15 Easy Thanksgiving Side Dishes – The best quick sides recipes that you can prepare – including make ahead classic side dish ideas.
15 Easy Thanksgiving Side Dishes
These easy Thanksgiving side dishes will make a welcome addition to your Thanksgiving menu and holiday table.
The best Thanksgiving side dishes includes fall salads, casseroles and creamy comfort dishes to indulge in over your Thanksgiving dinner.
Over the years I’ve gone on and off and on again a low carb diet, so you’ll find that most of the dishes are also keto friendly, providing the perfect balance to rich holiday season meals.
As a side note – if you’re looking for easy Thanksgiving desserts, then my go to recipes are low carb pumpkin pie and candied walnuts.
1. Brussels Sprouts Bake
This brussel sprouts bake has only 4 ingredients and is perfect when served with a Thanksgiving turkey. All you need is chopped sprouts, sour cream, heavy cream and your choice of grated cheese from cheddar cheese, Mozzarella cheese or Parmesan cheese.
2. Sweet Potato Mash
This easy sweet potato mash makes a welcome addition to any Thanksgiving table and is made by infusing sweet potatoes with garlic, cooking until soft, adding in plenty of butter and heavy cream, then mashing with a potato masher until gloriously creamy. You could also swap for any root vegetables like in this easy parsnip mash recipe.
3. Broccoli Casserole
A broccoli casserole makes a classic side to serve with your meal. And, this easy recipe has only 4 ingredients and also happens to be the most viewed recipe on my blog and the one I make most often for my own family.
4. Baked Cauliflower Mash
For a make ahead mash option, you can’t go past this baked cauliflower mash that’s loaded with plenty of parmesan cheese and healthy vegetables.
5. Green Bean Casserole
My best green bean casserole is super cheesy and is perfect when you’re wanting to create a selection of healthy Thanksgiving sides full of vegetables.
You could also swap the green beans for other vegetables if you’d like, such as making a cheesy zucchini casserole.
6. Creamy Cauliflower Mash
This cauliflower mash makes the perfect, healthy alternative to creamy mashed potatoes. The best part is that the dish is loaded with cheese and creamy ingredients, so your guests may not even be able to tell the difference.
7. Sauteed Brussels Sprouts
This vibrant dish of Sauteed Brussels Sprouts is one of those easy sides that doesn’t take a long time to prepare, yet is full of flavor and always a popular, perfect side dish.
8. Roast Pumpkin Risotto
A roast pumpkin risotto makes a unique way to include butternut squash or pumpkin with other classic Thanksgiving recipes to surprise and delight your Thanksgiving guests.
9. Parmesan Salad
I saw a version of this Parmesan Salad recipe on an Ina Garten TV show and adapted it slightly to our tastes. You can feel free to add in fresh herbs, crunchy pecans or pine nuts to create your own favorite side dish.
10. Broccoli Salad
A broccoli salad makes a healthy side dish to balance any rich holiday meal. And, this simple recipe is creamy, cheesy and always a hit with picky eaters, especially ones who wouldn’t usually eat broccoli.
11. Carrot and Orange Salad
This colorful carrot and orange salad has only 3 ingredients – grated carrots, orange juice and zest and your oil or seasoning of choice to create a salad that’s bursting with a ton of flavor.
12. Creamy Carrot Salad
In this creamy simple carrot salad, grated carrots are combined together with sour cream and grated cheese to create a comforting salad that’s always a family favorite.
13. Pesto Pasta Salad
This pesto pasta salad is a carb loaded comfort food that’s perfect to make ahead and will complement any main dish on your Thanksgiving day.
14. Creamy Mushroom Sauce
This creamy homemade mushroom sauce is made simply with only mushrooms, cream and your seasoning of choice.
15. Seven Layer Salad
A Seven Layer Salad is one of those classic Thanksgiving sides that makes a great way of providing different options of ingredients in one simple recipe.
Easy Thanksgiving Sides Videos
Here are videos showing you how to make some of the delicious side dishes for the big day. Hit play below or click here to watch on YouTube.
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