Traditional Dishes for Christmas in Spain

Christmas dishes in Spain

Christmas is one of the most important holidays in Spain. And not only in Spain..
Here very early, from as early as October, the shops and supermarkets are full of all sorts of goodies and gastronomic delights.
As everywhere, Spaniards are divided into different categories on the eve of the holidays: some prefer to cook all the dishes themselves (it's a holiday, you have to try), and buy only the necessary ingredients for cooking, some will cook part of it themselves and buy new snacks for a change, and some do not want to bother at all, and for them just sell all this delicious ugliness!

What is the typical Christmas dish in Spain?

Let's start with the traditional Christmas table snacks:
Traditional Christmas snacks in Spain include jamon, cheeses, various pates, tinned delicacies. And, of course, delicious olives, without them..
Let's get to the fun part - the main hot dishes for the Christmas table:

Roast lamb

This is probably the most famous Spanish Christmas dish and the main course of the holiday. Traditionally, young lamb is roasted in an earthenware pot or wood-fired oven, which gives the dish sophistication and makes it popular throughout Spain. This gastronomic tradition is believed to have come from the cuisine of Al-Andalus. It is usually served with potatoes or seasonal vegetables.

Baked stuffed turkey

Baked turkey with stuffing is another key Christmas dish and there are many ways to prepare it. Due to its size, one turkey with succulent ingredients such as vegetables, chestnuts and nuts can feed many guests.

Octopus

This traditional dish from Galicia occupies an important place in the region's cookery, despite its widespread distribution throughout the country. It consists of a whole boiled octopus served as a main course or an appetiser. Successful cooking involves immersing it three times in boiling water for a few seconds, which Galician people call ‘asustar’. This technique helps preserve the skin of the octopus. The dish, known as Galician-style octopus, is cooked with garlic and potatoes, seasoned with coarse salt, sweet or spicy paprika and flavoured with olive oil.

Roast suckling pig

It is one of the iconic dishes of the Segovia and Ávila regions and is also often found on the Christmas table in many parts of Spain. A properly cooked suckling pig should have a soft interior and a crispy crust. The dish is succulent and nutritious and is good served with salads, but it also goes well with potatoes.

Baked fish

Another traditional Christmas dish in Spanish homes, often served as a second or main course. Fish is usually baked with potatoes, garlic, bay leaves and white wine, and salt, lemon and olive oil are added. The base is usually sea bass (lubina), dorada or besugo.

Seafood

On the Christmas table, seafood has become a necessity. Prawns are particularly popular at the festive season. They are served as an appetiser and used in seafood soups. 
In addition, crustaceans are also frequent guests on the festive table. Among the crustaceans, crabs and lobsters are highly valued and are used to make stuffing, stews or add to soups and other traditional dishes.

Christmas sweets

And for dessert, we have turron. You can't end a great Christmas feast without a turrón. It is a Spanish sweet, which is traditionally made of honey, sugar, egg white and roasted almonds. But you can see many varieties on the supermarket shelves and that's great!

Marzipans are everyone's favourite. They belong to the traditional Christmas sweets - a mixture of almonds ground to flour and sugar syrup. They are delicious.

Polvoron is also a favourite here when it comes to Christmas desserts. It is a small cake made of flour, lard and sugar that melts completely when eaten.