15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (2024)

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The Christmas season is a wonderful time to serve a delicious and impressive seafood meal. Whether you're planning a Christmas Day fish dinner, a Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve Dinner, or looking for Christmas Fish Recipes for your holiday table, I have the answer for all you seek!

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (1)

Keep reading for 15 of my favorite Christmas seafood recipe options for all of your special occasions around the holiday season. The fish dishes are mostly main courses, along with a few fish-focused sides and appetizers and brunch options.

Let's start a new family tradition this year with a few of these seafood-focused delicious recipes for Christmas!

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for a Spectacular Holiday Meal

Keep reading for some of my favorite Christmas seafood recipe options for all of your special occasions around the holiday season. The fish dishes are mostly main courses, along with a few fish-focused sides and appetizers.

Let's start a new family tradition this year with a few of these seafood-focused delicious recipes for Christmas!

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (2)

Shrimp and Crab Stuffed Salmon

Filling tender, fresh salmon fillets with a super flavorful shrimp and crab mixture is just how I want to spend my holiday season. This recipe is a fantastic way to use a small amount of shrimp and crab to elevate a simple salmon dish to a restaurant-quality meal in under an hour. Drizzle your salmon with 10-Minute Parmesan Cream Sauce for the perfect finish.

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (3)

Shrimp Cannelloni with Spinach Ricotta Filling Recipe

This main dish star features tender shrimp in creamy sherry bechamel sauce served over pasta stuffed with the most delicious spinach ricotta filling. This is the perfect Italian recipe for your next holiday gathering or Sunday supper with the family.

Nothing impresses holiday guests like a pile of steaming, perfectly cooked king crab legs. And if you want to enjoy king crab legs without getting a second mortgage on your house, pick up a bag or two frozen from the supermarket, and make this out-of-this-world crab leg recipe with the show-stopping lemon garlic butter sauce.

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Italian Stuffed Calamari Recipe

This amazing seafood dish is the perfect addition if you celebrate the Italian-American Christmas Eve tradition of Feast of the Seven Fishes. Surprisingly simple to make and unforgettably delicious, these stuffed calamari rolls simmer in a homemade tomato sauce for less than an hour. They come to the table tender and flavorful for a memorable event.

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (6)

Italian Shrimp Scampi Fettuccine

This luscious pasta dish, full of butter and garlic, a pinch of spicy red pepper and a crispy panko topping, should be the delicious dish at the center of your holiday table. Based on one of my favorite meals ever at a trattoria outside Rome, this is the dish everyone will be asking for next year. Serve it with Mediterranean Tossed Salad and Garlic Bread Baguette!

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (7)

Seared Halibut with Creamy Sweet Corn

It's a full seafood feast, all on one platter! Pan seared halibut in a creamy corn ragout with fresh herbs and citrus. It's light, flavorful and satisfying. The perfect addition to your holiday lineup.

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (8)

Sautéed Calamari with Roasted Garlic, Chilis and Feta

This tender calamari dish is quickly sautéed with garlic oil, feta cheese and red chilis, then tossed with arugula for the most flavorful seafood bruschetta, appetizer or main course for your holiday party.

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Shrimp and Grits DressingRecipe

Your favorite holiday side dish meets your favorite beachside vacation dinner.if you’re looking for a new holiday tradition or tasty side this year, take this savory shrimp and grits dressing to the party!

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Baked Colossal Shrimp with Lemon Garlic Butter Sauce

It’s the easiest showstopper seafood dish on either side of the Atlantic. Easy Baked Colossal Shrimp in lemon garlic butter sauce gives you that beachside vibe with an upscale presentation. Serve it with duch*ess Potato Casserole and Fancy Green Beans.

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Yellowtail Flounder Piccata Recipe

This easy Flounder Piccata is the most satisfying, golden crusted fish recipe doused in a buttery, lemony magic sauce. Serve this flounder piccata for your holiday meal over parmesan polenta or duch*ess Potato Casserole and just wait for the applause from your guests.

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (12)

Photo Credit:thecoppertable.com

Pesto Butter Salmon

This Pesto Butter Salmon is just what you need to pull off gorgeous holiday dinner in minutes! No fancy equipment, minimal prep, and yet so delicious. Serve it with Lyonnaise Potatoes and Gazpacho Salad for a fresh and delicious dinner.

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (13)

Parmesan Almond Baked Cod Recipe

This easy parmesan baked cod with almonds is amazingly tasty and ridiculously simple. Whether you serve it as a second main dish next to the turkey, or as the star of the show, this is a dish your whole family will rave about any time of year.

15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (14)

Photo Credit:whensaltyandsweetunite.com

Sheet-Pan Honey Salmon with Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli

This healthy meal is ideal for all of your holiday dinner guests and it is a great recipe for anyone who follows aheart-healthy diet. It's a one-pan dinner, giving you time to mix and mingle while dinner roasts!

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Grilled Argentinian Red Shrimp Recipe with Chimichurri

One of the very best ways to cook shrimp any time of year is a simple grilling (outside, or on a grill pan indoors) which really showcases their fresh, sweet flavor. Serve these amazing shrimp skewers alongside a savory chimichurri with fresh herbs and pistachios, and this meal is an unforgettable symphony of flavors.

