It’s less than 6 weeks to go until Christmas Day – and whether you’ll be heading to a friend’s house, cooking at home, or dining out this Christmas, we don’t doubt you’re looking forward to your festive feast. With timely adverts cropping up left, right and centre from retailers, now is the time of year to start thinking about Christmas dinner and all its sought-after trimmings.

But are we all in agreement on what trimmings make up a classic Christmas meal? On some foods, most certainly – on others…not so much. We’ve conducted a survey to get to the bottom of British festive must-haves, and the results are interesting!

First thing’s first: over half of the UK population chose roast potatoes (59%) as their must-have Christmas dinner item, crowning this as the number one trimming. Turkey came in as the second must-have, with 50% choosing this as an essential item.

However, other meat options were considerably less favourable – including chicken (12%), beef (12%), gammon (7%). As for vegetarian and vegan meat alternatives, only 5% considered this as an essential for their Christmas meal.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, pigs in blankets (37%) and stuffing (34%) made it into the top 5 trimmings.

Top Christmas dinner must-haves:

1. Roast Potatoes – 59%
2. Turkey – 50%
3. Gravy – 41%
4. Pigs in Blankets – 37%
5. Stuffing – 34%
6. Brussels Sprouts – 34%
7. Yorkshire Puddings – 24%
8. Parsnips – 21%
9. Carrots – 15%
10. Mashed Potatoes – 15%
11. Cranberry Sauce – 15%
12. Chicken – 12%
13. Beef – 12%
14. Cauliflower Cheese – 8%
15. Cabbage – 5%
16. Gammon – 7%
17. Bread Sauce – 6%
18. Meat alternative – 5%
19. Apple Sauce – 5%
20. Mint Sauce – 4%

Gravy (41%) came in not-so-solidly in third place, with 46% of the participants over the age of 55 considering it a staple. Interestingly, only 31% of 25-34-year-olds felt the same way.

As for other condiments, cranberry sauce (15%) was favoured over bread sauce (6%), apple sauce (5%) and mint sauce (4%). Remarkably, mayonnaise (3%), mustard (3%) and ketchup (3%) also made it on the list – but only a small percentage thought these sauces belonged on their Christmas dinner.

Brussels sprouts (34%) were the top choice of vegetable, followed by parsnips (21%). However, other vegetables were seen as much less essential with carrots (15%), cauliflower cheese (8%) and cabbage (5%) coming lower down on the Christmas dinner essentials rankings.

Yorkshire Puddings (24%) were relatively high up on the rankings, with the residents of Leeds (37%) loving this trimming the most out of all UK cities. As the largest city in Yorkshire, this makes sense!

Cuisine preferred over a traditional Christmas dinner:

• Chinese – 18%
• Indian – 15%
• Fish & Chips – 15%
• Pizza – 12%
• Fried Chicken – 11%
• Burger – 6%
• Kebab – 5%
• Thai – 3%
• Sushi – 3%

Whilst 41% of Brits would prefer to have a traditional Christmas cooked dinner over a takeaway, Chinese cuisine (18%) was the top alternative preference, followed by Indian (15%) and Fish & Chips (15%).

Perhaps not everyone’s ready to tuck into roast potatoes and turkey this Christmas after all…

Sources:

^[1] Censuswide survey on behalf of Mecca Bingo. 1000 UK respondents (25+). 10.11.2023 – 13.11.2023.

^[2] 15.11.2023 KeywordTool.io

^[3] 15.11.2023 KeywordTool.io

For more interesting insights, stay up to date with our blog and check out our socials below.