Christmas
Venezuelan Christmas Food, the Whole Christmas Eve Plate
Hallacas, ham bread, chicken salad, pernil and the December sweets, with a make-ahead plan you can follow from any kitchen.
A Venezuelan Christmas dinner is served on a single plate, the plato navideño: an unwrapped hallaca, a slice of pan de jamón, a spoonful of chicken salad and slices of roast pork leg. The big meal is on Christmas Eve, December 24, and many families serve the same plate again on New Year's Eve. Dessert is candied green papaya, black cake or quesillo, and the toast is ponche crema, a rum eggnog.
The hallaca is the dish people search for. Think of a large, flat tamal: corn dough colored orange with annatto, filled with a stew of beef, pork and chicken, topped with olives, capers and raisins, wrapped in plantain leaf and boiled. Families make them together days before Christmas, in an assembly line where everyone has a job, and keep them in the fridge or freezer until dinner.
Planning a Latin Christmas with other flavors? See Mexican Christmas, Colombian Christmas or the general guide to Christmas recipes.
Make-ahead plan for a Venezuelan Christmas dinner
Built around dinner on the evening of December 24. For New Year's Eve, shift the December 21-24 steps by a week and make fresh ponche crema and papaya dessert.
- Late November. Start soaking the dried fruit for the Venezuelan black cake in rum and sweet wine; it needs at least 7 days before baking.
- Early December. Bake the black cake (2½ hours) and brush it with liquor. Feed it a spoonful more on December 8, 15 and 21, then leave it alone on the 22nd and 23rd.
- A weekend in mid-December. Hallaca weekend. Day one: chop and marinate the stew, 30 minutes of work and 24 hours in the fridge. Day two: stew, leaves, dough, assembly and a 90-minute boil, about five and a half hours. Cooking alone, split it over three days. Cooked and still in the leaf, they freeze for 3 months; made on the 20th or later, the fridge is enough (they keep 4 days).
- December 20, evening. If your pork leg is frozen, move it to the fridge: allow about one day per 5 lb (2.3 kg).
- December 21 or 22. Make the green papaya dessert; it improves in the fridge. On the 22nd, score the pork skin and rub on the marinade (25 minutes).
- December 23. Bake the ham bread so the oven is free tomorrow, cook the ponche crema in the afternoon and make the quesillo. Cook the hen and vegetables for the salad and store them separately. Leave the pork skin-side up and uncovered in the fridge so the skin dries.
- December 24. The pork goes in the oven about six and a half hours before dinner (2:30 p.m. for a 9 p.m. meal). Two to three hours before eating, dress the salad. At the end, hallacas go into boiling water, 30 minutes from frozen or about 20 from the fridge, and the ham bread gets 10 minutes at 320°F (160°C).
- December 25. Breakfast is leftover pork in a crusty roll, and the hen broth makes a soup.
The four dishes on the Christmas plate
Venezuelan hallacas are the centerpiece and the hardest part, mostly because of volume: one batch is 40. In the US, look for precooked white corn flour (masarepa, such as P.A.N.) in the Latin aisle, never cornmeal or masa harina, and frozen plantain leaves in Latin or Asian freezer cases. Mini sweet peppers with a pinch of sugar stand in for ají dulce, and annatto seeds steeped in lard give the color.
Venezuelan pernil is the easiest way to feed a crowd: about 55 minutes of work over three days. Ask for a fresh ham (raw, uncured pork leg) in the US, often only to order around the holidays, or a skin-on leg of pork in the UK, not gammon. Pan de jamón is a soft rolled bread filled with ham, bacon, raisins and olives, the one dish that needs some baking confidence. Venezuelan chicken salad, with potato, carrot, peas and apple in mayo, is the easy, cold side; a stewing hen (fowl in the US, boiling fowl in the UK) is traditional, and a whole chicken works.
LunchVenezuelan Hallacas, the Christmas Tamal Wrapped in Leaves
Venezuelan hallacas the family way: beef, pork and chicken marinated a full day, corn dough colored with annatto lard. Olives, capers and raisins, tied in plantain leaf and boiled, with US substitutions and a two-day plan.
DinnerVenezuelan Pernil, Christmas Pork Leg with a 3-Day Plan
Venezuelan pernil is a bone-in pork leg marinated 24 hours and roasted almost 6 hours to 175-195°F (80-90°C), for 8 people. A 3-day plan to Christmas Eve, US and UK cuts, crisp skin, scaling to 20 and leftovers.