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Brown Butter Seared Scallops

These delicious brown butter seared scallops over charred corn polent are topped with fresh basil, giving you a rich, flavorful holiday dinner. This is a rockstar recipe to serve at your December dinner party, date night at home, or even Friday night after a long week of work!

Looking for even more holiday seafood? Check out 25 Seven Fishes Christmas Recipes!

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About Christina Jolam

Christina Jolam is a fish-forward recipe developer, photographer, and food writer. She creates easy and impressive seafood-focused recipes that home chefs of all levels can make and share. Her recipes and seafood expertise have been featured on CNNHealth, MSN, Pip and Ebby, Savoring the Good, Eat Blog Talk and more. She spends most of her time in a seaside village in Portugal with her adventure-loving husband, Ramesh.

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15 Christmas Fish Recipes for the Holidays (2024)

FAQs

What are the 7 traditional fishes Christmas Eve Italian food? ›

This pasta involves seven fish: clams, mussels, halibut, shrimp, anchovy, calamari and scallops.

What type of fish is traditionally eaten at Christmas? ›

Among the different types of fish eaten on Christmas Eve, salted codfish is one of the most popular and versatile. It has always been considered a humble food because of its ease of storage, low cost and the fact that it is filling.

What fish do you have for Christmas? ›

Great fish and seafood recipes for a festive dinner might include salmon, cod, smoked salmon, smoked trout, sea scallops, and many more. To help you get started, we gathered our best fish recipes for Christmas.

What is the story of the 7 fishes? ›

The Feast of the Seven Fishes typically consists of seven different seafood dishes. The tradition comes from Southern Italy, where it is known as The Vigil (La Vigilia), but with no mention of the number seven. This celebration commemorates the wait, the Vigilia di Natale, for the midnight birth of the baby Jesus.

What do Italians eat on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? ›

In Italy, Christmas Eve dinner is traditionally lighter with no meat and a lot of seafood, while the Italian-American meal has evolved into much more of a feast. Bring on the sword fish, tuna, salmon, octopus salad, smelts, calamari, spaghetti with clam sauce and the famous Italian classic—salted cod, known as baccalà.

What is the night of the seven fishes on Christmas Eve? ›

The Feast of the Seven Fishes is the annual Christmas Eve vigil and epic seafood feast that has grown into the most beloved meal of the year in Italian-American households.

What is the best fish to eat in December? ›

December is the peak season for ocean perch, and there is no better month to enjoy cod and monkfish. The yuletide season is also the perfect time for cooking up fresh oysters, clams, and scallops. Below, find recipes and other information on these shellfish and fish to expect at the market in December.

Which fish is popular as a Christmas dish in Eastern Europe? ›

Eating carp at Christmas is a widespread tradition in Central and Eastern Europe. For centuries, families have enjoyed this freshwater fish as the main course for their Christmas Eve dinner.

Do Christians eat fish on Christmas? ›

In much of Italy, tradition calls for fish on Christmas Eve, once a day of abstinence in the church calendar. Fish is tied to the Christian religion in other ways: As far back as the days of the Roman Empire, a fish symbol was used by early Christians as a way of identifying each other.

What are the 6 fish of Christmas? ›

Typical "fishes" include baccalà (salt cod), frutti di mare (shellfish), capitone (eel), calamari (squid), scungilli (conch meat) and vongole (clams). Fried vegetables are also a popular accompaniment to the fish; expect fried artichokes, pickled vegetables, fried squash blossoms, and other treats.

What do Italians eat at Christmas? ›

A typical Christmas dinner in Italy involves a series of courses. Usually, to begin, there's whiting in lemon, followed by a clam or mussel spaghetti dish, before the famous Italian classic dish of salted codfish, known as baccalà is served.

Who is the king of all fish? ›

Solution: Salmon is called the king of the fishes. It has a silver, shiny skin just like that of the king's crown.

Are you supposed to eat fish on Christmas Eve? ›

The tradition of preparing fish on Christmas Eve originated from the Catholic rituals of fasting or abstaining from meat and other dairy products on the eve of certain holy days, including Christmas. As no meat could be consumed during this period, fish cooked in oil would be eaten instead of meat.

What do the Italian 7 fishes represent? ›

What is the significance of the Feast of the Seven Fishes? There's no real consensus on what the seven fishes signify—some people claim the number seven symbolizes the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church while others say it's meant to represent the seven days of the week or the seven hills of Rome.

What is the seven fishes in Italian? ›

Festa dei Sette Pesci (The Feast of Seven Fishes)

Why do Sicilian have 7 fishes on Christmas? ›

Like many Italian traditions, the origin and rules are debated. The seven fish dishes refer to the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic church, or the seven days it took God to make the Universe, or the seven virtues, or the seven deadly sins. Some Italians celebrate with 13 dishes for the 12 apostles plus Jesus.

Do Italians in Italy eat fish on Christmas Eve? ›

Every region (or even every town!) has its own customs, but if there's one tradition that everyone in Italy can agree on, it's not eating meat on Christmas Eve. December 24 is the time for fish or cheese dishes to shine.

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