Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Nobody at our table talks about the turkey the next day. They talk about the stuffing. They talk about who took the last of the mashed potatoes. The sides are the meal, and the bird is the excuse.

These are the side dishes we actually make for Thanksgiving, most of them every single year. Regular grocery store ingredients, a lot of them slow cooker or make ahead so the oven stays free for the turkey. If it is on this page, it has survived a real holiday in our house.

Start with the slow cooker mashed potatoes and the classic stuffing. Those two never get skipped.

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Mashed Potatoes and Potato Sides

Slow cooker mashed potatoes that hold for hours, roasted garlic mashed, a twenty minute garlic mashed for the small crowd, loaded hasselbacks, and the Cracker Barrel hashbrown casserole.

Stuffing, Dressing and Rolls

Classic stuffing, Italian sausage stuffing, slow cooker cornbread dressing, and the bread. Dinner rolls, crescent rolls from scratch, Texas Roadhouse rolls, buttermilk biscuits and a jalapeno cornbread with honey.

Sweet Potatoes and Squash

Savory mashed sweet potatoes for the people who do not want marshmallows on their dinner, crispy sweet potato fries and tots for the kids, and a butternut squash risotto that could be the main course.

Green Vegetables

Brussels sprouts three ways, creamed spinach, a whole roasted romanesco that looks like a centerpiece, crispy fried green beans, garlic butter mushrooms, and Southern collard greens.

Corn, Carrots and Casseroles

Slow cooker creamed corn, the cheesy zucchini rice casserole that gets requested more than the turkey, two baked mac and cheeses, glazed carrots two ways, and a wild rice pilaf with pecans and cranberries.

Cranberry Sauce, Gravy and the Extras

Apple cranberry sauce and a cranberry jam, mushroom gravy in twenty minutes, Cracker Barrel fried apples, crock pot applesauce, and a blackberry honey butter for the rolls.

Salads and Something Lighter

A warm kale salad with bacon and pear, a wild rice salad with orange and cranberries, and the deviled eggs that disappear before anyone sits down.

More for Thanksgiving

New sides land here first through November. For the turkey, the pies and everything else on the table, the Thanksgiving category has the whole holiday.

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