Alton Brown's Christmas Menu Is Making My Mouth Water

These festive recipes are Alton Brown’s tried and true holiday specialties.

If we had to guess, Alton Brown might just be Santa Claus himself. Right after the award-winning, food-television veteran shared his favorite Thanksgiving recipes with us, he wasted no time in gifting us the most delicious Christmas dishes on his Instagram profile. From his show-stopping main dish to his surprising take on a popular dessert, you have to try one (or all) of these recipes in your holiday menu, in addition to some of our own highly-rated recipes.

Holiday Standing Rib Roast

If a big, juicy slab of beef is hitting the dinner table, it’s usually for a special occasion. Rather, in Brown’s case, it better be. To prepare his picture-perfect Holiday Standing Rib Roast, he faux-dry ages it for five days using cheesecloth and his refrigerator. “What I’m doing is simply drying the roast out a little bit, which is going to intensify the flavor and give us a better char,” Brown explains. Then when it’s ready to be cooked, all it needs is salt, pepper, oil and patience.

The result looks tender and delicious (watch Brown slice into it like butter.) Now, if you’re craving the same kind of succulence in your main dish but want some added aromatics, our Perfect Prime Rib is a great option for a fragrant, garlic-herb roast that everyone is sure to enjoy.

Easy Yorkshire Pudding

Simple is an understatement with this recipe. Brown’s Easy Yorkshire Pudding ditches the muffin and popover tins for a cast-iron skillet. The final product resembles a super fluffy Dutch baby full of savory flavor from the rib roast’s drippings. Plus, the five-ingredient batter comes together in a blender. What could be easier than that?

To add a vegetable to the mix, you could make our Sweet Potato Dutch Baby instead. Similar to Yorkshire pudding, it’s the perfect stand-in for dinner rolls with a naturally-sweet, seasonal twist.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Mac and cheese might be one of the few dishes everyone will clamor over at a holiday dinner. Brown’s Baked Macaroni and Cheese features pungent sharp Cheddar, creamy Monterey jack, plenty of butter and a crunchy panko breadcrumb crust. In the comment section, one fan says they’ve “been making this recipe for years,” and it’s probably for good reason.

If you’re in search of a healthier version of this fan-favorite, our Baked Mac & Cheese uses extra-sharp Cheddar and low-fat cottage cheese with a layer of tender spinach in the middle.  One reader calls it the “best mac and cheese ever!”

Potato Gratin

Describing it as “elegant, comforting and unabashedly cheesy,” Brown obviously likes to take potatoes to a whole new level for Christmas. Lots of thyme, rosemary, Parmesan and Asiago cheese pack this dish with savory, herbaceous flavors.

Try similar variations to Brown’s recipe like our Potato & Leek Gratin, where we use Gruyère, garlic and leek to impart tons of flavor into the potatoes. Or make our tangy and sophisticated Artichoke-Potato Gratin to add some zing to your holiday dinner this year.

Pumpkin Pie

Sometimes, pumpkin pie can seem like an arbitrary holiday dessert, or it can lose its footing to sweet potato pie. On the other hand, there’s Brown’s Pumpkin Pie. The familiar, creamy filling is set within a unique crust made from gingersnaps, brown sugar, ground ginger and butter. If you’re feeling fancy, you can even make it into mini pies and top them with a crackly brown-sugar brûlée.

Several commenters say they’ve been making this pie for years, so if you usually make pumpkin pie, this recipe is for you. Of course, if the flavors of gingersnap don’t make it on your menu this year, you can always try our Light & Luscious Pumpkin Pie that uses an easy oil-based crust, or The Best Easy Pumpkin Pie Recipe that takes just five ingredients (including a store-bought crust).

Add a Touch of Green

While Brown’s mouthwatering menu makes us super excited for Christmas dinner, we’d love to see something green on the table, too. For something bright and zesty to cut through the other starchy sides, we suggest our Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad. Then again, you could keep with the cozy and comforting theme by making this Wilted Kale with Warm Shallot Dressing. But of course, to keep it as simple as can be, our Quick & Easy Sautéed Broccolini is fool-proof and ready in just 15 minutes.

Keep reading: Joanna Gaines Shared the Breakfast She Makes Every Christmas for Her Family & We Have the Recipe

Read the original article on Eating Well.