Seasonal December Dinner Menu Ideas to use as inspiration and a starting point for your own family menus. Simple, healthy, from-scratch meals include side dishes as well as a couple dessert ideas for the month.
Not sure why to menu plan? Check out all the great reasons here!
December meals are all about balancing holiday treats and traditional dinners with easy and good-for-you meals - at least that's how it is for our family.
Balancing a ham and cheesy scalloped potatoes holiday meal with curried turkey soup or make-your-own tacos on other nights.
When there are cookies and treats around, it's nice to make a chicken and vegetable soup to balance it all out, don't you think?
And whether you have snow or not, it's still a time of baking and simmering yummy things to eat around our tables, enjoying our warm homes and families.
Cooking From the Garden in Winter
Most of the garden is done except for late-fall lettuce, chard, kale, and a few cabbages that made it through the cold.
But the freezer and canning shelf keeps giving us garden goodness from the produce put up through the summer and fall.
Pulling bags of peppers, corn, and green beans from the freezer to use in a soup with nourishing bone broth for my family on a dark winter's night is one of the reasons I grow and preserve food.
What about you - do you try to balance the meals in December, too?
I hope you find inspiration from these dinner menu ideas for your families!
December Dinner Menu Ideas
Week 1
Fast & Easy Curried Red Lentil Soup, green salad with homemade vinaigrette, Easy Artisan Bread
Thai Inspired Turkey Curry (using leftover turkey from Thanksgiving)
Turkey-Spinach Frittata with Feta & Tomatoes (replacing the chicken with leftover turkey), cut veggies and Best Ranch Dip
Stir Fry with Pork & Vegetables on rice noodles
Mediterranean Fish Bake, green salad with ranch dressing
Week 2
Roasted ham, Slow Cooker Cheesy-Garlic Scalloped Potatoes, Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower, green salad with Homemade Vinaigrette
Ham & Bean Soup (using leftover ham and ham bone), Quick & Tender Breadsticks (save half for Thursday's dinner)
Rotisserie or Slow Cooker Spiced Whole Chicken, Simple Corn, Pepper & Onion Saute (using frozen corn & peppers), Baked Tasty Rice
Curried Chicken & Rice Soup (use leftover chicken), green salad, leftover breadsticks
Sausage, Bean & Greens Gratin, Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese salad
Week 3
Slow Cooker Sausage-Bean Soup with Spinach & Tomatoes, Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread
Greek Style Shrimp & Orzo, green salad with balsamic vinaigrette
Soft tacos or taco salad
Cajun Beef on Spiced Potatoes, Orange-Almond Spinach Salad
Sauteed pork chops & onions, Baked Grated Garlic Carrots, oven roasted potatoes
Week 4 - Christmas Week
Christmas Morning Brunch: Make-Ahead Monkey Bread (using real ingredients), Make-Ahead Peppered Maple-Mustard Bacon, Delicious Overnight Scrambled Eggs with Spinach, fruit (NOTE: Grab a printable menu here for your holiday morning!)
Roast Turkey, Sausage-Cranberry Stuffing (best!), Garlic-Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes, Garlic Green Beans
Individual Chicken-Tomato Shepherd's Pies (use leftover turkey & mashed potatoes), salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Traditional Turkey Noodle Soup, Easy Artisan Bread
Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce, green salad with homemade vinaigrette
Monthly Dessert Ideas
More than 15 Christmas Cookies and Candies to choose from this month!
My "must-makes" are the Moose Munch caramel corn, quadruple chocolate brownies, peanut butter balls, cream cheese mints (or the butter mints, depending), and dark chocolate coconut clusters.
What about Saturdays & Sundays?
Our family’s menu always has a couple of standards for the weekends - it's one of the ways I make menu planning easier!
Saturdays alternate between burgers on homemade buns (or pigs-in-blankets) & fries and homemade pizza.
Sundays are mostly on-your-own leftovers (if nothing is available, a quick pasta is made using our frozen roasted tomato sauce or pesto).
If you need more ideas for menu planning, you can always check out these articles in our archives:
- Menu Planning 101 & 5 steps to frugal menu planning
- Seasonal cooking through the year
- Monthly dinner menus
Judy Dlugosh says
Good morning
We have a prepared real wood for.
It has been easy to install , Prefinished and guaranteed to hold up to cleaning and water.
Highly recommend it.
Easy matinence using
BONA hardwood cleaner.
We had plank oak floors played in our previous home.
Took 2 weeks or more installing and finishing.
Very nice but very costly.
Will send photo of our floors in our home .installed 2 years ago.
Jami says
Good to know, Judy. I would like to see the floors - you can send them at my email (just reply to the newsletter you get and attach a photo!).
Shannon says
Just wanted to let you know that I had to check out this post because I LOVED the picture (the snowy winter picture). With the name December menu I just had to check it out. Looks so cozy 🙂
Jami says
Thank you! This picture was from 2 years ago - we had no snow last year at all, so it was fun for me to see, too!
Melissa Thomas says
My Goodness, I feel like today is my lucky day! I have pinned 4 of your recipes and I am so excited to go back through your old posts to find more!
I love when I find a new blog to follow! I don't think my house shares my enthusiasm but my husband and children appreciate the new menu ideas!
Jami says
Oh, wow - you've no idea how reading your comment just made my day, Melissa!! I'm SO very glad that you found recipes to make and that you are part of our community here - I hope to keep inspiring you, just as you did me today. 🙂
Kris from Michigan says
Hi Jami! Would you be willing to share/post your "Sautéed Pork Chops & Onions" recipe? I have such a hard time making pork chops that don't turn out dry, and since we just butchered a pig and put it in our freezer -- that's a lot of pork chops -- I need all the help I can get! I would be forever grateful for some step-by-step instructions and maybe some of your other favorite ways to cook pork chops! Please!
Jami says
Lucky you to have a freezer full of pork! Thanks for this suggestion, Kris - I'm putting on my calendar to do as soon as I can. Though I just don't cook pork as long as they used to, and I find that an instant read thermometer really helps me to know when the chops are done, but not dry. 🙂
Anne says
Hi Jami, thanks so much for these menu ideas! I remember making that monkey bread last winter and it was such a hit with my kids. Will have to try those soup recipes soon, they look great, too!
Jami says
My kids would probably disown me if I didn't make that monkey bread, ha! It might be only a few years old, but it's already a solid tradition. 🙂