Thanksgiving break is fast approaching. As we look forward to seeing family and catching up with hometown friends, one key event highlights the holiday menu: the traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving foods can be controversial. People either love stuffing and cranberry sauce, for example, or they cannot stand them. For some, gravy is perfection in food form—for others, it’s the most dreaded dish of the season.
Whether you are a Thanksgiving traditionalist or despise the taste of your grandma’s turkey, here are some new recipes to spice up your table this holiday.
Tini’s Mac and Cheese
This TikTok-famous recipe is a meal to remember.
Just a warning: if you attempt to make this dish, you may need to cancel arm day at the gym because Tini requires that you must grate all of your cheese by hand. Also, you might as well go get the cavatappi pasta now because, as Thanksgiving approaches, it’s likely that it will be sold out at many stores.
This tasty Mac and cheese is a sure way to outshine the dishes that your family members bring.
Autumn Harvest Honeycrisp Apple and Feta Salad
When you’re face-to-face with the pies and the casseroles after being stuck eating chicken and two sides for the past three months, it’s easy to push the salad away to make room for other foods.
Showing up with this festive and delicious dish, however, ensures that everyone knows your culinary capabilities.
The crunch of the apple and flavor of the feta combine to create a salad tasty enough to rival even the best pies.
Pumpkin Whipped Feta With Warm Bread
When dinner is running two hours late and your family is starting to fight over the Thanksgiving football game, you’ll be glad you brought this dish.
The pumpkin flavor paired with a warm piece of toasted bread will be enough to relax any holiday tensions and satisfy your cravings until dinner is on the table.
This recipe is not only delicious but also extremely easy to make. All you have to do is blend feta, Greek yogurt, pumpkin puree, and honey together, and you have a stellar starter.
Sun-Dried Tomato and Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Maybe you’re not a master chef when it comes to turkey—and if that’s the case, it’s totally OK.
It just so happens that pasta is a masterable craft that everyone will love. This recipe will surely be dished out to the guests and give the turkey haters relief when they realize they don’t have to politely put turkey on their plate anymore.
Everything in this dish can be bought at the grocery store, and there are thousands of variations of it that you can find on Pinterest (and that you can pretend us your nonna’s family recipe).
Butter Pecan Shortbread
Thanksgiving dessert is known for one thing: pie. Pumpkin, blueberry, apple, and any other fruit you can put in a pie crust are all popular. But what about a dessert that doesn’t have to be cut into triangular pieces?
Butter pecan shortbread is a creative twist on a famous fall flavor that will make your guests ditch the pie. Let someone else deal with those and take the easier, more delicious route for yourself.
Served alongside coffee or hot chocolate, these shortbread squares are sure to become a Thanksgiving necessity.
