Cuban Christmas Food: What We Eat on Noche Buena
My grandmother made lecon and flan for every birthday and every Christmas Eve. Those two dishes are the first things I think of when someone says Noche Buena.
For Cuban families, December 24 is the big night. Christmas Day is for presents and leftovers. Noche Buena is the feast.
Below is the whole Noche Buena table, course by course. I’ve linked the recipes I already have on the blog, and at the end there’s a make-ahead plan that spreads the cooking over a few days.
What Is Noche Buena?
Noche Buena means “the good night,” and it’s what Cubans call Christmas Eve. For most Cuban families it’s the main celebration of the season, bigger than Christmas Day itself.
The center of it all is a pork roast that cooks for hours while everyone gathers, snacks and talks over each other. Dinner runs late. Some families head to midnight mass, la Misa del Gallo, after they eat.
We always do a roast pork, rice and beans, yucca, some kind of salad, and flan. Then we play dominoes, listen to music, and enjoy drinks until midnight, when we start opening gifts.
The Cuban Christmas Eve Menu
Picaderas: Croquetas and Empanadas
Something has to hold everyone over while the pork finishes. In our family that was always croquetas. We had them at every party and gathering growing up.
My Croquetas de Jamón take a few hours because they need to chill before frying, so make them the day before and fry them as people arrive.
Cuban empanadas filled with picadillo are the other easy crowd snack. Make the filling ahead and the rest goes quickly.
Lechón Asado (Roast Pork)
This is the star of the night. Lechón asado is pork marinated in mojo criollo, a garlicky sour orange marinade with oregano and cumin, then roasted low and slow until the skin crackles.
Some families roast a whole pig in a caja china, a wooden roasting box you’ll see in a lot of Miami backyards at Christmas. At home, most of us use a bone-in pork shoulder (pernil) in the oven. Marinate it overnight and plan on it taking most of the afternoon.
When I was a kid, my dad used to do the “caja china” and cook a whole pig in our backyard. My grandma usually does a bone-in pork shoulder in the oven and it’s just as good.
Black Beans and Rice (or Congrí)
Every Noche Buena plate has rice and beans. Some families serve white rice with a pot of black beans on the side. Others make moros y cristianos, which is rice cooked together with black beans.
Congrí is the same idea, traditionally made with red beans in eastern Cuba, though a lot of families use the two names for either one.
My Cuban black beans are the version we pieced together from all the abuelas in the family. If yours is a red bean family, my frijoles colorados work just as well. Both are better made a day ahead.
Yuca con Mojo
Boiled yuca, soft and a little starchy, with warm mojo poured over it while it’s still hot: olive oil, lots of garlic and sour orange or lime juice. It’s simple, and it goes fast.
Plátanos Maduros
Sweet fried ripe plantains. Wait until the skins are mostly black, slice them on an angle and fry until the edges caramelize. Some families make tostones instead, green plantains smashed and fried twice. Some make both.
A Simple Salad
Lettuce, tomato and sliced radish with oil, vinegar and salt. Nobody comes for the salad, but it cuts through all that pork.
Pan Cubano
Warm Cuban bread with butter. Buy it from a Cuban bakery if you have one nearby, and buy extra. You’ll want it for sandwiches tomorrow.
Dessert: Flan, Turrón and Buñuelos
There was always flan. My Cuban flan recipe takes six ingredients and can be made in the oven, an Instant Pot or a stovetop pressure cooker. It keeps in the fridge for a couple of days, so it’s one less thing to do on the 24th.
Turrón is the Spanish nougat that shows up on Cuban tables every Christmas. There’s the soft kind (Jijona) and the hard almond kind (Alicante), and most families buy it rather than make it.
Buñuelos are fritters made from yuca and malanga, twisted into a figure eight and soaked in anise syrup.
If you want one dessert that works for both sides of the family, my pumpkin tres leches cake is the one I like to bring to Noche Buena. For more ideas, here are all my Cuban dessert recipes.
Drinks
Spanish sidra (sparkling cider) is for the toast, and red wine goes with dinner. Once the plates are cleared, someone always starts the cafecito.
If you want a pitcher drink for a big group, my sangria is easy to scale up.
A Make-Ahead Noche Buena Plan
December 22
- Make the flan and the tres leches cake.
- Make the croquetas through the chilling step.
December 23
- Make the mojo and marinate the pork overnight.
- Cook the black beans.
- Make the picadillo for the empanadas.
- Pick up Cuban bread and turrón.
December 24, morning to afternoon
- Get the pork in the oven. Bigger cuts need most of the afternoon.
- Assemble the empanadas and keep them chilled until baking.
December 24, last hour
- Cook the rice and boil the yuca.
- Fry the croquetas and plátanos as people arrive.
- Warm the mojo for the yuca and reheat the beans.
- Toss the salad right before serving.
Christmas Day: The Leftovers
Leftover lechón might be the best part of December 25. Pile it on Cuban bread with thin-sliced onion and a spoonful of mojo for pan con lechón, or use it in a Cuban sandwich.
Got leftover croquetas too? Line them up inside the sandwich and press it. That’s a croqueta preparada, and it’s worth making extra croquetas just for this.
