
The meat is served with gravy and some families also have cranberry sauce and/or bread sauce (cream and onions thickened with bread).
The plate is loaded with carrots, turnips and brussels sprouts. Potatoes are usually served in every way imaginable, from roasted and mashed to tasty potato gratin.
Certain parts of the country also have their own traditional Irish Christmas foods, like spiced beef.
3. Irish Christmas Cake
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At the centre of many an Irish Christmas dinner is the iced Christmas cake.
This rich dark fruit cake is made up of raisins, currants, sultanas, candied peel and spices bound together with butter, brown sugar, molasses, eggs and spice.
It should be made and cooked in late October then wrapped in foil and occasionally spiked with whiskey or brandy as it mellows and matures.
A week before Christmas, the cake is unwrapped and covered in yellow marzipan and then royal icing. It is decorated with sugar holly, snowmen and other seasonal images and keeps moist for weeks in a tin.
Related read: Check out my guide to 13 unusual, unique and fun facts about Christmas in Ireland
4. Potatoes
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So, I mentioned them previously, but potatoes are the king of traditional Irish Christmas foods.
They were a food staple for families back in the day and when the Potato Famine struck in the late 1840s, many families starved or were forced to emigrate.
Fast forward many years later and potatoes are a key staple in the Irish diet. At Christmas, we eat them roasted, boiled or mashed (or all three at once!).
Left-over potatoes are then cooked in different ways and served with the remaining meats and vegetables on St Stephen’s Day (December 26th).
Champ is popular, made from mashed potato with chopped spring onions or scallions. Add kale or cabbage to the frying pan and you get colcannon.
Fried potatoes and potato cakes may be used up with a cooked Irish breakfast while Potato Bread is a Northern Ireland staple.
5. Sherry Trifle
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A wobbly strawberry jelly topped with thick yellow custard and whipped cream makes any sherry trifle irresistible.
However, it’s the cake layer (Swiss roll) soaked in sherry at the bottom that delivers a tasty kick. This no-bake layered dessert is quick and easy to make and is very versatile.
It may include tinned or fresh fruits such as strawberries and peaches and is decorated with whipped cream, sweet glacé cherries and flaked almonds on top.
It’s one traditional Christmas dessert that’s as good as it looks, so leave room for a serving (or two!).
Related read: Check out my guide to 13 old and timeless Christmas traditions in Ireland
6. Christmas Pudding
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Christmas Pudding may have very similar ingredients to the Christmas Cake but it is steamed for hours and then served hot with custard, brandy butter or white sauce laced with alcohol.
It’s traditionally known as “Plum Pudding” as in Victorian times, dried plums or prunes were added to the mixture to eke out the expensive and exotic dried fruit.
To serve the traditional Irish way, brandy is poured over the inverted pudding and set alight.
It is brought to the Irish Christmas dinner table in a haze of blue flame, making a grand statement.
7. Cadbury’s Roses
Although they’re not what they used to be, the tin of Roses was always a key treat after the traditional Irish Christmas dinner.
Cadbury’s is one of the largest and best loved chocolate makers in the UK and Ireland.
Their iconic blue boxes and tubs of Roses milk chocolates have been part of the traditional Christmas scene in Ireland for generations. They were introduced in 1938 and have been a common gift at Christmas ever since.
Always popular, the wrapped chocolates have nine different centres including caramel toffee, country fudge, chocolate covered hazel whirl, golden barrel, strawberry cream, tangy orangey creme and a signature truffle.
8. Mince pies
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Mince pies are a real Christmas treat and they’re often only available during the Christmas season.
These small pastries were once only filled with “mincemeat” which included diced meat (mutton) during the 15th to 7th centuries.
Nowadays, mince pies are filled with a tasty mix of apple, spices, currants, sugar and suet all cooked together in a slow oven and preserved with a generous portion of brandy or one of the Irish whiskey brands.
The mincemeat can be bought in jars making these sweet Christmas treats quick and easy to prepare and served to guests topped with cream.
Related read: Check out my guide to 11 traditional Irish Christmas blessings
9. Irish coffee and general tipples
The final flourish to the perfect Christmas meal is an Irish coffee.
Brew a nice strong cafetiere of coffee and combine with brown sugar. Add Irish whiskey to taste and top with a squirt of double cream.
The secret to getting the cream to float on top is to pour it over the back of a spoon onto the coffee.
Other hot drinks to savour during the Christmas festivities include hot whiskey, mulled wine or hot spiced port.
Other indulgent Irish drinks include Baileys, a rich liqueur of Irish whiskey, cream and cocoa. Manufactured in Ireland in 1973, it’s now a global top-seller.
Discover beyond the traditional Irish Christmas dinner
You now should have a good sense of the Irish Christmas foods used for pre, during and post a traditional Irish Christmas dinner.
For those of you looking to learn more about Christmas in Ireland, here are some guides:
What does Ireland eat on Christmas?
A traditional Irish Christmas dinner is generally a big meal with a roast turkey acting as the ‘main attraction’. Many people also have roast beef and boiled ham. Roast potatoes, stuffing and a variety of veg are also eaten.
What are some traditional Irish Christmas foods?
A traditional Irish Christmas dinner (and desert) contains everything from roast turkey and Christmas pudding, to mince pies, Christmas cake, sherry trifle and much more.
What is in an Irish Christmas dinner?
An Irish Christmas dinner will vary from home-to-home, however, you’ll generally find a meat, like roast turkey, roast beef, boiled ham or goose at the centrepiece. There will then be potatoes (roast and mashed) and all the trimmings. A Christmas cake, trifle and/or pudding generally follow for dessert.
Keith O’Hara has lived in Ireland for 35 years and has spent most of the last 10 creating what is now The Irish Road Trip guide. Over the years, the website has published thousands of meticulously researched Ireland travel guides, welcoming 30 million+ visitors along the way. In 2022, the Irish Road Trip team published the world’s largest collection of Irish Road Trip itineraries. Keith lives in Dublin with his dog Toby and finds writing in the 3rd person minus craic altogether.