Classic and unexpected cuts to star at your table, with sides to match.
Sunset Staff
Goodbye salad weather, hello toasty-roasty red-meat days. Cooler temperatures demand hotter meals, and the darkest days of the year seem to call for the biggest, heartiest, tastiest preparations possible. There’s a reason roasts are traditional for Christmas dinner, and it’s not just because they feed a crowd. They’re the ultimate winter dish—rich and warming, the perfect antidote to cold, austere days.
So, whether for your holiday meal or just to treat yourself to an exceptionally filling repast, try one of these recipes this December. Go uber-traditional with roast goose, or stick to a tried-and-true dish like beef rib roast or prime rib. Make it a little lighter but no less flavorful with a feast built around a whole roasted rockfish. Or skip the meat entirely! Many vegetables roast up nicely and can stand on their own as the heart of a family dinner. Whether you’re in the mood for beef, pork, lamb, or even bison, we’ve got a holiday roast candidate below.
Crowd-Pleasing Holiday Roast Recipes
1 /29Jennifer Causey
Coffee Brown-Sugar Bourbon Rib Roast
When you’re spending this much money on a cut of meat, you want to let it shine with simple but exciting seasonings. Blend coffee, bourbon, and brown sugar for a dark, thick rub that forms a crackly crust. Offset the roast’s richness with a refreshing watercress or arugula salad.
No roast is more epic than a goose—it is, after all, the bird Charles Dickens forever immortalized in A Christmas Carol. A goose is all dark meat and very rich. The fat that drips from it is excellent for roasting potatoes and vegetables, and the skin turns golden and crisp, the poultry equivalent of pork cracklings.
Roasted Rockfish with Artichokes, Citrus, and Lemon-Caper Browned Butter
Rockfish—also known as Pacific snapper or rock cod—is one of the most sustainable and widely available fish in the West, and has a mildly sweet flavor. Vermilion rockfish, with their scarlet hue, are especially pretty and tasty. For a large feast-worthy fish, order ahead of time from your seafood shop or counter.
This trio of vegetables is easily as impressive as a meat roast. For a vegetarian feast, round it out with sides made from whole grains, mushrooms, and nuts, and a big green salad. Any of these roasts on their own can be served as a side dish too.
Tracy Smaciarz, who owns Heritage Meats in Rochester, Washington, cold-smokes this cut, then grills it over indirect heat. You can get a similar effect by oven-smoking the roast with wood chips and onions.
Spicy Beef Cross-Rib Roast with Caramelized Clementine Sauce
It takes some time to prepare the fresh clementine peel sauce for this dish, which was inspired by Chinese orange peel beef, but the results are worth it. Cross-rib roast costs a fraction of fancier cuts; to keep it tender, we recommend cooking only to medium-rare.
How to turn an inexpensive cut into something that’s company-worthy? Season it with lots of fresh marjoram and garlic, then serve it with a richly flavored gravy made with the pan drippings plus more garlic.
Braising the brisket slowly ahead of time and chilling it, then heating slices with the onion-rich pan juices just before serving, makes this dish easy on the cook and extra-flavorful. For the ultimate winter meal, be sure to make the whole menu.
A marinade with spices seasons this boned and butterflied leg of lamb. You roll it up like a jelly roll around dried apricots, then slice it after roasting for mosaic-like pieces studded with the tender fruit.
The meat’s coating of crushed rosemary and fennel seeds turns golden and crisp on the grill. Complete the meal with boiled thin-skinned potatoes and creamed spinach (and keep the dish in mind for spring, too—it’s great with asparagus).
Roast Pork with Gingerbread Sauce and Celery Root with Bacon
This Norwegian-style roast has a red wine and port sauce that’s enhanced with lightly sweetened homemade gingerbread (or storebought gingersnaps) and a little cream. Make it with the whole Christmas in the Rockies-inspired menu.
If you’re looking for a roast that’s easy to make, this is a great one—simple to season and grill, and a no-brainer to carve. A quick sage butter dresses it up.
Beef Rib Roast and Yorkshire Pudding from the Grill
A Sunset reader received an award in a Sunset grilling contest for this recipe. He grills prime rib, catching the drippings in a pan, then pours Yorkshire pudding batter into the drip pan, where it puffs and browns.
For meat that’s unbelievably tender and juice, start this roast in a hot oven so it gets nice and brown, then turn the heat way down and roast it slowly all day.