Showstopper Vegetable Thanksgiving Dishes

Plantsgiving: Let's Stop Calling Them "Sides"

Heather Ramsdell,
Senior Editorial Director

For me, the turkey phase of this holiday program is now complete.

•	If you can cook a chicken, you can cook a turkey. Practice this weekend.
•	Start thawing frozen turkeys five days ahead of time.
•	Buy and obey your meat thermometer.
•	Stop cooking at 158, and let the breast get to 165 and not hotter.

Now it's time to get to the real meat of this feast: the plants. Oh, there will be a turkey. I'm thankful for the turkey, but I'm genuinely dazzled by and in love with all of the plant-based dishes. I find everything, from the planning to the shopping and cooking of these dishes, super exciting. It makes me feel free. I want to share this feeling with you. I want this year's feast to be a beautiful, delicious, pleasing combination of the old and the new, and I hope the same for you.

First of all, let's stop calling them "sides." These big, colorful, bright, grand vegetables of autumn belong smack in the middle of the table. And since there's room for several different plant-based dishes there, plan to create a spectrum with at least three different colors, three different shapes, and (for logistical and textural reasons) a combination of raw, stovetop, roasted dishes.

Consider: green beans, beets, cauliflower, squash, sweet potatoes, red cabbage, corn, and all of the herbs. My crew will call for some of the regional American favorites, but I'll be roasting a whole head of cauliflower, stuffing a mound of whole mushrooms, making crispy Brussels sprouts, and mashing a pile of the creamiest potatoes smothered by a deeply umami-fied mushroom gravy.

To my second Thanksgiving of 2021, I'll bring a huge stack of sweet potatoes topped with a hill of fresh basil, cilantro, mint, jalapeno, garlic, shallots and lime. I'll make a bowl of scented kabocha, and an extra-large tray of cheesy, easy, crunchy-on-top and gooey-in-the-middle mac and cheese. Cheese is not a vegetable, but wheat is.

*Because I'm a food editor, I've have had enough thawing, roasting, spatchcocking, crunchy coating and deep-frying of turkey, with subsequent sandwiching, stewing, stockmaking and repurposing, and I'm already too full of delicious, deeply golden skin, the sweetly toasty smell, their incredibly moist and tender white meat, and soft, rich thighs. I'm excited for you but I'm moving on.

What to Make This Week

Roasted Garlic and Caramelized Onion Potato Galette

Roasted Caramelized Onion Potato Galette

An irresistibly crispy tart that tastes even better than it looks.

Get the Recipe

A Fabulous Creamy Sweet Potato Risotto Recipe

The most fabulous Thanksgiving risotto we've ever made.

Get the Recipe

Vegetarian Mushroom Gravy

You'll never want to use store-bought gravy again.

Get the Recipe

Homemade Cream-Style Corn

We're making this one with fresh corn scraped from the cobs.

Get the Recipe

The Spruce Eats on YouTube

9 Super Tasty Thanksgiving Sides to Try This Holiday Season

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