30 High-Calorie Holiday Dishes You'll Need to Work Off

Nature of the Feast

It's no secret holiday meals are loaded with calories, not to mention sodium and excessive amounts of fat. The typical holiday dinner may have as much as 4,500 calories, so of course we all grow a few pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Want to try avoiding the weight gain? Using online calorie counters, we took a closer look at some of the highest-calorie dishes you'll likely come across in the festive months ahead.

Pecan Pie

A tried and true holiday favorite, there's no doubt pecan pie is a treat. But it typically comes with a whopping 502 calories per 4.3-ounce serving, and nearly half of those calories are from fat (46.7%). It would take a 35-year-old woman about 77 minutes of cycling or 140 minutes of walking to burn all those calories off.

Related: 22 Classic Pie Recipes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Sweet potatoes are good for you, packed with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. But when served in a classic casserole you may want to think twice before too much indulging. A single serving of this tempting holiday dish (which is about 1 cup) typically has about 628 calories, and 333 of those calories are often from fat alone. Yikes.

Cheese Balls

A popular holiday party staple that includes such ingredients as cream cheese, grated cheese, and spices, these little treats can have in excess of 500 calories. What's more, depending on the ingredients used, cheese balls are also likely to have nearly an entire daily allowance of fat. You may want to think twice before filling up.

Pigs in a Blanket

The calorie count for just one of these tasty treats is no cause for panic. But who can eat just one? Depending on the maker of this holiday staple, a serving (which is about four) can have 220 calories.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

What holiday meal would be complete without a mouthwatering variation on mashed potatoes? Like sweet potatoes, white potatoes are full of fiber and other important nutrients. But go easy when piling them onto a plate. A 1 cup serving of garlic mashed potatoes can have in the ballpark of 252 calories. A 140-pound person would have to walk 68 minutes to burn that off. The sodium is another matter entirely: around 67% of your daily intake.

Potato Pancakes

Potato pancakes are another festive taste of the season. The best approach with these fried offerings is to limit yourself to just a few, as just one can have as many as 99 calories. Burning off the calories from a single pancake would take 27 minutes of walking or 10 minutes of running.

Boxed Stuffing Mix

Nearly as critical to a successful Thanksgiving meal as the turkey in some households, not all stuffing is created equal. Boxed stuffing in particular can be a calorie bomb. There are about 195 calories in a mere half-cup, which is considered a standard serving size. But who has just a half-cup? The reality is you're looking at far more than 200 calories for this popular dish, (which also includes about 20% of your daily value of sodium). Want to burn off stuffing calories? Try walking for 53 minutes or running for 19 minutes.

Sugar-Glazed Carrots

Carrots are packed with nutritional value, including beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, and antioxidants. But all that goodness gets coated in sugar around the holidays. A single serving of a typical sugar-glazed carrot recipe (1 cup, or about 161 grams) comes with 156 calories. Don't you want to reserve your sugar intake for dessert?

Creamed Peas

People just love to coat vegetables in all sorts of sauces and toppings, particularly during the holidays. In the case of creamed peas, a recipe that usually includes butter, milk, sugar, and salt, a mere 1-cup serving can include as many 246 calories. Are you willing to walk 69 minutes to burn off those creamed pea calories? Because that's what it'll take.

Cranberry Sauce

A side dish that makes nearly everything on a Thanksgiving plate taste even better, cranberry sauce has a whopping 440 calories per serving (1 cup). This sweet treat also contains 37% of your total carbohydrates for the day, including about 88 grams of sugar depending on how the sauce is made. You'll need to walk about 119 minutes to shed your cranberry sauce calories.

Deep-Fried Turkey

Injuries and household fires aside (all too common when preparing this popular dish), a 3.5-ounce serving of deep-fried turkey breast contains about 194 calories. That'll take you about 29 minutes of cycling to burn, assuming you skip seconds and a late-night turkey sandwich.

Swedish Meatballs

Swedish meatballs are a holiday indulgence you'll definitely pay for. Just one serving (235 grams) of these festive appetizers includes a shocking 351 calories. These guilty little pleasures also come with 55% of your daily value of saturated fats, 40% of your daily limit of cholesterol, and 39% of the sodium. Be prepared to walk about 95 minutes if you decide to indulge.

Beef Wellington

While this dish may make a holiday spread look more luxuriously festive and delicious, it will push the calorie count for your meal into the stratosphere. A recipe that typically calls for butter, more butter, red wine, and puff pastry, a 5-ounce serving of beef Wellington may have as much as 453 calories. Three slices of this and you will be well over 1,000 calories. To exercise this dish away you'll need to walk 122 minutes or run for about 44 minutes.

Prime Rib

Another holiday favorite, prime rib will push that calorie count to the limit. A 3-ounce serving may have as many as 340 calories. That shouldn't be entirely shocking given that prime rib comes from the fattest section of the cow. This holiday dish also includes about 60% of one's daily value of saturated fats. It will take 92 minutes of walking or a 33-minute run to counteract all of that.

