Feast-Worthy Favorites: The Best Thanksgiving Recipes

Whether you’re planning a traditional Thanksgiving menu featuring classics like turkey, savory green bean casserole and homemade cranberry sauce or experimenting with new takes on your family traditions, you’re going to need a few ideas to get you started. Luckily, our 50 most-popular Thanksgiving recipes have you covered. This collection of feast-worthy eats includes soups and appetizers to start your meal, turkey and side dishes to round it out—and even desserts. You’ll truly find everything you need to host the perfect holiday meal. There are lots of great options but this flavorful turkey is truly one of the best. A slather of mayonnaise on the bird pulls double duty by standing in as a flavor-packed rub as well as adding moisture and fat to often dry meat. And what's particularly great is that it browns the skin beautifully without the constant basting that most birds need.

Make this crowd-pleasing holiday favorite the classic way: with buttery mashed sweet potatoes and a crunchy pecan topping.

This crispy round of baked cheese, with its warm melty interior, makes the perfect party appetizer, especially when paired with a ruby-red cranberry sauce. Both the cheese and the sauce can be prepped a day (or two!) ahead, so it's simple to pull together right before serving. It scales easily for a crowd – arrange two or three rounds on a platter with sauce for dolloping and a variety of crackers and crudité for dipping.

Look no further than these carbonara mashed potatoes for a showstopping, mouthwatering potato dish perfect for the holiday table, or any celebration. Silky mashed Yukon gold potatoes are combined with crispy pancetta, cheesy Parmesan, rich egg yolks and loads of black pepper to mimic the flavors of spaghetti carbonara. To make this dish extra special, we piped swirls of potatoes into a casserole dish before baking them until golden brown. They’re rich, decadent and well worth the effort for a generous casserole that serves a crowd.

These festive sugar cookies decorated with mini cornucopia (AKA corn snacks) are the perfect addition to the Thanksgiving dessert table and much easier than making a pie. The dough requires no chilling or rolling out. Simply drop scoops onto the baking sheets for tender, not-too-sweet cookies that are fun for the whole family to decorate.

The star of this beautifully roasted turkey is good-quality freshly grated Parmesan. The bird gets its intense Parmesan flavor thanks to the creamy Parmesan-butter under the skin, plus a blanket of grated Parm on top. Spatchcocking the turkey — cutting out the backbone and flattening it—helps it cook faster and more evenly than a traditional whole bird. Ask your butcher to do this for you, since it can be a challenge. The flat surface ensures you can cover the entire turkey in the Parmesan, providing even more nutty, cheesy flavor in every bite.

Ree's green bean casserole has a little kick to it, thanks to cayenne pepper. And to really give the dish over-the-top deliciousness, she adds bacon cooked with peppers, garlic and onion.

Ina's sausage and herb stuffing features the traditional flavors you know and love, but it gets an added boost from an unexpected ingredient: Granny Smith apples.

Making the most-flavorful gravy is easy: Don't discard the giblet bag inside the turkey! Simply make your own broth by simmering the neck and giblets with classic Thanksgiving herbs while the turkey cooks, then combine the broth with the pan drippings and an easy-to-make roux.

You need only four ingredients and 25 minutes to make Tyler's 5-star cranberry sauce. No one will believe something this tasty takes such little effort.

This hearty green bean cobbler has all the comforting flavors of classic green bean casserole, but with the delicious addition of a tender, cheesy biscuit topping. A homemade mushroom sauce is the base of this one-skillet cobbler that’s also topped off with must-have crunchy fried onions. Served hot and bubbling, it’s sure to become a comfort food favorite.

For the perfect mac and cheese, follow Alton's lead — and don't forget your whisk. Mixing together a smooth roux and adding in an egg guarantees the richest and creamiest mac and cheese around.

You can't go wrong with Ina’s perfect roast turkey. She uses an herbed compound butter (with fresh thyme) to give her bird extra flavor. It’s a simple trick that produces amazing results.

