If you’re like David and me, you are already thinking about sinking your teeth into your favorite Thanksgiving recipe. But if you need help coming up with some new recipe ideas to bring to your holiday table. We want to help you with that.
This Thanksgiving recipe roundup includes a variety of recipes. From the main courses to side dishes, including vegan, gluten-free, and vegetarian. We are here to help!
We hope at least one of these last-minute recipe suggestions makes it to your table this Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday because it is the time of year to reflect on what you have to be thankful for. David and I are thankful for your visits, and we hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving full of gratitude and delicious food!
xoxo,
APPETIZERS
Smoked Onion Dip
It’s hard not to double-dip this smoked onion dip! The onions are peeled, scored, and cored, then placed on the grill or smoker whole inside a cast iron pan with a dollop of butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. The onions slowly smoke and cook over indirect heat until they caramelize and turn golden brown.
Prosciutto-Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates
The holiday season is here, and I have an appetizer to share with you! This recipe for Prosciutto-Wrapped Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates will knock your socks off! The stuffed dates are the perfect appetizer for any occasion; best of all, they don’t require any cooking!
Cheese Ball
This cheese ball is so easy to make, and its simplicity is delicious. Velveeta cheese, cream cheese, and extra-sharp cheddar cheese combine and roll in chopped pecans to coat. Enjoy with crackers as a tasty appetizer for your holiday party, and it travels well if you need to make something to take along to someone else’s party.
Zesty Cheese Stuffed Mini Peppers
The lime zest is that little-hidden pop of joy and color inside these stuffed mini peppers. They’re bright and fresh and are the ultimate crowd-pleaser for parties.
Spicy Smoked Snack Mix
Spivey’s Spicy Smoked Snack Mix combines Crispix cereal Cheez-Its, pretzels, and peanuts. The snack mix is tossed in spicy butter sauce and kissed with applewood smoke. This snack mix is a surefire crowd-pleaser (pun intended). It’s the perfect snack mix for game days, birthday parties, and get-togethers.
SALADS
Roasted Butternut Squash Kale Salad with Chickpeas and Dried Cherries
This healthy vegetarian salad is made with tender kale, savory roasted butternut squash, crispy chickpeas with a hint of spice, and tangy dried cherries, drizzled with a zesty orange dressing and topped with feta cheese. This salad has a perfect blend of flavors and is satisfying, comforting, and oh-so-delicious.
Apple Pecan Blue Cheese Salad With Dried Cherries
I have made this salad several times in the past month, and it is a hit with my carnivorous husband. In fact, I made a couple of these salads for our Meatless Monday lunch this week.
10 Minute Cranberry-Almond Salad With Goat Cheese and Raspberry Vinaigrette
Ready in just 10 minutes, this gorgeous cranberry-almond salad has many delicious and bright flavors, like spring salad greens, sweet cranberries, crunchy almonds, and tangy goat cheese drizzled with a delicious homemade raspberry vinaigrette. Packed with nutrients and full of flavor, this simple salad is one you will want to enjoy all year long.
Apple Pecan Brussels Sprout Salad
I’m a little late to the brussels sprouts bandwagon because I had to find a way to overcome my fear of the way he prefers them. Trying brussels sprouts fresh made all the difference in the world. Many people don’t like brussels sprouts because of their sulfur flavor. Many do not know that the bitter sulfur flavor comes from overcooking the brussels sprouts. In their raw form, brussels sprouts are not bitter at all! Raw, shredded brussels sprouts have a mildly sweet taste, like cabbage, with a wonderful crunch.
Kale Salad with Peas and Bacon Vinaigrette
This isn’t your typical salad. Instead, this kale salad is made of black-eyed peas in a garlicky broth with bacon drippings, and sweet mini peppers on a bed of zesty raw kale and parsley, with a sweet and tangy bacon vinaigrette.
SOUPS
Mushroom Spinach Soup
Garlic, onions, and herbs combine to complement the mushrooms’ tender bits of deep earthy flavor. Soft spinach adds to this delicious flavor combination for extra nutrition. Garnish the soup with a few homemade croutons to offset the creaminess with a nice satisfying, and contrasting crunch.
