The holidays are just around the corner and what better way to spend this Christmas than being with your beloved family. Cooking mouth-watering meals to enjoy together is one of the best ways to show how much you care about them and love them. The idea of making food with love would make this holiday filled with Christmas spirit, fun times, and the most scrumptious food you’ve ever tasted.
Time to learn a few things that could make your next cookout the best one this year, whether it’s about your smoker, activities, food, or a nice playlist to enjoy.
The Perfect Smoker
There must be one special smoker that is perfect for every cook, but the truth is that it all depends on several factors. Whether it’s the size, type of fuel it uses, the purpose, or your budget, having a nice smoker is great for all your cookout needs for your family. The group of dads behind Ktchndad believes that smokers are a must-have for families that love to grill and enjoy eating delicious meats. This also makes it possible to have one of the best cookouts ever when you find a smoker that suits your needs, price range, and preference when it comes to its fuel.
Best Cookout Recipes
Coxinha Chicken Drumsticks
This is an amazing and extremely tasty chicken-filled appetizer. You can consider this easy recipe as the heaven’s chicken because it tastes out of this world. The chicken is smoked first, seasoned well and basted in garlic butter. Then, you shred the chicken and mix it with cream cheese and little bits of chives for that perfect taste. Then you should make the dough to hold the chicken pieces, take a piece of the chicken and put it in the dough to form it back to the bone. Then you dip it in flour, bread crumbs, and egg wash and they’re ready for frying. You’re going to have the best drumsticks ever when it’s done. Yummy!
Grilled Mushroom Burgers
Everybody agrees that a get-together wouldn’t be complete without big, juicy hamburgers.
They are everywhere, but they don’t really help the vegetarians at the gathering. In contrast, your vegetarian pals will go crazy over these grilled mushroom burgers. The perfectly spiced, thick, and soft portobello mushrooms are then placed on a bun with Swiss cheese and all of your other preferred toppings. They are then grilled for that delightful smokey flavor.
Grilled Prime Rib Roast
What better place to begin than with a gorgeous piece of beef? It might be challenging to cook prime rib and ribeye so that they are just tender enough and rare enough, but wow is it worth the effort. And it’s simple to understand why when you have this beef with garlic, butter, and herbs. For the finest results, smoke it for 3–4 hours at 225°F (107°C), as opposed to one recipe’s recommendation for an hour in the oven. You’ll get a wonderful and tender cut of prime beef regardless of your choice.
Double Smoked Spiral Ham
Without a glazed ham, no collection of grilled or smoked Christmas recipes would be complete. The natural flavors of the ham are brought to a whole new level by the preparation of this smoked spiral ham with a sweet and smoky coating. The ham is progressively brought to temperature while resting in its fluids after being smoked at 250°F for 4 hours over apple wood. Delectably delicious.
Grilled BBQ Chicken
Considering that grilled barbecue chicken is a mainstay of most cookouts, a general recipe to guide you in making it to perfection is easily accessible online. Naturally, the focus of this dish is on getting the meat moist, tender, and well-seasoned. Of course, you can change the flavor by using the barbecue sauce of your choice.
Rotisserie Turkey
Rotisserie additions make it much simpler to recreate the fun that charcoal or smoker users get to experience by opening up low and slow cooking on gas grills. This three-hour rotisserie cooking process involves stuffing the smoked turkey with apple and garlic, marinating it in herb butter, and then cooking it. A slow-roasted, grilled turkey with herb infusion fit for any Christmas table.
Smoked Lobster Tails
Smoked lobster tails may appear difficult to prepare, but they’re really rather simple. Additionally, cooking them at home is significantly less expensive than eating them out at a restaurant. These exquisite lobster tail pieces are juicy, soft, and mouthwatering. You’ve never had anything like this before, served with a mixture of garlic, lemon, and butter.
Grilled Pork Tenderloin
Even though it may not be everyone’s preferred cut of pork, tenderloin is a flavorful meat that belongs on any holiday dinner table. Smoking a pork tenderloin can take two to three hours, but the rewards are well worth the wait. In this recipe, the pork is first marinated in a beer and mustard mixture to give it the ideal flavor profile before going onto the smoker to become juicy and soft.
Smoked Brisket
Few smoked meat varieties are as well-known as smoked beef brisket. It calls for the best aspects of barbecue smoking. Brisket must be properly prepared by being chopped and trimmed, brining it well, and applying a flavorful rub. The next step is to select a nice brisket wood and cook it slowly for many hours until it is thoroughly smoked through. Nothing else compares to it.
Coleslaw
Why not go all out and make KFC-style coleslaw if you’re making one? The carrots and cabbage are still crisp and fresh despite the dish being chilly and creamy. It has a good amount of zest but doesn’t go all the way sour, like coleslaw should. Stick to the three tablespoons of sugar if you prefer your coleslaw sweet. If not, you might want to tone it down a little bit.
Broccoli Salad
You have no idea what you’re missing if you’ve never tried broccoli salad. It requires no cooking and only takes 15 minutes to prepare. Although it has a robust, earthy flavor from the broccoli, onions, cheese, and bacon, the sugar, grapes, and raisins give it a delightful sweetness that even children adore. This is virtually a surefire technique to get picky vegetable haters in your crew to eat their greens.
Smashed Potato
You can prepare these mashed potatoes, which only require four ingredients, on the grill or in the oven in less than an hour. If you don’t have a Traeger smoker, that’s okay. If prepared another manner, they’ll taste just as nice, albeit somewhat less smokey. Their exteriors are as crispy as McDonald’s French fries, while their interiors are velvety, sensitive, and soft. They are delicious as is, but if you want more flavor, you may add some garlic powder.
Coxinha Chicken Drumsticks
This is an amazing and extremely tasty chicken-filled appetizer. You can consider this easy recipe as the heaven’s chicken because it tastes out of this world. The chicken is smoked first, seasoned well and basted in garlic butter. Then, you shred the chicken and mix it with cream cheese and little bits of chives for that perfect taste. Then you should make the dough to hold the chicken pieces, take a piece of the chicken and put it in the dough to form it back to the bone. Then you dip it in flour, bread crumbs, and egg wash and they’re ready for frying. You’re going to have the best drumsticks ever when it’s done. Yummy!
Games You Could Play
While you’re waiting for your food to be done, you could prepare some fun activities for everyone to enjoy. How about a nice four-legged team race to work up that appetite? Or maybe you’d like to have a nice family football match instead; you can make your own rules to make it enjoyable. You could keep it simple and play an outdoor Jenga on the table too!
Choice of Music
Since it’s the holidays, you could have a nice playlist ready filled with all the classic Christmas music like the famous 1994 Mariah Carey “All I Want for Christmas Is You” song or the hit 1984 Wham! “Last Christmas” song. Another great idea is to compile a playlist that has all your favorite music when you were kids, it will surely make everyone feel like they’re a kid again.
You have so many great ideas for food to prepare in your cookout and having your family join in would be a great way to bond together. You can have all kinds of fun when you joke around and help each other prepare everything, making this holiday an unforgettable one. Cherish your time together, try out new kinds of food, and make new happy memories