Classic Thanksgiving Main Dish Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the main dish in a traditional Thanksgiving dinner? ›

Roasted Herb Turkey and Gravy

A traditional Thanksgiving menu wouldn't be complete without the star of the meal: a roasted bird. Coated in herb-infused butter, it's no wonder why this dish remains a long-time favorite.

But according to the two only remaining historical records of the first Thanksgiving menu, that meal consisted of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, cod, bass, and flint, and a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

Many Americans would regard Thanksgiving dinner as "incomplete" without stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and cranberry sauce. A recipe for cranberry sauce to be served with turkey appeared in the first American cookbook, American Cookery (1796) by Amelia Simmons.

You will likely be eating roast turkey, barbecued turkey, deep fried turkey, glazed country ham, collard greens, macaroni and cheese, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes mashed and covered with marshmallows, corn, cornbread, yeast/potato rolls, black eyed peas, rice, gravy, potato salad, cranberry sauce from ...

America's different regions can favor different local cuisines, and Thanksgiving dinner provides no exception. While turkey is the top selection in every region, side-dish challenger mashed potatoes are tied for first place in the Midwest (both winning 85% of matchups) and West (both winning 79%).

Turkey. Some would say a turkey is the most important food item at the table. A turkey is the center of the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. In fact, 88 percent of Americans eat Turkey on Thanksgiving, with 46 million Turkeys eaten on the holiday.

So, to the question “What did the Pilgrims eat for Thanksgiving,” the answer is both surprising and expected. Turkey (probably), venison, seafood, and all of the vegetables that they had planted and harvested that year—onions, carrots, beans, spinach, lettuce, and other greens.

The first Thanksgiving banquet consisted of foods like venison, bean stew and hard biscuits. And while corn and pumpkin had their place on the table, they hardly resembled the cornbread stuffing and pumpkin pie we feast on today.

Which two foods had not been invented during the First Thanksgiving? ›

White potatoes, originating in South America, and sweet potatoes, from the Caribbean, had yet to infiltrate North America. Also, there would have been no cranberry sauce. It would be another 50 years before an Englishman wrote about boiling cranberries and sugar into a “Sauce to eat with. . . .

Southern-cuisine expert and cookbook author Diana Rattray has created more than 5,000 recipes and articles in her 20 years as a food writer. The classic Thanksgiving dinner includes old-time favorites that never change: turkey, gravy, stuffing, potatoes, veggies, and pie.

Turkey is a classic main course for Thanksgiving dinner, but that certainly doesn't mean you have to serve it every year.

mashed potatoes! Rising from second place in 2022, mashed potatoes take the crown for America's favorite Thanksgiving side dish. Creamy, rich, and comforting, they're the perfect accompaniment to turkey and gravy, so it makes sense that mashed potatoes came out on top.

A Thanksgiving meal is not complete until the turkey is on the table. Turkeys are large, so we get it, but they don't have to be intimidating. The one thing you can do to ensure a bird that stays juicy and doesn't dry out in the oven: Brine it! Get the Dry Brine Turkey recipe.

About 3 in 10 U.S. adults (32%) who will celebrate Thanksgiving this year say turkey is their favorite dish in the holiday feast, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Stuffing or dressing (19%) and mashed potatoes (6%) come in second and third.

But turkey has some competition on some Thanksgiving tables by another crowd-pleasing main that's big enough to feed a crowd: ham. There are obviously no rules about what to eat on Thanksgiving – there's only tradition, and for some families, that tradition eschews turkey in favor of ham.