Side Dishes to Make While the Turkey's Cooking

By Food & Wine
Updated March 08, 2017
Credit: © Quentin Bacon
From fresh, zingy cranberry sauce to creamy mustard greens, these Thanksgiving side dishes will bring color and flavor to your holiday table.
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Grill-Roasted Vegetables with Pine Nut Pesto

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Quintessential fall vegetables—brussels sprouts, parsnips, butternut squash and carrots—get cooked on the grill, then tossed in a cheesy pine nut pesto.

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Green Salad with Nutty Vinaigrette

Credit: © John Kernick
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This simple salad has a nicely nutty dressing made with both walnut and hazelnut oils.

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Smoky Seafood Cocktails

Credit: © Frances Janisch
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Here, Grace Parisi revamps the classic shrimp-cocktail recipe by including scallops and stone-crab claws, then tweaks the cocktail sauce by replacing the ketchup with bottled chile sauce and seasoning it with hot pimentón de la Vera and prepared horseradish.

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Port-Cranberry Sauce

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This citrusy fresh cranberry sauce gets a deep undertone with the addition of port.

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Whipped Yukon Gold Potatoes

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These potatoes from Thomas Keller have a wonderfully fluffy texture because they're passed through a ricer or food mill to make them especially airy. But they're also nicely rich, thanks to generous amounts of butter and heavy cream.

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Creamy Mustard Greens with Fried Shallots

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Crisp fried shallots are a terrific contrast to creamy greens, especially when they're stirred in and sprinkled on top.

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Sautéed Carrots with Lemon and Marjoram

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Lemon juice and garlic balance sweet sautéed carrots flavored with fresh marjoram. A simple yet exceptional side dish, it goes equally well alongside meat, fish, or poultry.

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Arugula-Fennel Salad

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Eugenia Bone, author and prolific home cook, serves this simple green salad with a cheese plate and plenty of rustic bread. She always includes Taleggio and aged Parmigiano-Reggiano, as well as fresh imported sheep's-milk ricotta whenever she can find it at the market.

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Braised Kale

Credit: © Quentin Bacon
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This easy kale recipe—a simple braise of olive oil, garlic and chicken stock—is a terrific counterpoint to all of the rich Southern-style dishes at chef John Besh's table.

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