The holidays are often associated with over-the-top spreads, but after years of ever-escalating feasts, it’s fair to wonder whether the blowout holiday dinner has started to feel more exhausting than indulgent.
And while the season is very much about coming together over good food, that doesn’t have to mean an eight-course menu complete with custom cocktails and multiple rounds of appetizers.
With the right approach, a super-simple holiday menu can feel just as satisfying, more elegant — and far easier to pull off. It can also be more affordable, which is no small thing at this time of year.
I caught up with Toronto-based dinner party pro and content creator Isabelle Heikens, whose Dinner at Isabelle’s series on Instagram and TikTok has gone viral many times over, to get her advice on creating a simple holiday dinner that still feels special and beautiful. Her tips just might make hosting this season feel more exciting than intimidating.
Elevate humble ingredients
For Heikens, a simpler holiday menu starts with being strategic about ingredients. “When I’m hosting, I’m rarely serving beef,” she said. It’s more costly, especially when feeding a crowd, and trickier to cook, which means “there’s a lot more riding on it” in the kitchen.
Instead, Heikens recommends turning to humble chicken — an option she says guests often prefer anyway. “Instead of doing a braised short rib, I’ll do a braised chicken,” she explained, noting that with smart shopping, it can be a far more affordable choice. “You could do a coq au vin, which is very chic French, elegant holiday, or you could do a cider braised chicken,” she said, for a hint of holiday spice.
Similarly, Heikens says there’s no need to splurge on ingredients if you’re thoughtful about how you prepare them. Pastas and mashed potatoes, she notes, are relatively inexpensive but can feel elevated when done well.
“Like a beautiful silky mashed potato — potatoes are not expensive,” she said. “You throw in some confit garlic in there and it feels so fancy, but I mean, it’s potatoes and garlic!”
Shop your pantry first
When planning a holiday menu, Heikens starts by looking at what she already has on hand. “Pick dishes that consider items that you already have,” she advised, adding that those ingredients can become the starting point for recipe inspiration.
That approach can lead to unexpectedly elegant results. “Maybe you have a bag of old dried cranberries,” she said. “You can soak them in vinegar and then incorporate them into a salad dressing, and then you have this beautiful cranberry vinaigrette, which sounds so fancy — but you just used the old, dried, sad cranberries that were sitting in your pantry.”
The same principle applies to produce that’s past its prime. “If you have onions in your fridge that are starting to sprout or getting a little questionable, just cut them up, caramelize them, and then you can do a take on a French onion-something,” she said. “That can feel very, very luxe.”
Beyond using what’s already in the fridge or pantry, Heikens also encourages adapting recipes to what you have. “Make smart swaps,” she said. “If you’re looking at a holiday recipe and it’s telling you to use toasted hazelnuts, but you have pumpkin seeds left over from the fall, use the pumpkin seeds.”
(Isabelle Heikens)Splurge wisely
If you do plan on splurging on a luxury ingredient, Heikens recommends weaving it throughout your menu to ensure it’s used to its fullest potential. “It can also add a nice cohesion to the menu,” she said. “Let’s say you do have to go out and splurge for a hunk of Parmesan for a beautiful pasta dish you’re serving. Okay, well, maybe you make that Parmesan go a bit further, and you use it as the garnish on a salad, or you cut off the rind and use that to simmer in the sauce to bring a really nice depth of flavour.”
“I also sometimes do this with my drink and dessert. I consider it like I’m bookending the menu,” says Heikens. “Let’s say I bought a bag of fresh cranberries, and I’m using that as part of the cocktail, maybe I made like a syrup or a compote,” it’s likely that there will be leftover cranberries that went unused, “so weave that into dessert somehow” suggests Heikens. “That also makes the menu almost feel more thoughtful because it’s bookended, that you started on a similar note and you ended on a similar note. But you got to use up that whole [bag of cranberries]”.
She applies the same thinking to drinks and dessert. “Let’s say I bought a bag of fresh cranberries, and I’m using that as part of the cocktail — maybe I made a syrup or a compote,” she said. Any leftovers can then be worked into dessert, creating a thoughtful, bookended menu that uses the whole bag of cranberries.
(Isabelle Heikens)Make everything in advance (yes, everything)
As for Heikens’ number-one piece of advice for hosting a super-simple holiday dinner, it’s to create a menu where “pretty much everything can be made in advance,” she said. “I always say you’re not a restaurant — you can’t do everything all at once and have it all coming out perfectly and hot at the same time.”
In fact, some dishes — like Heikens’ favourite braised chicken — “taste better the next day,” she said. She recommends braising it directly in a Dutch oven the day before your party, popping it in the fridge and rewarming it in the oven the next day as your guests arrive.
(Isabelle Heikens)
She also recommends doing every task you possibly can in advance, no matter how small it seems. For a charcuterie board, that means “having the cheese pre-cut [and] the meat pre-sliced,” she advised. Otherwise, when guests arrive “you’re going to be scrambling and then you’re going to be too stressed — you’re not going to be actually enjoying having people over.”
That said, Heikens notes that for anyone “just dipping your toes into hosting,” the holidays can actually be one of the best times to start. “Food really doesn’t have to be the focus,” she said, adding that guests are often just as excited about other traditions, like gift exchange games or a cookie swap.
“There are so many other things you can rely on that kind of shift the focus away from the food,” she said. “And when it’s not the focus and you’re not putting that much pressure on yourself, it just lightens the load so much.”
(Isabelle Heikens)
Dining and Cooking