Christmas Pudding: History & Recipes

Let’s be honest: Christmas pudding is divisive. Some people absolutely love it—the rich, boozy, spiced fruit cake that’s been a British tradition for centuries. Others think it’s a dense, overly sweet relic that should’ve stayed in Victorian times.

But love it or hate it, Christmas pudding is part of the British Christmas. And if you’ve never had a properly good one (not the dry supermarket version your gran served in 1987), you might be missing out.

This is your complete guide to Christmas pudding—where it came from, why we set it on fire, and whether you should make your own or just buy one.

What Actually Is Christmas Pudding?

Christmas pudding is a steamed dessert made from:

• Dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants)
• Suet (traditionally beef fat, now often vegetable)
• Breadcrumbs or flour
• Eggs
• Sugar and treacle
• Spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger)
• Alcohol (brandy, rum, or sherry)

It’s dark, dense, moist, and incredibly rich. A small slice goes a long way.

What it’s NOT:

• Light and fluffy (it’s properly heavy)
• Quick to make (takes hours of steaming)
• Cheap (all those dried fruits add up)
• Everyone’s cup of tea (very acquired taste)

The History: From Porridge to Pudding

Medieval Origins: Frumenty

Christmas pudding started life as “frumenty”—a porridge made from wheat, milk, and spices. Nothing like a modern Christmas pudding.

Rich people added dried fruits and honey. It was eaten at the beginning of meals, not as dessert.

Tudor Times: Plum Pottage

By the 1500s, it had evolved into “plum pottage”—a meat-based stew thickened with breadcrumbs, dried fruits (called “plums” even when they weren’t actual plums), and spices.

Still savoury, still not dessert, still weird by modern standards.

17th Century: Getting Sweeter

The meat slowly disappeared, replaced by more sugar and fruit. Suet (beef fat) was added for richness. It became more of a dessert.

Then Cromwell banned it.

The Puritans under Oliver Cromwell (1650s) banned Christmas pudding as too indulgent and pagan. Killjoys.

When the monarchy was restored in 1660, so was Christmas pudding. Take that, Cromwell.

Victorian Era: Modern Christmas Pudding Born

The Victorians gave us Christmas pudding as we know it:

• Dark and rich
• Loaded with dried fruit
• Soaked in alcohol
• Steamed for hours
• Made weeks (or months) ahead
• Set on fire at the table

Why Victorians loved it:

• Showed off wealth (expensive ingredients)
• Could be made ahead (practical)
• Impressive presentation (fire!)
• Fed large families (one pudding serves many)

Stir-Up Sunday

The last Sunday before Advent (usually late November) became “Stir-up Sunday”—the traditional day to make Christmas pudding.

The tradition:

• Everyone in the family stirs the mixture
• Make a wish while stirring
• Stir from east to west (following the three wise men)
• Hide silver coins or charms inside (for luck)

Some families still do this. Most of us buy ours from Tesco.

Why Do We Set It On Fire?

The tradition: Pour brandy over the pudding, light it, bring it flaming to the table in a darkened room.

Why?

• Victorians thought it was dramatic and fun (they were right)
• The flames supposedly represent Jesus’s passion
• It looks absolutely brilliant
• Kids love it (from a safe distance)

How to do it safely:

1. Warm brandy slightly (cold brandy won’t light)
2. Pour over pudding
3. Light with a long match
4. Step back
5. Turn off lights for effect
6. Let flames die down naturally
7. Serve

Warning: More brandy = bigger flames. Don’t go overboard unless you fancy explaining to the fire brigade.

Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe

This is a proper, traditional recipe. It makes a large pudding serving 8-10.

Ingredients:

• 225g raisins
• 225g sultanas
• 225g currants
• 100g mixed candied peel
• 100g glacé cherries
• 1 cooking apple, grated
• Zest and juice of 1 orange and 1 lemon
• 175ml brandy (plus extra for feeding and flaming)
• 100g plain flour
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• 175g dark muscovado sugar
• 175g fresh breadcrumbs
• 175g vegetable or beef suet
• 3 large eggs
• 50g blanched almonds, chopped

Method:

Day before (or weeks before):

1. Mix all dried fruit, peel, cherries, apple, zests, juices, and brandy in a large bowl
2. Cover and leave overnight (or up to a week) to soak

Making the pudding:

1. Grease a 1.4-litre pudding basin
2. Mix flour, spices, sugar, breadcrumbs, suet, and almonds
3. Add eggs and soaked fruit (with any liquid)
4. Mix thoroughly—everyone should stir and make a wish!
5. Spoon into pudding basin
6. Cover with greaseproof paper, then foil, tied with string
7. Steam for 6 hours (yes, really)—keep water topped up
8. Cool, then wrap in clean foil
9. Store in a cool, dark place

On Christmas Day:

1. Steam for 2 hours to reheat
2. Turn out onto plate
3. Pour over warmed brandy
4. Light it!
5. Serve with brandy butter, custard, or cream

Make ahead: Best made 4-8 weeks before Christmas. The flavours mature. Feed weekly with a tablespoon of brandy.

Is It Worth Making Your Own?

Pros of homemade:

• Smells amazing
• You control ingredients and quality
• Proper tradition
• Can make it boozy-er
• Family activity (everyone stirs)
• Sense of achievement

Cons of homemade:

• Takes bloody ages (6 hours steaming!)
• Expensive ingredients
• Needs making weeks ahead
• Takes up storage space
• Requires equipment (pudding basin, steamer)
• Easy to mess up

Honest answer: If you love cooking and Christmas traditions, yes. If you’re already stressed about Christmas dinner, buy one.