Curried Carrot-Coconut Soup
Fresh carrots never tasted better, roasted with onions and garlic, puréed with hints of curry, and simmered in coconut milk with a little heat.
Potato Cheddar Soup
This homemade Potato Cheddar Soup is gluten-free, hearty soup with richly seasoned flavors that will keep you coming back for more. The soup is perfect for any weeknight when you need to relax and recharge because not only is it comforting, it is so easy to make!
Healthy Carrot-Ginger Soup With Roasted Vegetables
A wholesome and hearty vegetarian meal in a bowl, this carrot-ginger soup is healthy with carrots, beans, leeks, garlic, ginger, and coconut milk, topped with roasted broccoli, zucchini, and crunchy croutons. Best of all, it is easy to make and packed with delicious veggies!
Roasted Pumpkin Soup With Almonds and Sage
Besides the roasted pumpkin, my favorite part of this soup is the roasted almonds. They help thicken the soup and provide a crunchy topping as a garnish that I love because I am such a crunch lover.
Pumpkin-Apple Soup
This pumpkin-apple soup is made of homemade pumpkin puree that’s velvety smooth and delicious! It’s hard to believe that this soup requires no cream. The velvety smooth texture is all-natural. The smooth texture of the soup comes from simmering and pureeing the ingredients together.
MAIN COURSE
Applewood Smoked Turkey Breast
We purchased a refrigerated 6-pound turkey breast from the grocery store. A whole turkey would have been way too much for the two of us. The bird was a beauty and had one of those cute built-in pop-up timers to help us know when he was ready to eat.
Brined Hickory-Smoked Turkey Breast
This hickory smoked turkey breast is brined in our Pork and Poultry Brine. This brine contains a basic sugar and salt water solution with apple juice and maple syrup. It has aromatics such as garlic powder, onion powder, and red pepper flakes (don’t worry, it’s not that spicy). Then slow-smoked at a low temperature until it’s tender and juicy at a done temperature of 165 degrees F.
Pecan Applewood Smoked Turkey Breast
With this pecan applewood smoked turkey, you can forget about brines and the time wasted cooking parts of the turkey nobody even wants. With very little effort, this smoked turkey breast is rubbed with a simple poultry seasoning, and smoked over a pan of cranberry-infused water for a moist smoking environment, with smoky coals, pecan wood chunks, and wet applewood chips. Tender, juicy turkey like no other!
Smoked Chuck Roast
A smoked chuck roast would be a great way to impress guests at your holiday party. Besides the fact that it’s a little different from normal holiday meats, beef chuck is cheaper than beef prime rib or tenderloin, easier to get along with than brisket, and is a lot easier to come by in the grocery store.
Bacon-Wrapped Hickory-Smoked Pork Loin
Sit down to tender, slightly spicy bacon-wrapped hickory-smoked pork loin smothered in tangy barbecue sauce. Soft succulent meat with full-bodied hickory smoked flavor. If you love to smoke meat, you have to try this!
Pork Chops With Apple-Bacon Stuffing
The thick and juicy pan-seared pork chops are stuffed with a delicious combination of sweet and savory stuffing of seasoned breadcrumbs, with fresh thyme and parsley, celery, onion, apples, and bacon baked in the oven to perfection.
Mustard-Maple Pork Ribeye Roast
This Mustard-Maple Pork Ribeye Roast is a tender, oven-baked pork roast with a sweet and sour mustard-maple sauce. It is simple to make, but it is so tasty that your family and friends will think you slaved in the kitchen all day on this roast.
Garlic Herb-Butter Roasted Chicken
This chicken is roasted with garlic, lemon, and herbs in the cavity and basted with a delicious aromatic herb-butter. This chicken is quite easy to prepare, with just a little nurture the results are amazing!
Mushroom Wellington
Mushroom Wellington is a vegetarian spin-off of the classic Beef Wellington recipe. Instead of beef, this version of the recipe uses portobello mushroom caps with spinach and cheese stuffed inside a flaky pastry crust. Something also a little different from the traditional beef wellington recipe is the fact that the mushroom wellington is for individual servings instead of a sliced loaf.
