Christmas is a time of ambitious cooking projects, showing our love through overfeeding and dropping more money on one meal than we would typically spend on an entire week’s groceries. So, it had better be good. And it will be, if you let some of the country’s best chefs take you by the hand and guide your menu with their most Christmassy recipes. We’ve got Ben Shewry’s boozy Christmas cake, roasted prawns from Sydney’s Ester and a hands-off beer-can chicken from Meatsmith. Read on for Broadsheet’s best Christmas recipes – then read up the next day on how top Aussie chefs use up their Christmas leftovers.
Ben Shewry’s Christmas cake
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241126/104830-2702-AtticaXmas_PDillon_Dec_20__2.jpg)
Ben Shewry has a few rules for Christmas cake: don’t confuse it with pudding. It should be boozy. And it absolutely better be homemade. His recipe ticks all those boxes and results in a dramatic showstopper for your Christmas table.
Stalactites’s oven-baked lamb and potatoes lemonato
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241126/154023-1900-Salactites_lr_92.jpg)
Hot Aussie Christmases often call for cold prawns, abundant salads and cold meats – but many families remain dedicated to the full roast. Enter this celebratory oven-roasted lamb from Melbourne Greek institution Stalactites. In Greece, a whole lamb is typically cooked on a spit, with lemony herbed potatoes sewn into its belly. This recipe reproduces the same effect in a standard home oven.
Annie Smithers’s pot-roasted chicken
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/134258-6887-Pot_Roasted_Chicken_4_1.jpeg)
It’s always ideal to have a go-to roast chicken recipe in your repertoire and this one could be it. Once you’ve made the stock (you can do this ahead of the big day) and seared the chicken to get the outside nice and golden brown, just throw it in the oven and get back to the backyard cricket and Christmas movies.
Annabel Crabb’s glass potatoes
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/150708-3522-GlassPotatoes_39261_2.jpg)
If you’re having a roast-based Christmas, you’ll need potatoes. This recipe will yield spuds so good (“the bottoms are a translucent, crackling, toffee-coloured brittle delight,” says Crabb) they might even pull focus from the presents under the tree. The secret to spud success? Never skimp on oil or salt.
Meatsmith’s barbeque beer-can chicken
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/164520-4227-2022_MEATSMITH_PARKER_BLAIN_BEER-CAN-CHICKEN_HR30.jpeg)
Just because chook’s on the Christmas menu doesn’t mean you need to be tethered to the oven. Meatsmith’s barbeque chicken – which is extra-juicy thanks to the three-quarters-full can of beer stuck into its cavity – gets you out of the kitchen and into the backyard. What’s better on Christmas Day than standing around cooking a chicken full of beer as you fill yourself with beer?
Karen Martini’s sticky panforte date pudding with black caramel sauce
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/151942-5755-JGR_AriannaLeggiero-23.jpeg)
If your family is from Siena, Italy, there’s a good chance eating panforte is a Christmas tradition. This dessert by Karen Martini takes the tradition and gives it a sticky-date-pudding twist for a rich and sticky festive treat buttressed with a black caramel sauce. It’s a wonderful fusion of British and Italian sweets.
Ben Shewry’s baked ham
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241126/094600-3678-0bd41b273c7d3d5b71a6dbe6814ef921.jpg)
“You can’t take a bad ham and turn it into a good ham,” says Attica’s Ben Shewry, who advises buying one that’s locally made and free-range. Here he shares his tips for cooking a Christmas ham that makes a dramatic centrepiece and tastes as good as it looks.
Stephanie Alexander’s summer salad
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/154341-8739-tomato_and_basil_salad.jpeg)
If you’re keeping your Christmas meal simple and low fuss – maybe with some seafood, cold ham and a pile of cherries – you’ll want an easygoing salad to go with it. Stephanie Alexander’s summer salad fits the bill; though it has just five ingredients, they come together in a dish that will look the part on your festive table.
Philippa Sibley’s pandoro, peach and verbena trifle
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/130851-3383-rotate_1.jpg)
What’s better for Christmas dessert than a trifle shaped like a Christmas tree? Phillipa Sibley’s scene-stealing trifle uses pandoro, an Italian Christmas cake similar to panettone. It’s juiced up with the brightness of peaches and raspberries, as well as verbena, a shrub that lends a floral-citrus flavour.
Flour and Stone’s chocolate Christmas cake
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/101931-6737-flourandstonechristmascakerecipe-_jkim_-20.jpg)
Like Shewry, Flour and Stone’s Nadine Ingram reckons a Christmas cake must be booze-spiked. And while the other dessert recipes here harness classic Italian Christmas cakes, Ingram’s puts an entirely new spin on the genre. It’s heavy with fruit and nuts and has rum soaked through it. Iconic boozehound Santa would love this one.
Ester’s roasted prawns
![](https://cdn.broadsheet.com.au/static/20241127/112333-6377-Ester_0303.jpeg)
Prawns are a Christmas staple in households across Australia. And while sitting around the table peeling a big bowl of the pink-and-white sea-dwellers on December 25 is a tradition for some, sometimes it’s nice to mix it up a little. Enter Sydney restaurant Ester’s umami-loaded roasted prawns. The best bit? There’s absolutely no pressure to remove the heads and tails.
Need more cooking inspiration? Visit Broadsheet's recipe hub.