It's not too early to start thinking about your Thanksgiving menu. 🦃
And that includes the best part: side dishes and snacks! We're big fans of easy recipes that still deliver on flavor, with bonus points if they don't take up prime oven space. Here are several favorites — including hands-off options for your slow cooker, Instant Pot, or Air Fryer.
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1. Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip
This creamy dip is equal parts savory, sweet, and tart — and goes perfectly with a pre-meal snack tray. You could also make it with baked brie instead of cream cheese.
Recipe: Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip
2. Air Fryer Brussels Sprouts With Bacon
A key part of planning a stress-free Thanksgiving menu is stacking it with toss-and-go sides that basically make themselves — in appliances that *aren't* the oven.
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3. Biscuit Dough Garlic Knots
The easiest (and tastiest!) way to upgrade grocery store biscuit dough? Twist them into knots, sprinkle them with Parmesan and dried herbs, and bake.
Recipe: Buttermilk Biscuit Garlic Knots
4. Garlic-Butter Roasted Carrots
These roast in the oven — but for an optional finishing touch, pop them onto the stovetop for a few minutes so that the buttery sauce can thicken into a glaze.
Recipe: Garlic-Butter Roasted Carrots
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5. Cranberry Apple Sangria
Make a big batch in advance and let guests serve themselves — so you don't have to worry about playing bartender all night.
Recipe: Cranberry Apple Sangria
6. Creamy Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes
The Crock Pot also doubles as a perfect warming station for these.
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7. Easiest 5-Ingredient Shortcut Stuffing
The secret ingredient here is grocery store croutons (usually found in the bakery section), which allow you to skip the step of slicing and drying out bread.
8. 1-Minute Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce
This almost-instant sauce only needs 60 seconds of active time in the pressure cooker — and makes enough for eight people.
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9. Spinach & Apple Salad With Creamy Feta
Pre-mix everything except the apples the day or night before — then slice and add them right before dressing and serving. (That way, they won't brown!)
10. Oven-Roasted Crash Hot Potatoes
Thanksgiving confession: I think mashed potatoes are overrated. (Sorry!) Give me crispy, ultra-textured roasted potatoes any day. Like these, which are cooked, smashed, then roasted again — so you get plenty of nooks and crannies for butter and toppings.
Recipe: Oven-Roasted Crash Hot Potatoes
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11. Easy Winter Fruit Salad
Just a few minutes of assembly — plus a quick toss of mint, lime juice, and honey.
Recipe: Easy Winter Fruit Salad
12. 10-Minute Garlic Mushrooms
The vegetarian- and Keto-friendly side dish comes together super fast and only needs one pan and a few pantry staples.
Recipe: 10-Minute Garlic Mushrooms
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13. Shortcut Sweet Potato Casserole With Candied Pecans
The shortcut here is using the slow cooker to do all the hard work of making the filling.
14. Green Beans Almondine
Almondine is just a fancy culinary word that means a dish topped with almonds. Here, that's stovetop green beans — which cook way faster than their casserole counterpart.
Recipe: Green Beans Almondine
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15. Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers
Don't be intimidated by Thanksgiving desserts. If you can unroll puff pastry and slice apples, you can make this.
Recipe: Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers
16. Air Fryer Shrimp Cocktail
Filed under: Appetizers That Everyone Will Love.
Recipe: Air Fryer Shrimp Cocktail
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17. Sheet Pan Crispy Parmesan Brussels Sprouts
Caramelized and crispy on the outside, sweet and tender on the inside. (And again, the oven does all the heavy lifting!)
18. Crescent Roll Pumpkin Pie Twists
These bake up in just about 10 minutes.
Recipe: Crescent Roll Pumpkin Pie Twists
19. Easiest-Ever Mac 'n' Cheese
If you've got a kids' table at your Thanksgiving dinner, you can never go wrong with a side of mac 'n' cheese.
Recipe: Easiest Stovetop Mac 'n' Cheese
20. Reeses Pieces Chocolate Chip Cookies
Take your favorite easy cookie recipe, swap half the chocolate chips for Reeses Pieces, and feast! 🍪
