Thanksgiving Side Dishes: 10 make-ahead sides and a full dinner menu

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you.

Ask anyone what they actually love about Thanksgiving dinner and the answer is rarely the turkey. It is the corner of the plate where the stuffing meets the gravy, the crisp edge of the gratin, the spoonful of cranberry that wakes everything up. The sides are the meal. They are also the reason the oven is booked solid at 3 pm.

The fix is simple: cook most of them before Thanksgiving Day. This is your full plan, with ten make-ahead Thanksgiving side dishes, a complete dinner menu built around them, a printed menu card for the table and a timeline that starts three days out.

Why the sides are now the main event

Side dishes have quietly taken over the holiday. Campbell's State of the Sides, reported by the Associated Press last year, found that 63 percent of Americans would rather fill their plates with sides than with the bird. Food editors are seeing the same shift: classics are staying, but with bolder upgrades such as miso on Brussels sprouts, roasted garlic in the mashed potatoes and wild mushrooms in the stuffing.

Good news for the host: nearly all of these dishes improve with a head start. The one rule is to plan by oven space, not by recipe. Everything below either reheats on the stove, holds in a slow cooker or bakes during the hour the turkey rests.

The 10 make-ahead Thanksgiving side dishes

Each recipe serves 8 to 10 as part of a full spread. Assemble casseroles in a dish that can go straight from fridge to oven. A white HVH ceramic baking dish set looks good enough to go to the table, and a Pyrex Basics 3-pack with lids stacks neatly in a crowded fridge. Let cold glass sit out for 30 minutes before it goes into the oven, and reheat every dish until it is steaming hot, 165°F in the center.

1. Make-ahead mashed potatoes

You need: 5 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, 1 stick butter, 8 ounces cream cheese, 1 cup warm whole milk, salt.

Boil the peeled potatoes until tender, then press them through an OXO potato ricer for the smoothest texture. Beat in the butter, cream cheese and milk, then salt well. Chill up to one day. Reheat in a Crockpot Casserole Crock on low for about 2 to 3 hours with a splash of milk, stirring twice, and it stays warm through seconds.

2. Sausage and sage stuffing

You need: 1 large loaf crusty bread, 1 pound pork sausage, 2 onions, 4 celery stalks, 2 tablespoons chopped sage, 3 cups chicken stock, 2 eggs.

Cube and toast the bread up to three days ahead. Brown the sausage, soften the onions and celery in the fat, and combine with the bread and sage. Assemble up to two days ahead without the stock and eggs. On Thursday, whisk those together, fold them in and bake at 375°F for 40 minutes, until golden and crisp on top.

3. From-scratch green bean casserole

You need: 2 pounds green beans, 1 pound cremini mushrooms, 3 tablespoons each butter and flour, 2 cups half and half, crispy fried onions.

Blanch the beans for 3 minutes and shock them in ice water. Sauté the mushrooms in butter, stir in the flour, add the half and half and simmer until thick. Combine and refrigerate in a baking dish up to two days. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes, adding the onions for the last 5.

4. Pecan sweet potato casserole

You need: 4 pounds sweet potatoes, 4 tablespoons butter, 1/3 cup maple syrup, 2 eggs. For the topping: 1 cup pecans, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 4 tablespoons butter.

Roast the sweet potatoes until soft, mash with the butter, syrup and eggs, then spread into a dish. Chill up to three days. Rub the topping together, scatter it on just before baking and bake at 350°F for 35 minutes.

5. Gruyere potato gratin

You need: 4 pounds russet potatoes, 3 cups heavy cream, 3 garlic cloves, thyme, 2 cups grated Gruyere.

Slice the potatoes thin and simmer them in the cream with the garlic and thyme for 10 minutes. Layer in a buttered dish and bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, then chill up to three days. On Thursday, top with the cheese and bake at 375°F for 30 minutes, until bubbling and browned.

6. Savory corn pudding

You need: 4 cups corn kernels, 1 box corn muffin mix, 1 cup sour cream, 1 stick melted butter, 3 eggs, chopped chives.

Stir everything together and bake at 350°F for 35 minutes, pulling it while the center is just shy of set. Chill up to three days, then reheat, covered, at 350°F for 20 minutes.

7. Miso maple Brussels sprouts

You need: 2 pounds Brussels sprouts, 3 shallots, olive oil, 2 tablespoons white miso, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar.

Trim and halve the sprouts and slice the shallots up to two days ahead. Whisk the miso, syrup and vinegar and refrigerate. Roast the sprouts and shallots at 425°F for 25 minutes in the last stretch before dinner, then toss them with the glaze.

