Yay to festive feasting! We’ve rounded up our best Christmas roast recipes that deserve to get made this holiday season. From gammon to lamb, and even fish, we have all types of recipes for the Christmas spread of your dreams, plus tips for cooking them to perfection.

Duck & Turkey Roast Recipes

Roast duck and turkey have slowly crept their way into South African kitchens. Duck and turkey are not our traditional, go-to poultry types and as such, many people fear cooking and possibly ruining them. Fear not, here are two festive bird roast recipes that are easy to follow and delicious – and won’t leave you with dry meat, no brining required.

Roast Duck with Cherry Citrus Glaze

A collection of Christmas roast recipes wouldn’t be complete without a whole roasted duck. We can’t decide what’s tastier – the oh-so-succulent meat or the delicious cherry citrus glaze. There’s only one way for you to find out…
Recipe for Roast Duck with Cherry Citrus Glaze

Turkey Roulade

This is a great recipe if you can’t get your hands on a whole turkey. To cut down on time – especially if your knife skills are lacking – ask your butcher to debone the legs and thighs, and you’ll be A-for-away for your festive feast.
Recipe for Turkey Roulade

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Our Best Pork Roast Recipes

Crackling… it’s the ultimate gold standard of the perfect pork roast and Christmas main that really ought to be made on more occasions. And who could forget gammon? It has that amazing sweet-salty flavour with the amazing addition of smokiness. Prepare gammon a day before for seamless entertaining and keep leftovers for gammon pretzel rolls. You really can’t go wrong with one of these mouthwatering pork roasts.

Maple Mustard Glazed Gammon with Bacon Crumble

There’s just something about a gorgeous gammon that gets us salivating. This one is succulent, and the maple-mustard glaze is the perfect balance of sweet with a hint of spicy. Don’t even get us started on the bacon crumble – truly a showstopping roast.

Recipe for Maple Mustard Glazed Gammon with Bacon Crumble

Crack the Crackling Pork Belly Roll

Impress friends and family with this restaurant-worthy pork belly. The crackling is crunchy and the belly is juicy – we can’t imagine a better roast for your Christmas table spread.

Recipe for Crack the Crackling Pork Belly Roll

Spiced Apple & Raisin Porchetta

Inspired by warm, festive spices, this is the perfect porchetta!

Recipe for Spiced Apple & Raisin Porchetta

Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Chilli Salsa

Hosting a Christmas braai? This deliciously juicy, sweet-and-sour pork tenderloin is ideal for fire-grilled feasts.

Recipe for Smoky Pork Tenderloin with Pineapple Chilli Salsa

Festive Pork Stuffing Meatloaf

All your favourite festive flavours combined in one delicious pork meatloaf.
Recipe for Festive Pork Stuffing Meatloaf

Roast Pork Shoulder with Apple & Onion Gravy

Some pork roasts are all meat and potatoes, but not this one, it’s all about the gravy, baby!
Recipe for Roast Pork Shoulder with Apple & Onion Gravy

Pork Leg Roast with Roast Potatoes & Green Beans

A mouthwatering pork roast that makes for the ultimate Christmas table spread.
Recipe for Pork Leg Roast with Roast Potatoes & Green Beans

Smoked Pork Rashers with Fruit Mince BBQ Sauce

If you love fruit mince and rashers, this recipe is for you. Sticky, sweet and salty – we could easily eat a whole serving of these.
Recipe for Smoked Pork Rashers with Fruit Mince BBQ Sauce

Roast Pork Loin

Pork loin served on the crown with roasted stone fruit – talk about a centrepiece!
Recipe for Roast Pork Loin

Pork Roast

Salt, pepper and olive oil are all you’ll need for this pork roast, but will your guests believe you after a mouthful? We think not.
Recipe for Pork Roast

Pomegranate Gammon with Za’atar Roasted Radishes

Pomegranate molasses is the secret ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking. That signature sticky sweetness makes for an incredibly delicious glaze for gammon.
Recipe for Pomegranate Gammon

