Easy Thanksgiving Side Dishes

From creamy mashed potatoes to crispy roasted vegetables, these easy thanksgiving side dishes are sure to be a hit at your holiday table. And the best part? They’re all simple to make and require just a handful of basic ingredients, so you can spend less time slaving away over a hot stove and more time making memories with family and friends.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and whether you need a dish for a traditional family feast, an office potluck, or a cozy Friendsgiving, one thing’s for sure: you need these delicious side dishes to complement that turkey!

Whether you prepare a giant oven-roasted turkey or a smaller turkey breast in the crockpot, we all tend to get into the holiday side dish rut. Don’t get me wrong, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cranberry sauce are all staples at the thanksgiving table. But, sometimes you need to shake up the holiday season rotation!

This year, we’re taking the hassle out of holiday cooking with a lineup of easy, crowd-pleasing side dishes that are perfect for any Thanksgiving gathering.

Best Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Let’s be real for a second. It may be the turkey’s day, but the side dishes are really where the competition gets heated! If you haven’t already, check out my complete list of holiday recipes for the whole meal from start to finish.

Recommended Recipes from Southern Cravings

Easy Green Bean Casserole

Make a delicious green bean casserole from scratch! This comforting Southern side dish is made with a creamy homemade mushroom sauce and canned green beans, then topped with crispy fried onions. It’s the perfect addition to all your Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings.

Check out this recipe

3-Ingredient Bisquick Sausage Balls

Make the best Bisquick sausage balls in no time! These bite-sized beauties feature sharp cheddar cheese, ground sausage, and Bisquick. Serve them at holiday parties or on game day for a quick, easy, crowd-pleasing appetizer.

Check out this recipe

Southern Cornbread Dressing

Delicious Southern Cornbread Dressing is a must on your Thanksgiving menu! This old-fashioned recipe is delicious! Seasoned with sage, celery, onion, and other simple ingredients. This holiday favorite is the soul food recipe you need on your Thanksgiving table!

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The Best Savory Mashed Sweet Potatoes

These savory mashed sweet potatoes are ready in under 30 minutes, which is perfect for weeknights or a quick holiday side dish. Naturally sweet, this recipe does not include marshmallows or brown sugar. Herbs and butter give these mashed sweet potatoes a savory twist that pairs well with any main entrée!

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Festive Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce

This Ocean Spray cranberry sauce recipe is such an easy side for holiday get-togethers! It’s super flexible and ready in 30 minutes. Upgrade your holiday dinner from canned cranberry sauce to fresh, whole cranberries, spicy cinnamon, a little sugar, and a splash of optional bourbon!

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Easy Pressure Cooker Mashed Potatoes

Pressure cooker mashed potatoes are the ultimate shortcut to your favorite side dish! This recipe is your answer for mashed potatoes in a hurry. It can be made in an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or any other electric pressure cooker. These easy potatoes can be whipped up and served in less than 30 minutes.

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Homemade Mashed Potatoes

There’s nothing more American than homemade mashed potatoes! Rich and creamy, this recipe is easy to make and perfect for your holiday table or smothered by a stew or pot roast.

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Easy Turkey Gravy (with Drippings or Stock!)

Learn how to make easy turkey gravy from scratch! Once you taste this delicious, creamy gravy, you will never go back to the packet again. Using only 3 ingredients, this gravy can be made ahead of time with turkey drippings, broth, or stock and then kept warm in a slow cooker.

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Southern-Style Mac and Cheese

This Southern-style mac and cheese recipe is a true soul food classic! With just a few ingredients, including a generous amount of freshly shredded cheese, butter, and milk, it’s unbelievably hearty, comforting, and crowd-pleasing.

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Best Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe

The best baked mac and cheese recipe I’ve ever made is right here! Made with three different kinds of cheese and completely from scratch, this is the ultimate, homemade comfort food. Made without Velveeta, this macaroni and cheese is rich, creamy, and seasoned with punchy creole spices (not spicy!).

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Herb Roasted Potatoes

These herb roasted potatoes are ultra-crispy on the outside and perfectly creamy on the inside. Using just a handful of ingredients, including fresh rosemary, garlic, and Parmesan cheese, this recipe makes a quick, easy, and crowd-pleasing side dish.

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Classic Deviled Eggs [with Easy Peel Eggs!]

Deviled Eggs are a classic appetizer – spanning the decades! Made with pickled relish, mayonnaise, and mustard, these will make the perfect snack for cookouts, holidays and even meal prep!

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Crispy-Skinned Smashed Red Potatoes

Savory, herby, crispy, smashed red potatoes are the envy of every other side dish! Every bite is a flavor bomb of crispy edges on the outside and soft, fluffy textures on the inside. Seasoned with buttery garlic, parmesan, and rosemary. This is a recipe that keeps it simple – made from start to finish on one sheet pan!

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Perfect Green Beans Almondine

This green beans almondine recipe is a simple, fresh, and vibrant side dish that adds a pop of color to any meal! Tender green beans, fragrant shallots, and crunchy almonds come together to create a recipe that’s sure to be a hit at any dinner table.

