Thanksgiving is often a stressful time, but this year, it doesn’t have to be. Whether you’re hosting family and friends or just need to prep a side to bring along, these 17 recipes can be made ahead to take some weight off your shoulders the day of. The classics all make an appearance, from potatoes and gravy to stuffing and cranberry sauce, so you’ll be covered.
1. Sausage, Sage, and Cornbread Stuffing
“The cornbread for this recipe can be prepared several days ahead, and the stuffing itself can be prepared up to 3 days in advance.” —Elizabeth Stark, Simply Recipes Contributor
2. Perfect Mashed Potatoes
Simply Recipes / Photo by Andrew Bui / Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne
“For the very best mashed potatoes, start cooking the potatoes in cold water: This ensures that the potatoes cook evenly. Otherwise, if you start with hot or boiling water, the outsides of the potatoes cook and soften while the middles are still hard and crunchy.” —Elise Bauer, Simply Recipes Founder
3. Cranberry Relish
“You can use either a grinder (an old fashioned one or a KitchenAid attachment) or a food processor to grind up the relish. We prefer using a grinder to a food processor because a grinder does a better job smooshing the cranberries, orange, and apples together while it cuts them up. But either way will work.” —Elise
4. Sweet Potato Casserole With Pecans
“We often call both yams and sweet potatoes yams, but they are not interchangeable. A true yam will not work well in this recipe because its texture is not the same and it is not sweet.” —Lisa Lin, Simply Recipes Contributor
5. Vegan Mushroom Stuffing
Simply Recipes / Ciara Kehoe
“I call for mixed mushrooms in the recipe, meaning a mix of your favorites (think button, cremini, portobello, chanterelle, oyster, maitake, beech, or shitake). If you’d prefer to use one type, I recommend button or cremini.” —Devan Grimsrud, Simply Recipes Contributor
6. Corn Soufflé
Simply Recipes / Photo by Julia Gartland / Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne
“While frozen bags of corn are my go-to, you could also use canned corn or even fresh corn if you prefer it. Either way, the procedure is exactly the same.” —Stephanie Ganz, Simply Recipes Contributor
7. Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy
“You can refrigerate this gravy for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 4 months.” —Sally Vargas, Simply Recipes Contributor
8. Kimchi Stuffing
“If you don’t have time to make homemade kimchi, you can always get a jar from the store. Any brand will do, since you’re going to cook it with all the other good stuff, like nuts, vegetables, and seasoning.” —Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee, Simply Recipes Contributor
9. Cranberry Sauce
Simply Recipes / Annika Panikker
“I use apple juice, brown sugar and peeled and diced apple. I add the apple when I add the cranberries. It is less tart than regular cranberry sauce, but not too sweet. It is a great balance.” —Jennifer, Simply Recipes Reader
10. Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
“I’ve included a few cloves of garlic in my mashed potatoes — they soften up and you can mash them right in. Four cloves might sound like a lot, but potatoes are such a blank slate, so this gives the whole dish a nice garlicky flavor. You can skip it if you want, though.” —Coco Morante, Simply Recipes Contributor
11. Green Bean Casserole from Scratch
“We don’t suggest swapping this cream sauce for canned cream sauce. The casserole just isn’t as good!” —Megan Keno, Simply Recipes Contributor
12. Wild Rice Salad with Cranberries and Pecans
“For this recipe, you can use brown rice, wild rice (not really a rice at all), or a combination of the two.” —Elise
13. Thanksgiving Stuffing with Sausage and Apples
“I prefer to use a one-pound ground country or breakfast sausage rather than, say, Italian sausage. I also tend to use turkey sausage just because it’s a little leaner, but really, you can use whatever you prefer.” —Summer Miller, Simply Recipes Contributor
14. Potatoes Au Gratin
Simply Recipes / Sally Vargas
“To prep the potatoes, peel them (or don’t if you want a more rustic dish) and slice them thinly (approximately 1/8-inch) with a knife, a mandoline, or the easiest by far, the 4mm slicing disk of your food processor. The slices don’t have to be perfect since a golden layer of cheesy breadcrumbs blankets them, but for the best results, they should be of the same thickness so they cook evenly.” —Sally
15. Brandied Cranberries
“I made this for Thanksgiving to serve with red-wine braised turkey thighs – they were a big hit. I’m serving them on Christmas eve with Tourtiere. I use Grand Marnier and the flavor is great.” —Debbie, Simply Recipes Reader
16. Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake
“The hardest part of this recipe is cutting up the butternut squash (see our how-to on cutting butternut squash). After that, all you have to do is toss everything in a casserole and bake it in the oven for an hour.” —Elise
17. Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes
“If you don’t have a fresh orange for the zest, you can stir in a little orange juice instead.” —Elise