Honey & Harissa Glazed Pork Neck with Tahini Pumpkin Wedges

The tasty honey-harissa basting on this roast adds a sweet and spicy kick that makes it the perfect centrepiece for your festive celebrations.
Recipe for Honey & Harissa Glazed Pork Neck

Smoked Pork Belly & Ribs With Thyme Brown Butter Potato Cake

If the title of this recipe doesn’t immediately send you to your happy place, then the recipe most certainly will. Drop-dead gorgeous and smoky basted ribs with fall apart pork belly is the stuff dreams are made of. Let’s have a moment of silence for the equally dreamy Lavender and Thyme Brown Butter Potato Cake.
Recipe for Smoked Free-Range Pork Belly & Ribs With Thyme Brown Butter Potato Cake

Honey and Cherry Roast Gammon with Knödel & Glazed Carrots

Honey roasted gammon and glazed carrots are another smashing classic Christmas combo. And no, Knödel is not a varying-pitch Swiss form of singing, it’s a dense and delicious dumpling sautéed in butter.
Recipe for Honey and Cherry Roast Gammon with Knödel & Glazed Carrots

Blueberry Chipotle Gammon

Of course, this is boiled in Coke (how else does one prepare gammon?) and finished off with a tangy blueberry glaze, perfect for a summer Christmas. This is one of those Christmas roast recipes that you’ll make every year.
Recipe for Blueberry Chipotle Gammon

Gammon Pretzel Rolls

Got leftover gammon? We’ve got you covered.
Recipe for Gammon Pretzel Rolls

Berry Glazed Gammon with Bacon Brussels Sprouts

This is a version that embraces the flavour and sweetness of summer berries. Cooked to perfection and then finished off with this delicious mixed berry jam glaze. And on the side, we’ve gone for traditional Brussels sprouts that have been cooked in rendered bacon fat and the result is a side of crispy and seriously tasty veggies.
Recipe for Berry Glazed Gammon with Bacon Brussels Sprouts

Apricot, Ginger & Chilli Glazed Gammon with Apple & Fennel Slaw

Gammon with a bit of a contemporary twist. We’ve sliced the fat in a classic diamond shape and glazed with a mix of sweetness from apricot jam and then added ginger, garlic and chilli for a bit of punch. And because summer days in South Africa can be hot, we’ve opted for a lighter side for this dish, a fresh and lightly dressed slaw with the addition of fennel and crunch from Granny Smith apples. Quite delicious!
Recipe for Apricot, Ginger, Garlic & Chilli Glazed Gammon with Apple and Fennel Slaw

Deboned and Stuffed Rolled Pork Loin Roast with Roast Potatoes

This succulent roast has been deboned and stuffed with a sage and almond filling. Overnight air-drying and salting results in literally the most perfect crunchy crackling you’ll ever make. Alongside this roast (because who doesn’t need more golden crunch in their lives) are crispy oven-roasted potatoes.
Recipe for Deboned and Stuffed Rolled Pork Loin Roast with Roast Potatoes

Pear and Gorgonzola stuffed Pork Loin with Sage Butter

Switch things up with some pears instead of the go-to (apples) to accompany your pork. While the creamy Gorgonzola and crispy sage add a beautiful depth of flavour, the delicate pear paired with pork loin brings this dish home.
Recipe for Pear and Gorgonzola stuffed Pork Loin with Sage Butter

ROAST RACK OF PORK WITH ROAST POTATOES

Let this beauty be the pièce de résistance of your festive feast.
Recipe for this Roast Rack of Pork with Roast Potatoes

FESTIVE DUKKAH CRUSTED GAMMON

Glazed with honey mustard, and then crusted with a deliciously aromatic dukkah that’s full of festive spices like cinnamon, allspice, clove and nutmeg.
Recipe for this Festive Dukkah Crusted Gammon

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Our Best Lamb Christmas Roast Recipes

There is something quite ceremonious and quite frankly, biblical, about lamb. Maybe it’s because every time we see it or someone mentions it, the clouds part, letting in rays of sunshine as we hear the angels sing ‘ahhhhhh’.

