10 Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes | Easy and Delicious

Sure, we all love the turkey, and the parade of pies to follow, but what Thanksgiving feast would be complete without the cluster of sides? From the all-star stuffing and mashed potatoes to the buttery rolls and tart cranberry sauce, some side dishes are family traditions, while others appear as inspiration strikes. These side dishes are the best — delicious, easy, and just right for seconds.

10 Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes

We love the tang that a bit of buttermilk lends to these buttermilk mashed potatoes (provided they’re also made with delicious butter). If you like creamier potatoes, add more of the liquid; if you like them firmer, add less.

Twice-Baked Potato Casserole

This Twice-Baked Potato Casserole side dish was inspired by that classic of 1970s steakhouses, the twice-baked potato. In this case, baked potatoes are mashed with cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream, and roasted garlic and topped with scallions. Delicious.

Ultra-Crisp Parmesan Roasted Potatoes

The trick to getting really crisp roasted potatoes is to a) add a bit of baking soda to the cooking water and b) bat the cooked spuds around the pot to break down their exteriors. Once in the oven, that layer of mash forms the most delicious crust. A shower of Parmesan is the perfect finish.

Creamy Green Beans and Mushrooms with Crispy Garlic

Knowing that oven space is at a premium on Thanksgiving Day, we developed a stovetop-only take on the iconic green bean casserole. The old-school French cream sauce with white wine and butter adds a bit of nostalgia and a lot of deliciousness. And crispy garlic gives a crunchy finish.

Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Maple-Glazed Walnuts

Maple-glazed walnuts may be nothing new, but here they get a kick from cider vinegar. Add savory roasted Brussels sprouts, and you have a sweet, salty, tangy side dish.

Crispy Caramelized Sweet Potatoes

It took many tries to get exactly the recipe we were looking for: candied sweet potatoes that were crisp, not mushy. We tried numerous ways of cutting and roasting the spuds, but their high water content left them perpetually soft until we came across a recipe on Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen blog. By thinly slicing her potatoes and standing them upright, she was able to crisp their edges.

Herbed Sausage Dressing

This sausage dressing can easily be prepped a day ahead of time. Just cover the uncooked dressing tightly with foil and refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, take the dish out of the refrigerator 45 minutes before baking and then follow the baking directions.

Savory Corn, Pancetta, and Leek Tart

In texture, this delicious corn and leek tart falls somewhere between a quiche and a savory pie as it adds classic French flavors—leeks, Gruyère, bacon—to a rich corn custard.

Parker House Rolls

Like just about everyone (including Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and most of the Kennedy clan) who ever put these sweet and buttery rolls to their lips, we love Parker House rolls — the hotel’s signature recipe. They go great with honey butter.

Easy Cranberry-Orange Sauce

Prefer a homemade cranberry sauce to canned? It doesn’t get much simpler than this recipe. The flavors are so perfect together, you just don’t need anything else.

Which Thanksgiving side dish is your family’s favorite?

This post was first published in 2015 and has been updated. 

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