Our Favorite Vintage Christmas Recipes That Deserve a Comeback This Year

Recipe: Pork Crown Roast

Nothing centers a Christmas table quite as stunningly as a crown pork roast. 

Recipe: Christmas Snow Salad

Originally from our November 1982 issue, this bright retro salad still deserves a spot on your Christmas buffet today.

Recipe: Honey-Glazed Spiced Carrots

Once a classic side for Christmas Eve, glazed carrots offer the sweetness that sweet potato casserole does on Thanksgiving. Carrots, meet your special-occasion makeover.

Recipe: Slow-Cooker Grape Jelly Meatballs

The not-so-secret ingredient to the best meatballs is grape jelly. Make sure to have a crock of these slow-cooker meatballs ready for hungry guests when they arrive.

Recipe: Baked Ham with Brown Sugar-Citrus Glaze

With a glistening glazed ham residing at the head of the holiday table, you're already off to a good start. It pairs well with any side Mama wants to serve.

Recipe: Buche de Noel

The name of this festive Christmas cake is literally translated as "yule log."

Recipe: Make-Ahead Yeast Rolls

We might be serving hearty roasts and casserole-happy sideboards, but there's always room for rolls at Christmas.

Recipe: Pecan-Coated Pork Loin Roast

Southerners love pork loin, and this recipe dresses it up nicely for the holiday.

Recipe: Shrimp on Seasoned Crackers with Pepper Jelly and Cream Cheese

Southern grandmothers have been gracing our table with the classic appetizer duo of pepper jelly and cream cheese for as long as we can remember. Here, it's upgraded into a holiday-worthy dish with the addition of seasoned shrimp. 

Recipe: Classic Roasted Duck with Orange-Bourbon-Molasses Glaze

Feel instantly fancy and old-fashioned when serving this perfectly crispy roasted duck. (Break out both the vintage china and Mama's old apron.) The secret is in the sauce: a glaze of orange marmalade, bourbon, molasses, lemon juice, and ginger.

Recipe: Classic Cornbread Dressing

Southerners know that any classic dressing recipe starts with skillet cornbread. As far as we're concerned, it goes with any Christmas main.

Recipe: Molded Cranberry Salad

Even if it just sits there, pushed to the farthest corner, a congealed salad just wants to be on the Christmas spread. The congealed salads of the 1960s deserve some love—if anything, for posterity's sake—and we're giving this cranberry rendition its due.

Recipe: Chocolate Trifle

High on style, low on effort. This chocolate trifle looks decadent and fancy enough for the holiday spread, but takes only five storebought ingredients. (They never have to know.)

Recipe: Old-School Green Bean Casserole

Is there a world where this doesn't belong on the list? From the frozen French-cut green beans to the crispy fried onion topping, it's a familiar staple on every Southern holiday table.

Recipe: Chicken Liver Mousse Crostini with Pepper Jelly

If Aunt Barb said she loved this smooth, velvety mousse topped with spicy-sweet pepper jelly once, she said it a million times. This retro holiday snack is a favorite among the Southern crowd.

Recipe: Cassandra's "Light" Fruitcake

"Every time your mama wasn't looking, I'd sneak into the closet and pour more whiskey over those cakes," said King's father. This family recipe was a childhood tradition that lived on through Cassandra King after her mother passed—but just slightly askew—until her daddy let her in on the secret she was missing.

Recipe: Angel Biscuits

Were they sent from heaven? Perhaps. Do they capture the holiday spirit with both the fluffiness of a biscuit and yeasty flavor of a dinner roll? Definitely.

Recipe: Spicy Sausage-and-Cheddar Kolaches

A beloved Texas tradition, this classic Czech pastry gets a spicy Southern kick from a combo of smoky Conecuh sausage and sharp Cheddar cheese.

Recipe: Oyster Casserole

You'll know it when you see that familiar topping of Saltines. Whether you call it oyster dressing, oyster pie, or even scalloped oysters, oyster casserole is right at home on many Southerners' Christmas table.

Recipe: Grits Dressing

Thanksgiving gets the cornbread dressing. Let Christmas have grits dressing, an equally Southern side dish.

Recipe: Rum Balls

Rum ball, rum balls, how we love thee. It's not a Christmas party in the South without some form of tipsy treat. Originally from our December 1993 issue, this boozy confection is perfect for homemade food gifts.

Recipe: Hot Cranberry Bake

If you've never used your Christmas cranberries for this simple, crisp-like dessert, you haven't lived. We can thank Sue-Sue Harstern of Louisville, Kentucky for this reader recipe submitted over 25 years ago.

Recipe: Green Tomato Mincemeat Pie

There's no Christmas pie more notorious (or divisive) than classic mincemeat pie. Back when tobacco and textiles ruled the South, mincemeat pie was welcomed with enthusiasm at Christmas dinner.

Recipe: Turkey-Noodle-Poppyseed Casserole

Enter: the original day-after-Thanksgiving casserole. It's hands-down the tastiest, most family-friendly use of leftover turkey. So much so, that even after almost 30 years, it's still our favorite.

Recipe: Orange Cake

This retro recipe makes a beautiful centerpiece for any holiday buffet. The citrus-flavored Bundt offers a bright finish to Christmas brunch.

Recipe: Apple-Bourbon Pie

Apple pie might be a traditional Christmas dessert, but this creative version submitted by Eugenia W. Bell of Lexington, Kentucky is anything but ordinary. It gets a spiced twist from bourbon-infused raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, apricot preserves, and toasted pecans or walnuts.

Recipe: Ambrosia Pudding Pie

Following British tradition, the earliest custard pies were recorded as puddings in antebellum cookbooks. We added a festive ambrosial note with orange marmalade, crushed pineapple, and coconut custard.

Recipe: Molasses Crinkles

Show up to your next cookie swap with these festive cookies, and leave the belle of the Christmas ball. The crinkle cookies are loaded with the classic holiday spices cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Recipe: Japanese Fruitcake with Lemon-Coconut Frosting

"It was the signal that Christmas really was coming when this heavenly smell filled the kitchen," said Susan Houston of Tucker, Georgia. She submitted this family recipe with hopes it would spread that same Christmas joy to others.

Recipe: Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie

Some things are better when kept the absolute same, like this old-fashioned pot pie recipe. How do you know it's vintage? It uses hard-boiled eggs in the filling.

Recipe: Toasted Oatmeal Cookies

Consider these Christmas cookie jar-approved. What made these stand out from basic oatmeal cookies initially: the toasted oats. 

Recipe: Chicken Alouette

Before the name scares you, know that Alouette is just cheese. Gloriously creamy, garlicky, herby spreadable cheese. This main dish was formerly a seasonal favorite to be served alongside tossed greens or a congealed salad.