Last-minute hacks to make best Christmas dinner ever – using ingredients you have at home

There are many wonderful things about Christmas, from seeing family and friends you may not have visited for a while, to watching festive films and getting some much-needed time off work.

And of course, there’s all the delicious food, with the dinner on December 25 being the crowning jewel on the special day.

Cooking Christmas dinner is a big undertaking and understandably many people might find the prospect daunting or worry about making a meal that really dazzles the tastebuds. If you relate to this, then fear not, as we’ve rounded up a number of tricks to help your food be the best it can be.

From hacks to make restaurant-quality gravy, to ‘epic’ roast potatoes and a way to make even sprout haters eat their Brussels, we’ve got you covered and all you’ll need to try the tips are items you’ll likely already have at home so fingers crossed it won’t cost you a penny!

Turkey trick

To start, let’s get thinking about the all-important turkey, which nobody wants to be dry and tasteless.

In order to avoid this, you’ll have to hunt in the fridge for some mayonnaise, which is the key to a ‘perfect’ roast, according to chef Justin Chapple.

The expert says he smothers his turkey in mayo before cooking to baste it while in the oven and keep it “moist and tender”.

And the best part is that if anyone isn’t a mayonnaise fan, they won’t be able to taste it once it’s cooked.

If you really want o get adventurous, you can also add other flavours to your mayo before spooning it all over the bird, for instance, Justin likes to make a chipotle version, mixing in chopped thyme, the zest of a whole lemon, three grated garlic cloves, and minced chipotle chillies.

Really great roasties

The humble spud is taken to new heights when added to a Christmas dinner, but everyone has their own way of making roast potatoes – some use a particular type of fat, while others add extra ingredients to improve the taste.

Chef Richard Bainbridge, a former Great British Menu winner, says his secret to really great roasties is a stock cube.

Speaking to The Mirror, he explained that he always makes sure to sprinkle a crushed Chicken OXO stock cube over his potatoes and turkey before roasting them in the oven as he claims it tastes “epic”.

Alternatively, a food blogger named Beth previously went viral online after claiming Marmite was the crucial ingredient to add to get crispy potatoes.

She explained: “To make, peel and parboil some potatoes (7 ish minutes) then drain and drizzle Marmite all over them. (I usually use 2 tsp depending on how many potatoes, but use as much or as little as you want)…

“Then spray a glass roaster/baking tray with Frylight and tip the potatoes into it!

“Shake the roaster/tray so that the Marmite spreads on all of the potatoes and then spray them with Frylight.”

Beth added that for more umami flavour you can add more Marmite every 20 minutes while cooking and spray the whole thing with Frylight again.

And if your oven is overflowing with bits and bobs on Christmas Day and you need more space, then you could always crack out an air fryer and follow Facebook user Ria McCullough’s method. The home cook previously shared how she used her air fryer to make roasties and it was a “game-changer” – so much so that she vowed to “never cook [potatoes] conventionally again”.

She parboiled her spuds for 10 minutes and as they cooled in a colander, sprinkled over some flour, salt and pepper, onion granules and sage, before giving the whole thing a good shake to coat the potatoes.

Ria then added “a few glugs” of mild olive oil to her slow cooker and turned the temperature up high so the oil would be nice and hot when she put the potatoes in.

The potatoes then got tossed in the oil so they were coated and left to cook on high for four hours, with a tea towel placed under the lid, turning twice during the time.

Alternative ways with sprouts

Brussels Sprouts are a Christmas dinner table staple, but it’s fair to say many people won’t want to eat them.

If this is true for anyone in your household this year, then former MasterChef winner Kenny Tutt has shared a selection of alternative ways to prepare sprouts that he claims will ‘convert’ haters.

The top chef, who won the cooking show in 2018, revealed how to easily improve your sprouts by topping them with a generous knob of cranberry butter.

The recipe involves adding cranberry sauce to softened butter, as well as a teaspoon of some warming spices like cinnamon, ginger and cumin to give all the festive flavours. Though if you don’t have these, you can simply raid your spice rack and use anything you’ve got.

You can make the flavoured butter ahead of time, wrap it up in some cling film and serve on the day over boiled sprouts. Any leftover butter could then be paired with your turkey or spread on toast for a tasty Boxing Day breakfast.

Alternatively, you could halve your sprouts and place them on a baking tray, with a drizzle of oil.

Following this, chop two cloves of garlic and scatter it over the top, before adding the grated zest and juice of half a lemon, along with some grated Parmesan (or Pecorino) and a sprinkle of salt.

“Mix it all around and all you’re going to do is get them into a nice hot oven, so the sprouts get nice and golden and crispy. About 25 to 30 minutes at 180C, keep an eye on them so they don’t burn,” instructs Kenny.

“You’ll get beautiful umami sprouts with the Parmesan and the freshness of the lemon, it’s something so tasty and different.”

Other options include a warm honey glaze to make the sprouts “sing” using honey, lemon juice, some thyme and salt, or you could shred the sprouts and mix them with chopped bacon and roasted nuts.

Pimp your gravy granules

Those planning to mix up some cheap granules with hot water for their gravy can always try something a little different if they want to give their guests restaurant-quality food.

As well as sharing his ways with sprouts, Kenny Tutt also taught us how to ‘pimp up’ supermarket gravy granules like a chef and it’s all about making a good base.

He explained: “All right, so a really good gravy hack is just about making a base, so we’re going to pimp up these gravy granules.

“Rather than just going into some water, we’ve made a wonderful base with some roasted chicken wings. We’ve hit it with some red wine to deglaze the pan and then just let that bubble and infused all that wonderful chicken flavour.”

To try this at home for yourself you’ll need several ingredients that you may already have in the kitchen – your Christmas meat like turkey or chicken, oil, garlic and thyme, some cheap red wine, the all-important gravy granules, then either some soy sauce or a teaspoonful of Marmite and Worcestershire sauce (optional) if you have some.

Kenny begins by placing the chicken wings in a roasting tin, drizzling over some oil, adding some crushed garlic and sprigs of thyme and popping it all in the oven to roast until nice and brown.

He then deglazes the tin with a couple of glasses (roughly half a bottle) of red wine and a small amount of water.

“The cooking water from any vegetables you’re also serving would be ideal for this,” he advises.

The whole thing is put on the hob over a medium heat and left to cook out. Once this is done, you need to strain the content of the pan through a sieve, pushing down on the chicken with a spoon to make sure you get all of the juices out, before adding a dash of soy sauce (or Marmite if you prefer) for some umami flavour, as well as some Worcestershire sauce (if using) and two tablespoons of your supermarket gravy granules.

Give it all a good mix and then you can then pop the liquid back on the hob to just thicken it up nicely and there you have it – restaurant-quality gravy!

Start with a bang

Our final tip comes from chef Richard Bainbridge again, who shared a simple way to spruce up a classic starter – a prawn cocktail.

For this, you’ll need some frozen raspberries.

Simply smash the frozen fruit into pieces and sprinkle over the top of your prawn cocktail before serving for some extra flavour and zing.

Do you have a cooking tip or trick to share? We want to hear all about it. Email us at [email protected]