Double-Smoked Ham with Pineapple Bourbon Glaze
We took a normal store-bought spiral cut ham and double-smoked it with a kiss of sweet cherry wood. The ham is warmed through with indirect heat, and basted with a pineapple bourbon glaze. The glaze gets sweetness from brown sugar and pineapple juice, a savory tang and spice from stone ground mustard and vinegar. Barrel-aged bourbon rounds out the flavor with a little optional heat from hot sauce.
SIDE DISHES
Mini Cheesy Broccoli Casseroles
I am proud to say that the recipe for these mini cheesy broccoli casseroles do not use condensed soup! That’s right, none of that weird globby-goop that comes out of a can. These mini casseroles with fresh tender broccoli, drenched in a made from scratch cheese sauce, topped with a crunchy bread crumb topping.
Squash Casserole
Squash casserole is an old southern recipe that you can find in many church cookbooks. This casserole consists of crookneck yellow squash, onions and carrots, nestled in a casserole dish with cream of chicken soup and sour cream and topped with crispy golden brown breadcrumbs.
Parmesan Smashed Potatoes
Smashed potatoes are made with baby potatoes boiled until tender, then pressed flat using anything with something with a flat surface, such as a measuring cup, glass or potato masher on a baking sheet, drizzled in extra-virgin olive oil with thyme and freshly grated parmesan cheese. The potatoes are then seasoned and roasted in the oven until the cheese has melted and the outside is crispy. The result is a potato with a soft fluffy inside with a crispy outside and loaded with tons of flavor.
Kale Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole
I adore casseroles, and I don’t make enough of them. They make wonderful warm and comforting winter meals inside one dish. This kale wild rice and mushroom casserole is the perfect winter meal, packed full of hearty kale, wild rice, and mushrooms with melted gruyère cheese.
Low-Carb Cauliflower Creamed Spinach
This recipe is a different take on the classic creamed spinach. The rich creamy cauliflower cream sauce replaces all the heavy cream, butter, and flour found in traditional cream sauces. Taking out the flour also makes this recipe gluten-free, so it is a great recipe to keep in your arsenal when having gluten-intolerant family and friends over to eat.
Potatoes Au Gratin
This classic side dish comes together very easily, you don’t have to have any fancy gadgets to cut the potatoes. A knife works just as good as any gadget. Alright, there is a long 60 to 90 minute cook time, but believe me, this recipe for potatoes au gratin is well worth the wait. The tender potato slices are laced with sweet onions smothered in a creamy cheese sauce with a hint of garlic. Potatoes au gratin makes a perfect side dish for any meal.
Sweet Potato Casserole With Pecan Brown Sugar Topping
This is one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes and has made an appearance at my family Thanksgiving for many years. This southern-classic recipe begins with tender roasted sweet potatoes blended together with butter and cinnamony goodness and topped with a crunchy buttery pecan brown sugar streusel.
Individual Cauliflower Gratins
Cauliflower gratin is a light, healthy, low-carb vegetable side dish. The individual cauliflower gratins are baked in a creamy cheese sauce with a crunchy breadcrumb and cheese topping. Gruyère cheese makes the perfect pairing with the subtle taste of the cauliflower in this cauliflower gratin.
Grilled Brussels Sprouts
It only takes one bite of these grilled brussels sprouts with bacon and bbq sauce to turn you into a brussels sprouts lover forever. With each bite of the Brussels sprouts, you get the rich smokiness of the crisp bacon, sweet pops of the savory onions and garlic, and the tangy barbecue sauce that rounds out the grilled flavor you crave.
Adult Mac and Cheese
This creamy adult mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food for adults, with Gruyère, extra-sharp white cheddar and blue cheese. With breadcrumbs and extra cheese on top, this recipe is a surefire crowd-pleaser! Top it with fresh basil for a flavor combination that is out of this world!
Hash Brown Potato Casserole
This Hash Brown Potato Casserole is one of my all-time favorite potato recipes. The recipe is in a lot of southern church cookbooks from back home. I remember the first time my mama made this for our family and how weird I thought it sounded that this casserole has cornflakes on top of it?!?!
Butternut Squash and Beet Tart
This unique tart begins with a flaky puff pastry crust smeared with a thick layer of creamy homemade ricotta cheese. The crust was topped with roasted beets and butternut squash tossed with tangy feta cheese and crunchy nuts, all piled high on top of a bed of green leafy spinach.
