16 Classic Thanksgiving Foods, Ranked from Foul to Festive

It’s nice to have something green on the table, but there’s no world in which this dish outshines the rest. Raw vegetables are at the bottom of everyone’s to-eat list on Thanksgiving (although I respect the urge to provide your relatives with a bit of roughage). And even if you serve it warm, gravy alone is more exciting. If you insist on a fall salad, opt for a board over a bowl for easy serving and chic presentation.

• Try It Anyway: Prosciutto and Fig Salad Board

It varies from cornbread to cornbread, but it’s too often that this side dish is crumbly, dry, mealy and/or grainy. If it’s moist and doesn’t fall apart when I drag it through my mashed potatoes, we’re in business. If not, I’ll pass (and start looking for the biscuits).

• Try It Anyway: Cast Iron Cornbread

Butternut gang, please forgive me. Squash is tasty and all; I’m just more moved by creative applications than I am by squash itself. For instance, I prefer pizza with butternut squash sauce over a squash boat filled with quinoa. Give me crispy, breaded delicata squash rings or butternut squash carbonara—not roasted chunks of gourd. That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing the herb-kissed, honey butter-drenched number below on my plate one bit.

• Try It Anyway: Hasselback Butternut Squash

This pick polarized our team the most. It's a classic Thanksgiving dish, but you tend to love it or hate it, particularly if the custard filling turns gritty or tastes too vegetal. That said, it's nothing a hearty dollop of whipped cream can't fix, right? (And if you try the recipe below, you're bound to have a hit on your hands. A cinnamon roll crust?! C'mon.)

• Try It: Pumpkin Pie with Cinnamon Roll Crust

Gravy is an essential Thanksgiving food, but I feel like it’s often used to mask the shortcomings of the rest of the menu. If you need to douse the mashed potatoes in salty meat drippings for them to be flavorful, or drown your turkey, dinner rolls or biscuits to negate their dryness, it insults the gravy *and* emphasizes the weak spots of the meal. However, since it needs to be there, prepare it in advance so you have one less thing to do on feast day.

• Try It Anyway: Make-Ahead Vegetarian Gravy

Of all the standard Thanksgiving bread options, nothing beats a fluffy, buttery, flaky biscuit. Even if you start with canned dough, the texture and flavor are unmatched. I always start my feast with one slathered in butter, then I use another one (or three…) as a spoon or dunking tool of sorts for everything else on my plate. And you know if there are leftovers, I’m using them as bookends for Thanksgiving sandwiches.

• Try It: Sprightly Biscuits

Classic roasted green beans are great, but on Thanksgiving, they deserve to get a little decadent. This dish can easily turn gloppy and one-note, but it's still oddly satisfying. For Thanksgiving, I recommend going full gourmand—say, by making the mushroom cream from scratch or frying a bunch of shallots—to make it more appealing. You could even try our galette version, for a less soup-y option.

• Try It Anyway: Green Bean Casserole Galette

PSA: There’s nothing wrong with apple pie. There are just more exciting pies to choose from at this time of year. If you have picky kids at the function, it’s an easy win (especially when paired with vanilla ice cream, but you knew that already). If you aren’t at the beck and call of a few teeny-tiny food critics who always manage to get their own table, I implore you to give another dessert some love. Or better yet, serve two.

• Try It: Mini Mason Jar Apple Pies

Since I was a kid, I’ve always been the only one at the table going absolutely ham on the cranberry sauce. No matter how it’s served, this sour, colorful accompaniment pairs beautifully with every core menu component. It brightens up humdrum poultry, complements charred steak and cuts through the gamy notes of lamb. It pairs just as well with mashed potatoes as it does roasted carrots, herby stuffing and buttery breads of all kinds. Make it for me fresh with whole cranberries and citrus or give it to me in slabs, adorned with indents from a can—either way, I’m devouring it.

