The Ultimate Caribbean Holiday Feast

Want to serve up some Caribbean food for the holidays? This roundup is packed with Caribbean Christmas food ideas, from breakfast and appetizers to main dishes, sides, breads, desserts, drinks, and everything you need to put together a proper holiday spread.

Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, Christmas food was never something that just happened on Christmas Day. The preparation could start weeks or even months ahead. Fruits were soaked for black cake, meats were bought and prepped, and fruits were set to make homemade wines.

And then there was the actual Christmas menu to plan. Depending on where you are in the Caribbean and your own family traditions, that spread can look very different. That’s part of what makes Caribbean Christmas food so good.

So I’ve pulled together this huge list of dishes from across the Caribbean to help you plan your own holiday feast. Pick a few favorites, mix dishes from different islands, or go all out and make enough food to feed everybody who suddenly remembers where you live at Christmas.

What foods are served for a Caribbean Christmas dinner?

A Caribbean Christmas dinner can include baked or stewed meats, curry dishes, rice and peas, macaroni pie, callaloo, pastelles, homemade breads, cakes and traditional drinks like sorrel, ginger beer and ponche de crème. The exact menu varies across the Caribbean, and from family to family, so there isn’t one single Christmas menu you have to follow.

Use the list below to build a Caribbean holiday menu that works for you, whether you’re planning Christmas dinner, Thanksgiving, a holiday party, or just want plenty of good food on the table.

Breakfast/Appetizers

Breakfast on Christmas morning deserves its own moment. From saltfish and bake to porridge, fritters, souse, and other small bites, these dishes are a good way to start the day or keep everybody fed until the main meal is ready.

• Fried Dumplings from JehanCanCook
• Ackee and Saltfish fritters from JehanCanCook
• Tostones from DelishDlites
• Green Plantain Fritters from JehanCanCook
• Cornmeal Porridge
• Chicken Foot Souse
• Rice Porridge
• Baigan Choka
• Smoked Herring
• Saltfish Buljol
• Accra/Saltfish Cakes

Entrees

• Steam Fish from ThatGirlCooksHealthy
• Baked Ham
• Jerk Roast Chicken from Alicaspepperpot
• Curry Goat
• Curry Chicken
• Curry Shrimp
• Curry Beef
• Escovitch Fish
• Chicken Stew (Puerto Rico) from DelishDlites
• Fish in Coconut Curry Sauce
• Jerk Chicken from JehanCanCook
• PepperPot from Alica’sPepperPot
• Roast Duck from JehanCanCook
• Jerk Shrimp
• Stew Oxtail

Sides

The side dishes can easily steal the show at a Caribbean holiday dinner. Rice dishes, macaroni pie, callaloo, corn pie, pigeon peas, and other favorites fill out the table, and every family has the ones that absolutely have to be there.

• Curried corn
• Red peas and rice 
• Boiled corn
• Split peas and Rice
• Stuffing
• Breadfruit Pie from ThatGirlCooksHealthy
• Caribbean yellow rice
• Trinidad Corn Pie
• Coo Coo (Trini Style)
• Ochro (okra) and Rice
• Rice and pigeon peas
• Pastelle Pie
• Christmas rice
• Stewed Pigeon Peas
• Macaroni Pie (Trinidad)
• Blackeye peas and rice
• Dhal
• Callaloo (Trinidad)

Bread

• Coconut Sweet Bread
• Plait Bread from Metemgee
• Roast Bake
• Jamaican Hard Dough Bread
• Tennis Rolls from JehanCanCook
• Hops Bread
• Sada Roti from Alicapepperpot
• Butter bread

Snacks/Desserts

• Coconut Tarts
• Black cake ice cream
• Fudge from JehanCanCook
• Currants Roll
• Coconut Ice cream from ThatGirlCooksHealthy
• Black Cake
• Pastelles
• Black cake cinnamon rolls
• Cassava Black Cake
• Gizzada
• Ponche de creme cheesecake
• Paime/Payme/Conkie/Dukanoo/Blue Drawers
• Cassava Pone
• Pine Tarts from JehanCanCook
• Jamaican ToTo from ThatGirlCooksHealthy

Soups

• Trinidad corn soup
• Chicken soup
• Pigeon peas soup
• Cowheel soup
• Fish broth
• Trini beef soup
• Oxtail Soup
• Pumpkin soup

Drinks

• Chocolate tea
• Coquito from Alicaspepperpot
• Ginger beer
• Soursop punch
• Ponche de creme
• Guinness punch
• Peanut punch
• Sorrel
• Mauby
• Pumpkin ponche de creme
• Peanut ponche de creme

Condiments

• Jerk seasoning paste
• Caribbean BBQ sauce
• Green seasoning 
• Pepper sauce 
• Spicy Pineapple chutney
• Cucumber chutney
• Chow chow
• Garlic sauce

Whether you’re planning a full Caribbean Christmas dinner or just adding a few island favorites to your holiday table, I hope you found something here to make.

Have a favorite Caribbean Christmas dish I missed? Let me know in the comments so I can add it to the list. And if this roundup helped you plan your menu, save it for later or share it with someone planning their holiday feast.