🍁🦃🍁10 Best Side Dishes for Thanksgiving🍁🦃🍁

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Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away, which means we need to start seriously thinking about our menus. If you’re looking for an awesome side dish (or ten), I have some favorites here for you…

From the desk of The Speckled Palate’s Erin Parker

Howdy, Reader,

If you ask me, sides are really the star of Thanksgiving.

Turkey’s fine and dandy, but I’m all about the side dishes and enjoying them for days after our Thanksgiving meal.

Here are a few of our favorite side dishes that would make excellent additions to your holiday table. I’ve made notes about the ones that you can make a day or two in advance to make life easier, too:

• ​Oven Roasted Butternut Squash with Maple and Cranberries: This butternut squash recipe is a seasonal star. It is roasted with maple syrup, cranberries and rosemary, so you know it’s savory with a bit of sweetness and utterly delicious.
• ​Drunken Spiced Cranberry Sauce: I’m a sucker for a homemade cranberry sauce, and this one is so simple to make. It’s also great because you can prepare it days in advance and let it stay cold in the fridge until it’s serving time. Leave out the spiced rum if that’s not your favorite, and enjoy!
• ​Creamed Cornbread Casserole: This cornbread casserole is like the kind we grew up with… but totally from scratch. It’s creamy and crunchy and buttery and pairs with so many dishes at the holiday table.
• ​Classic Mashed Potatoes: Mashed potatoes are a MUST at Thanksgiving! This recipe is out-of-this-world and often requested by my kids and family members throughout the year. It’s great plain, with an extra pat of butter or with a big ‘ol ladle of gravy.
• ​Garlic Parmesan Mashed Potato Casserole: How could we not love a make-ahead mashed potato casserole? Seriously—so good. You can make this completely, put it in the casserole dish and refrigerate it until it bakes the day of. Simple, yet so tasty.
• ​Bacon Wrapped Green Bean Bundles: This is one of our family recipes. Fresh green beans are wrapped in bacon, then roasted with a mustard vinaigrette to perfection. What’s not to love?
• ​Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole: This is a family favorite, and you can prepare the casserole 1-2 days in advance. Don’t do the final bake, though. Keep it covered in the fridge, and bake it before eating!
• ​Brioche Bread Stuffing: If you want a take on classic white bread stuffing, this is it! Grab your brioche bread now so it can get good and stale (or wait and toast it), then use it to make the most decadent stuffing recipe imaginable.
• ​Fresh Green Bean Casserole: How could I not include this dish? This nod to the classic casserole can be made in advance and baked Thanksgiving day. Don’t add the crunchy topping until the day of because we want that to get nice and crisp, and it will become soggy sitting in the fridge.
• ​Cranberry Feta Brussels Sprouts Salad: A-ha! A salad is a lovely addition to the Thanksgiving table! You can prepare the candied pecans in advance, as well as the dressing and the parts of the salad. Since brussels sprouts are heartier veggies, you can also shred those in advance, too, then put everything together after rewarming the vinaigrette before setting the table!

Which side dish sounds best to you?

As always, happy cooking and baking!

Erin