The holidays have washed ashore in New Brunswick, and I’m so looking forward to hosting friends and family at our home for Christmas parties and holiday feasts.
I grew up in a home where holiday hosting was simply part of our holiday traditions.
The door was always open, more chairs were squeezed around the table, and my mom could (and would!) pull together a feast worthy of a Hallmark movie with little more than a grocery list and pure magic. Beyond an incredible turkey dinner on Christmas Day each year, her seafood lasagna was always a staple when hosting in December.
When we bought our home, we knew immediately it was destined for the same purpose. A place where friends gather for beautiful brunches, dinner parties featuring BBQ and seafood, and of course, sparkling drinks and second servings of dessert.
And if you’ve been here a while, you know my not-so-secret strategy for taking any holiday menu to the next level: fresh, local New Brunswick seafood — and truly, local NB ingredients across the board.
This year, more than ever, I think two things ring true: we all want to elevate our festive feasts, and we’d rather not max out our holiday budget doing it. The best part? Shopping local is often the more affordable option.
Just take a stroll through any New Brunswick Farmers’ Market. From produce to seafood to cuts from the butcher, prices often rival, if not beat, the grocery store. The taste and quality? Absolutely unmatched.
Ready to see how a few New Brunswick staples can turn your holiday spread into something truly unforgettable?
No holiday gathering is complete without something festive to sip, and New Brunswick has no shortage of locally crafted options to elevate your cocktail hour.
If you’re looking for a signature drink moment (and who isn’t during the holidays?), try a Kir Royale featuring Vinerie DesFruits Winery’s Crème de cassis, available at ANBL. It’s simple, elegant, and guaranteed to impress.
While a traditional Kir Royale features Champagne, I opted for a sparkling wine from Magnetic Hill Winery, a New Brunswick gem! Their Osceola by the Sea, now available as a Sparkling, will be a regular on our holiday table this year and paired beautifully with the Vin de Cassis for the perfect Kir Royale.
Company is coming, and you want to keep it simple with a pour-and-enjoy option? I’ve got your tail.
Distillerie NB’s Vodka Cran adds the perfect maritime flair to your cocktail lineup — no shaker required. This mermaid was particularly excited to see that one of the ingredients is sea salt! I can assure you, we’ll have ready-to-pour beverage options like this chilled in our holiday cooler in the garage all December!
Is there anything more Maritime than a makeshift second fridge in the garage? I don’t think so!
And for guests who love cider or non-alcoholic options, Yip Cider’s ready-to-serve lineup and NA beverages are crowd-pleasers that fit seamlessly into any holiday setup. I’m also crushing on the newly released Bebe Apple Cider Vinegar NA beverages and will have those available for guests this Christmas.
If morning hosting is more your vibe (I love a holiday brunch) or you’re fueling up before a day of festivities, don’t sleep on Saltwinds Coffee paired with an ounce or two of Egg Nog. It’s basically Christmas in a mug, and your kitchen will smell like the coziest holiday movie set ever filmed.
Saltwinds offers a variety of holiday flavours to choose from this season, including a Egg Nog flavoured roast that is absolutely heavenly. Especially when paired with that aforementioned splash of Egg Nog!
From sparkling to cider to locally roasted coffee, these New Brunswick beverage picks prove you can celebrate in style, all while supporting local producers one delicious sip at a time.
Growing up, we would always go to my aunt and uncle’s house on Boxing Day for brunch. It was a tradition I looked forward to every year, and there was always a spread of delicious food and mimosas!
Whether you’re hosting brunch or opting for a slow, cozy Christmas morning at home, complete with pyjamas, Saltwinds Egg Nog coffee brewing, Christmas music floating through the house, and a delicious breakfast in the oven. This year, bring New Brunswick to the breakfast table with dishes and products that make hosting effortless and delicious.
Start with a decadent Overnight French Toast, crafted with farmers’ market eggs and a fresh local baguette, soaked to perfection and baked golden in the morning while you sip your first cup of coffee and watch the family open their gifts from Santa. When it comes out warm and fragrant, finish it with a generous drizzle of Wabanaki Maple —a proudly Indigenous-made New Brunswick product that feels extra special for Christmas morning.
If you’re entertaining a group or love a graze-and-gather style setup, create a Holiday Brunch Board that celebrates the best of New Brunswick. Think smoked salmon, devilled eggs featuring Grand Manan dulse, cheeses from Armadale, dried sausage from La Ferme du Diamant, Cranberry Bread from Copain, and Boursin from Armadale. Add a few festive local chocolates from Adorable Chocolate or LaRouère to the board, and you have the perfect balance of savoury and sweet.
Whether it’s Christmas morning, Boxing Day, or New Year’s Day brunch, these NB-inspired brunch staples turn an ordinary breakfast into an unforgettable holiday experience — one your guests will talk about well into the new year.
Kick off your holiday feast with appetizers that feel indulgent, tell a story, and celebrate the flavours of New Brunswick. These starters pair beautifully with sparkling wine, a flavourful red, chilled cider, or even a festive cocktail—and they prove that supporting local doesn’t mean sacrificing sophistication.
