55 Perfect Vegetable Side Dishes For Thanksgiving

Potatoes au gratin is a classic, but it's long overdue for an upgrade. Enter: bundles! Thin-skinned red potatoes get sliced, layered in parchment, smothered in a creamy, cheesy, garlicky sauce, then baked until steaming and tender. Best part? Less mess!

Get the Potato Gratin Bundles recipe.

For this recipe, we ditched canned cream of mushroom soup and went for fresh instead. By sautéing mushrooms with sliced onion in butter, you're building a base with some serious depth of flavor. Cook the mushrooms enough that they get a little caramelized, and you'll really be good to go.

Get the Green Bean Casserole recipe.

This recipe made us wonder, Why don’t we roast carrots more often? When they roast, their flavor concentrates and sweetens. Pair that with copious amounts of umami-packed Parmesan and just a touch of lemon, and you’ve got a super-irresistible side.

Get the Garlic-Parmesan Roasted Carrots recipe.

Brussels sprouts just scream holiday time. If you’re looking for a new way to serve this vegetable, you have to try thinly slicing them and making a flavor-packed winter salad. This salad has all of our favorite seasonal flavors: apples, cider vinegar, cranberries, nuts and sharp cheese. It’s the perfect side dish for all your holiday get-togethers, especially the fancier dinners.

Get the Apple Cranberry Brussels Sprouts Salad recipe.

Acorn squash might be the overlooked middle child of the squash family, but that doesn’t mean she can’t shine bright on any weeknight dinner or holiday table. With a tender edible skin and a soft creamy interior, this often-ignored squash is a perfect canvas for both sweet and savory flavors.

Get the How To Cook Acorn Squash recipe.

This side is like if green beans dressed up as cheesy garlic bread. 😍 Tossed in garlic and black pepper and showered with cheese, this simple yet irresistible side will steal the spotlight at every holiday table.

Get the Parmesan Roasted Green Beans recipe.

Even though there are minimal ingredients, this soup has TONS of flavor. In fact, it's delicious even without the cream (great for vegan Thanksgiving guests!). Want to add a little more complexity and nuttiness to the soup? You could roast the cauliflower before you add it.

Get the Cauliflower Soup recipe.

Skip the turkey—this Thanksgiving cauliflower is the vegetarian Thanksgiving centerpiece your holiday needs. A whole-roasted cauliflower is a favorite holiday centerpiece of ours when we're serving a vegetarian crowd. Complete with a homemade vegetarian gravy, this roasted cauliflower is satisfying enough to be your main dish, but also easy enough to serve as a holiday side alongside your mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and turkey tenderloin.

Get the Thanksgiving Cauliflower recipe.

Tossed in a honey and vinegar dressing and roasted until glazed and crisp, these sweet and tangy sprouts will steal the (side) show wherever they go. Roasting at high heat on a bare metal sheet pan is key to getting gorgeously browned, crackling-crisp sprouts.

Get the Caramelized Brussels Sprouts recipe.

When you're looking for a side dish that tastes extremely fresh even in the depth of winter, look no further than fennel salad. It’s crunchy, slightly sweet, and perfectly light and refreshing, especially if you serve it alongside heavier cold weather comfort foods (like turkey!).

Get the Fennel Salad With Apples & Radishes recipe.

When we want to incorporate this veggie into our Thanksgiving dinner, we turn to this fresh, seasonal salad. With toasted almonds, shaved Parmesan, and pomegranate seeds, this is the holiday side that will convert even the biggest Brussels sprout haters.

Get the Brussels Sprout Salad recipe.

Mashed potato casserole is the ultimate holiday side dish we’ve all been waiting for. It's bound to find its way onto your holiday dinner table at some point during the season, but it makes a great side dish any time of the year. It's creamy, fluffy, and oh so cheesy.

Get the Mashed Potato Casserole recipe.

It takes just a little effort to take eating your vegetables from a “have to” to a “want to,” and this green beans recipe is a perfect example. Some crispy bacon, sweet cranberries, and creamy goat cheese enhance green beans into a Thanksgiving side dish that your family will be cheering for.

Get the Cranberry Bacon Green Beans recipe.

Twice-baked potatoes are basically a way to eat mashed potatoes in a cute little potato boat. The first bake is roasting the potatoes so they are nice and tender. While the outside gets crispy, the inside gets creamy. The second bake involves mashing all of your cooked potatoes with butter, cheese, milk, and other mix-ins, then filling the potato skins back up, topping with more cheese, and baking until everything is warmed through. Simply put, it's the most decadent baked potato, with the most delicious mashed potato filling.

Get the Twice-Baked Potatoes recipe.

Just like the OG potatoes au gratin, these sweet potatoes (including purple AND orange ones) are layered with plenty of cheese and herby cream sauce and baked until golden brown and bubbly. 😍

Get the Sweet Potato Gratin recipe.

We'll take Brussels any which way, but we especially love giving them the traditional Thanksgiving treatment—with plenty of butter, cream, and cheese. This method upgrades even the most humble vegetables while still allowing them to be the star of the show—even skeptics will be asking for seconds.

Get the Creamed Brussels Sprouts recipe.

This gorgeous, whole-roasted stunner is the perfect holiday substitute for vegans and makes for an amazing side, too. It's savory, sweet, and salty on the outside and super-tender on the inside. Topped with lots of silky mushroom gravy, we doubt anyone at your table will be missing meat.

Get the Whole Roasted Cabbage recipe.

These sweet-savory carrots are topped with the most delicious mix of crunchy nuts and spices. We like pistachios and black and white sesame seeds, but feel free to swap in your favorites (like everything bagel seasoning, perhaps?).

Get the Miso Roasted Carrots recipe.

If you usually only roast your potatoes, you've got to try smashing them—it makes them super crispy while also having an unbelievably buttery, tender center. 😍

Get the Smashed Potatoes recipe.

If weeknight cooking were a rom-com, roasted sweet potatoes would be the best friend. Whether you’re prepping a quick salad, building an epic burrito bowl, or simply looking for an easy side, they’re always there for you and will never let you down. Learn the ultimate technique for making them, and you’ll call on their support at least once a week.

Get the Roasted Sweet Potatoes recipe.