SnacksPan de Jamón, Venezuelan Christmas Ham Bread
Venezuelan pan de jamón: an enriched dough rolled around ham, bacon, raisins and green olives, baked at 356 °F. The filling ceiling that keeps the seam closed, US ingredient swaps and how to freeze it.
SaladsVenezuelan Chicken Salad, Ensalada de Gallina for Christmas
Venezuelan chicken salad, or ensalada de gallina, is shredded hen with firm potato, carrot, peas and apple in mayo, ready in 200 minutes for 8. Hen vs chicken, US and UK swaps, buffet safety and a December 23 make-ahead plan.
No time for hallacas this year
Without a free weekend for hallacas, the plate still works with pernil, ham bread and chicken salad, all of which fit in the week of the dinner. For a different roast, Venezuelan asado negro, beef braised in dark caramel, is cooked the day before and only needs reheating and slicing. For New Year's Eve, Venezuelan pasticho, a lasagna with béchamel, ham and cheese, serves 10 and can be assembled the night before.
LunchVenezuelan Asado Negro, Eye of Round in Papelón Caramel
Venezuelan asado negro is eye of round blackened in papelón caramel and braised 165 minutes until the sauce turns nearly black. Serves 8 or 16 in 4 hours 20 minutes plus an overnight marinade, with US and UK cuts and Instant Pot times.
LunchVenezuelan Pasticho, the Lasagna with Béchamel, Ham and Cheese
Venezuelan pasticho is lasagna layered with meat sauce, a generous béchamel, ham and mild melting cheese, 10 servings in 160 minutes. No-boil noodle method, clean slicing, make-ahead, freezing, US and UK swaps.
Venezuelan Christmas desserts
Dulce de lechosa is the Christmas sweet: strips of unripe papaya in a dark brown-sugar syrup with cloves, eaten cold from small dishes. Asian grocers sell green papaya for Thai salads, and Mexican piloncillo replaces the Venezuelan papelón. Torta negra is the most relaxed choice if you start early, since it is baked weeks ahead and slices into 20 thin pieces. Quesillo, a flan with tiny holes, is made the day before and tastes better on day two.
For a longer dessert table, bienmesabe, a coconut cream trifle, is assembled the day before except for the meringue; cabello de ángel keeps for weeks in the fridge; and coconut kisses last several days in a tin, which makes them good for gifting.
DessertsVenezuelan green papaya dessert, dulce de lechosa recipe
Dulce de lechosa, Venezuela's Christmas dessert of green papaya strips candied in piloncillo syrup with cloves, off the heat at 223°F (106°C). Makes 3 lb (1.4 kg), 14 servings, in 3½ hours, with or without pickling lime and how to gift it.
DessertsVenezuelan Black Cake (Torta Negra), Rum-Soaked Fruit Cake
Venezuelan black cake (torta negra) is a Christmas fruit cake with rum-soaked fruit, papelón and dark caramel, baked at 300°F (150°C). One 9-inch cake serves 20: how it differs from Caribbean black cake, feeding schedule, swaps, storage.
DessertsVenezuelan Quesillo, the Caramel Flan with Tiny Holes
Venezuelan quesillo is a caramel custard of 5 whole eggs and a can of sweetened condensed milk, baked in a water bath. Why the tiny holes are the point, the oven heat that makes them and how to unmold it without breaking it.
DessertsVenezuelan Bienmesabe, Coconut Custard Cake with Meringue
Venezuelan bienmesabe is a chilled layered dessert of wine-soaked sponge, coconut custard and cinnamon meringue, made a day ahead. Serves 15 in 330 minutes, with US and UK swaps, a no-alcohol version, safe egg temperatures and costs.
DessertsCabello de angel, Venezuelan spaghetti squash candy
Cabello de angel is Venezuelan candied squash: strands of figleaf gourd or spaghetti squash cooked in their own weight of sugar to 220°F (104°C). Makes 3½ lb, 16 servings, in 4 hours, with cinnamon and cloves; costs, storage and gifting.
