57+ Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe You Can Make at Home

Christmas Pudding Recipe: Christmas pudding is more than a dessert. It is tradition, patience and expectation bundled in steam and spice. Unlike quick bakes, this pudding is the prize for planning. You soak, stir, steam, wait and ultimately serve something that tastes deeper and richer than anything rushed ever will.

Best Christmas Pudding Recipe Tried and Tested Every Year

The joy of traditional Christmas pudding is that it’s accommodating. You can take it classic, spike it with booze, lighten it up with fruit or adapt to family tastes without entirely ignoring the foundations of the recipe. Below you’ll find 57+ classic Christmas pudding recipe ideas, listed out logically so perhaps you can even decide what works for your kitchen, time and taste.

Classic British Christmas Pudding Recipes

These are the foundations. If you want a pudding that tastes genuine, rich and true to history too, begin here.

• Traditional British Christmas Pudding – This dense, dark, luscious and deeply-spiced pudding is the iconic recipe passed down through generations; this best-ever Christmas pudding will be the highlight of your holiday table!

• Victorian-Style Christmas Pudding – Just loaded with raisins, currants and mixed peel (the one in the grocery store makes me yawn); this has treacle and nutmeg and a big dark taste that’s almost bitter sweet.

• Old-Fashioned Plum Pudding – No plums at all in it; instead you have dried fruits that are soaked in alcohol weeks ahead of time, so the flavors develop to their maximum depth.

  

• Old Fashioned Suet Christmas Pudding – This recipe contains beef suet for the richest, never dry crumb we’re all looking for in new classic Christmas pudding.

• Steamed English Christmas Pudding – Cooked slowly for a couple of hours to marry and intensify the flavors, rather than bake dry.

• Traditional Brandy Christmas Pudding – A warming and sharp liquor takes the edge of the sweetness!

• Rum Christmas Pudding – Laced with dark rum for a molasses-like quality, which is incredibly complimentary to cloves and cinnamon.

• Family Heirloom Christmas Pudding – If winter’s about tradition, then so is Christmas — and thusly a festival-size container of this old school, hand-me-down-recipe-style pudding focused on balance rather than gimmicks.

• Boiled Christmas Pudding Recipe – Boiling the pudding rather than steaming it gives a moist finish and also keeps it firm.

• Traditional Christmas Pudding with Silver Coins – A sentimental recipe for tradition, symbolic meaning and holiday superstition.

Fruit-Heavy Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipes

If you’re the kind of person whose Christmas pudding is fruit-focused and verges on being jammy in the middle, then this section is for you.

• Classic Raisin & Currant Christmas Pudding – All about the raisins and currants; super sweet and chewy.

• Sulatan-Rich Christmas Pudding – A few shades lighter than currant numbers, made with golden sultanas for cheerfulness.

• Mixed Peel Christmas Pudding – The bitterness of the citrus peel offsets any cloying sweetness in the mix.

• Apple & Dried Fruit Christmas Pudding – Grated apple gives you moistness and delicate acidity to tenderise the crumb.

• Fig & Dated Christmas Pudding – Sweet and sticky, for those of you that love a deep caramel.

• Cherry-Studded Christmas Pudding – Glacé or dried cherries add bright sparks of color and sweet-tartness.

• Apricot & Raisin Christmas Pudding – Soft fruit combination which has a slightly lighter feel yet traditional.

• Cranberry Christmas Pudding – Provides a bit of tangy pop to the otherwise decadent taste.

  

• Christmas Pudding with Prunes – Rich, winey sweetness which happens to go marvellously with brandy.

• Triple-Fruit Christmas Pudding – Equal measures of raisins, currants and sultanas to get the balance right.

Alcohol-Enhanced Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipes

Alcohol is not an optional item here; it’s structural. It preserves flavor + deepens it and is the classic definition of a traditional pudding.

• Brandy-Soaked Christmas Pudding – This cheeky little pudding is nothing short of big, bold and warming.

  

• Dark Rum Christmas Pudding – Earthy and rich, very nice if you like Molasses-y desserts.

• Whisky Christmas Pudding – This pudding has a smoky aftertaste, with enough bite to satisfy the manly types at your table.

• Sherry Christmas Pudding – Nutty and ‘a bit dry’, cradles dense fruit with ease.

• Boozy Christmas Pudding – Uses a combination of brandy, rum and whisky for depth.

• Aged Christmas Pudding (6–8 Weeks Matured) – Matured post steaming for optimum depth of flavour.

• Christmas Pudding Slowly – Improved with Weekly Brandy Feed. Develops complexity over time with regular feeding.

• Flambé Christmas Pudding – Completed with a dramatic brandy flame for both appearance and aroma.

• Black Treacle & Rum Christmas Pudding – Rich, bittersweet and brooding.

Classic and Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipes

Based on what they had, different regions tinkered with the base recipe. These remain old-school but have personality.

• Scottish-Style Christmas Pudding – A little more spiced with a more solid consistency and the hint of whisky.

• Irish Christmas Pudding – May be lighter, made with barley breadcrumbs and Irish whiskey.

• English Country Christmas Pudding – Rustic and dense, usually made in quantity.

• Easy Christmas Pudding – Nothing lazy about this, a powerful blend of good ingredients and processing.

• Old London Christmas Pudding – Dark, rich and heavily spiced.

• Old Fashioned Pudding with Oats – To provide a bit of chew and mild nutty taste.

• American Christmas Pudding – Uses stale bread in place of flour to create a lighter crumb.

  

• Molasses Christmas Pudding – Dark, bittersweet and richly hued.

• Nut-Heavy Christmas Pudding – Walnuts or almonds contribute bite and richness.

• Spice-Forward Christmas Pudding – Dinners and Dreams with cloves, nutmeg, allspice standing out.

Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipes Modified

They are pragmatic riffs that remain largely faithful to the spirit of Christmas pudding.

• Traditional Christmas Pudding (No Egg) – Uses added fruit and fat content as a binder instead of eggs.

• Vegetarian Christmas Pudding – Substitutes suet with vegetable shortening, but retains the luxury.

• Lower-Fat Christmas Pudding – Not-not light, but all traditional puddin’ flavour and weighs an impressive 2lbs!

• Mini Single Serve Christmas Puddings – Just right for serving or gifting.

• Slow Cooker Christmas Pudding – New way, old results.

• Pressure Cooker Christmas Pudding – Reduces steaming time without compromise on texture.

• Traditional Christmas Pudding – Requires gluten-free breadcrumbs and flour.

  

• Sugar-Free Christmas Pudding – Fruity sweet rather than extra sugar.

• Orange-Zest Christmas Pudding – Citrus cuts through heavy tastes so well.

• Lemon-Spiced Christmas Pudding – A little brighter and a bit sharper, but Classic.

Last of the Traditional Christmas Pudding Variations

• Christmas Pudding with Candied Ginger – Brings gentle spiciness and warmth.

• Almond & Brandy Christmas Pudding – Full of nuts and spice.

• Muscovado Christmas Pudding – Very subtle caramel back tones.

• Plum Pudding with Spiced Treacle – Old school and bold.

• Christmas Pudding With Berries – Textural and wholesome.

  

• Christmas Pudding Deep Aged (3 Month) – Dark, rich and complex.

• Classic Make-Ahead Christmas Pudding – Delicious made weeks ahead for the best flavor.

• Traditional No-Treacle Pudding – A good balance of fruit, spice, fat and alcohol for purists.