Traditional Italian Christmas recipes for your holiday

For many people, Christmas is one of the most important times of the year. It’s more than just a religious celebration, it’s an opportunity to share time with family and friends. Of course, in Italy food also plays a vital part in the celebrations.

If you’re ready to experience traditional Italian Christmas Recipes, we’re here to help!

What is a traditional Christmas dinner in Italy?

A traditional Italian Christmas dinner is referred to as “Cenone della Vigilia”. The meal is arranged in a variety of courses, including appetizers, pasta, a fish course and dessert. Fish is a primary ingredient in traditional Italian Christmas recipes. You’re likely to find salt cod or eel on offer. It’s worth noting that the Italian Christmas dinner is generally consumed in the evening, on Christmas Eve.

Learning to create Italian Christmas Eve dinner recipes means discovering the intricacies of using real oil in every recipe, and why this is important. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the best Christmas Italian dinner recipes.

Regional Traditional Italian Christmas Recipes

While the Cenone della Vigilia is the recognized Italian name for Christmas dinner, the Christmas Italian dinner recipes do alter according to the district you’re in. Fortunately, we’ll help you identify the traditional Italian Christmas food recipes.

Sicily

In Sicily, the traditional Italian Christmas dinner recipes exist alongside modern interpretations. However, one of the most popular Christmas choices remains the baked anelletti with ragu or the simple pasta with sardines. To create traditional Italian anelletti, you’ll need Italian anelletti pasta, a large spoon of tomato paste, ½ pound minced pork and ½ pound minced beef. Add in some peas, mozzarella, red wine, grated cheese, red onions and oil and you’ll have one of several fantastic Italian Christmas dinner recipe ideas.

Campania

Campania has a variety of excellent Christmas dinner Italian recipes. However, one of the best, which you’ll need to sample at Christmas, is the Fried Zeppole. This traditional and delicious dessert comes from the Campania region. It’s a simple dough, which is fried before being covered in honey and other sugars.

Calabria

If you want something traditional and authentic from Calabria, then you should try the Petrali. This is a traditional Italian Christmas recipe. This sweet treat is effectively a sweet roll. The inside of which is full of figs, raisins, wine, black coffee, almonds, walnuts, and cinnamon.

Tuscany

Tuscany is famed for a variety of stunning Italian recipes, including the Tuscan Christmas cookies. To really enjoy these you should start by knowing how to enjoy a sip of limoncello. It’s the perfect way to cleanse your palette before enjoying the cookies.Tuscan cookies are a buttery cookie flavored with rum and vanilla. They are topped with festive sprinkles and it’s hard to have just one!

Apulia

Apulia is also famous for its traditional Italian Christmas dessert. It’s known as cartellate and is made from a base of flour, sugar, white wine and olive oil. The mixture is fried and then dunked into a syrup which is made from figs or grapes.

Liguria

The Liguria Christmas menu is known to be a lavish affair. There’s a traditional turkey meal, a little Chiavari which is supposedly to protect your body against fatty foods. You’ll also find the fish dish Cappon Magro, and you can try Natalini in brodo. This is a pasta-based fish dish.

Emilia Romagna

This region of Italy has a host of attractive dishes, including the Gnocco fritto, tortellini in brodo and the cotechino, a meal which is particularly famous in Emilia Romagna.

Summing Up