Greek Style Roast Leg of Lamb

The Greeks sure know how to treat lamb, and this recipe is no exception.
Recipe for Greek Style Roast Leg of Lamb

Deboned Leg of Lamb with Stuffed Dates & Fresh Herbs

Our list of Christmas roast recipes must include a succulent lamb, done Greek-style. Stuffed with dates and lamb-loving herbs, this leg is perfectly pink and packed with flavour.
Recipe for Deboned Leg of Lamb

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Our Best Beef Christmas Roast Recipes

You may think roast beef for Christmas dinner a bit vanilla. We prove the haters wrong with these over-the-top, supreme beef roast recipes.

Standing Rib Roast with Brandy Pepper Sauce

Impress your guests with this showstopping and succulent Standing Rib Roast.
Recipe for Standing Rib Roast with brandy Pepper Sauce

Classic Beef Wellington

A beef Welly that even chef Gordon Ramsay would approve of. Serve with a mushroom duxelles sauce and watch your guests salivate.
Recipe for Classic Beef Wellington

Beef Prime Rib

Splurge on a top-quality prime rib for this epic recipe, you won’t be disappointed. The recipe might seem simple, but the flavours are anything but.
Recipe for Beef Prime Rib

Roast Beef Brisket with Berry Sauce

You’re on holiday now, so there’s no excuse not to spend a few extra hours in the kitchen, right? Don’t worry, the oven will do all the work while you relax.
Recipe for Roast Beef Brisket

Festive Smoked Beef Short Ribs with Artichokes

This dish of smoked beef short ribs has such wow factor. An unbelievably delicious roast, cooked by chef Michelle Theron.
Recipe for Smoked Beef Short Ribs

Whole Braised Beef Shin

Okay, so this is technically a braise not a roast, but it is so fall-apart tender and delicious that we had to include. Did we mention it is best served with golden, crispy potatoes?
Recipe for Beef Shin

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Our Best Fish & Seafood Recipes

Okay, so maybe we went a little over-the-top with the death-by-roast recipes (FYI, it would be so worth it). For those of you looking for something on the lighter side, this is for you.

Prawn Saganaki

Saucy and grilled to perfection, everything you could want from a prawn dish.
Recipe for Prawn Saganaki

Méthod Cap Classique Mussel Pot

MCC and mussels have never tasted better. A seafood pot that will make your feast that more delicious.
Recipe for Méthod Cap Classique Mussel Pot

Whole Roasted Franschhoek Salmon Trout

This wholesome and flavourful dish is perfect for serving veggies alongside mains.
Recipe for Whole Roasted Franschhoek Salmon Trout

Bouillabaisse

A classic French dish and the ultimate seafood starter for your festive spread.
Recipe for Bouillabaisse

Braaied Whole Yellowtail

Take a trip to the Aegean with this Greek-inspired whole fish braai.
Recipe for Braaied Whole Yellowtail

Marinated Seafood Platter

This dish is great for entertaining as it can be done the day before, leaving you free to mingle with guests. Simply assemble before serving and violà. This dish was also created by chef Michelle Theron.
Recipe for Marinated Seafood Platter

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Vegetarian & Vegan Roast Recipes

Christmas roast recipes need not only be carnivore exclusive. Try some of these delish vegan and vegetarian sides and roasts.

Vegetarian Roast

This vegetarian roast is a meat-free play on the ‘vegducken’ that did the rounds on social media in years gone by. It’s basically carrots stuffed inside a courgette, stuffed inside a butternut with lots of creamy spinach, mushroom and feta filling.
Recipe for Vegetarian Roast

Vegan Cauliflower Wellington with Vegetable Jus

The classic Wellington made vegan-friendly with cauliflower.
Recipe for Vegan Cauliflower Wellington

Now that your roast is in hand, check out these amazing festive sides and salads to accompany your roast. And of course, don’t forget dessert!