Christmas BBQ recipes and ideas

What Australians eat at Christmas

At Christmas in Australia, we love to tuck into ham, prawns, Christmas pudding, potato salad, pavlova and roast pork.

Traditional Australian Christmas BBQ

We also love to get outdoors in the Summer weather and get cooking on the barbie.

Christmas BBQ ideas

Cooking larger pieces of fish, such as a whole salmon, or a side of salmon is a great way of feeding a crowd over the festive season.

You can wrap fish in baking paper and foil to make it easy to transfer to/from the BBQ and it cooks the fish naturally in its own juices, which keeps the fish really moist.

I like to serve the fish in a whole piece that is dressed in finely shaved fennel, smashed olives, lots of lemon & herbs. It`s a real showstopper and is no stress to prepare! 

Tips for the perfect BBQ Christmas dinner

Cooking seafood on the BBQ for Christmas dinner is a great idea. Seafood is quick to cook and keeps you outside with your guests. Plus there is nothing better than the flavour that a BBQ can give.

I like to pick just 3 or 4 different types of seafood when cooking on the BBQ.

Keep it simple so you can concentrate on cooking what you have perfectly.

I like to cook seafood with just a little oil and sea salt so you can taste what it naturally should taste like and serve a marinade or dipping sauce on the side.

My fave is warming up some good extra virgin olive oil and infusing it with garlic, chilli, parsley, lemon & dill. It goes so well with all types of seafood (prawns, oysters, scallops, crabs, pipis etc).

Healthy Christmas BBQ options

Any seafood that is grilled on the BBQ is really healthy. One of my favourites is octopus that is cooked in large pieces on a really hot grill for just seconds. I let it rest and then slice the large pieces into thin strips that are really tender. Toss them in a dressing of good extra virgin olive oil, finely chopped chilli, salt & lemon and serve on a bed of chilled watercress or peppery rocket leaves.