Giada De Laurentiis Produces Hallmark’s The Christmas Eve Feast
Giada De Laurentiis is bringing her love of Italian food to Hallmark’s 2026 holiday lineup, but she’ll be working behind the camera rather than playing a chef on screen. The celebrity cook is executive producing The Christmas Eve Feast, a new movie about a New York chef who returns home to help save her family’s Christmas Eve dinner. With a familiar Hallmark leading man, a food-filled family tradition and a Thanksgiving-weekend premiere, it has all the ingredients to become a holiday favorite.
Hallmark announced its 2026 Countdown to Christmas lineup on September 17, revealing new movies scheduled from mid-October through mid-December. Among them is The Christmas Eve Feast, which premieres Friday, November 27, 2026, at 6 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark.
De Laurentiis is an executive producer on the film, a behind-the-scenes role that feels especially fitting for a story about cooking, family and an Italian Christmas Eve meal. For viewers who know her from the food world, it’s an intriguing way to see her name attached to a holiday movie without assuming she’ll appear in it.
She has worked with Hallmark before
This is De Laurentiis’s second movie collaboration with the network. She also executive produced Always Amore, the 2022 Hallmark TV movie starring Autumn Reeser and Tyler Hynes. That earlier project makes her return less of a surprise, though it’s still a fun development for fans following her busy year.
De Laurentiis has continued making social media content and appeared on season 35 of Dancing With the Stars, where she was eliminated earlier in September. Now, rather than taking another turn in the ballroom, she has a holiday film on the way. This time, food is more than a festive backdrop.
What Is The Christmas Eve Feast About?
Daniella Monet plays Silvana Gianetti, known as Silvy, an executive chef who has grown disillusioned with her job at a fancy New York restaurant. Her plans change when her Nonna suffers an unexpected injury, prompting Silvy to return home to Boston and help prepare the family’s Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve dinner.
The trip brings Silvy back to the people and traditions that shaped her relationship with food. It also raises a bigger question than whether dinner will be ready on time: Can she rediscover what she enjoys about cooking, and might that change what she wants from the rest of her life?
A family tradition brings Silvy back to her roots
The Feast of the Seven Fishes gives this homecoming its holiday focus. Silvy isn’t simply stopping by for a visit. She has a reason to roll up her sleeves and help her family carry on a Christmas Eve tradition when her grandmother needs her.
That’s what makes the setup appealing. At work, Silvy has reached a point where her prestigious restaurant job no longer seems to satisfy her. At home, she’s surrounded by food with a more personal meaning. The film puts those two experiences side by side, setting up the kind of choice Hallmark viewers love to watch a character work through.
And then Ethan enters the picture
Kevin McGarry plays Ethan, a photographer who is close to Silvy’s grandmother. As Silvy’s family welcomes him in, he captures the traditions that remind her of the food she truly enjoys. The two grow closer, adding a possible romance to a trip that was supposed to be about helping her Nonna.
Ethan’s connection to the family gives the romance an interesting starting point. He isn’t a stranger who just happens to arrive at the right holiday event; he already has a relationship with someone important to Silvy. As the story unfolds, she starts wondering not only where she belongs, but who should be beside her. There’s plenty for the film to explore beyond the Christmas Eve menu.
The Cast Gives Hallmark Fans Another Reason to Tune In
Alongside Monet and McGarry, Toni Ellwand stars in The Christmas Eve Feast. Hallmark viewers will recognize McGarry from When Calls the Heart, making him an immediate draw for fans of the network’s shows.
For Monet, Silvy’s journey offers a holiday-movie lead with several things on her mind at once. She’s dealing with frustration at work, concern for her grandmother and the pressure of helping with a meaningful family dinner. Then Ethan gives her something else to think about. It’s a familiar seasonal recipe, but the chef’s point of view and Italian Christmas Eve setting give it a flavor of its own.
What makes this Hallmark romance stand out?
Food is often part of the holiday atmosphere, but here it’s tied directly to Silvy’s identity. She’s an executive chef questioning a job that once might have represented success. Returning to her family’s table could help her remember why she loved cooking before it became her career.
That’s also why De Laurentiis’s involvement feels like a natural match. The film brings together the pleasure of making a meal and the memories that come with sharing one. Still, viewers shouldn’t mistake her executive producer credit for an announced on-screen appearance: Monet is the actor playing the chef.
When Can You Watch The Christmas Eve Feast?
Mark your calendar for November 27 at 6 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark. The premiere lands in the heart of the network’s 2026 Countdown to Christmas season, bringing viewers a food-centered holiday story just as many are wrapping up their own Thanksgiving gatherings.
Will Silvy return to New York with a renewed sense of purpose, or discover that home has more to offer than she remembered? And where will Ethan fit into that decision? We’ll have to watch the movie to find out. For now, an Italian family feast, a chef at a crossroads and De Laurentiis behind the scenes make The Christmas Eve Feast one to keep on your holiday watch list.
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