Christmas Buffet Instead of Turkey – What Should We Serve?

[Ladymuckypuddle]

We’ve decided to skip the usual Christmas turkey and all the trimmings this year and do a buffet-style meal instead. There will be a mix of adults/kids and we’d like things that feel a bit festive but are easy to prep in advance so we can actually enjoy the day.

What sort of things would you serve for a Christmas buffet? Cold/hot dishes, crowd-pleasers, picky bits — anything you’ve done before that worked well?

Would love some inspiration!

Prawn cocktail (either lots of little dishes made up or a big one on a flat plate you could take a spponful of)
Smoked salmon
Pate

Pigs in blankets
Honey sausages
Brie and cranberry parcels
Some meat slice (probably gammon)

Crackers, oat cakes and nice bread
Cheeses and chutneys

A cold cooked ham as a centerpiece.
Stuffing balls (crunchy from the air fryer)
Mini Toad in the Hole (make Yorkshire puddings in BUN tins, not muffin tins with a mini sausage in each)
Christmas pudding cake pops?

All the stuff above. Maybe a small turkey crown, gammon, seafood mix, vegan and normal sausage rolls. And most importantly, cheese and pineapple on sticks! Oh, and a bowl of mixed salad that will go mostly untouched, but it looks like you care😂

Can't go wrong with a cooked gammon

@middleagedandinarage loving the idea of a serving plate prawn cocktail that people can take spoon servings from.

@Sgtmajormummy what's bun tins please?

@Jonismorf love a bit cheese on a stick and will put out the bowl of greens to brighten up the table 🤣

@Pollqueen true gammon always goes down well and any leftovers can go into soup, Paella or other quick meals for in-between Christmas and New year

Sounds more complicated than a roast to me. I’d just bung in a roast (doesn’t have to be turkey) then serve with a variety of veg, get people to bring different ones

A bun tin is not as deep as a muffin tin, so you need less oil and your mini Yorkshire puddings come out cleaner.
Also good for mince pies. Amazon

If I was doing a ham I’d also a tray of dauphinois potatoes - lovely creamy, garlicky potatoes and a good foil for the ham.

Those potatoes are the food of the Gods

Just really want something different this year for a change from the same old.

Oh thanks for the link these sound great.

We did this last year and it is the best thing ever!
I did the turkey dinner on Christmas Eve but we grazed then on Christmas Day. 2 adults and DS(7).

We had:
melon and prosciutto
a cheese board with fancy crackers, grapes, figs and nuts
prawn and crab with a bit of salad and bread rolls
Nigella’s cola gammon
Turkey, pigs in blankets leftovers
Colin the caterpillar cake

I always do a side of salmon in the BBQ form of our Christmas Day buffet, as well as a gammon. I'm also doing lamb shawarma shoulder on the BBQ this year.

Lots of cheese, part baked seeded rolls, pizza, a nice mix of buffet bits, homemade sausage rolls, pork pie. Plus tabbouleh and another salad.

ETA: a bowl of pigs in blankets too!

We did all part food a couple of years ago, it was a massive PITA regards timing, fitting stuff in the oven etc

Defo prawn Cocktail, I love it in baby gem lettuce “cups”. I also love cranberry glazed puffs in blankets in Yorkshire puddings with a dipping gravy. A lovely festive large pork pie, red cabbage coleslaw, duck spring rolls, prawn toasts, quiche. I do love a buffet!

Make them a day ahead - they firm up really nicely and are much better the second day - also saves hassle on the day itself, just pop in the oven.

We did a buffet last year and cooked a ham and carved it up. Salad type stuff and bread baguettes with hummus, cheese and ham platter with pickles, pineapple and cheese sticks. Chutneys, crackers and a pineapple fruit tree and desserts such as cheese cake with cream and other such things.

Hot selection was sausage rolls, spring rolls, prawn toasts, chicken strips

Glazed sausages- cook sausages in equal parts soy sauce, sesame oil and honey. They always go down well at our Christmas buffet!

A massive cheeseboard as well, including a couple of Camemberts done in the oven with the top sliced off and garlic gloves and rosemary inside.

Turkey curry.

I love quiche with my buffet. Home made coleslaw a must. Roast potatoes. Then all the already mentioned gammon, cheese etc

I’m here for ideas as we’re skipping traditional Christmas dinner too! Sorry I’m not more helpful!

Some lovely thinly sliced rare roast beef and horseradish
Venison sausages
Guinea fowl risotto made ahead. Use the carcass to make the risotto stock as it's the best stock there is, then cut up the flesh small and add. There's less meat on a gf than on a similar sized chicken
Smoked salmon blinis
Cooked salmon fillets
And a Massive Bowl of Dahl for the non meat eaters.

I'd also recommend the ham in coke however the last time I cooked it, following recipe to letter it was barely edible. Same butcher. Put me off a bit.

Oh God, I love a buffet! I have a mini Christmas celebration with one of my best friends (like a sister to me) and our kids every year in between Christmas and New Year.

We have a whole mix of stuff - I like buying the party foods you get in super market chiller or freezer sections. You know, mini steak and ale pies and Hoi sin duck rolls and little pork dumplings etc etc. And we have a good selection of cold meats and cheese and a decent bread. I usually make a festive quiche (turkey and cranberry or similar). Do a few bowls of nice salad - a Greek one, a couscous one and a leaf one.

For sweet, we have profiteroles ,and my daughter does some baking! And usually a load of chocolate fingers, which we all love!

This year quite fancy kicking it off by doing a nice big baked camembert, with cubes of nice bread to dip!

Buffets are the best.

We did this last year and to be really honest we missed our roast turkey and beef with all the trimmings sorry