13 Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas To Feed The Whole Family
Well, it’s that time of year again where everyone is in need of Thanksgiving dinner ideas. What should you cook? How many ingredients will you have to buy? Do you have time to cook everything? These are some of the big questions that go through the minds of those who are in charge of preparing a great meal for their guests. Below are 13 Thanksgiving dinner ideas that you must try for this holiday season.
Roast Turkey
You can always try to include Thanksgiving dinner ideas that have never been done before, but it’s impossible to have the meal without the turkey! It just would’t feel like Thanksgiving if there wasn’t one sitting in the middle of the table. After you finish eating, make sure that you remove the turkey’s wish bone and snap it for good luck!
Green Bean Casserole
This is one of the most common Thanksgiving dinner ideas that usually makes an appearance every year. If you cook this dish just right, you’ll find that it is both crunchy (thanks to the fried onions) and delicious! As with all these dishes, be careful getting it out of the oven. You do not want to go the hospital right before dinner starts!
Mashed Potatoes
There are many Thanksgiving dinner ideas, but perhaps one the most traditional are the mashed potatoes! Thankfully, these are pretty easy to make. All you have to do buy some insta-potatoes from the store and pop it in the microwave! It literally takes about five minutes so you can do it right before you start the meal.
Stuffing
You can do a couple of different things with stuffing. There’s always the option of putting it directly inside the turkey for more flavor or, alternatively, you could cook a large amount of it and place it in a bowl on the table. This gives guests the choice of eating it with their turkey, or simply eating it by itself. Stuffing is a really tasty dish either way, so you can’t go wrong here!
Cranberry Sauce
This is another one of the common Thanksgiving dinner ideas. You can either buy the cranberry sauce from the store, or you can buy some actual cranberries and make the sauce yourself! If you choose to devote some of your time to making it, you’ll be pleased to hear that doing it at home instead of buying it will give the sauce more character, thereby giving it a better taste.
Pumpkin Pie
Pumpkin pie should be on everyone’s list of Thanksgiving dinner ideas, simply because of how good it tastes! If you have a side table or counter near the table, place the pie there so that your guests will be able to see it. This gazes will sometimes drift over to where it lays, and this will build anticipation for when it is time to eat the desserts. If you want to be unique with the dessert, consider serving it first as a kind of backwards take on Thanksgiving!
Apple Pie
Like the pumpkin pie, serving an apple pie is one of the hallmarks of the meal, making it among the top Thanksgiving dinner ideas you can try. One of the downsides to serving this great tasting dish is that it takes quite a while to cook properly. Be absolutely sure that you set enough time aside to prepare this dish so that your guests will have something to enjoy after their meal!
Roasted Vegetables
Regular vegetables can be a little boring when you’re putting so much effort into other aspects of the meal. However, if you choose, like so many others, to roast the vegetables, you’ll find that they’ll be a highlight of the meal! Be aware, though, that there is more to creating this dish than just simply roasting the vegetables. You’ll need to add the perfect amount of amazing spices that’ll really bring out the flavor of the vegetables you’ve included.
Pecan Pie
One of the signature Thanksgiving dinner ideas is preparing a pecan pie. The conflicting tastes of the crunchy pecans and the smoothness of the pie work wonderfully here! Once you have finished making the pie, consider adding a small and unique design to the top of the dessert. Something tasteful that reflects the interior flavor of the pie would do very nicely. If you’re predicting that your guests will finish the pie in a matter of moments, maybe make another one as backup.
Squash
Ah, squash. One of the best Thanksgiving dinner ideas out there. Why, you ask? Well, firstly because it’s traditional (many Thanksgiving foods are). Secondly, and more importantly, it gets its popularity due to how delicious it is! The squash, when prepared correctly, should first and foremost taste sweet, almost like candy. If it doesn’t taste like this, something went wrong and you should try to see if you can save the dish.
Brussels Sprouts
Unfortunately, Brussels sprouts get a bad reputation for tasting bad, or at least not great. This is entirely untrue! When you cook Brussels sprouts for your Thanksgiving meal, add some special spices to them and be sure not to overcook them, which can sometimes be difficult, especially if you’ve never cooked them before. If everything turns out right, it may even become one of your tried and tested Thanksgiving dinner ideas!
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
So, you’ve got the regular mashed potatoes, but what about the sweet potatoes? They have an incredibly unique flavor compared to their more common cousins so, if you decided to make some for Thanksgiving, it would be as if you were including an entirely different dish! Similar to squash, sweet potatoes are…well…sweet, but not as much as the squash. Be ready to experience one of the best Thanksgiving dinner ideas this season!
Gravy
Of course, no Thanksgiving list is complete without mentioning gravy! Like the turkey and mashed potatoes, gravy is an essential part of any Thanksgiving celebration. One of the great things about this dish is that you can put it on just about anything, although it works best with turkey and potatoes. There are many different types of gravy available, but you’re probably going to want something with lots of spices. This will make the gravy stand out when your guests taste it!
Are there any other Thanksgiving dinner ideas we didn’t mention? Do you agree with our list? If you said yes to either of these, let us know in the comments below!
