The best Christmas starter is one you have mostly made before your guests arrive, and one light enough to leave room for the turkey. Below are 12 easy Christmas starter ideas that manage both — graded for how far ahead you can make them and flagged where they are vegetarian — from a make-the-day-before pâté to a no-cook prawn cocktail and a baked camembert that does the work of a showstopper for the effort of opening a box.
The short version
- Keep it light. A rich, creamy starter before a full roast is a tactical error. Aim for fresh, sharp or just small.
- Make ahead where you can. Pâtés, soups, gravlax and tartlets are all happier made a day or more in advance.
- Allow one good starter each, a little more if you are serving a sharing board to graze on.
- Plate before the turkey rests, so the kitchen is calm while the bird stands and you carve.
These Christmas dinner starters are grouped by how far ahead you can make them, and each is tagged: Make ahead No cook Hot Veggie.
And impressive needn’t be expensive. The smoked mackerel and chicken liver pâtés and the soup are the cheapest crowd-pleasers here; the scallops and cured salmon are the splurges. Use sea trout in place of salmon and you roughly halve the cost of the showiest dish on the list.
Make-ahead Christmas starters
1. Beetroot-cured salmon Make ahead No cook
The grandest-looking starter is the one you make days in advance and forget about. Bury a side of salmon in salt, sugar, dill and grated raw beetroot, weight it, and leave it in the fridge for two to three days; it cures to a jewel-bright ruby edge. Slice thinly to order and serve with rye and a little horseradish cream. Nothing to do on the day but lift it out.
2. Chicken liver pâté with toasted brioche Make ahead
A proper pâté improves for being made two days ahead, and a thin layer of clarified butter on top seals it for a week. Serve with toasted brioche, a little chutney and a few cornichons. Quietly cheap, reliably loved.
3. Chestnut and celeriac soup Make ahead Veggie
Soup is the host’s friend: made entirely in advance, frozen if you like, and reheated while everyone arrives. Chestnut and celeriac is mellow, seasonal and not too filling in a small cup. A swirl of cream and a few fried sage leaves dress it up.
4. Goat’s cheese and caramelised onion tartlets Make ahead Veggie
Bake them the day before and warm through for five minutes to serve, or freeze them baked and reheat from frozen. Sweet onions, tangy goat’s cheese, a scrap of thyme: the sort of thing people assume took far more effort than it did.
5. Smoked mackerel pâté with melba toast Make ahead No cook
Blitz smoked mackerel with cream cheese, lemon, horseradish and black pepper, and you have an elegant starter in five minutes that keeps for two days. Melba toast made ahead and stored in a tin completes a starter that costs very little and tastes like it cost a lot.
No-cook and quick wins
6. Classic prawn cocktail No cook
The one everyone secretly wants, and the term thousands search for. Made properly, with a sharp Marie Rose and cold, sweet prawns, it earns its place. Full recipe below; assemble it in the hour before serving and keep it cold.
7. Smoked salmon and dill blinis No cook
Warm shop-bought blinis if you must do anything at all, then top with crème fraîche, smoked salmon, a frond of dill and a squeeze of lemon. Ten minutes of assembly, no cooking, endlessly elegant.
8. Burrata with clementine and chicory No cook Veggie
A ball of burrata torn over segments of clementine, bitter chicory leaves and a little good oil is the lightest, freshest start to a heavy meal. Seasonal, barely any work, and quietly impressive on a white plate.
9. Stilton, pear and walnut with honey No cook Veggie
A few slices of ripe pear, crumbled Stilton, toasted walnuts and a thread of honey: the cheeseboard reimagined as a starter. Assembles in minutes and uses the cheese you were going to buy anyway. Reach for a vegetarian-rennet blue if any of your guests are strict about it, as traditional Stilton is not vegetarian.
Hot showstoppers
10. Baked camembert with cranberry and rosemary Hot Veggie
Score a whole camembert, stud it with rosemary, spoon over a little cranberry sauce and bake for 20 minutes until molten. Put it in the middle of the table with bread and let everyone dig in. Maximum effect, minimum skill.
11. Seared scallops with pea purée Hot
The one genuinely last-minute starter here, and worth it. Sear scallops for a minute each side in a hot pan and rest them on a spoonful of warm pea purée (which you can make ahead). Quick, light and properly restaurant.
12. Twice-baked cheese soufflé Make ahead Hot Veggie
The showstopper you can make the day before. Bake the soufflés, turn them out, and on the day pour over a little cream and bake again until puffed. They cannot collapse, because they already have. The dinner-party trick that looks like a tightrope walk and is not. Use a vegetarian hard cheese if you need it to be meat-free, as Parmesan and many hard cheeses are made with animal rennet.
