47 Thanksgiving Recipes Your Holiday Guests Will Thank You For

Hello and welcome to this thing we’re doing where we help you figure out what you’re gonna put in your mouth this week. Some of these are recipes we’ve tried, some of these are recipes we’re looking forward to trying, all of them are fucking delicious. Tell us what you want to put in your piehole or suggest your own recipes, and we’ll talk about which things we made, which things we loved, and which things have changed us irreversibly as people. Last week, we went gluten-free for the holidays.

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Two years ago, I invited my family to come out to Chicago for Thanksgiving, to spend the holiday with my roommates and me. I also told my roommates to invite as many friends as they wanted, despite our limited number of chairs and despite having no dining table to speak of. Because I’m totally unbalanced, I also decided I was going to go ahead and cook everything myself. I began planning my dream menu, which included multiple kinds of potato and several pounds of butter. The shopping alone took two days. I even tried to bribe my neighbors into letting me borrow their oven so I could cook twice as much at once. (They declined, probably sensing it was crucial to maintaining my sanity.)

In the end, I survived,  but not before ruining my oven mitt with turkey drippings, burning my hand on a baking dish and frantically calling my mother for reassurance that I was not going to ruin the whole trip if there weren’t enough apples in the pie. I really truly nearly lost it when one of those friends-of-friends who came showed up with a spinach artichoke dip I hadn’t planned on serving. So yeah, cooking your first Thanksgiving can be pretty daunting.

Lucky for you, I’m here to help. The following are all the recipes you could need to plan your first Thanksgiving, from the appetizers to the after-dinner drinks.


Appetizers

1. Mini Twice Baked Potatoes

Mini twice baked potatoes

2. Tomato Tortellini Soup

Tomato tortellini soup

3. Slow Cooker Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Spinach and artichoke dip

4. Beet and Apple Salad

Beet and apple salad

5. Baked Thick Cut Seasoned Oven Fries

Baked thick cut seasoned oven fries

6. Honey Butter

Honey Butter

7. Beer Battered Onion Ring and Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Beer battered onion rings

8. Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Thai spiced pumpkin soup

9. Warm Herb and Jam Goat Cheese Spread

Warm herb jam and goat cheese spread

10. Broccolini Salad

Broccolini salad

Main Course

11. IPA Brined Roast Turkey

IPA brined turkey

12. Pumpkin Pot Pie

Pumpkin pot pie

13. Buttermilk Roast Chicken

Buttermilk roast chicken

14. Mom’s Roast Turkey Recipe

Mom's roast turkey recipe

15. Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash Rings

Quinoa stuffed acorn squash rings

16. Herbed Pork Rib Roast

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17. Lemongrass Braised Turkey Legs

Lemongrass braised turkey legs

 18. Sweet Potato Gnocchi With Balsamic-Sage Brown Butter

Balsamic glazed brown butter gnocchi

19. Pork, Collard Green and Persimmon Pot Pie

Pork collard green and persimmon pot pie

20. Vegetable Lasagna Casserole

Vegetable lasagna casserole

21. Garlic-Herb Roasted Chicken

Garlic herb roasted chicken

Sides

22. Double Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce

23. Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa

Black bean and tomato quinoa

24. Crispy Sweet Potato Roast

Crispy sweet potato roast

25. Balsamic Braised Brussels Sprouts With Pancetta

Balsamic braised Brussels sprouts

26. Mushroom and Mash

Mushroom and mash

27. The Best Cranberry Sauce

Best Cranberry Sauce

28. Sweet Potato Bake

Sweet potato bake

29. Gruyere, Cheddar and Leek Macaroni and Cheese

Gruyere Cheddar Melted Leek mac and cheese

30. 30 Minute Rolls

Thirty minute rolls

31. Taterless Parmesan Zucchini Tots

Parmesan zucchini tots

32. Lemongrass Stuffing

Lemongrass stuffing

33. Perfect Mashed Potatoes

Perfect mashed potatoes

Dessert

34. Apple and Cheddar Scones

Apple and cheddar scones

35. Chocolate Chess Pie

Chocolate chess pie

36. Gingerbread Cookie Butter HoliGAY Cake

Gingerbread cookie butter holiGAY cake

37. Pecan Pie That’ll Make You Cry

Pecan Pie

38. Dairy Free Apple Cake

Apple cake

39. Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Chocolate chocolate chip banana bread