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Perfect Oven Roasted Baby Carrots

These oven roasted baby carrots are quick, easy, and flavorful! With just a few simple ingredients and minimal prep time required, serve this side dish as an accompaniment to your favorite mains like pork tenderloin, steak, chicken, and more.

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Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole Recipe

This hashbrown casserole is a simple side dish with irresistible flavors of creamy soup, cheddar cheese and hashbrown potatoes! You need only 10 minutes to prep this crowd-pleasing comfort food. Prepared and baked all in one pot for easy transportation to potluck dinners, weeknights, and holidays.

Check out this recipe

From Other Bloggers

Chicken and Dressing {Southern Style} – Miss in the Kitchen

Chicken and Dressing is the southern classic to serve for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday dinners. A tried and true family recipe.

Check out this recipe

Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Sweet Potatoes

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potatoes – a delicious side dish topped with pomegranate and pecans.

Check out this recipe

Cranberry Salad Recipe (with Jello) – Miss in the Kitchen

This Cranberry Salad is a must for holiday dinners! It is packed with fresh cranberries, oranges, apples, pomegranate and pineapple.

Check out this recipe

Savory Sweet Potatoes (Parmesan & Herb) – Pumpkin ’N Spice

These Savory Sweet Potatoes are seasoned with a blend of Parmesan cheese, garlic, and herbs. Oven roasted until crispy!

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Creamy Cheesy Brussels Sprouts With Bacon | Drugstore Divas

Looking for a tasty, rich but light side dish? These Creamy Cheesy Brussels Sprouts With Bacon are perfect.

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Cranberry Chutney – Masala and Chai

Vibrant sweet, savory, and tart Cranberry Chutney is bursting with flavor and warming spices to accompany your holiday meals.

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Southern Instant Pot Collard Greens

Instant Pot collard greens are a Southern-inspired side dish made much quicker in an electric pressure cooker. These Southern greens have a ton of flavor from bacon and ham, and you’ll want to drizzle the cooking liquid on everything!

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Stove Top Candied Sweet Potatoes

Cooking Sweet Potatoes on the stove is a fast and simple way to make candied sweet potatoes in no time flat. Finish them off in the oven with marshmallows for a fast sweet potato casserole or eat them from the pot as-is!

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Broccoli Velveeta Cheese Bake with Ritz Crackers

This Broccoli Velveeta Cheese Bake with Ritz Crackers is a Thanksgiving Dinner staple in our home. For me Thanksgiving is all about the side dishes and

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Stuffing Balls

This vegetarian stuffing ball recipe is easy to make and great for individual servings! Perfect for holiday meal prepping and easy to store in the freezer, these stuffing balls can be made dairy/gluten-free

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Baked Creamed Spinach

This creamed spinach from frozen spinach is a steakhouse-style recipe that’s baked at the end in a casserole dish. It’s made without heavy cream but in a creamy, cheesy sauce. It’s the perfect side!

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Mom’s Sausage Stuffing

Mom’s Sausage Stuffing recipe is a homemade stuffing made with sausage, onion, garlic, celery, hand-torn bread, and plenty of spices. It’s always a big hit and Thanksgiving wouldn’t be complete without it!

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Cracker Barrel Sweet Potato Casserole

This copycat recipe for Cracker Barrel Sweet Potato Casserole is heavenly. It’s full of silky smooth sweet potatoes with vanilla, cinnamon…

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Green Beans with Bacon and Onions | Learning To Smoke

Looking for a dinner side dish in just 20 minutes? Green beans with bacon and onions is one of the easy sides out there! Blanching explained.

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Creamed Lima Beans

I have loved Lima Beans since I was a kid. Especially the large Ford Hook Limas. I’ve never eaten them any other way but smothered in butter until now. Creamed Lima Beans is an over the top amazing way to serve limas as a side dish. The cream sauce the limas are nestled in is…

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Cream Cheese Corn Casserole

Need a super easy, inexpensive side for the holidays or a barbecue? This cream cheese corn casserole with green chiles fits the bill!

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Old Fashioned Candied Sweet Potatoes

My grandma’s old fashioned southern candied yams recipe is a classic soul food dish covered in a buttery syrup and perfect for thanksgiving!

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Easy Cheesy Broccoli Au Gratin Recipe

The best broccoli au gratin recipe from The Fresh Cooky. Made with a simple white béchamel sauce, gruyere and sharp cheddar cheese. Easily make gluten-free, the best holiday side dish.

Check out this recipe

Crock Pot Corn Casserole without Jiffy

With only 10 minutes prep, this Crockpot Corn Casserole without Jiffy will be slow cooking to creamy perfection, leaving your oven open! Sweet corn kernels wrapped in a tender souffle.

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Light-as-Air Sweet Potato Soufflé | Craving Something Healthy

Whipped egg whites and orange zest make this sweet potato souffle light, airy, and flavorful. It’s a healthier twist on a Thanksgiving favorite.