Spicy Chorizo Sage Cornbread Stuffing — bhofack2/istockphoto

Sausage Stuffing

Sometimes it can be hard to know where to draw the line during the holidays. Sausage stuffing may provide that answer. Just one cup of this dish is 419 calories. There's 174 calories from white bread alone, another 78 calories from butter, and about 90 calories from cooked Italian sausage. Also, 60% of your daily sodium can be found in this one dish alone. So there's that.

Pot Roast

Another meat lover's classic, pot roast comes with about 303 calories per serving (3 ounces). Have two or three helpings of this and you'll exceed 900 calories — for just the pot roast, before you're even into the side dishes. It will take about 46 minutes of cycling or 31 minutes of running to deal with that.

Green Bean Casserole

Hardly the worst offender on this list, green bean casserole still deserves mention, because just 1 cup of this ubiquitous dish includes 191 calories. Go back for seconds and you're close to 400 calories. Depending on the recipe used, it may also contain about 39% of your daily intake of sodium. Even the vegetables are against you.

Candied Yams

In case the sugar-glazed carrot discussion didn't make it clear, there's really no need to add so much sweetness to vegetables that are supposed to be good for you. But just try to convince a party host. Candied yams turn up everywhere, and at 293 calories per serving (which is about 171 grams), that includes about 105 calories from fat alone — not shocking, given that butter is a major ingredient. Sugar is another one, and you'll get about 105 calories from that too. Start walking: It will take 79 minutes to burn this dish off.

Yorkshire Pudding

A dish dating back to about the 1700s by some accounts, and developed to ensure that the fat drippings from roasted meat didn't go to waste, some Yorkshire Pudding recipes may have as many as 625 calories per serving. That's not a typo. Though depending on the ingredients, a single serving (65 grams) might also come in at as few as 130 calories.

Lobster Newburg

An over-the-top entrée designed to impress, Lobster Newburg tells you all you need to know in its basic ingredients — after lobster, they're flour, butter, and milk. There can be as many as 605 calories in a single serving of Lobster Newburg, as well as 49 grams of fat. You'll need to spend a full hour and a half cycling to counteract the calories in this dish.

Eggnog

The season would not be complete without generous servings of eggnog. Made with sugar, eggs, and cream, there's no hiding the calories involved here. At best, you're looking at about 224 calories for a single serving, which is about 254 grams. That includes 96 calories from fat. Also worth noting, you'll be getting about 50% of your daily cholesterol limit from these yummy drinks, and 33% of your saturated fats. You'll want to run about 22 minutes or walk for an hour to offset this festive drink. (Or avoid the problem in the first place with a low-fat version.)

Apple Pie A La Mode

One thousand calories — enough said? Depending on the recipe, this dessert delivers as many as 315 calories from fat and 33% of your daily sodium limit. Of course, it varies by recipe; some calorie-counting sites clock this dessert at around 660 calories, which is still a lot. To save some calories, just have the apple pie. It's only about 300 calories.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

The 124 calories from the powdered sugar alone in snickerdoodle cupcakes is startling. But there's also about 45 calories from butter, and in total this dessert comes in at 343 calories for a single cupcake. You'll need to walk 92 minutes to fight off the effects of a snickerdoodle snack.

Fruitcake

Fruitcake can have double the calories of a more obviously over-the-top dessert. A single slice of already controversial fruitcake may contain as much as 686 calories, including 32 grams of fat and 58 milligrams of cholesterol. The ingredients in this dish should be a dead giveaway, really: Between the red candied cherries, green candied cherries, and heaping cup of sugar.

Cheesecake

Holiday gatherings are often a smorgasbord of dessert options, and cheesecake invariably makes its way into the mix. But with about 401 calories for a single serving (a slice of about 125 grams), you'll want to think twice. Cheesecake includes 253 calories from fat, not shocking given that the primary ingredient is cream cheese. It will take about 108 minutes of walking to shed these calories.

Yule Log

There are desserts, and then there are yule logs, which have a staggering 567 calories per 139-gram slice. That includes 276 calories from fat (among it, 203 calories from butter). And did we mention the cholesterol, which will be about 51% of your daily limit? You will need to walk nearly two hours to earn this dessert. Yule logs sure are pretty, though.

Gingerbread

Who knew something so simple could be such a calorie trap? A mere slice of gingerbread, 69 grams, can have as much as 219 calories. You can thank the molasses for much of that, as about 65 calories come from this single ingredient. There's also 61 calories from shortening. Who wants to walk 59 minutes just to eat a piece of gingerbread? (Though if you run, you're done in 21 minutes).

Gooseberry Pie

Berries are full of antioxidants, so there's a benefit to this dessert. But with 454 calories per serving and 136 milligrams of sodium, you'll want to limit your indulgence with this particular holiday dish.

Christmas Pudding and Mincemeat Pies, England — esp_imaging/istockphoto

Christmas Pudding (Plum Pudding)

It's not the worst, but Christmas Pudding is also not exactly innocent. There's anywhere from 269 to 352 calories in just 100 grams. There's also about 37 grams of sugar. You'll need to spend about 72 minutes walking off this dessert.

Chocolate Martini

If ever there was a time for a chocolate martini, this is it. But be prepared to spend about 92 minutes walking off the 341 calories (about 71 from fat) that come with a decadent drink combining your favorite things. You might also consider biking for 47 minutes.

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