A white porcelain platter piled with caramelized miso glazed Brussels sprouts and crispy shallots, with a kale, apple and pomegranate salad blurred behind it

8. Kale and apple salad with pomegranate

You need: 2 bunches lacinato kale, 2 crisp apples, 1 cup pomegranate seeds, 1/2 cup toasted pecans, shaved Parmesan. For the dressing: 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon, 1 tablespoon honey.

Make the dressing up to four days ahead. Massage the sliced kale with half of it the morning of Thanksgiving, because kale holds up beautifully. Add the apples, seeds, nuts and cheese just before serving, in a big bowl with the rest of the dressing.

9. Orange cranberry sauce

You need: 12 ounces fresh cranberries, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 orange (zest and juice), 1/2 cup water, 1 cinnamon stick.

Simmer everything for 10 minutes, until most berries have burst. Remove the cinnamon and refrigerate up to one week. Serve cold or at room temperature.

10. Make-ahead turkey gravy

You need: 6 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup flour, 6 cups turkey or chicken stock, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, thyme.

Cook the butter and flour until nutty and golden, then whisk in the stock and simmer until glossy. Add the soy sauce for depth. Refrigerate up to three days and reheat on the stove, whisking in pan drippings on the day. Keep it warm and pour from a ceramic gravy boat with saucer, so the tablecloth survives dinner.

The full Thanksgiving dinner menu

Here is how those sides become one balanced dinner for 8 to 10, including a roast turkey at the center. For a smaller crowd, drop the gratin or the corn pudding.

To start: your favorite appetizers (the Thanksgiving appetizer board has the plan)

The main: Herb butter roast turkey with make-ahead turkey gravy

The potatoes and stuffing: Make-ahead mashed potatoes, Gruyere potato gratin, sausage and sage stuffing

The vegetables: From-scratch green bean casserole, miso maple Brussels sprouts, kale and apple salad with pomegranate

The sweet and savory: Pecan sweet potato casserole, savory corn pudding, orange cranberry sauce

Make the printed menu card

A printed menu card takes ten minutes and makes the table feel like a dinner party. Type the menu above in a simple serif font, centered, with your family name and the date at the top. Print on heavy cream cardstock, trim to about 4 by 6 inches and stand one at the center of the table in a brass place card holder, or one at every other setting. Mark vegetarian dishes and those with nuts for your guests.

A cream Thanksgiving menu card in a small brass holder on a set table with rust napkins, gold flatware, amber glasses, white pumpkins and taper candles in golden hour light

The cook-ahead timeline

Print this and tape it inside a cabinet door.

An overhead cook-ahead counter with a dish of sausage and sage stuffing surrounded by lidded glass casseroles, bread cubes, fresh sage, butter, celery and onions

One week out

Finalize the menu and print the menu cards
Shop for all pantry items
Make the cranberry sauce

Monday: three days out

Toast the bread cubes for the stuffing
Assemble the sweet potato casserole, without the topping
Bake and chill the corn pudding and the gratin
Make the gravy base and the salad dressing

Tuesday: two days out

Assemble the stuffing, without the stock and eggs
Assemble the green bean casserole
Trim the Brussels sprouts and whisk the glaze

Wednesday: one day out

Make the mashed potatoes
Set the table, lay out every serving dish and label each with a sticky note
Mix the pecan topping

Thursday: the day

Morning: massage the kale
Three hours before dinner: start the mashed potatoes in the slow cooker on low
About 75 minutes before dinner: take the turkey out once it reaches temperature and tent it to rest
During the rest: bake the stuffing, gratin, green beans, sweet potatoes and corn pudding in rotation
Last 30 minutes: roast the sprouts, reheat the gravy and dress the salad
Dinner: pour a glass and sit down

How to set up the side dish table

With this many dishes, the sideboard needs a plan. Run the food in the order people want to eat it: plates, turkey, potatoes and stuffing, vegetables, sweet dishes, then gravy and cranberry at the end, so nobody has to balance them on a loaded plate.

A candlelit Thanksgiving side dish buffet on a dark wood sideboard with casseroles on a warming tray, an enamel Dutch oven, a slow cooker of mashed potatoes and a gravy boat

Keep hot dishes hot with an electric warming tray down the center of the buffet. A Lodge Essential enamel Dutch oven keeps stuffing or corn pudding warm with its lid on.

Use a large Sweese porcelain platter for the sprouts, a matching gold serving utensil set so every dish has its own spoon and FINGERCRAFT rust cloth napkins to tie it all into a warm, fall palette. Add height with a cake stand, and tuck small pumpkins and rosemary between dishes.

Shop the edit

One last thing

The best Thanksgiving hosts are the ones who actually sit down. Do a little each day and trust the timeline. If you are hosting friends earlier in the season, the same approach works on a smaller scale: start with our one-day Friendsgiving timeline.

Prices change often, so check the current price on Amazon before you buy.