Classic Prawn Cocktail (serves 4)
Cold, sharp and properly retro. Assemble within the hour before serving and keep chilled.
You need
- 300g cooked, peeled cold-water prawns, well drained and patted dry
- 1 Little Gem lettuce, finely shredded
- Marie Rose sauce: 4 tbsp mayonnaise, 2 tbsp tomato ketchup, a squeeze of lemon, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of cayenne, an optional teaspoon of dry sherry
- To finish: lemon wedges, a dusting of paprika, brown bread and butter
Method
- Stir together the mayonnaise, ketchup, lemon, Worcestershire, cayenne and sherry, and taste: it should be tangy, not sweet.
- Fold in the prawns until just coated.
- Divide the shredded lettuce between four glasses and spoon the prawns on top.
- Dust with paprika, tuck in a lemon wedge and chill until serving. Serve with brown bread and butter.
Beetroot-Cured Salmon (serves 8, start 2–3 days ahead)
The signature make-ahead starter, and far easier than it looks. Sea trout works just as well and costs less.
You need
- 1 side of salmon or sea trout (about 800g–1kg), skin on, pin-boned
- 100g coarse sea salt and 80g caster sugar
- 1 large raw beetroot, coarsely grated
- A small bunch of dill, chopped, and the zest of 1 lemon
- To serve: rye bread and horseradish cream
Method
- Mix the salt, sugar, grated beetroot, dill and lemon zest into a wet, ruby paste.
- Lay the fish skin-side down in a dish and pack the cure over the flesh.
- Cover, sit a board and a couple of tins on top to weight it, and chill for 2–3 days, pouring off the liquid each day and turning once.
- Rinse off the cure, pat dry, and slice thinly off the skin at a shallow angle. It keeps, sliced or whole, for three days.
A word on timing
The starter exists to buy you time, not to cost you it. Choose one you can plate while the turkey rests under foil — that 30-minute window is when the kitchen is calmest and the oven is free. Cold starters can be plated and held in the fridge from mid-morning; the baked camembert and the scallops are the only two here that want last-minute attention, so pick one of those at most. And keep portions small: a starter that fills people up before the main is a starter that has misjudged the day.
A dry fizz signals the meal has begun — but a good soft drink in the proper glass is hospitality too.
What to pour with them
A dry fizz flatters almost everything on this list and signals that the meal has begun. Beyond that: a chilled fino or manzanilla sherry is glorious with the prawn cocktail and the smoked fish; a crisp white suits the scallops and burrata; and the baked camembert is happy with whatever red is already open. Nothing here needs to be expensive, only cold and dry.
Pour the non-drinkers something just as considered. A chilled alcohol-free fizz does the same celebratory work as Champagne; or make a sharp homemade soda — cloudy apple with a squeeze of lime, or elderflower cordial topped with cold sparkling water and a sprig of mint. A good soft drink in the proper glass is hospitality; a warm bottle of cola is not.
Christmas starters: your questions answered
What is a good starter before Christmas dinner?
Something light and sharp rather than rich and creamy, so it whets the appetite without crowding out the turkey. A prawn cocktail, smoked salmon, a small cup of soup or a fresh burrata salad all work well.
Which Christmas starters can you make ahead?
Pâtés, soups, beetroot-cured salmon, goat’s cheese tartlets and twice-baked soufflés can all be made a day or more in advance. Cold starters can be plated from the morning and kept in the fridge.
What is an easy Christmas starter?
A baked camembert with cranberry, smoked salmon blinis, or a stilton, pear and walnut plate all take ten minutes or less and need little or no cooking.
What are good vegetarian Christmas starters?
Baked camembert, goat’s cheese and onion tartlets, burrata with clementine, and chestnut and celeriac soup are all vegetarian. A blue cheese plate or a twice-baked soufflé can be too, as long as you choose vegetarian-rennet cheeses, since traditional Stilton and Parmesan are not.
How many starters per person?
Allow one good individual starter each, or a little more if you are putting out a sharing board such as a baked camembert for the table to graze on.
How do you make a prawn cocktail?
Coat cold prawns in a Marie Rose sauce of mayonnaise, ketchup, lemon, Worcestershire and a pinch of cayenne, sit them on shredded lettuce, dust with paprika and serve with brown bread. Full recipe above.
Carry on with the rest of the meal
Starter sorted, turn to the main event: how to cook and glaze a Christmas ham, the perfect pigs in blankets and crisp roast potatoes and parsnips. Counting the days? See our weeks until Christmas.
Written by Linda Garrould. Updated 14 June 2026.
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