Christmas food is one of the most exciting parts of the holiday season, but it can be hard to figure out what to cook, especially when you aren’t familiar with what’s available in your area! These traditional Russian Christmas foods are sure to inspire you this year.
Plus, these recipes are relatively simple, but they use ingredients that may be hard to find outside Russia and Eastern Europe.
As a result, we’ve included links to where you can purchase them online! Let’s dig into the list of Russian Christmas foods!
1. Olivier Potato Salad
This list of Russian Christmas foods starts with the Olivier Potato Salad. It is a traditional Russian French dish that is a part of the many dishes that make up the classic Russian Christmas feast.
The Olivier Potato Salad comprises chopped boiled potatoes, celery, carrots, and hard-boiled eggs, all mixed in with mayonnaise and mustard.
Going further, the salad is garnished with chopped parsley or tarragon. It can be served hot or cold as a side dish to accompany other dishes on the table.
The Olivier Potato Salad was made famous by chef Marie-Antoine Carême, born in France in 1784. When Marie Antoine Carême was hired as Chef de Cuisine at the Court of Tsar Alexander I of Russia, he created this dish for his employer’s family for their Christmas meal.
2. Aromatic Spice-Rubbed Pork Roast Stuffed with Herbs and Garlic
This comes second on our list of delicious Russian Christmas foods. The pork roast is rubbed with a mixture of freshly ground pepper, thyme, garlic, salt, and sugar in this recipe. The pork is then stuffed with a mixture of parsley, chervil, and tarragon.
It’s cooked on top of the stove in a pot with carrots, celery root, and onion. Once it’s finished cooking, it’s taken out to cool for about 15 minutes before being carved into slices. This dish can be served warm or cold – either way, it will taste delicious!
3. Russian Liver Cake Recipe
Russian Liver Cake Recipe is one of the traditional Russian Christmas foods. The cake comprises pork livers, bacon, onion, and bread crumbs. It’s a savory dish that will surely warm your heart during the colder seasons.
To cook up, in a large skillet, cook bacon until crisp. Then, remove the bacon from the pan and set it aside on paper towels to drain excess grease.
Next, cook liver in bacon grease until browned on both sides. Finally, remove from the skillet and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain excess fat.
4. Russian Piroshki
There are many traditional Russian Christmas foods that you may not know of. One of the most popular and very delicious dishes is Russian Piroshki.
These are meat hand pies that can be filled with any sort of filling you like. But the most common one is meat with potatoes and onions.
Moreso, the dough for this dish is made from flour, eggs, salt, and cold water or milk. The dough will then be rolled out into a thin circle and filled with the desired filling. It can then be cooked by frying it in oil until golden brown on both sides.
5. Russian Deviled Eggs
Deviled eggs are a staple at any celebration, but these festive deviled eggs are made with mayonnaise and ketchup. These are used instead of mustard and pickle juice for a deliciously different flavor.
These deviled eggs can be served as an appetizer or as a side dish alongside other traditional dishes like borscht, pelmeni, and blini.
To prepare this delicacy as one of the Russian Christmas foods, start by hard boiling your eggs in a pot of water. (You can do this on the stove if you have one, or just use your electric kettle).
Once they’ve been boiled for 10 minutes, carefully remove them from the pot with tongs to cool them off. Afterward, you can remove their shells with a knife.
6. Russian Pork Aspic-Kholodets or Studen
Kholodets, or Studen as it is called in some areas of Russia, is a traditional dish served on the Eastern Orthodox Christmas holiday.
Kholodets is a pork jelly that has been seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic. Usually, it is served in small bowls with horseradish sauce and pickles.
Surging, this dish can be made from either fresh or salted pork broth. When using salted broth, the kholodets must be soaked for three to four days before cooking so that the salt leaches out of the meat.
The meat itself should be boiled for three hours until it falls off the bone and becomes soft enough. It should be soft enough to make a jelly-like consistency once cooled. This dish is not excluded from our list of various Russian Christmas foods!
7. Farmer’s Cheese Tvorog
As a food that has been passed down for generations, Russians love to enjoy their favorite dishes on the biggest day of the year. One of the most traditional Russian Christmas foods is tvorog, or farmer’s cheese.
According to some sources, this dish is made from milk that has been boiled with a generous amount of salt and then left to cool.
The resulting curds are placed in molds and pressed until they are solid enough to be cut into cubes. Meanwhile, the taste varies depending on how long it has been allowed to sour before serving.
Some people like it very sour, while others prefer a milder flavor. Tvorog can be eaten as part of a meal or as an appetizer before dinner, either by itself or served with fruit preserves.
8. Kurnik Pie with Chicken, Potatoes, and Onions
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not really. But it is a time to be with family, eat good food, and enjoy each other’s company.
