Alright friends! Who else out there is hosting Thanksgiving this year? Are you stressed about it? A pro at hosting? Or are you like me and exist somewhere in between? Semi-stressed but also really, really excited to have some of your very favorite people under one roof for a fun and delicious holiday? I absolutely love Thanksgiving and having a house full of people all chipping in to make some of my absolute favorite dishes of the year is just icing on the cake. (I’m looking at you, stuffing!)
While I’m sure there are some Thanksgiving host/hostess unicorns out there who feel zero stress surrounding hosting Thanksgiving dinner, if preparing for the big day feels a little stressful to you, I get it. Thankfully, this is not my first rodeo when it comes to hosting Thanksgiving in our home and throughout the years, I’ve picked up some tips and tricks that make hosting feel more relaxed. One of my biggest takeaways? Have a plan and do as much as you can in advance to help everything run as smoothly as possible. And remember, perfection is not the goal on Thanksgiving. It’s focusing on gratitude, spending time with loved ones… and sure, some good food, too!
Thanksgiving Dinner Meal Plan
For today’s blog post, I’m doing my best to share my tips for creating a wonderful Thanksgiving menu complete with tried and true family-friendly recipes to make the holiday easy. Every single recipe below is one I stand by 100 percent that we absolutely love in our house. Pick your favorites to make for Thanksgiving or prepare them all! Either way, I hope you find this post helpful and have your best Thanksgiving yet!
Below you’ll find a roundup of some of our family’s go-to Thanksgiving recipes, from drinks and appetizers to my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes and dessert.
Slow Cooker Holiday Mulled Wine
Slightly sweet, warm, and oh-so-festive, a specialty drink is always a fun one to have on hand at a holiday gathering. This Slow Cooker Holiday Mulled Wine has been a favorite in our house for years, as it’s incredibly easy to make and gets rave reviews from everyone. All the ingredients combine in a slow cooker, making prep time simple and the recipe 100 percent fuss-free. Just combine the ingredients, heat, and set your slow cooker on warm so your guests can enjoy a warm, festive beverage throughout the day.
Winning Cornbread Recipe
Sweet, salty, and deliciously moist, this winning cornbread is simple to make and definitely worthy of your Thanksgiving dinner meal plan! Top it with butter, or use it to scoop up the last drippings from your plate. Just be warned that you may want to make extras because it always disappears fast. Bonus: This is a dish you can easily prepare the day before Thanksgiving to check one dish off your list.
Arugula Beet Salad
In case you’re wondering what salad we’ll be serving on our Thanksgiving table this year, it’s this arugula beet salad! We fell in love with this one over the summer and love it so much because it’s a breeze to make (very, very minimal chopping) and a lot of it can be prepped ahead. It’s a 10/10 salad!!!
Chopped Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts Salad
This simple salad is the perfect way to add some greens (Brussels sprouts! Broccoli!) to your plate this holiday. Made with vibrant fresh produce, nutrient-dense chopped pecans, and a tangy homemade honey mustard vinaigrette dressing, it’s salad you can prep ahead of time (no wilted lettuce) which is a big-time win in my book.
Diane’s Pineapple Soufflé
I first tried this dish at my mother-in-law’s house when my husband and I started dating. One bite was all it took for me to fall in love! There’s something about the combination of sweet buttery flavors that leaves guests coming back for seconds…and thirds. Deliciously unique, it’s a side dish that will make guests who have a sweet tooth very, very happy.
Mom’s Homemade Stuffing
A must-have on my Thanksgiving dinner meal plan, my mom’s stuffing is not only one of my favorite Thanksgiving sides but one of my favorite dishes of all time. It’s Thanksgiving on a plate in my eyes and Thanksgiving in our house would not be the same without it. This version is crisp on the top, moist in the center, and loaded with savory, comforting flavor in every bite. It’s also wonderful with crumbled sausage and chestnuts stirred in as well.
