Polish Christmas Recipes
A list of Polish Christmas recipes with videos showing how to make traditional Polish foods for Christmas.
Please note that there is a special book on Polish Christmas Traditions and Recipes here.
Christmas in Poland is all about family gatherings and huge meals. The Christmas Eve family gathering is the event of the year and each family’s kitchen contributes to the great Polish traditional celebration of Christmas every year.
The food put on the table is as varied as the number of families and women in Poland
There are two days of eating. The eating starts at sundown on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve recipes are without meat. But on Christmas Day, the meats come out in force.
Actually Christmas even is the main event. That is when families gather, eat and exchange presents.
People sit down to the dinner at about 1600 at which time it is dark enough for the first stars of Christmas to be seen. When they sit down they begin a marathon of eating, talking, laughing, and enjoying life in general.
The menu is fairly standard with variety coming within the various choices of individual recipes.
Christmas lore says that there should be 12 dishes – 12 being for the number of apostles.
Do note that a recipe for every dish mention here can be found by using the search box in the top right corner of this page.
The table is set with offerings of breads, herring, Carp in Aspic, Pike in Aspic, Salmon.
That is followed by soup. The three main soups are borsch with uszka, mushroom soup and fish soup.
Carp – baked, poached, or fried.
Cabbage with mushrooms and / or cabbage with beans.
Pierogi find their way into the mix at sometime.
Prior to the desert, Mikolaj somehow finds his way to deposit presents under the Christmas tree. There follows a great gift giving as they are distributed to everyone in the room.
After the presents are opened, desert is served.
Christmas desserts and cakes such as Kutia, Makowiec, Szarlotka and family specialties then come out.
Coffee and tea.
Fruit kompot, water and juices are available throughout the meal.
How do you get these recipes.
You can use the search box in the top right corner of this page.
You can look at the various Polish Cookbooks that give much more information that any one web site can hope to give. You can see them here. Polish Cookbooks
You can download our Polish Christmas Recipe book.
Christmas day is secondary to Christmas Eve. The menu is generally everything left from the night before plus cold cuts, a Goose (traditional) a turnkey (modern day) or ham.
The cold cuts include smoked kielbasa or all sorts and kinds, assorted types of sliced ham, baked bacon sides, and pates.
Vegetable salads and pierogi may find their way to the table this time.
The desserts from the day before are supplemented with new or variants of the old.
We do hope that this Polish Christmas recipes page has been helpful.
Remember to download the Christmas Recipes Book.
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