You don’t need to spend hours making time-consuming dishes to pull off a satisfying, festive feast. This year, get out of the kitchen quicker with a low-effort Turkey Day meal that’s just as cozy and comforting.
Skip the stress of holiday prep with these quick Thanksgiving recipes:
Skillet Sausage Stuffing
While this skillet sausage stuffing tastes like it took hours to prepare, it’s ready to eat in under 30 minutes. The secret is to jazz up a package of stovetop stuffing with fresh vegetables and dried herbs. It also uses sausage for extra flavor and satisfaction.
Skillet Sausage Stuffing Recipe
Chocolate Peppermint Toffee
This chocolate peppermint toffee recipe is hard to beat for a quick, crowd-pleasing dessert. It features all your favorite holiday flavors in one crunchy bite. You only need five ingredients to create this irresistible sweet treat, and you probably already have them in your pantry.
Chocolate Peppermint Toffee Recipe
Mini Cheese Balls
These mini cheese balls are the perfect appetizer or side for your Thanksgiving feast. They’re a fun, tasty twist on retro cheese balls with a few modern touches.
The mouthwatering combination of cream cheese, almonds, and hot pepper jelly is crunchy, creamy, salty, and slightly sweet. What’s not to love?
Sheet-Pan Turkey Dinner
It doesn’t get much simpler than a sheet-pan turkey dinner. With all the classics—meat, vegetables, and gravy—it’s the perfect way to capture the holiday spirit in a pinch. Since everything cooks together in one pan, it also cuts down on dirty dishes.
Sheet-Pan Turkey Dinner Recipe
Mashed Potatoes
You don’t need to spend hours hand-mashing potatoes to achieve an unbelievably fluffy, buttery texture. These satisfying potatoes are ready to serve in less than 30 minutes. Everyone will want to pile their plates with the creamy, comforting Thanksgiving dish.
The Best Mashed Potatoes Recipe
Buttery Garlic Green Beans
Buttery garlic green beans are an excellent alternative to time-consuming green bean casserole. They’re a low-effort side option that takes less than 15 minutes to make. The recipe’s simplicity and delicious savory flavor make it an instant favorite.
Buttery Garlic Green Beans Recipe
Oven-Roasted Vegetables
A side of oven-roasted vegetables feels fancy but is deceptively easy to make. Choose your favorite vegetables, like carrots, bell peppers, asparagus, or broccoli, and toss them in a light yet flavorful sauce. Throw them in the oven for just long enough to turn golden brown and crispy, and you’re ready to impress.
Oven-Roasted Vegetables Recipe
Apple Crisp
Even in a rush, there’s always time for a sweet treat. Try this dreamy apple crisp for a Thanksgiving dessert that isn’t pie.
It features tart apples, sweet brown sugar, and a buttery oat topping that will transport your tastebuds to heaven. After the first bite, everyone will swoon over the indulgent flavor combination.
Autumn Harvest Salad
Freshen up your Thanksgiving table with a seasonally-inspired autumn harvest salad. It’s a great last-minute side dish that’s healthy and completely foolproof. The salad contains a delicious assortment of seeds, nuts, cheese, fruits, and vegetables for a balanced flavor with tons of depth.
Autumn Harvest Honeycrisp Apple and Feta Salad Recipe
Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry sauce is so quick and easy that you have no excuses not to serve it this year. You could use the canned, jellied version, which is full of sugar and artificial flavors.
However, it’s worth taking 15 minutes to prepare the Turkey Day staple from scratch. With fresh cranberries, orange juice, and cinnamon, this sauce is equally tart, citrusy, and spiced.
Best Ever Cranberry Sauce Recipe
5-Ingredient Corn Casserole
Corn casserole may sound unexciting, but it’s surprisingly tasty. The hearty cornbread, naturally sweet corn, and butter perfectly complement each other in one creamy dish. It’s incredibly comforting, and every bite tastes like a hug from within.
5-Ingredient Corn Casserole Recipe
5-Minute Gravy
If you can spare five minutes, you have enough time to whip up this thick, versatile gravy. Instead of waiting hours for turkey drippings, it saves time with chicken bouillon cubes. The blend of familiar spices, like thyme and sage, make it a must for your Turkey Day table.
Glazed Carrots
Bland vegetables can drag down your Thanksgiving meal. Thankfully, these glazed carrots hold their own at the dinner table. With just 20 minutes and five ingredients, you can prepare a mouthwateringly buttery side dish that even picky eaters will love.
Mac and Cheese
Skip the boxed mac and cheese for your holiday feast and make a homemade version. This recipe comes together in about 30 minutes—it’s impressive how cheesy and flavorful it is for being so straightforward. None of your Thanksgiving guests will know you made this mac and cheese at the last minute.
Easy Homemade Mac and Cheese Recipe
Who says you have to leave room for turkey?
Don’t be afraid to admit that you prefer the Thanksgiving sides to the turkey. These show-stealing dishes will tempt you to pile your plate sky-high.
14 Irresistible Thanksgiving Sides That Outshine the Turkey
Lighten things up at the Thanksgiving table
This year, switch things up with a healthier holiday feast. These Thanksgiving recipes are better for you without sacrificing taste.
15 Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes That Won’t Induce a Food Coma
Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of What The Fab, a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.
