The Sunday That Starts Christmas: Making Your Own Pudding for Stir-Up Sunday 2026
Photo: Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Stir-Up Sunday falls on 22 November in 2026. It is the last Sunday before Advent, and for home cooks it is the traditional day to make Christmas pudding. In London, where Christmas starts in shop windows somewhere around October, waiting until late November can feel almost radical. But there is a reason this ritual has lasted. A homemade pudding tastes like something. It has weight, spice and a little bit of your kitchen in it. It also gives you a proper project before the December rush.
The name comes from the collect read in church on that Sunday: Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord. Families would stir the pudding and make a wish. That is the whole tradition. No reels required.
Why bother making your own?
Supermarket puddings are fine. Some are very good. But making one is not difficult; it just takes time. You get to choose the fruit, the booze and the sweetness. You can make it vegetarian. You can make it with your family, or on your own with the radio on. And you get the quiet satisfaction of knowing that the dark, steaming thing on the Christmas table started life in your own kitchen.
A homemade pudding also matures. Make it on 22 November and it has a month to sit, feed and become denser and more flavoursome. Make it on 20 December and it will still be nice, just less settled.
A foolproof traditional pudding
This makes two 1-litre puddings, or one large 2-litre pudding. You need a large mixing bowl and two pudding basins, or one big heatproof bowl that fits inside a large pan.
Put 350g raisins, 350g sultanas, 150g currants and 100g mixed peel in a bowl with 150ml stout or dark ale and 2 tbsp brandy if you like. Leave overnight. The next day, add 100g chopped almonds, 1 grated apple, 200g shredded vegetarian suet, 150g fresh breadcrumbs, 150g dark brown sugar, 2 beaten eggs, 1 tbsp black treacle, 1 tsp mixed spice, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, half a tsp grated nutmeg, and the zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon. Mix thoroughly. Everyone in the house should have a stir and make a wish.
Butter the basins generously. Fill them about two-thirds full. Cover each with a circle of baking parchment and a pleated layer of foil, tied tightly with string. Put the basins in a large pan and pour in boiling water to come halfway up the sides. Cover with a lid and steam for 6 hours, topping up with boiling water as needed. Cool completely, wrap in fresh foil and store somewhere cool and dark.
On Christmas Day, steam again for 2 hours. If you want to feed the pudding, prick it with a skewer and spoon over a little brandy or ale once a week. Do not drown it.
Where to shop in London
Borough Market is excellent for dried fruit, nuts and spices, and the traders are usually happy to talk you through the difference between two bags of raisins. For suet, a proper butcher is your best bet, though many supermarkets sell vegetarian suet that works perfectly well. Health food shops and larger delis are good for mixed peel and decent treacle. Pudding basins turn up in hardware shops, charity shops and kitchen shops; there is no need to buy an expensive one. A heatproof bowl and a clean tea towel will do.
The stirring, without the circus
This is meant to be a family ritual, not a content opportunity. Put the phones away. Give everyone a turn with a wooden spoon, clockwise, and let them make a silent wish. Small children can stir with help; grandparents can stir sitting down. If someone is not in the room, do not worry about saving them a turn. The pudding is not a spreadsheet.
The point is not perfection. It is the smell of spice, the sound of the spoon against the bowl and the fact that everyone has touched the same mixture. That is what makes it taste like Christmas.
A simple timeline
Make the pudding on Sunday 22 November. Steam it for 6 hours, cool it, wrap it and store it. Feed it once a week if you remember. Re-steam on Christmas morning for 2 hours, then serve with brandy butter, cream or custard. If you miss Stir-Up Sunday, make it in the first week of December. The tradition is a guide, not a rule.
A homemade Christmas pudding is not a status symbol. It is a slow, old-fashioned bit of kitchen work that makes the house smell extraordinary and gives the Christmas table something money cannot quite buy. This year, Stir-Up Sunday is 22 November. Put it in the diary.