A Luxurious First Bite: Wagyu Crostini Featuring Bird’s Hill Wagyu
Thinly sliced, melt-in-your-mouth Bird’s Hill Wagyu atop crispy crostini, toasted with dulse butter, brings a touch of decadence to any gathering. Finish with a bit of horseradish crème, a sprinkle of sea salt, and fresh arugula sprouts for a bite-sized showstopper that disappears quickly. We recently served this for a dinner party, and it stole the show.
Oysters are ALWAYS a good idea!
It’s not a holiday party in our home without an oyster bar. And if I’m being honest, the best parties, the oyster bar is usually our kitchen island where I’m happy to shuck fresh New Brunswick oysters for guests. Often offering a scoop of Acadian Sturgeon Caviar to accompany it.
I like to offer several ways to enjoy your oysters, including with fresh made mignonette and horseradish, but this holiday season, I’m offering my guests a unique pairing: oysters and a drop of Courailleuse Absinthe from Distillerie Fils du Roy, an award-winning Distillery in Northern New Brunswick. The presence of various botanicals, including wormwood, anise, fennel, hyssop, lemon balm and peppermint make this a uniquely New Brunswick way to enjoy an oyster. You can find the Courailleuse at your local ANBL store by the checkout.
I will happily shuck and slurp any oyster from New Brunswick but some of my personal favourites are Little Shemogue, Blue Pearl, Chebooktook and Beausoleil! You can find fresh New Brunswick oysters at most Farmers’ Markets, seafood markets, and Sobeys and IGA locations.
Swap the Supermarket Spreads for Local Dips & Flavours
This season, ditch the generic grocery store dips and elevate your table with locally inspired spreads and chip dips. Armadale Dairy not only make two delicious chip dip flavours to choose from, but they’re also the makers of a New Brunswick Boursin. Their artisan cheeses are the perfect addition to any snack spread or charcuterie board.
But don’t just stop at traditional chip dips. You can easily level up your spread by making your very own New Brunswick Bar Clam Dip or a refreshing chilled Lobster Dip featuring fresh Bay of Fundy lobster. Want something quick and easy? Build your own creamy dip with sour cream, mayonnaise, or Greek yogurt, and season with Fundy Farms spices and herbs. Serve alongside Covered Bridge Chips for a true homegrown pairing that sparks conversation (and multiple reaches for seconds, thirds, and fourths.)
When it comes to the main course, the heart of a holiday feast should feel abundant, comforting, and rooted in the flavours we know and love here in the province. The good news? New Brunswick offers some of the freshest, most accessible ingredients in the country—and the holidays are the perfect time to showcase them.
Fresh & Local Vegetables—Yes, Even in December
Don’t let winter fool you—New Brunswick Farmers’ Markets are still brimming with beautiful vegetables grown and harvested close to home. Think hearty squash, earthy root vegetables, leafy greens, and the most delicious potatoes ready for roasting, mashing, and stuffing.
Don’t forget your New Brunswick Summer Savoury for that stuffing recipe!
Some of my favourite New Brunswick farmers to support all year-round are Nature’s Route Farm, Fundy Farms Local Harvest, and Les Farms Gam Michaud. You can find their products at Farmers’ Markets like the Dieppe Farmers’ Market, as well as farm stands and shops around the province. If you’re in the Greater Moncton Area, you can find Nature’s Route’s delicious potatoes and carrots at Stirling’s on Shediac Road.
From the Bay to Your Table: New Brunswick Seafood
We are spoiled here. Truly. Having access to some of the world’s freshest seafood—even in the heart of winter—is a privilege worth celebrating on your holiday menu. There are endless ways to elevate your feast with coastal flavours.
From rich and creamy seafood casseroles (here is my personal recipe) and crab sourced from trusted names like McGraw Seafood, to classic or dressed-up lobster rolls, seared or baked Bay of Fundy scallops, and fresh local fish—from haddock to halibut to redfish and more— New Brunswick seafood offers endless inspiration for your holiday table.
You can also embrace tradition with homemade seafood pies and chowders, including a heat-and-serve Seafood Chowder option from New Brunswick’s Cuisines Roi. One of my favourite dishes around the holiday is a Bar Clam pie: a once-a-year treat that always leaves me wanting more.
Whether served as a hearty main or an unexpected side, seafood brings warmth, richness, and Maritime personality to any table.
New Brunswick Meat — Fresh, Local, And Exceptionally Delicious
Your local butcher or Farmers’ Market isn’t just a feel-good choice—it’s often comparable in price to the grocery store, with freshness you can taste in every bite. From turkey or chicken paired with homemade stuffing seasoned with local summer savoury, to traditional meat pies that bring nostalgic warmth to the table—my mother-in-law makes incredible meat pies—New Brunswick meats offer comfort, flavour, and variety.
Our go-to for our holiday turkey or ham is always Boudreau Meat Market—find them at the Dieppe Market on Friday and Saturday or visit their shop in Memramcook open Monday to Saturday. They also deliver in the Greater Moncton Area.
