The Best Festive Dinner Ideas to Host Your First Holiday Meal Like a Pro
Matt Armendariz
When searching for the best festive dinner ideas to host a holiday meal for the first time, it’s easy to feel immediately overwhelmed. Like, what do you even make? Are there recipes that are both impressive and relatively simple? And how much is this all going to cost, exactly?
Don’t worry though—Gaby Dalkin, the professional chef and restaurateur behind the wildly successful blog What’s Gaby Cooking, is here to help. First things first. Skip the china, and don’t worry about spending a ton on decor.
“Nobody has [china] anymore. Nobody registers for it when they get married,” she tells Glamour. “My plates are from Crate and Barrel and that’s it; there’s nothing else in my house. Don’t stress out about that or a crazy ornate table. There's no reason to spend money on decor pieces that you don’t really need.”
For Dalkin, the secret to being a great host is keeping things simple, a philosophy that she also sticks to when shopping for a car (she’s currently partnering with Kelley Blue Book to promote their My Wallet tool, which helps you shop for a vehicle using your specific budget and goals). After all, hosting a gathering of friends and family is supposed to be fun for all involved. A stressed host? Vibe killer.
“You can tell,” she says. “You feel that as a guest, and you’re like, No thank you with that energy. I came here to relax.”
Dalkin chatted with Glamour about the most fun and not-so-fun festive dinner ideas, how not to blow your budget while still looking classy, and some easy—yet impressive—recipes.
Glamour: Let’s say a friend comes to you and asks where to start in planning for their first big holiday meal. What’s the number one thing you’d tell them?
Gaby Dalkin: I would say to keep it simple and to use what you’ve got and what you’re comfortable with in your fridge. There are so many recipes that don’t require running to the store. You can just build on what’s in your pantry and a couple items in your fridge. Or maybe you go out and you grab one thing and you can customize a fun and beautiful menu just for a lovely dinner party.
What are some staples that most people have in their fridge or pantry they could start with?
Pasta is a really easy way to feed a crowd. If you’ve got some Parmesan in your fridge and some lemon, you can make a really delightful pasta. It looks very fancy, but in reality it’s four ingredients and you feel like you’re in Italy.
Another thing we always have in our pantry is stuff like quinoa, farro, and dried beans. I have a Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili recipe on What’s Gaby Cooking; it’s a vegetarian chili that has won awards against meat chilis. That’s really easy. You can make it, serve it with some cornbread and a lovely holiday margarita, and call it a day.
It seems like everything’s more expensive now, especially groceries. Is there a way to host a nice meal without breaking the bank?
I would avoid doing things like a prime rib or cuts of meat that are just astronomically expensive. Especially right now, all the prices go up [during the holidays].
I would also say that as a first-time host you should feel comfortable delegating things to your guests. You make the main course at your home and have someone else bring the salad, have someone else bring the appetizers. I’m a psychopath and I like to send people recipes on exactly what I want them to bring so I know my menu can be cohesive. I’m not afraid to ask people to bring a little something so the financial burden isn’t all on me.
Speaking of finances, you’re partnering with Kelley Blue Book to promote their “My Wallet” tool, which can be compared to a “financial pantry” of sorts when buying a car. What are the similarities between the two?
Similar to finding your perfect holiday meal and using what's in your fridge and not having to go out and buy everything, by using the Kelley Blue Book My Wallet tool you can customize your entire car search. You use what you actually have, your budget, what you want your monthly lease to be, all that kind of stuff. So that way you’re only getting the results for what fits within your lifestyle and keeping it in check, and you feel confident.
When I’m hosting a dinner party, I try to have one item—like a great cocktail or a fun dessert—to really make the meal pop. Any ideas for a holiday edition?
I’m a big fan of doing a spritz bar at the beginning of the evening. That way when people get to your house, there’s a bar there for them to choose from. You don’t have to actually make it for them, but let’s say there’s sparkling wine and then a variety of different add-ins. You could do Aperol if you wanted to do an Aperol Spritz, you could do pomegranate juice—whatever it is. People can DIY their own adventure. Immediately when they walk into your house there’s something for them to do in case they don’t know everybody. It’s a lovely icebreaker.
I also think an impressive, showstopping dessert is a real moment. Another beautiful part about dessert is you can prepare it the day before so it doesn’t add to the stress of your actual entertaining day. You can make an epic cheesecake with a marshmallow meringue, which is actually quite inexpensive. It’s time consuming, but it’s low lift in terms of skills. Bringing that out after the meal to blow everyone’s minds is a real pro move in my opinion. I used to be a private chef, and I would always bring out some epic dessert after everyone finished the meal. It’s a real cherry on top.
I think a lot of people want to host their loved ones but are nervous about messing everything up and it turning into a disaster. How do you build confidence?
I always tell people to start simple. Don’t go with a bûche de noël to start because that requires a real thin sponge cake and rolling it and icing it. Start with something small like Caramel Brownies. Once you master that, then you graduate to the next level and tackle a no-crust cheesecake or something like that.
The way I developed all my confidence in the kitchen was repetition. Doing stuff where you’re very confident and then you move up and you’re not as confident, but then you get there. It’s also what Kelley Blue Book is about. I’m instilling confidence for you in the kitchen, and Kelley Blue Book is instilling confidence in you while you’re shopping for your next car.
I know you named a few recipes that are both easy and impressive on your website, but can you recommend a few more?
I actually just did a Corn Souffle on TikTok that is extraordinary and it’s one of our family’s favorite holiday recipes. You can customize it depending on what flavor profile you want.
If you wanted to do a little bit more work on the appetizer, there’s a baked Brie situation that’s really beautiful with a fig jam that goes in there. There’s a really yummy Butternut Squash Pasta that also feels very seasonal, is not crazy complicated, and looks really impressive. You could serve that alongside any kind of whole chicken or cut of beef and it would feel like a very well-rounded meal.
What is the most common mistake or pitfall you see people fall into?
Timing, getting everything on the table. How do you get these four things on the table at the same time while they are hot when you only have one oven and four burners? That’s a big concern for people. I always suggest reading the entire recipe first because a lot of things have resting time or cooling time. For example, if you are doing a steak, that can sit for 10 minutes while the juices redistribute and you can finish something on the stove. You can look at it as a puzzle and see how it all fits together.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Originally Appeared on Glamour
