Celebrating Thanksgiving with friends gives you the opportunity to shake up the traditional holiday meal. Here are some creative recipes for a crowd, plus easier classics to relieve some pressure if you're hosting
This stunning fuchsia hummus is a bright addition to your holiday spread. Serve it with a platter of colorful Thanksgiving vegetables and a bowl of extra-virgin olive oil for dunking.
Recipes:
Make these delicious olives up to two weeks ahead of time and set them out before guests arrive.
Recipe: Olives With Orange and Fennel
This holiday season, don’t wait until the end of your meal to serve pumpkin. Instead, give it a savory twist and serve it as an appetizer.
Recipe: Pumpkin Curry Empanadas
Why make everyone wait until dessert for pumpkin? Give your meal a Mexican Thanksgiving twist! Set out all the components for these seasonal tacos and let guests build their own pre-dinner treat.
Recipe: Pumpkin Tacos
The rich cheese and ginger-apple cider dressing unites the fruit with the greens.
Recipe: Fall Greens and Pear Salad
Kale is perfect with apples and walnuts. This salad is a surefire hit at a potluck Thanksgiving.
For juicy, crisp-skinned, evenly cooked turkey, you can do no better than a butterflied (spatchcocked) bird. This recipe is for a gas grill; we have charcoal directions as well.
Recipe: Grilled Butterflied Turkey
This recipe takes the last-minute hassle out of gravy making by not relying on pan drippings. Before browning the flour, have the broth measured so you can whisk it in at just the right moment.
Recipe: Make-Ahead White Wine Gravy
Nothing on your Thanksgiving menu is easier than cranberry sauce, whether you keep it classic or spice it up.
Recipe: Pure and Simple Cranberry Sauce
Although it’s nearly as quick to make as boxed stuffing, this homemade version—soft in the middle and a little crunchy on the top—is prettier and certainly tastier.
Recipe: Crisp-Top Sourdough Stuffing
The secret to perfect mashed potatoes? Knowing when to stop. Mash potatoes with softened butter and warm milk until they’re creamy but still have some chunks remaining. Thin-skinned potatoes, cut into pieces, cook quickly and are easiest to mash.
Recipe: Creamy Chunky Mashed Potatoes
We took the flavors we love in the big holiday meal and turned them into casual diner fare.
Recipe: Thanksgiving Turkey Sliders
This grand and very colorful vegetarian dish takes a little time to prepare, but you can make the gnocchi ahead and freeze them.
We created this crisp, cheese- and herb-rich tart as an appetizer, but you can also serve it as a special-occasion vegetarian main dish for 5 to 6.
Recipe: Flaky Feta Tart
Cheesy, eggy, delicious! This rich version of stuffing can also stand in as a vegetarian main dish.
Rich, brown butter infused with the flavor of hazelnuts makes a decadent, but easy addition to mashed potatoes.
This is a decadent yet savory way to serve sweet potatoes. If you’re expecting vegetarians, make a couple of potatoes without the bacon. One potato can be enough for at least four people, depending on its size.
Recipe: Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Bacon and Goat Cheese
The beans will cook tender-crisp in the same time it takes to brown the coating.
Broccolini is glorious roasted, and even more delicious with this hearty, unusual pesto. You can sub in roasted regular broccoli if you'd like.
The skin of delicata squash is tender when roasted and very flavorful, so try it along with the flesh.
Recipe: Roasted Delicata Squash with Honey, Pomegranate Seeds, and Pepitas
A classic roll that’s simple to make. For variety, top them with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or sea salt flakes.
Recipe: Buttery Dinner Rolls
Zoe Nathan of Santa Monica’s Huckleberry Bakery tops her pies with a variety of cutout shapes; for this one, you’ll need a 2 1/2-in. apple-shaped cookie cutter.
Basically an open-face pie, this is a great dessert for pie-phobes to make because the crust is so easy to handle.
Recipe: Apple Pumpkin Galette
Ice cream pies make ideal desserts for big holiday dinners, because you can make them days in advance and just haul them out of the freezer right before serving. Plus, they’re easy to make. This nutty, chocolate confection is a surefire crowd-pleaser.
Making this crowd-pleaser couldn’t be easier—just stir together seasoned pumpkin pie filling and ice cream and spoon into a gingersnap crumb crust.
Recipe: Pumpkin Ice Cream Gingersnap Pie
These treats make the perfect addition to a fall party spread. The canned pumpkin in the batter keeps these cupcakes moist, reducing the amount of oil you need to use.
Recipe: Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes
As the layers of chocolate graham crackers and pumpkin- and spice-flavored cream cheese chill overnight, the flavors meld and the crackers soften to create this super-easy cake. A dusting of cocoa over leaf stencils give it a fancy look, but you can omit the stencils if you’re in a hurry.