Best Shop-Bought Christmas Puddings 2025

Budget (£3-5):

• Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s own brands
• Fine for most people
• Can be dry—serve with loads of cream
• Better warmed and with brandy poured over

Mid-Range (£8-12):

• M&S, Waitrose, Morrisons The Best
• More fruit, better quality
• Actually moist
• Worth the small upgrade

Premium (£15-30):

• Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Heston for Waitrose
• Luxury ingredients (aged brandy, extra fruit)
• Beautiful presentation
• Special occasion worthy

Best overall: M&S Premium Pudding—good quality, reasonable price, widely available.

Best value: Aldi Specially Selected—surprisingly good for under £5.

Alternatives to Traditional Christmas Pudding

Not everyone likes the traditional version. Options:

Christmas Cake: Similar ingredients but baked, not steamed. Covered in marzipan and icing. Less dense, easier to store.

Trifle: Layers of sponge, custard, jelly, cream, and fruit. Lighter, more popular with kids, easier to make.

Sticky Toffee Pudding: Modern favourite. Warm, gooey, dates and toffee sauce. Not traditional but delicious.

Chocolate Log (Yule Log): Sponge rolled with chocolate cream, decorated like a log. French originally but adopted by Britain.

Individual Puddings: Mini Christmas puddings for each person. Easier to serve, everyone gets their own.

Ice Cream Christmas Pudding: Dairy-free or regular—festive flavours in frozen form. Controversial but increasingly popular.

Serving Christmas Pudding

Essential accompaniments:

Brandy Butter (Hard Sauce): Butter, icing sugar, and brandy beaten together. Melts into the hot pudding beautifully.

Custard: Traditional Bird’s custard or posh homemade vanilla custard. Can’t go wrong.

Cream: Double cream, clotted cream, or whipped cream. Rich and delicious.

Ice Cream: Vanilla ice cream with hot pudding. The contrast is lovely.

Combination approach: Many people have all of the above. It’s Christmas—have everything.

How Much Christmas Pudding Per Person?

Traditional serving: About 100-150g per person (a small-ish slice)

Reality: Most people have less. It’s very rich and comes after a massive dinner.

Size guide:

• 400g pudding: Serves 4
• 900g pudding: Serves 6-8
• 1.4kg pudding: Serves 10-12

Leftovers: Keep wrapped in foil, eat within a week. Or freeze for next year (they keep indefinitely in the freezer).

Vegetarian and Vegan Christmas Pudding

Traditional pudding contains: Suet (beef fat), eggs, sometimes butter

Vegetarian: Use vegetable suet instead of beef. Most supermarkets stock vegetarian versions now.

Vegan:

• Vegetable suet
• Replace eggs with flax eggs or aquafaba
• Use plant milk
• Check dried fruit isn’t coated in beeswax

Where to buy:

• Tesco Free From range
• M&S Plant Kitchen
• Waitrose Vegan pudding
• Most supermarkets have at least one option now

Christmas Pudding Disasters (And Fixes)

It’s Dry

Fix:

• Poke holes in it, pour over brandy/rum, leave to soak for a day
• Serve with extra sauce/cream/custard
• Next time: steam longer or add more liquid to mixture

It’s Burnt on Top

Fix: Scrape off burnt bits, pretend it’s “caramelised,” serve burnt-side-down.

It Won’t Light

Reasons:

• Brandy too cold (warm it slightly first)
• Not enough brandy (be generous)
• Pudding too wet (dry surface with kitchen paper first)

It Falls Apart When You Turn It Out

Fix:

• Serve it in a bowl as “deconstructed Christmas pudding” (blame trendy chefs)
• Mix with cream and serve as Christmas pudding fool
• Nobody really cares once it’s covered in custard

Leftover Christmas Pudding Ideas

Got leftover pudding? Options:

Christmas Pudding Ice Cream: Crumble pudding into softened vanilla ice cream, refreeze. Genuinely good.

Christmas Pudding Truffles: Mix crumbled pudding with melted chocolate, roll into balls, coat in cocoa. Boozy chocolates sorted.

Fried Christmas Pudding: Slice and fry in butter. Serve with ice cream. Sounds weird, tastes amazing.

Christmas Pudding Sundae: Layer crumbled pudding with ice cream, cream, and sauce. Decadent.

Give It Away: Offer it to pudding-loving relatives. Someone will take it.

The Bottom Line

Christmas pudding is one of those things that’s very British, very traditional, and very divisive. If you love it, brilliant—make or buy a good one and enjoy every boozy bite.

If you don’t love it, that’s fine too. Loads of people don’t. There are plenty of alternatives that still feel festive.

The important bit isn’t the pudding itself—it’s the ritual. The flaming presentation, everyone gathered round, the ooh-ing and ahh-ing, the choosing between brandy butter and custard (or having both, obviously).

That’s what makes it special. Even if half the pudding ends up in the fridge still wrapped in cling film two weeks later.

That’s tradition.

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Related Guides:

• Back to Complete Christmas Food Guide
• Mince Pies: Everything You Need to Know
• Traditional British Christmas Dinner Guide

Team Christmas Pudding or Team Something Else? What’s your essential Christmas dessert? Share in the comments!