Roasted Acorn Squash With Butter, Brown Sugar & Cinnamon
This recipe features tender and naturally sweet roasted acorn squash drenched in buttery brown sugar and cinnamon sauce. I’m sharing this recipe with you today because it is a quick and easy crowd-pleasing recipe for the holiday season. I believe you need some simple recipes like this one to allow you to spend more time with your family and less time in the kitchen.
Quick Collard Greens
Since collard season is upon us, I want to share this quick collard green recipe with you. I’ll show you how easy this recipe is, and how good collards can be so you can get more green leafy vegetables in your diet.
There’s no need to boil them for hours. It only takes 20 minutes!
DESSERTS
Easy Pumpkin Roll
A pumpkin roll is a delicately sweet and warmly spiced cake curled around a silky cream cheese filling. It’s the perfect recipe for fall and a classic dessert that everyone adores. This is an easy pumpkin roll recipe that anyone can make.
Caramel Apple Strudel With Vanilla Glaze
This caramel apple strudel is made of rich buttery layers of flaky puff pastry wrapped around warm spiced apples and salty caramel old-fashioned goodness, drizzled with a sweet vanilla glaze.
The Best Cheesecake Ever
This is a creamy, silky and ultra-smooth classic cheesecake complete with a buttery homemade graham cracker crust. While this looks like a traditional New York Style cheesecake it comes with a slight twist. This cheesecake gets a richer dense creaminess from both ricotta cheese and sour cream.
Caramel Sauce
I feel like this is the perfect time to reshare this recipe, especially with fall and the holiday season fast approaching. You can use this caramel sauce to finish just about any dessert you want. Top cheesecakes, pies, and cakes; pour it over ice cream; stir it into popcorn. Just imagine how good your fall apples will be dipped into it!
Chocolate Mousse
This chocolate mousse is made using the classic French method. This method uses both whipped cream and egg whites. The air bubbles in the creamed egg white mixture give the mousse light and airy texture, while the chocolate makes it rich and velvety smooth.
Carrot Cake Cheesecake
Cream cheese frosting is the best part of carrot cake, so baking a creamy cheesecake on top of a carrot cake layer is a great recipe mash-up. You get the best of two dessert recipes all in one slice.
The Best Apple Crumb Pie Ever
This pie is like taking a bite into fall, made with deliciously crisp fall mountain apples, baked coated with brown sugar, and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. This pie is crowned with a buttery, brown sugar, and cinnamon crumb topping, making it an all-time favorite apple recipe.
Homemade Pumpkin Pie
This traditional pumpkin filling is made from scratch using fresh pumpkin. This homemade pumpkin pie is rich, creamy, smooth & velvety with fragrant spices and a hint of molasses in a flaky crust.
Sharon Scott says
I never fail to find another recipe on your site to add to my already burgeoning collection. I have so many now it’s hard to decide which ones to cook lol! As an aside, we had the pleasure of spending time in the Shenandoah Valley as part of our 50th anniversary journey from Florida to upstate New York, ending with a reunion at Massanutten Mountain. I just love this side of the country. Today I grabbed your stuffed mini peppers appetizer recipe – thanks and best wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving to you and David.
S
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thank you, Sharon! It’s comments like this that keep us motivated to share with others. We really appreciate it!
mimi rippee says
my god that’s a lot of food! My thanksgiving menu is all set, but you have some mighty fine dishes photographed above. I’m definitely ready for the big day!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Happy Thanksgiving, Mimi!
Denise H says
Thank you for a wonderful assortment of delicious foods, so many to pick from. I do think I have found some new traditions to add to our holiday table.. Thank you Debbie and David for the time spent making these dishes and sharing with all of us. Happy Thanksgiving, and many blessings to you and your family.
The Mountain Kitchen says
It makes us very happy to share our recipes. You’re so welcome, Denise. Happy Thanksgiving!
Sue says
No one in my family likes kale, so I use spinach in mine and I also use either bleu or gorgonzola cheese …. I am enjoying your recipes… Happy Thanksgiving
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thank you, Sue! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Mark Holloway says
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
The Mountain Kitchen says
Thank you, Mark! Same to you and yours. Hope you are doing well!