There are many advantages to baking sweet potatoes in an air fryer: It’s quicker than an oven (no preheating!) and the circulating hot air yields a perfectly crisp exterior and silky, creamy interior. We topped each potato simply with a pat of butter and some chopped fresh chives, but you can add any of your favorite toppings (mini marshmallows included).

These easy mashed potatoes with crispy golden-brown bits are the result of a happy accident in our test kitchen. While developing a classic roasted potato recipe, we accidentally roughed up the spuds a little too much, resulting in a few pieces that were incredibly crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. We wanted more…so we turned them into an entire sheet pan of super crispy mashed potatoes that we promise will be a hit at your Thanksgiving and holiday celebrations.

Simmer butternut squash in broth with buttery, sauteed onions, then puree and season. Serving up the flavors of fall simply couldn't be easier.

Get step-by-step instructions on how to make a classic apple pie for your dessert spread. With this recipe, you can even choose whether to make the dough by hand or with a food processor — we have directions for both.

This recipe truly couldn't be easier or more forgiving — let your favorite aromatics guide you. Consider using onions, carrots and apples, as well as herbs like parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.

For The Pioneer Woman's 5-star mashed potatoes, you'll need the customary butter and half-and-half, but you'll also need cream cheese, which will guarantee the creamiest texture.

Crispy onions, fresh green beans, creamy sauce — Alton's green bean casserole has it all in one bubbling cast-iron skillet.

Ina's foolproof homemade gravy gets an unexpected flavor boost from cognac.

Ree's quick-and-easy take on scratch mac and cheese is sure to please young and old alike at your Thanksgiving feast.

Make sure the salt mixes into your brine and doesn't sink to the bottom of the pot with one easy tip from Alex Guarnaschelli: Use boiling water!

Stress-free entertaining is made possible thanks to dishes that can be made ahead, just like this one. Prep the Brussels sprouts and pancetta, then roast about a half-hour before you'd like to serve. Once they're tender and browned, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and get ready to impress.

You need only four ingredients to turn out a delicious side that's filled with distinctive fall flavor. Simply drizzle olive oil and honey over cubed sweet potatoes, then sprinkle with cinnamon.

Whip up Ree's 5-star pie for a deliciously rich end to your feast. It's gooey and crunchy, and it's just what your sweet tooth needs after you've enjoyed all those savory bites.

Giada De Laurentiis puts her own unique spin on traditional mashed potatoes by incorporating two distinct Italian cheeses: mozzarella and Parmesan.

Ree's spicy and creamy cheesecake is finished with a special surprise topping: salted caramel sauce.

There's no reason to get out the can opener when homemade cranberry sauce is this easy.

What's the trick to cooking potatoes evenly and avoiding those dreaded lumps? Starting with cold water, Tyler says.

Anne Burrell's Sausage Cornbread Stuffing features cranberries, making it savory with a touch of sweet.

Ina likes to make these all year long. When she really wants to go "over the top," she says, she dips half of each square in warm chocolate.

Brine your way to the tastiest bird this year. Follow Alton's simple brine recipe and step-by-step roasting instructions for a turkey that's beautifully browned on the outside and undeniably moist on the inside.

For people who love carbs but don't love soggy stuffing, may we introduce a new favorite combination: Thanksgiving stuffing focaccia. The bread is slightly custardy on the inside from the moisture from the vegetables while still maintaining a biscuity crust like a Chicago deep-dish pizza. Topped with crisp sausage and packed with fresh sage and parsley, it's poised to become a new holiday staple.

There are so many competing flavors on the Thanksgiving table, which is exactly why Alton likes to keep his mashed potatoes simple. But with six crushed cloves of garlic, these spuds are anything but bland.

Sprinkle a crunchy and buttery pecan topping over creamy mashed sweet potatoes for a perfectly sweet complement to all those savory dishes.

The most-delicious Thanksgiving pie fillings deserve the absolute best when it comes to crust. That's why you need Ina's Perfect Pie Crust, made with just the right balance of butter and shortening.

The trick to avoiding mishaps with a deep-fried turkey is determining how much oil to use by first measuring with water. Put safety first and you'll have a perfectly fried turkey — and no fires to extinguish — in just over an hour.