• Try It: 5-Ingredient Red Wine Cranberry Sauce

It may be the centerpiece of every picture-perfect Thanksgiving table, but turkey often feels obligatory rather than exciting. (After all, 84 percent of people plan on serving it this year, according to Butterball's 2026 Togetherness Report.) But that, honestly, comes down to preparation. It can easily skew dry and bland, which is why your roasting method is key. "My dad's famous for cooking a turkey so moist that the legs actually fall off the bird with the slightest tug, and his strategy is simple: broth and aromatics at the bottom of the roasting pan, compound herb butter under its skin, and you tent the whole thing for all but the last 20 to 30 minutes of cook time, so the meat retains its moisture and the skin crisps up at the very end," says Candace Davison, VP of editorial content.

• Try It Anyway: Slow Cooker Turkey Breast with Orange and Herbs

Odds are you have the boxed kind on the regular. But there’s something about a baked, over-the-top mac and cheese that feels celebratory and special. IMO, it all comes down to the quality and diversity of the cheeses (a mix of melty, creamy and a little pungent, if you ask me) and the noodles not being overcooked. If you splurge on the good stuff and keep the texture al dente, this baked pasta is sure to steal the show. (I like mine with a generous dose of Louisiana-style hot sauce and a side of smoky, meaty collard greens, in case you’re wondering.)

• Try It: Mac and Cheese with Crispy Parmesan-Phyllo Crust

I need to know who Brussels’ PR rep is, because I’ve never seen a rebrand quite this successful. Once known as one of the most detestable vegetables known to man, sprouts are now beloved by The People. (Is it just me, or is there some kind of charred, chili crisp-topped iteration at every fancy brewery and gastropub nowadays?) Their deliciousness is fully dependent on how they’re cooked, but I’d say bacon fat is a foolproof starting point.

• Try It: Smashed Brussels Sprouts

I’ve taken a lot of flak for it over the years, but I’m such a sucker for sweet spuds in warm-spiced syrup, topped with toasted marshmallows. No one should be too good for this kitschy, nostalgic pairing, because it’s timeless and works for a reason. (And if you hate it just because, you might be a food snob!) I’m partial to the potatoes being in pieces rather than mashed, but there’s no wrong way to serve this beaut, if you ask me.

• Try It: Sweet Potato Casserole

It’s arguably not Thanksgiving without them—and they're the unsung heroes of the table. Seriously—MyFitnessPal found that it was the most-logged food on the app last Turkey Day. Women logged it way more than men (60 percent vs 40), and out of every age group, millennials favored it the most.

Now, the real question becomes, what's the ideal way to make them? Purée-level smooth? A lumpy, half-mash with the skins on for texture? Some prefer red potatoes to yellow or white. You can make them tangy and salty with sour cream and cream cheese, or top them with melted cheese and bacon for a loaded mash situation.

With so many flavors on the table, I opt for garlic mashed potatoes—they've got subtle flavor but aren't overpowering and won't be too salty if you submerge them in gravy. And since you've got enough on your plate this holiday season, I also vote that you cut yourself a break and try our make-ahead recipe, so you have one less thing to do on the big day.

• Try It: Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

ICYMI, stuffing is stuffed in the cavity of a turkey (or another animal) and cooked, while dressing is a general term for a type of seasoning or sauce that goes with food. Some sources say they’re the same thing, but stuffing is cooked in the bird and dressing isn’t. Po-ta-to, po-tah-to, right? Whatever you call this side, I’m eating at least three helpings of it, especially if it’s studded with bits of Italian sausage and teeming with fresh thyme. I know I kinda talked s*** about cornbread earlier, but this classic Thanksgiving food is one use for it that I’ll devour with gusto.

• Try It: Julia Turshen’s Sheet Pan Stuffing with Sausage and Spinach

She is beauty, she is grace, she’s my favorite classic Thanksgiving food of all time. The marriage of rich, sticky, sweet filling and crunchy, toasty nuts makes my taste buds short-circuit in the best way, year after year. Eat it hot, eat it at room temp, eat it cold like a starved subway rat by the light of the fridge. There are countless ways to make pecan pie (black bottom for chocolate lovers, maple syrup instead of old-school corn syrup, infused with bourbon for a bit of razzle-dazzle), and I love them all. Pumpkin pie stans, don’t @ me—this is not your year.

• Try It: Maple Pecan Pie