Want to splurge over the holidays? Add elegance with a cut of steak from Bird’s Hill Wagyu, Atlantic Canada’s only provider of commercial full-blood Wagyu beef and one of our go-to dishes. When they say it’s “LCB—Life Changing Beef” they mean it. Their products are available for online ordering and ship within New Brunswick. We purchase our Bird’s Hill Wagyu at the Dieppe Farmers’ Market on Saturday mornings.
Local meats hold their flavour, cook beautifully, and deliver that “wow” factor every holiday host hopes for. Don’t skip out on local options whenever possible! Because when the main attraction is grown here, caught here, and sourced here, your holiday feast becomes more than a meal—it becomes a celebration of community, craft, and home.
If there is one thing that can be counted upon in our home, it’s that from December 15th onward, I’ll be baking up a storm! I have all my traditional holiday cookies and treats that I bake every year, including melt-in-your-mouth shortbread cookies, “Christmas Crack,” Nanaimo Bars (my dad’s favourite), and, of course, peanut butter balls! The beauty of baking all sorts of treats ahead of the holidays is that you’ve got a go-to stash to pull from whenever company unexpectedly pops in for a visit!
I wouldn’t dream of trying to convince you to change your holiday baking traditions because if you’re like me, they’re exactly that—traditions. I look forward to baking Christmas cookies with my mom every year, and it’s one of my favourite days in December. But in addition to those classic treats you’ll no doubt have on hand this Christmas, here are a few other ways to incorporate a taste of New Brunswick into your dessert menu this year.
Because I have excellent news for you—supporting local producers can be deliciously simple.
A New Brunswick Chocolate Platter
Who said dessert has to be complicated? Sometimes the most memorable sweets are the simplest ones—an elegant dish or festive bowl filled with locally crafted chocolates, truffles, and old-fashioned candies that disappear faster than you can refill them. And I know at least a few of you are already dreaming about Ganong Chicken Bones making their annual appearance this holiday season.
If you grew up in the 80s or 90s, you know the feeling. There were always decorative tins of chocolates parked on the coffee table, and a big wooden bowl of nuts waiting to be cracked with those heavy metal nutcrackers that only made an appearance in December. Just thinking about it takes me right back to Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncle’s house for Réveillons—the men hovering around the nut bowl, the kids negotiating elaborate plans to sneak one more chocolate before dinner, the grown-ups pretending not to notice. It was simple, it was sweet, and it tasted like Christmas.
New Brunswick is home to an incredible array of award-winning chocolatiers, from Adorable Chocolat to LaRouèrre and McGuire Chocolate Company and of course, Ganong. With many of these products available at Farmers’ Markets, grocery stores, and small businesses across the province, it’s easier than ever to serve New Brunswick-made chocolates this Christmas. You can even add them to your charcuterie board!
A Refreshing New Brunswick Blueberry Crisp
Look, I love the holiday treats and Christmas cookies as much as anyone, but towards Boxing Day, even I start to feel a little bit peckish for something light and refreshing for dessert. Enter a classic New Brunswick Blueberry Crisp.
This dish is surprisingly easy to pull together and requires only a handful of ingredients that most would have in their pantry on any given day. To keep it as local as possible, I use Speerville Flour Mill’s Rolled Oats—made right here in New Brunswick. The star of the dish? New Brunswick blueberries. This time of year and for this recipe, we use frozen blueberries. And of course, you can’t have a warm crisp without ice cream. We serve our New Brunswick Blueberry Crisp with a generous scoop of Sussex Ice Cream for a light and refreshing dessert that guests will remember long after the plates are cleared.
Quick, Easy & Elevated: Sussex Ice Cream—Your Way
For a simple, last-minute dessert that still feels special, top any flavour of Sussex Ice Cream with candied nuts. a splash of your favourite liqueur, or a drizzle of New Brunswick maple syrup. It’s elegant, effortless, and guaranteed to satisfy every sweet tooth around your holiday table. Serve it in a Champagne Coupe to give it an extra je ne sais quoi!
Whether you’re planning a full holiday feast or looking to elevate a single dish, finding local products is easier than ever. Wander the aisles of the Dieppe Farmers’ Market or the Moncton Farmers’ Market to meet farmers, makers, and fish mongers firsthand, and discover ingredients you won’t find anywhere else. On any given weekend, we buy nearly all of our meat and vegetable products from the Dieppe Farmers’ Market.
And for convenient one-stop holiday shopping, remember that many local products line the shelves of Sobeys and IGA locations across the province—making it simple to support New Brunswick producers while checking off everything on your festive menu.
When shopping in stores like Sobeys or IGA, keep an eye out for the Savour NB logo and branded shelf tags, which make it easy to identify locally produced products at a glance. If you spot the Savour NB branding, you can feel confident that the item in your cart supports New Brunswick growers, makers, and producers. To learn more about Savour NB and discover new locally made products to fall in love with this holiday season, visit them online at savournb.com.
When you fill your holiday table with local flavours, you’re not just serving a meal—you’re celebrating the people and places that make this province home.
And I’m very proud to call New Brunswick home for the holidays.
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