I love Thanksgiving! And I don’t believe in watching your weight during the holidays either so throw out your diet and come to the dark side. This is a rich, delicious and totally unhealthy Thanksgiving dinner menu that will be sure to have everyone leave the table happy. So what’s on the menu?
Appetizers
Cranberry Pecan Baked Brie
Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
Main Menu
Kate’s Thanksgiving Turkey
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Hooley Candied Yams
Turkey Giblets Stuffing
Skillet Greenbean Casserole
World’s Best Dinner Rolls
Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Dessert
Classic Pumpkin Roll
Raspberry Pretzel Salad
Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
These are my tried and true favorites from past Thanksgivings. It is a big list because we’ve got a big extended family. It’s definitely a menu you should be willing to delegate out because if you can pull all of this off on your own I want to touch the hem of your garment and someone should make a statue of you. So go ahead and scroll down to see pics of each item and links out to the recipes so you can get your Thanksgiving on like a pro.
Appetizers
Start the show off with a bang!
Cranberry Pecan Baked Brie
There are a handful of foodie sites that I can count on and Damn Delicious is one of them. This baked brie is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser at your Thanksgiving. Plus it will make you look super fancy. And most importantly, it’s damn delicious.
Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts
This one ain’t just for the bacon lovers. These are zesty and sweet and wonderfully bacon-y. The water chestnut gives it a welcome crunch. And honestly, I haven’t come across a person who hasn’t like these since I started making them regularly for family events.
The Main Menu
Something for everyone!
Kate’s Thanksgiving Turkey
Historically, the turkey has been my least favorite part of Thanksgiving. Mostly, because I was used to it being dry and smothering with gravy just wasn’t cutting it. Then one fateful day I came across Kate’s Thanksgiving Turkey recipe over at Our Best Bites. I’m telling you this is the juiciest turkey you’ll ever eat. So moist and full of flavor! It is well worth the preparation.
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Okay I know some people are totally cool with cranberry sauce from a can, but once you go scratch you never go back (hehe). Homemade cranberry sauce is to die for! It is wonderfully sweet and tart and compliments any turkey amazingly. It just ain’t Thanksgiving over at my house without it.
This recipe on AllRecipes.com is what I use but I add a little lemon zest and a stick of cinnamon as it simmers. The cinnamon warms up the flavor to perfection.
Get the recipe here and don’t forget to use my modifications mentioned above
Hooley Candied Yams
These yams are the yams us Hooley’s have been making since before our ancestors crossed the plains. Okay maybe not that long but it’s at least been 7 years because that’s how long I’ve been married to my husband. It is a staple at pretty much every Thanksgiving table but we do it a tiny bit differently by slicing the yams and layering them instead of cutting them into chunks. Needless to say I’m a fan.
Turkey Giblets Stuffing
Listen to me. Listen to me now. Don’t. Make. Stuffing. Without. The. Giblets! The giblets make this Food.com dressing so rich. I promise it’s worth the extra effort.
Skillet Greenbean Casserole
Really any green bean casserole is good green bean casserole ammiright? But Alton Brown nails it in this recipe. Green bean casserole is the perfect sweet, crunchy and creamy compliment to your Thanksgiving menu and this recipe just takes the cake with the addition of homemade crispy onion topping.
Dinner Rolls
Our Best Bites is another one of those foodie sites that I can count on regularly for a good recipe. These dinner rolls are soooooo good! I can never get all of them to the dinner table because little fingers (and my own fingers) are always grabbing them straight out of the oven.
Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Don’t let the low resolution photo fool you, this recipe needs to be on this menu. I get a second plate on Thanksgiving exclusively for my serving of this salad. So double the recipe!
Dessert
What you eat after taking your two-hour turkey nap/coma.
Classic Pumpkin Roll
Before we get into anything too fancy, we have to make room for a good old-fashioned pumpkin roll. Turkey is the Batman of Thanksgiving and pumpkin dessert is Robin. If you want to switch things up from the typical pumpkin pie, a pumpkin roll is the way to go.
Raspberry Pretzel Salad
I love this dessert because it is so cheap and easy. Plus it tastes amazing. After all of the warm food from Thanksgiving, there’s something super satisfying about a cold, tart dessert. If you’ve never had this before, you’re going to love the combo of salty pretzels, tart raspberries and sweet cream filling.
Cheesecake Swirl Brownies
I’m not a big chocolate person but that’s kind of one of the things that makes me a total weirdo. But when I do like chocolate stuff, it’s usually paired with something amazing like cheesecake. Which is why I love these cheesecake brownies from Yammie’s Noshery. If you like chocolate, or cheesecake, you need to make these.
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