Glazed Carrots
Originally my husband’s grandmother’s recipe, these glazed roasted carrots are a necessity on our holiday dinner table. Equal parts sweet and savory, the carrots offer a unique combination of crisp bacon, melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Easy to make, it’s a recipe that’s ready in about 30 minutes (and it’s easy to prep many of the steps ahead of time) but tastes like it took all day!
Vegan Cranberry Quinoa Salad
Fluffy, fruity, crunchy, and nutritious, this fall salad is an easy side dish that makes for a unique addition to any Thanksgiving table. Ready in 20 minutes and easy to prepare ahead of time, it’s gluten-free and vegan, making it a great option for those who may have certain dietary restrictions.
Traditional Sweet Potato Casserole
Growing up in Illinois, sweet potato casserole wasn’t really a “thing” on Thanksgiving. It wasn’t until I moved south that I realized southerners looove sweet potato casserole with some intensity! It’s a “must” dish on the menu for Ryan and he’s the one who initially got me to try the marshmallow-topped delight. More than a decade ago, I ripped the above recipe out of Cooking Light magazine and it wow-ed us so much that we’ve made it every year since!
While this dish is slightly lighter than your traditional sweet potato casserole, it doesn’t taste like it all. It’s always a hit with guests as well and I’m not gonna lie, I even like it cold straight out of the fridge the next day. It’s that good. Tip: This is another dish that can be prepped the day before, you’ll just want to wait to reheat it and top it with marshmallows until right before serving.
Sauteed French Green Beans with Toasted Almonds
I am not one for traditional green bean casserole. It’s too mushy and soupy and just not for me. But this recipe? Oh yes!! Sauteed green beans are elevated to Thanksgiving-worthy status with this recipe thanks to sesame oil, garlic, a touch of brown sugar and crisp, toasted almonds. And it’s a 20-minute stovetop recipe so no need to take up coveted oven space!
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Confession: I hate making mashed potatoes. I find them tedious and less-than-fun to prepare. It’s dish I’ll happily offload to anyone else who offers to make them. (I once served instant mashed potatoes during Friendsgiving and people actually asked me for the recipe so if ya need to take a Thanksgiving shortcut here and there, I say DO IT.) But I will admit Thanksgiving doesn’t feel like Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes and thankfully Instant Pot mashed potato recipes exist out there for people like me who want them to be low-maintenance. The above recipe is a great one and checks all of my boxes: Easy to prepare, simple and delicious! If you’re like me and my dad, make sure you serve them with peas and gravy! Don’t knock that combination ’til ya try it.
Easy, No-Fuss Thanksgiving Turkey
Our family takes the short-cut route with turkey and orders a pre-cooked organic turkey from Diestel Farms but we’ve made this recipe with great success in the past. It’s tender and juicy and provides all the savory flavor you love with none of the stress that can come with preparing a whole turkey.
Thanksgiving Cookie Cake Pie
Why choose between a cookie, a cake, and a pie when you can have it all with this delicious recipe? This pictures on this throwback blog post need an update, but I have a feeling this recipe would be a hit with kids who aren’t super-psyched about most Thanksgiving desserts out there. It features a pie crust filled with cinnamon oatmeal cookie dough topped with spice cake and pumpkin spice buttercream frosting. A layered Thanksgiving delight!
Pumpkin Icebox Cake
I have some serious love in my heart for this pumpkin icebox cake! It’s a fun departure from traditional pumpkin pie and incredibly easy to make. (It’s also one you should make ahead of time, making Thanksgiving morning a little less stressful!) Simply whip up a batch of homemade cinnamon pumpkin whipped cream and layer with Biscoff cookies for a festive Thanksgiving dessert everyone will love!
Oatmeal Apple Crisp
Ya know this recipe had to make my list! It’s one of my favorite desserts of all-time, so of course it’s one we have to make on Thanksgiving in our house. This oatmeal apple crisp is wonderfully sweet and chewy and pairs perfectly with a scoop or two of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream. It’s also a recipe you can prep a day or two before Thanksgiving!
Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Cupcakes
You can’t have Thanksgiving without pumpkin, right? These cupcakes are a kid-approved Thanksgiving dessert and could not be any easier to make! All you need is a can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix! Add your favorite icing (I love a sweet cinnamon buttercream) and you’re good to go!
Cinnamon Ice Cream
Deliciously rich and creamy, this homemade cinnamon ice cream is made with simple ingredients and is delicious on its own but even better paired with apple crisp, apple pie or pumpkin pie!
How to Plan a Thanksgiving Menu
Now that we’ve covered my favorite Thanksgiving recipes, let’s chat about how to plan your Thanksgiving dinner menu. Of course, there’s no right or wrong way to do it, but I have found that the tips below help me keep the whole process simple!
1. Choose Your Dishes
To begin my Thanksgiving planning process, I write down a full menu starting with drinks and appetizers and ending with dessert. Of course, the exact amount of dishes included will depend on factors like how many people are cooking or contributing to the meal in one way or another and how many people will be dining together.
2. Print Out Any Online Recipes
Call me old school, but I like to have a physical copy of my recipes. This makes it easier to delegate recipe help to anyone offering up assistance in the kitchen and I just personally prefer having a hard copy of all of my recipes on hand.
3. Create a Master Grocery List
Next up is reviewing all of my recipes! From here, I create a “master list” of everything I need for Thanksgiving, categorized by grocery store sections (i.e. all of the veggies in one column) so I’m not dashing all over the grocery store during my big Thanksgiving shopping trip.
4. Shop Early
Not only are grocery stores usually crazy busy the week of Thanksgiving, but they also tend to run out of key ingredients (anyone else remember the year of the pumpkin puree shortage!?) so if at all possible, I try to shop for the “must haves” and non-perishable items earlier in the week. Ryan also orders our turkey a few weeks ahead of Thanksgiving as well!
5. Prep Ahead
Once I have my menu planned out and most ingredients on hand at home, I do my best to prepare any recipes that lend themselves to early food prep ahead of time. (This is probably the biggest thing I do to cut down on Thanksgiving hosting stress!) I’ve honestly made it a fun thing for myself over the years and blast holiday music as I get to work in the kitchen. When we have family in town, it’s fun to all get to work together! We’ll chop veggies, prep desserts, prepare whole whole dishes that can easily be reheated and even use little sticky notes to note which dish or serving platter will hold which recipe. It might sound simple, but it can truly be a game-changer when preparing your meal and makes Thanksgiving feel a million times more relaxed!
Question of the Day
What are your Thanksgiving plans this year?
Do you find hosting for the holidays fun or stressful or a little bit of both?
Any tips to share to make Thanksgiving menu planning a little easier?
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Hi Julie-
Thanks for sharing these recipes! Do you think the cornbread can be made a day in advance? Does it taste just as good the date after?
Traveling for Thanksgiving and was hoping to make this the day before. Thanks!
Hi Meg! Yes, it’s absolutely a recipe you can make the day before! It’s even one you can freeze and thaw if you really want to prep ahead. Just make sure to very, very tightly cover and then give it enough time to thaw and reheat it in the oven to warm it up before serving for best taste.
I’ve made your family’s glazed carrots and stuffing recipes for years 🙂 they’re probably my favorite dishes of Thanksgiving. The stuffing recipe tastes so similar to my dad’s (he passed 9 years ago) and it’s the best kind of nostalgia.
It’s amazing how dishes can truly make you feel closer to people you love. I feel that way every time I take a bite of my grandma’s sugar cookies and cannot tell you how much it means to me that my mom’s recipe reminds you of your dad’s stuffing. Sharing your comment with my mom right now and sending you a little extra love. Thank you for sharing this with me.