For Thanksgiving, most of my attention goes toward the sizable bird going into my oven and (hopefully) serving as the perfect centerpiece for a memorable holiday meal. And then I remember: the sides. If you’ve also left side dishes to the last minute, fret not. These easy, last-minute Thanksgiving recipes serve up fantastically delicious side dishes that come together fast and don’t require any frantic scavenger hunts for sold-out ingredients (looking at you, fried onions).
So, yes, you can still have your bird and eat the perfect sides too.
Top: Creamed Pearl Onions | Serious Eats
Related: 10 last-minute Thanksgiving cooking hacks to make sure dinner comes out perfect.
To maximize crispy, buttery surface area and minimize prep time, try our Hasselback Potatoes. All you need are potatoes, butter, and this smart technique.
There’s nothing like a simple fall salad to balance the heavy Thanksgiving food we all love and crave. This substitution-friendly Favorite Green Salad at Cookie + Kate might be the perfect one, especially if you haven’t planned anything specific yet and need to work with whatever you have on hand.
What’s more magical than the holidays themselves? I’m going with these 1-hour Soft and Buttery Rolls at Gimme Some Oven. Because any homemade bread that goes from scratch to table in under an hour — and looks this amazing — is truly a thing of wonder. And the perfect last minute solution.
Sweet potato casserole is a mainstay of my family’s Thanksgiving menu, but I’m not crazy about all the peeling and chopping it requires. Instead, I’m making a last-minute change to these Loaded Sweet Potatoes at Damn Delicious. They allow us to skip all those steps, but still deliver on classic sweet potato casserole flavor.
Related: One easy trick to make your roasted vegetables holiday-worthy.
I think this Winter Stacked Salad at The Wooden Skillet makes the prettiest presentation, especially considering how little time it takes. Slice up the fruit and fennel, make the (three-ingredient) vinaigrette, and let the kids assemble and drizzle themselves. A true last-minute wonder.
Whether you call it stuffing or dressing, I think we can all agree that this Easy Thanksgiving Stuffing looks like a low-maintenance keeper. Check out the super simple, 15-minute recipe at Le Creme de La Crumb.
Squash may not be a Thanksgiving go-to in your household, but this Roasted Squash with Ginger Shallot Brown Butter, a recipe by our editor, Stacie, at her site One Hungry Mama, proves it totally should be, thanks to brown butter, zingy ginger, and of course for us procrastinators, pre-cut butternut squash. Yum.
I’ll eat anything that’s bathed in a cream sauce, but these Creamed Pearl Onions at Serious Eats are especially calling my name. Pearl onions read a little more festive than regular, but thanks to this simple recipe, they don’t require any more fuss.