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Creamy Shoepeg Corn

Creamy Shoepeg Corn Creamy Shoepeg Corn will kick up what would normally be a boring “open the can and heat it up” vegetable to an any night of the week side dish fit for a holiday or special occasion dinner. It only takes about ten minutes to make and have on the table.…

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Amish Baked Corn

If you love simple and delicious recipes then you have to try this Amish baked corn recipe. It is a great recipe for fresh or frozen corn.

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Bourbon Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel Topping – Dash of Jazz

Make easy sweet potato casserole with pecan streusel topping for your holiday table! Silky sweet potato bake with vanilla, bourbon & crunchy brown sugar pecan goodness.

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Green Bean Salad (Easy Italian Recipe – Served Cold or Hot)

Green bean salad made with this Italian recipe will be a hit when you serve it. Perfect for picnics, as well as a side for holiday meals!

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Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes – Flavor Mosaic

Easy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes are very similar to Potatoes Au Gratin because they are drenched in a creamy, cheesy, garlicky cream sauce and then covered in more cheese!

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Thanksgiving Rice with Apples and Cranberries

A delcious side dish, Thanksgiving Rice recipe is made with wild rice pilaf, sweet dried cranberries, and crunchy apples.

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Sweet and Spicy Hasselback Butternut Squash- Roasted Butternut Squash

The best roasted squash recipe. With hot honey butter and crushed red chilis. Serve as a vegetarian main course or a side dish. This recipe also makes a delightful Thanksgiving Side dish.

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Corn Succotash

This easy, gluten-free & Weight Watchers friendly healthy easy Corn Succotash is made with frozen lima beans and canned corn.

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Broccoli and Cheese Casserole Recipe

Broccoli & Cheese Casserole is a classic side dish loaded with broccoli and rice, blended with condensed soups, and topped with sharp cheese.

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Southern Corn Pudding Casserole (No Jiffy Mix)

Corn pudding & corn casserole become ONE with this delicious Southern Corn Pudding Casserole. A perfectly “sweet” side for the holiday table!

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Southern Carrot Soufflé

Not only is this Southern Carrot Soufflé recipe delicious, but it is also an excellent way to get your picky eaters to eat their vegetables.

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Pineapple Cheese Casserole Recipe | Holiday Side Dish Idea

Pineapple Cheese Casserole is a super simple recipe that combines sweet pineapple with creamy cheese, topped with salty butter crackers.

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Apple and Bacon Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Pomegranate

These delicious Apple and Bacon Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Pomegranate are the ultimate comfort food. The potatoes make for a tasty side dish, light lunch or dinner or a warm and cozy breakfast.

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Lazy Cranberry Pumpkin Seed Stuffing/Dressing Recipe

Delicisiously different, cranberry pumpkin seed stuffing/dressing, is made of bread cubes mixed with dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds.

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Cream Biscuits | Kitchen At Hoskins

Cream Biscuits are the easiest biscuits you’ll make! Made with 4 ingredients, they are soft, fluffy, tender and ready in about 30 minutes.

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Pan Roasted Carrots with Bacon and Maple Syrup

This easy side dish recipe pairs fresh carrots with savory bacon and pure maple syrup, roasted in a skillet until tender and sweet.

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Buttermilk Mashed Red Potatoes | The Rustic Foodie®

These chunky Buttermilk Mashed Red Potatoes are an easy side dish! They’re made with skin on potatoes, tangy buttermilk, and fresh chives.

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Sautéed Spinach and Tomatoes Recipe

This sautéed spinach and tomatoes recipe is easy to make and so delicious to eat. It’s the perfect side dish for almost any meal!

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Instant Pot Green Beans

Instant Pot Green Beans are a fast, easy, and flavorful side dish perfect for Spring, or for any family dinner all year long. Get the step-by-step recipe at UrbanBlissLife.com.

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Cranberry Orange Relish

Cranberry orange relish is a fresh side dish that goes perfectly with turkey. This easy, 3-ingredient side dish takes just 5 minutes to make!

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Cranberry Walnut Feta Salad

This Cranberry, Walnut, and Feta Salad is the perfect light and healthy dish packed with sweet, salty, and crunchy flavors and textures!

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Portable Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Slow cookers and casserole carriers are ideal when it comes to transporting dishes to holiday gatherings. Most casserole carriers also act as an insulator, keeping food warm or cool for a few hours at a time.

Here are a few side dish options that travel well:

• mashed potatoes
• cranberry sauce (can be served warm or at room temp!)
• casseroles – like green bean casserole
• cornbread dressing
• breads (like cornbread or rolls)
• salads

How to Make Thanksgiving Easier

Thanksgiving is a time to show gratitude for everything we have. At the same time, it’s easy to feel pressured to feel “blessed” instead of stressed. BUT – It is stressful!

Putting together a dinner for many people with different dietary restrictions, opinions, tastes, etc. can become overwhelming quickly, so here are a few helpful articles to ease the overwhelm and make hosting the holidays enjoyable again.

• A guide and recipe for roasting turkey – and how to thaw it properly.
• Don’t forget to stock up on essential pantry ingredients.
• Don’t forget to set the mood with a great playlist for cooking!