And what better way to celebrate than with some traditional Russian Christmas foods? One popular dish is Kurnik pie with chicken, potatoes, and onions.
It’s an Eastern European dish served during Christmas as a main course or dessert. The ingredients for the recipe can be found below:
- Large onions
- Butter or margarine
- Peeled and chopped potatoes
- Chopped raw chicken
- Eggs, beaten lightly
- Salt.
9. Salmon Coulibiac
Kulebyaka is also one of the many traditional Russian Christmas foods that is often prepared for the holiday season.
Often, it is seen as one of the more festive dishes to prepare for the celebration. In addition to that, it can be made with either salmon or white fish.
Specifically, the name Kulebyaka translates to little cake, which refers to its appearance when baked. Kulebyaka is often served with a side of sour cream. To sum up, it is garnished with chopped hard-boiled eggs, parsley, and dill weed.
10. Mimosa Salad
If you’re looking for a light and refreshing dish this holiday season, look no further than mimosa salad. This recipe layers tuna salad with cucumbers, eggs, and mayonnaise.
Then, smothers it with a mixture of sugar and vinegar to create the perfect sweet-and-savory combination.
The whole thing is chilled in the fridge for about an hour before serving—so if you’re running around on Christmas Eve morning like most people, this recipe is for you!
Once it’s chilled to just the right temperature, this dish can be served as a side dish or as the main attraction at your holiday meal.
No matter how you serve it up on December 25th, this specialty of traditional Russian Christmas foods will soon become one of your favorites!
11. Russian Vinegret Salad
In Russia, the most traditional dishes served on Christmas Eve are roasted meats, pickles, and baked or fried pastries.
However, one of the most popular Russian Christmas foods that is a must-have is the vinegret salad.
Vinegrets are pickled cucumbers with carrots, onions, garlic, and spices that have been boiled in vinegar and water.
What’s more? This dish has been around since medieval times when people would make it to preserve their harvest from the summer.
Vinegrets are essential to any Russian Christmas dinner table as they symbolize fertility and abundance for the New Year to come.
12. Delicate and Tender Layer Cake
Speaking of Russian Christmas foods, this is a popular and traditional holiday dish. It’s made of two layers of dough, separated by a layer of sour cream or curdled milk.
The filling can be anything from berries to red wine to nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar. Usually, the cake is eaten with tea.
However, some people prefer to serve it as a dessert after dinner. Like many other festive dishes, smetannik can also be frozen for up to three months to enjoy later.
13. Smetana – Sour Cream
It is kind of similar to Smetannik, but it’s quite different. Likewise, it is one of the delicious Russian Christmas foods. Smetana is a staple of Russian cuisine and another important ingredient in many Russian Christmas recipes.
14. Russian Pelmeni
Russian pelmeni is a traditional dish that is served during the 12 days of Christmas. They are made from pork, beef, lamb, or veal mixed with onion, garlic, and parsley. The dough is cut into circles and filled with meat mixture.
Next, the dumplings are boiled in water before they are fried. The dumplings can also be stuffed with pumpkin or squash instead of meat filling. You will love this dish on our list of Russian Christmas foods!
15. Herring Under a Fur Coat
In Russia, it is traditional to eat 12 dishes before the New Year. The first dish eaten is usually fish, such as herring under a fur coat (a layered salad of potatoes and herring with mayonnaise).
Or herring in sour cream sauce. Hence, one of the reasons it is on this list of Russian Christmas foods.
16. Kutya
A typical Russian dessert is kutya, which consists of wheat berries cooked in water and sugar until they form a porridge-like consistency. Then they are mixed with butter, raisins, nuts, and boiled eggs.
Kutya can be left on a table for people to snack on throughout the evening or served alongside other holiday foods. Above all, it is not left off the list of Russian Christmas foods!
17. Russian Pryaniki
Pryaniki is traditional Russian Christmas food made from honey and dough. The dough is cut into squares and then fried in a frying pan or griddle. After frying, the Pryaniki are rolled in sugar and cinnamon.
Further, some people also like to dip them in sour cream before serving. These sweet treats are usually served with tea, coffee, or champagne after dinner.
With these on this list of Russian Christmas foods, you need not worry anymore about the most palatable foods to serve your guests!
Conclusion
The New Year will be here soon, so it’s time to start thinking about all the delicious food you will eat! Many dishes are associated with the holiday season in Russia, but these are some of the most popular Russian Christmas foods.
Whether you’re celebrating by yourself or with family and friends, these recipes will have something for everyone on your list.
Christmas may be the celebration of the birth of Jesus, but in Russia, it’s all about the food! Hundreds of traditional Russian Christmas foods are on many Russian tables around the holidays.
And some of them are so delicious that you’ll want to eat them year-round. Here are some of the most common Russian Christmas foods you’ll love to cook (or have someone else do) and eat with your friends and family!
