17 sides, mains and desserts — most of them better made the day before.
There is no turkey recipe here. You have that part covered, or someone else is bringing it — what actually decides Thanksgiving is everything around it, and how much of it you can get done before Thursday.
Everything below is dye-free. Most of it can be made a day ahead. None of it asks you to own a second oven, which on the day is the real constraint.
The sides that do the work
Autumn StuffingNo sausage and no turkey stock, so the vegetarians at the table can eat it too.Roasted Sweet PotatoesSavoury rather than sweet — paprika and garlic powder instead of marshmallows.Maple Cinnamon Candied CarrotsFour ingredients and two bags of baby carrots. No peeling, no chopping.Honey Glazed Butternut Squash with ApplesSquash and apple roasted together under a honey glaze.Teriyaki Glazed Green BeansGreen beans without the tin of soup or the fried onions on top.Crispy Smashed Dill PotatoesSmashed flat before roasting, which is the whole point — more surface to go crisp.Roasted Fennel with FetaThirty-five minutes takes fennel closer to sweet onion than to anise.Potato KugelCrisp on top, soft underneath, and it holds up to being reheated.
If someone at the table doesn’t eat turkey
Three dishes substantial enough to be somebody’s actual dinner rather than a plate of side dishes.
Vegetable Pot PieVegan the whole way through, and it looks like it belongs on a holiday table.Sweet Potato LasagnaSweet potato slices for noodles, quinoa and lentils for the meat.Cheesy Spaghetti Squash BakeRoasted squash baked with cheese until the top browns.
Dessert, if there is still room
Pumpkin BreadMake it the day before, while the oven is still yours.Sweet Potato Fudge BrowniesSweet potato in the batter. It does not taste like sweet potato.Apples ‘N Honey CakeAn apple cake that works well past the autumn holidays.
Something for the kids to make
Give them a job an hour before dinner and you buy yourself an hour.
Strawberry TurkeysStrawberries turned into turkeys. Five minutes, no oven, no skill required.Pumpkin Pie FloatPumpkin pie as a drink, which children find considerably funnier than pie.Pumpkin Spice DipFor the hours before dinner, when everyone is hungry and the oven is full.
Two things that make the day easier. Group by oven temperature rather than by course — anything roasting at 400°F can share a rack with anything else at 400°F, so you do one rotation instead of three. And nearly everything here is better made the day before. The kugel, the stuffing and the lasagna all reheat well. Thanksgiving is won on Wednesday.