Everyone wants to create the perfect festive feast at Christmas. Something that brings family and friends together with flavour, tradition and nostalgia – a true statement dish!
Christmas herbs bring a rich, spicy aroma and taste to festive dishes. Cooking with such fresh ingredients is a beautiful way to enhance your dish with flavour and warmth. Explore our favourite herbs that we sell at Greenfingers to create wonderful traditional Christmas flavours and enhance the festive atmosphere in your home.
Our Top-Five Festive Herbs:
- Rosemary
- Sage
- Thyme
- Parsley
- Peppermint
Rosemary
Rosemary is a classic choice and always comes out at the festive period. The fragrant scent of pine and green needle-like leaves mimic the Christmas tree beautifully and can be used in holiday décor as well as cooking. Native to the Mediterranean, its bittersweet green leaves have a distinct flavour that compliments both sweet and savoury dishes. The plant is an evergreen shrub, so the leaves are available fresh all year round.
Rosemary can be used in every course and even drinks.
Our example courses:
Starters and Sides
- Rosemary stuffed mushrooms
- Rosemary mashed or roasted potatoes
- Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Stuffing
- Crunchy Chickpeas with rosemary and olive oil
Main Courses
- Rosemary and lemon-butter roast Turkey
- Mustard and Rosemary Roast Turkey
- Roast Leg of Lamb with rosemary and lavender
- Rosemary-Garlic Lamb Chops with Pimentón and Mint
- Baked Cranberry Chicken with rosemary
- Lemon and rosemary roast chicken
Desserts
- Mini citrus and rosemary upside-down cakes
- Strawberry and rosemary gin Pavlova
- Chocolate, hazelnut and rosemary cake
- Baked peaches with rosemary
- Rhubarb, rosemary and ginger Monte Carlos
Sage
Sage is a classic turkey herb. This meaty-scented fragrant herb pairs very well with poultry and originates from the Mediterranean. It’s strong aroma and earthy flavour can also enhance soups, risottos, roasts and more.
Our example courses:
Starters and Sides
- Sage and Onion Stuffing
- Pancetta & sage-wrapped chipolatas
- Sage and onion Yorkshire puddings
- Roasted roots and sage soup
- Ricotta gnudi with sage butter
Main Courses
- Sage and lemon braised Turkey
- Crispy sage, thyme and citrus roast Chicken
- Winter greens, walnut and sage lasagne
- Butternut, sage and Hazelnut quiche
Thyme
Thyme is a beautiful small fresh herb usually used in gravies or side dishes. Again originally from the Mediterranean, it has a high concentration of scent in tiny but fleshy leaves and is a solid favourite for reliably adding an extra kick to dishes.
Its robust nature means that it can withstand long cooking times and it is a good complement to slow-cooked dishes such as stews. Chop it up for stuffing for poultry or lamb or use it chopped in a marinade for olives. Add sprigs to marinades for meat, fish or vegetables or tuck a few sprigs with half a lemon and an onion inside a chicken before roasting.
Our example courses:
Starters and Sides
- Thyme roasted carrots
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Roast potatoes with garlic butter and thyme
- Thyme sea-salt crackers
- Honey-thyme butternut squash
Main courses
- Christmas Toad in the Hole
- Lemon and Thyme roast Chicken
- Maple-thyme chicken thighs
- Thyme and basil roast pork
- Turkey-thyme risotto
Parsley
Parsley is a fantastic leafy and versatile herb that adds much-needed fresh greenery during the winter season. Parsley is not only a common garnish for special meals, but is also added to butter to make spreads more festive. Furthermore, Gravy and turkey stock can be enhanced by this lovely fragrant herb.
Parsley is also popular to decorate a Christmas table, as its bright green foliage makes it look very festive. Parsley can be used in various ways to dress up the home for the holidays, including making a garland out of it or decorating the tree and mantle. It can also be used to make wreaths, topiaries, and centrepieces.
Our example courses:
Starters
- Egg and Parsley salad with watercress dressing
- Lemon and parsley butterbeans
- Carrots with pine nuts, raisins and parsley
- Tuna pasta with rocket and parsley pesto
- Parsley and Thyme Stuffing
Main Courses
- Roast Turkey with Lemon Parsley and Garlic
- Lamb with sourdough, basil and parsley pesto
- Honey-glazed ham with parsley and praline crust
Peppermint
The sweetest of the bunch, what would the holidays be like without peppermint? From candy canes to cocktails peppermint is the ultimate sweet herb. Peppermint is extremely easy to grow and is often abundant, so it is a good thing there are plenty of ways to use it!
We are sticking with the sweet examples of how to use this herb, bear in mind the dessert recipes use peppermint extract, which you can make by crushing and grinding the leaves, combining with alcohol and storing in a glass jar for 4-6 weeks. Our example desserts and drinks are the following:
Desserts
- Peppermint creams
- Festive chocolate and peppermint Brownie
- Peppermint cheesecake
- Candy Cane Cookies
- Chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting
- Red Velvet peppermint poke cake
Drinks
- Pink Peppermint Martini
- Peppermint Iced Tea
- Peppermint Hot chocolate
Peppermint
The sweetest of the bunch, what would the holidays be like without peppermint? From candy canes to cocktails peppermint is the ultimate sweet herb. Peppermint is extremely easy to grow and is often abundant, so it is a good thing there are plenty of ways to use it!
We are sticking with the sweet examples of how to use this herb, bear in mind the dessert recipes use peppermint extract, which you can make by crushing and grinding the leaves, combining with alcohol and storing in a glass jar for 4-6 weeks. Our example desserts and drinks are the following:
Desserts
- Peppermint creams
- Festive chocolate and peppermint Brownie
- Peppermint cheesecake
- Candy Cane Cookies
- Chocolate cupcakes with peppermint frosting
- Red Velvet peppermint poke cake
Drinks
- Pink Peppermint Martini
- Peppermint Iced Tea
- Peppermint Hot chocolate