12 Baked Foods That Will Make Your Home Smell Like Christmas

The Christmas season is a feast of sights, sounds, tastes, and smells. From the harmonies of carols to the twinkling of colored lights, this holiday is a delight for all the senses. While decorations and Christmas music are easy to keep constant in the home, the smell of Christmas can be more challenging to maintain. If you want to add more holiday smells to your home, you should give some thought to what you bake in the oven this time of year.

To help make your home smell like Christmas, you can bake some classic holiday delights including gingerbread, holiday cookies, apple pie, or rosemary ham. Some delicious and holiday-specific baked meals you can prepare for great aromas include eggnog bread pudding, sugar and spiced sweet potatoes, pumpkin spice loaf, and butternut squash lasagna. Roasted nuts, cinnamon rolls, and French toast casserole are also great and tasty options.

The holiday season is a fantastic time to do some baking. Turning on the oven is part of many holiday rituals, from gingerbread house building to cookie decorating. If you are looking for fun ways to incorporate foods that smell like Christmas into your holiday meal planning, then make sure you keep reading. Below is a list of tasty baked holiday meals that smell like Christmas.

12 Baked Foods That Make Your Home Smell Like Christmas

1. Sugar And Spiced Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are always a delicious and nutritious side dish. These sweet morsels become even more popular around Thanksgiving and are a staple on many holiday dinner tables. One way to cook sweet potatoes to ensure your home will smell like Christmas is to cook them with a bit of sugar and spices.

Use allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, or a combination of these spices, and mix it with granulated sugar. Add this mixture to the potatoes once they are fully cooked, and keep them in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the sugar caramelizes. These potatoes will taste great and have your house smell amazing.

2. Gingerbread 

It simply isn’t Christmas without a little gingerbread. There are so many different types of gingerbread to bake. From crispy cookies to a soft gingerbread loaf, the choice is yours. If you aren’t a huge fan of the spice found in gingerbread cookies, opt for a loaf.

This sweet bread is great with coffee, and has a more subtle ginger flavor than cookies, but will still make your home smell like a gingerbread house factory.

3. Apple Pie, Crumble, Or Strudel

Apple pie is another signature sweet dish that starts becoming popular after Halloween and stays popular into the new year. Baked apples are usually cooked with a combination of holiday spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. 

This combination of flavors helps make your home smell like Christmas. If you aren’t a huge fan of crusty pies, you can opt for an apple crumble or a strudel, and the house will smell just as festive.

4. Rosemary Ham

If you want to cook a piece of meat that will make your home smell like the holidays, look no further than a rosemary-crusted ham. Ham is a popular holiday meat, as it tastes delicious, isn’t too hard to prepare, and can feed a large group. 

There are many ways to prepare a ham, but adding rosemary is the best way to ensure your home smells like Christmas. The combination of the roasting meat with the rosemary, an herb that has a lovely pine smell, is sure to remind everyone that Christmas is coming soon.

5. Holiday Cookies

One baked good that is winter-holiday specific is cookies. There are all sorts of holiday cookies, and each family seems to have their favorites. Regardless of what type of cookies you bake, the combination of butter, flour, and sugar is sure to make your house smell amazing.

While not all cookies have the cinnamon and gingerbread scents that are emblematic of Christmas, fresh-baked cookies are sure to bring back nostalgic holiday memories.

6. Pumpkin Spice Loaf

Pumpkin might be more associated with Thanksgiving and the winter holidays, but this type of squash is still very popular come December. Pumpkin spice loaf is a great bread to have with your breakfast coffee or as an afternoon snack.

It also makes your house smell amazing. It will smell like Christmas and pumpkin pie all in one.

7. French Toast Casserole

If you plan on hosting a brunch during the holiday season, consider adding a cinnamon French toast casserole to the menu. French toast casserole is a mix between classic French toast and bread pudding.

A full pan of this tasty baked meal can serve more than 10 people and makes a great sweet brunch dish. Adding cinnamon and other spices to this casserole will make your entire home smell like the holidays.

8. Roasted Nuts

Roasted nuts are such a signature Christmas smell that there’s even a song about chestnuts roasting on an open fire. While chestnuts are not as popular as they once were, there are tons of other nuts you can roast.

From pecans to cashews, and everything in between, roasted nuts (especially spiced roasted nuts) will make your home smell incredible. They are a great high-protein treat to put out when the company comes over during this time of year.

9. Butternut Squash Lasagna

If you want your home to smell like Christmas but want to have a meal that isn’t necessarily associated with the holiday, consider something unique like butternut squash lasagna. This is a winter twist on the Italian classic pasta casserole dish.

Instead of filling your lasagna with red sauce and meat, you add a butternut squash mixture and a white cheese sauce. This dish is a holiday crowd-pleaser and will have your home smelling amazing.

10. Eggnog Bread Pudding

Eggnog is the quintessential holiday beverage, and when added to a baked dish, you can smell this spiced beverage throughout the home. One of the tastiest (and easiest) baked dishes you can make with eggnog to ensure the entire house smells festive is eggnog bread pudding.

You can use a crusty sweetbread for this bread pudding, and use your favorite recipe. Just make sure you substitute eggnog for some of the cream and add plenty of holiday spices.

11. Herb-Crusted Roasted Beef

Ham isn’t the only meat that’s popular during the holidays. Roast beef, prime rib, and standing rib roasts are all holiday staples. While roasted beef smells great when it’s cooking, there are ways to make it smell more like the holidays. 

Adding an herb crusting that includes rosemary, oregano, and other spices from your herb garden will not only make the meat taste flavorful but will also make your home smell incredible.

12. Stuffed Turkey, Chicken, Or Goose

Lastly, it just isn’t the holidays without a cooked bird. Turkey is most popular on Thanksgiving, but poultry is also served throughout the winter holidays. Whether you like roasted chicken, turkey, goose, or even duck, cooking a juicy bird in the oven is sure to make it smell like Christmas in your kitchen.

Adding a herby stuffing will enhance the aroma, and make your bird of choice taste juicer.

Wrapping Up Food You Can Bake That Smells Like Christmas

The winter holidays are perhaps the best time of year for baking. The cold weather outside is the perfect excuse to warm up the home with tasty baked goods. If you want to make your home smell like Christmas when you bake this winter, make sure you cook some holiday staples like gingerbread, Christmas cookies, or rosemary ham.

You can also think outside the box and make items like butternut squash lasagna, French toast casserole, or eggnog bread pudding, which will all wow your guests while making your entire home smell amazing and festive.

Related Guides:

• How To Bring Pine Smell Into The Home For An Artificial Christmas Tree
• 10 Ways To Make Cooking A Holiday Feast Easier In A Tiny Kitchen