DessertsCoconut Kisses, Venezuelan Besitos de Coco with Cane Sugar
Venezuelan coconut kisses, besitos de coco, made with a spiced syrup of 17.6 oz (500 g) papelón and one fresh coconut, baked at 350°F (180°C). Makes 30 in 130 minutes, with macaroon differences, coconut swaps, storage and cost.
DessertsChristmas Butter Cookies That Hold Their Shape
Christmas butter cookies made with powdered sugar, egg yolks and no baking powder, rolled a scant ¼ inch thick and baked cold at 325°F (160°C). About 40 cut-outs, royal icing three ways, decorating without piping tips and drying times.
DessertsHomemade Panettone with Instant Yeast, No Starter Needed
Homemade panettone made with instant yeast instead of a sourdough starter, baked in two small paper molds at 350°F (175°C) to 197°F (92°C) inside. How to knead to the windowpane, timing rises in a cool kitchen, hanging and storing.
Christmas drinks
Ponche crema is Venezuela's eggnog, made with condensed milk and rum and cooked to 160°F (71°C) so the eggs are safe. Make it the day before and serve it cold in small glasses; one bottle from the same pot can skip the rum for kids. It keeps 3 to 4 days, so New Year's Eve needs a fresh batch. For a hot-weather party, tizana, a fruit punch you eat with a spoon, is the alcohol-free option.
DrinksVenezuelan Ponche Crema, the Rum Eggnog Cooked to 160°F
Venezuelan ponche crema is a thick rum eggnog of condensed and evaporated milk cooked to 160°F (71°C), ready in 40 minutes for two 750 ml bottles. Its alcohol content, a kid-safe version, how long it keeps in the fridge and gifting.
DrinksVenezuelan Tizana, the Fruit Punch You Eat with a Spoon
Venezuelan tizana is diced tropical fruit in orange juice with grenadine, 200 g (7 oz) of fruit per glass, ready in 60 minutes for 6. When to add the banana and apple, a party plan for 24, US cost and how long it keeps.
December 25 and the leftovers
Christmas morning means pork sandwiches: shred the cold pernil, warm it with its pan sauce and pile it into a crusty roll with tomato and, if you like, guasacaca, Venezuela's avocado sauce. More leftover pork fills Venezuelan arepas. Spare hallacas go back into boiling water for about 20 minutes, and the chicken salad is eaten cold, never reheated.
SnacksVenezuelan Guasacaca Recipe, the Tangy Avocado Sauce
Venezuelan guasacaca is a tangy avocado sauce blended with sweet peppers, herbs, vinegar and oil, ready in 15 minutes for 10 servings. How it differs from guacamole, US and UK swaps, how to keep it green and how long it lasts.
BreakfastHow to Make Arepas, the Venezuelan Griddle and Oven Method
How to make arepas the Venezuelan way, with pre-cooked corn flour, warm water and salt, seared 5 minutes a side and baked at 350°F (180°C). Makes 8 in 50 minutes. Why masa harina fails, fillings, freezing and a crowd plan.
Frequently asked questions
What do Venezuelans eat for Christmas dinner?
The plato navideño: hallaca, pan de jamón (ham bread), chicken salad and roast pork leg, served together on Christmas Eve and often again on New Year's Eve. Dessert is green papaya in syrup, black cake or quesillo, with ponche crema to drink.
What is a hallaca?
A Venezuelan Christmas tamal: corn dough colored with annatto, filled with a marinated beef, pork and chicken stew plus olives, capers and raisins, wrapped in plantain leaf, tied and boiled for 90 minutes. It is flat and rectangular, and the olives, capers and raisins go on top of the stew rather than mixed in.
How far ahead can you make hallacas?
Cooked and still in their leaves, they keep 4 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer, so many families make them on a weekend in mid-December and freeze them. Reheat in boiling water for 30 minutes from frozen or about 20 from the fridge, until the center reaches 165°F (74°C).
Can I substitute corn husks for plantain leaves?
Not really. Husks are too small to wrap a hallaca and add none of the aroma the leaf gives the dough. Frozen plantain leaves from Latin or Asian grocers work just as well as fresh: thaw, wipe and pass them briefly over a flame.
What can I make the day before a Venezuelan Christmas dinner?
The ham bread, quesillo, ponche crema and the cooked parts of the chicken salad, stored separately. The pork can even be roasted on the 23rd and reheated covered, with 15 minutes at high heat to re-crisp the skin. Only dressing the salad should wait for the 24th.