40. Classic Pumpkin Pie With Pecan Praline Sauce

Pumpkin pie with pecan praline sauce

41. Chocolate Avocado Pudding

via {Get Baked with Autostraddle}

42. Raspberry Coconut Girl Bait

Raspberry coconut girl bait

43. Pear and Cranberry Crumble

Pear and cranberry crumble

Drinks

44. Sparking White Cranberry Sangria

Sparking white cranberry sangria

45. Mulled Wine

Mulled wine

46. Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider

Mulled cranberry apple cider

 47. Irish Coffee

Irish coffee

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Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn lives in New York, which is the simplest answer you're going to get if you ask her where she's from. She went to journalism school and is arguably making the most of her degree as a writer and copy editor. She utilizes her monthly cable bill by watching more competitive cooking shows than should be allowed.

Kaitlyn has written 69 articles for us.

12 Comments

  1. I feel like I need to buy a mandolin specifically for that sweet potato thing

    also I forgot about that apple cake but now it is most /certainly/ going to be included in my holiday repertoire!

      • I literally said this exact thing re: mandolin slicer to my girlfriend this morning. And if that selfsame girlfriend would let me, I’d invite all of Autostraddle to our place for Thanksgiving every year.

  2. Anyone else keep getting to pie when trying to get to the spinach artichoke dip? Other than that, omg this is super helpful, thank you so much! I had been putting off figuring out this stuff, and this came at totally the right time.

  3. So my lil bro and I are trying to find new yummy vegetarian stuff to eat for Thanksgiving. Thank you so much for the list, it helps a lot. :D

    Also if anyone else out there has recipe suggestions I can use…feel free to message me. c:

    • World’s best stuffing mix!

      I don’t measure, really, so add as much of everything as you like. This is usually enough for 4-ish people

      In a dry pan toast a couple of handfuls of pine nuts until they start to brown, then add some olive oil and throw in diced red onion and garlic until they’re soft but not brown. Put it in a bowl with the zest of one lemon, shaved or grated parmesan cheese and lots and lots of fresh basil.

      Sourdough or wooden bread works best, but any kind is fine really. I like it better when the stuffing is kind of chunky, so I just tear 4-5 slices into small pieces, but some people prefer to blitz it to proper breadcrumbs in a blender. Mix the bread into the rest of the ingredients with pepper and salt to taste. I add an egg at this point as it binds it all together, but it’s fine without if the veggos in question prefer not to eat eggs.

      Turn the mixture onto a sheet of greaseproof paper, then roll it up into a sausage shape, make sure the paper seals it all in or the exposed parts can burn before everything else cooks. Wrap the whole thing in one layer of aluminium foil (more than one and it takes forever to cook) and out it in the oven for about 20 minutes or until it starts to brown and (if you included egg) it’s all cooked through without gooey bits.

      Eat.

      • Oh! And the non-vegetarian option: fry some diced pancetta until its crispy and throw it in with the rest. Delicious.

      • Holy heck this sounds DIVINE. My family never adopted stuffing into our Thanksgiving, but maybe that’ll change this year! As soon as you said parmesan and basil, I was sold.Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day and typing this all out. My tummy thanks you!! Have a lovely week!

        • No worries! I make it at every available opportunity (I usually make double this because my family really like it and one isn’t enough at holiday events). Hope you enjoy!!

  4. No no no no no no no, thank you.
    I just finished mixing up the rub for the turkey and pre-baking the pie crust for tomorrow.
    And well several of these will fill up the sides void quite well and oven usage isn’t a prohibitive cause a different appliance is being used for the bird.
    3 hours is enough time to pull those oven fries together, mwahahaha >D

    Also if any one loves cooking with beer or our benevolent editors want to devote an entire article to cooking with beer: http://thebeeroness.com/

Comments are closed.