Easy Thanksgiving Recipes – Desserts & Sides

These Easy Thanksgiving recipes will be the perfect accompaniment to your Thanksgiving meal. Simple recipes that will entice meat-eaters, vegetarians, and everyone in between. From simple healthy salads, to butternut squash, mashed sweet potatoes, to a gluten-free berry crisp. There is something for everyone at your gathering to enjoy!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, and it’s not just because of all of the incredible food we get to eat. Although that is a huge bonus!

My favorite things about Thanksgiving

• The Family gathered together to enjoy incredibly delicious food.
• Riveting conversations of how thankful we all are for all we have.
• Drinking good wine and laughing while the kids perform yet another skit they came up with for all of the adults.
• Post-meal walk in the crisp fall air.
• Evening drinks by the fire while we watch Christmas movies to get us ready for the season ahead.
• Thanksgiving side dish recipes, haha. I am all about the side dishes on this great holiday!

It’s a pretty perfect scene and one that happens every year in our family, usually at my house. No real shocker there, haha!

The exact reason why I am bringing you my top Easy Thanksgiving Recipes that are super simple, enjoyable additions that you can serve with your Thanksgiving meal. These can all be made ahead, the day of, or even the day after Thanksgiving.

Your family and friends will love all of these recipes that will entice meat, eaters, vegetarians, and everyone in between.

I recommend trying to just pick a few since making too much will just stress you out and nobody wants that. Even though you will likely want to make them all.

Fall Salads

Easy Kale Salad With Lemon Dressing

To make it more appropriate for fall you can swap the golden raisins with dried cranberries and change up the lemon dressing with the juice and zest of an orange. Options are a girl’s best friend right?

Roasted Beets and Butternut Squash Salad

Spicy arugula, roasted butternut squash and beets mixed with crunchy walnuts, and creamy goat cheese. All drizzled with an incredible Orange Vinaigrette dressing!

Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad With Lemon Shallot Vinaigrette

Crunchy, tangy, slightly sweet, and full of vibrant, fresh ingredients. This Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad will be your new favorite salad! Super simple to make, no cooking required and it’s gluten-free and easily adaptable for almost any dietary needs.

Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad

Colorful, crunchy, packed with flavor and so good, you will want to eat it every day! Fluffy pasta, tart crisp apples, and pears nestled in a bed of dark leafy kale and Brussel sprouts and topped with nuts and feta cheese. Dressed all up with olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and honey.

Autumn Chopped Kale Salad With Quinoa

Hearty green kale mixed with fluffy quinoa, brussel sprouts, crisp apples, tart pomegranate seeds, shaved red onion, and walnuts all tossed in a tangy, slightly sweet dijon mustard vinaigrette dressing. 

Simple Kale and Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Hearty kale, crunchy pecans, tart dried cranberries, quinoa, goat cheese, and amazing crispy, roasted sweet potatoes. Topped with a delicious mustard vinaigrette dressing.

Autumn soups

Spicy Instant Pot Sweet Potato Soup

Soft, tender sweet potatoes, warm cinnamon, paprika, and spicy chipotle pepper sauce, cooked perfectly in the instant pot. Finished off with creamy coconut milk and topped with red pepper flakes and fresh herbs. Vegan and gluten-free!

Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

This simple roasted butternut squash soup is both vegan and gluten-free, can be made in only a few easy steps and is a comforting soup the whole family will enjoy!

Instant Pot Lemony Lentil Soup

Hearty lentils, warm spices like cumin, garlic, and oregano simmered in a bed of vegetable broth and topped with fresh lemon juice and herbs. An Instant Pot Soup recipe that you need to try! Stores great and it’s ready in less than 30 minutes! Vegan and Gluten-Free!

Veggies and Pasta Dishes

Instant Pot Butternut Squash Mac And Cheese

Something for the kids! Smooth, creamy, decadent, and comforting just like traditional Mac and cheese but a little lighter. Only a few ingredients and it comes together in less than 10 minutes!

Butternut Squash Noodles Bowl

Delicious, low-carb butternut squash noodles combined with chickpeas, tangy dried cranberries, crunchy, toasted walnuts, garlic, and onions. Cooked until soft and buttery and topped with lime, cilantro, and red pepper flakes. Vegan, gluten-free, and ready in less than 20 minutes!

Easy Ranch Roasted Carrots

Ranch seasoned, perfectly roasted nutritious carrots that kids and adults alike with LOVE! Perfect side dish or just for healthy snacking. Vegetarian and Gluten-Free!!!! One of the best easy thanksgiving recipes.

Roasted Mediterranean Sweet Potatoes With Quinoa

Tender roasted sweet potatoes filled with fluffy quinoa, tangy sun-dried tomatoes, crispy red onion, hearty sautéed kale, and salty and creamy feta cheese. Top it off with a basil cucumber sauce, and it is the perfect meal all in one cute little package.

Roasted Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice With Chickpeas

Fluffy riced cauliflower, roasted in the oven and mixed with salty olives and feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, and fresh parsley. All generously drizzled with fresh lemon juice and olive oil. 20 minutes to make, gluten-free, low-carb, and delicious!

Vegetarian Stuffed Acorn Squash

Vegetarian stuffed acorn squash is a quick and healthy main dish you can make for a fun weeknight dinner any day of the week. Packed with simple ingredients, only a few easy steps to pull together, plus it’s already gluten-free and easily adaptable for any diet.

Healthy Butternut Squash Lasagna With Spinach

Hearty, roasted butternut squash nestled between layers of lasagna noodles, tender cooked spinach, and cheesy sauce. Less dairy than traditional lasagna but still all of that creamy goodness. Only 300 calories per serving, and one of the easiest recipes you will find for lasagna!

The Best Mashed Butternut Squash

Here is the BEST Mashed Butternut Squash recipe ever! Fluffy, perfectly roasted butternut squash, that comes out so creamy and buttery, finished off with fresh chives. Easy to make, and it’s both vegan and gluten-free!

The Best Instant Pot Mashed Sweet Potatoes

These Instant Pot Mashed Sweet Potatoes make a perfect sweet and savory healthy side dish for dinner any day of the week! They are both vegan and gluten-free and require only a few ingredients and 10 minutes to make!

Dessert

Healthy Gluten-Free Berry Crisp

Delicious Healthy Berry Crisp with three types of berries – blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. All combined into a sweet bright filling topped with the most incredible crumbly oat topping. Easy healthy dessert recipe anyone can make, plus its gluten-free and refined sugar free!

Gluten-Free Apple Pear Crisp

Crisp, sweet apples and pears mixed with brown sugar and cinnamon. Topped with a gluten-free walnut oat crumble that is so good you could eat it all by itself! A super easy recipe that is a sweet treat the whole family will go crazy for!

Healthy Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are a healthier yet still crazy delicious version of your favorite classic cookies, slightly crispy on the outside but oh so chewy on the inside. This is a cookie recipe you don’t want to miss!

Healthy Fudgy Brownies (Gluten-Free)

Healthy fudgy brownies! Decadent chocolate flavor, hints of peanut butter, fudgy, cakey and the perfect dessert that is low-fat, low-sugar and gluten-free!!! The easiest healthy dessert!

Have a happy Thanksgiving and I hope you and your family enjoy all of these amazing recipes!