Seventies classic, Prawn Cocktails are back on the festive menu – with key ingredient Marie Rose sauce cracking the top 5 most popular dishes on BBC Food across Christmas Day and Christmas Eve 2021. Yorkshire puddings retain the title they claimed for the first time in 2020, while red cabbage, roast turkey crown, and eggnog also all make the top five most-searched for recipes.

In the rest of December, the most popular recipe was for festive party favourites, including eggnog, gingerbread, and shortbread. Once Boxing Day rolls around the leftovers are put to good use, with leftover turkey and ham pie and turkey curry the top two of the most popular recipes after Christmas Day.

Christmas is coming, and budding festive chefs can find inspiration in BBC Food’s most popular Christmas recipes of 2021:

Prawn cocktails make for a Marie Christmas!

Last minute searches for how to cook the perfect roast turkey are high up the list of priorities for festive chefs once Christmas Eve and Christmas Day arrive, as are BBC Food’s Yorkshire pudding recipe, with the non-traditional trimming retaining the top spot from 2020. The surprise addition this year though is seventies party classic Prawn Cocktail, with key ingredient Marie Rose sauce cracking the top five recipes.

Top five most searched for recipes on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2021:

1. Yorkshire pudding
2. Red cabbage
3. Roast turkey crown
4. Eggnog
5. Marie Rose sauce

Bonne Nog-el! Festive drink top in party season:

As the Christmas party season gets underway eggnog tops the list for BBC Food readers. Also popular are festive biscuits shortbread and gingerbread, as well as readers looking for tips from the pros, like Merry Berry’s recipe for a classic Christmas cake, and the Hairy Bikers’ recipe for a hearty sausage casserole – perfect for a wintry night in.

Top five most searched for recipes from 1-23 December 2021:

1. Eggnog
2. Gingerbread
3. Shortbread
4. Mary Berry’s classic Christmas cake
5. Hairy Bikers’ sausage casserole

… And a turkey in a leftover pie

Leftovers are the main concern for chefs after Christmas Day itself, with leftover turkey and ham pie and turkey curry top of the list of most popular recipes from Boxing Day to New Year’s Eve. Also among the most popular post-Christmas dishes were beef bourguignon, pancake breakfasts and delicious bread and butter pudding.

Top five most searched for recipes from Boxing Day to New Year’s Eve 2021:

1. Turkey and ham pie
2. Turkey curry
3. Perfect boeuf bourguignon
4. Fluffy American pancakes
5. Bread and butter pudding