16 Classic Thanksgiving Foods, Ranked from Foul to Festive by a Food Editor

It’s nice to have something green on the table, but there’s no world in which this dish outshines the rest. Raw vegetables are at the bottom of everyone’s to-eat list on Thanksgiving (although I respect the urge to provide your relatives with a bit of roughage). And even if you serve it warm, gravy alone is more exciting. If you insist on a fall salad, opt for a board over a bowl for easy serving and chic presentation.

• Try It Anyway: Prosciutto and Fig Salad Board

It may be the centerpiece of every picture-perfect Thanksgiving table, but turkey often feels obligatory rather than exciting. Plus, it can be a pain to cook a whole bird (especially for a just few people who could be fed with a turkey breast or legs instead), and you’ll likely be stuck with tons of leftovers that you’ll dread eating in a day or two. (How many cold turkey sammies can a girl eat?!) I won’t blame you if you opt for lamb, chicken or steak instead, but in case you’re a purist…

• Try It Anyway: Slow Cooker Turkey Breast with Orange and Herbs

Fine, I’ll admit it: I’m not a green bean girl. The best part of this old-school casserole is the crispy onions on top (you know, the store-bought French’s kind), and I personally wouldn’t go through the work of fancifying this dish—say, by making the mushroom cream from scratch or frying a bunch of shallots—to make it more appealing. However, wrapping the goods in flaky pie crust is enticing...

• Try It Anyway: Green Bean Casserole Galette

Gravy is an essential Thanksgiving food, but I feel like it’s often used to mask the shortcomings of the rest of the menu. If you need to douse the mashed potatoes in salty meat drippings for them to be flavorful, or drown your turkey, dinner rolls or biscuits to negate their dryness, it insults the gravy *and* emphasizes the weak spots of the meal. However, since it needs to be there, prepare it in advance so you have one less thing to do on feast day. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

• Try It Anyway: Make-Ahead Vegetarian Gravy

Butternut gang, please forgive me. Squash is tasty and all; I’m just more moved by creative applications than I am by squash itself. For instance, I prefer pizza with butternut squash sauce over a squash boat filled with quinoa. Give me crispy, breaded delicata squash rings or butternut squash carbonara—not roasted chunks of gourd. That said, I wouldn’t mind seeing the herb-kissed, honey butter-drenched number below on my plate one bit.

• Try It Anyway: Hasselback Butternut Squash

It varies from cornbread to cornbread, but it’s too often that this side dish is crumbly, dry, mealy and/or grainy. If it’s moist and doesn’t fall apart when I drag it through my mashed potatoes, we’re in business. If not, I’ll pass (and start looking for the biscuits).

• Try It Anyway: Cast Iron Cornbread

I’ve taken a lot of flak for it over the years, but I’m such a sucker for sweet spuds in warm-spiced syrup, topped with toasted marshmallows. No one should be too good for this kitschy, nostalgic pairing, because it’s timeless and works for a reason. (And if you hate it just because, you might be a food snob!) I’m partial to the potatoes being in pieces rather than mashed, but there’s no wrong way to serve this beaut, if you ask me.

• Try It: Sweet Potato Casserole

PSA: There’s nothing wrong with apple pie. There are just more exciting pies to choose from at this time of year. If you have picky kids at the function, it’s an easy win (especially when paired with vanilla ice cream, but you knew that already). If you aren’t at the beck and call of a few teeny-tiny food critics who always manage to get their own table, I implore you to give another dessert some love. Or better yet, serve two.

• Try It: Mini Mason Jar Apple Pies

It’s arguably not Thanksgiving without them…but I’m typically more psyched about the rest of the menu. I see them as respite from the bolder, more savory items on the plate. But even so, the ideal mashed potatoes are totally subjective.

Some like them purée-level smooth, some like them lumpy. Some prefer red potatoes to yellow or white. You can make them tangy and salty with sour cream and cream cheese, or opt for a plainer, onion-and-garlic situation. My point is that no one is going to turn down spuds, but it’s hard to make them in a way that wows everyone equally. However, I *do* love that they can be prepared in advance (or in 20 minutes…or in the microwave).

• Try It: Make-Ahead Mashed Potatoes

Of all the standard Thanksgiving bread options, nothing beats a fluffy, buttery, flaky biscuit. Even if you start with canned dough, the texture and flavor are unmatched. I always start my feast with one slathered in butter, then I use another one (or three…) as a spoon or dunking tool of sorts for everything else on my plate. And you know if there are leftovers, I’m using them as bookends for Thanksgiving sandwiches.

• Try It: Sprightly Biscuits

Since I was a kid, I’ve always been the only one at the table going absolutely ham on the cranberry sauce. No matter how it’s served, this sour, colorful accompaniment pairs beautifully with every core menu component. It brightens up humdrum poultry, complements charred steak and cuts through the gamy notes of lamb. It pairs just as well with mashed potatoes as it does roasted carrots, herby stuffing and buttery breads of all kinds. Make it for me fresh with whole cranberries and citrus or give it to me in slabs, adorned with indents from a can—either way, I’m devouring it.

• Try It: 5-Ingredient Red-Wine Cranberry Sauce

I need to know who Brussels’ PR rep is, because I’ve never seen a rebrand quite this successful. Once known as one of the most detestable vegetables known to man, sprouts are now beloved by The People. (Is it just me, or is there some kind of charred, chili crisp-topped iteration at every fancy brewery and gastropub nowadays? And is their glam team also responsible for cauliflower’s, cabbage’s and mushrooms’ glow-ups?) Their deliciousness is fully dependent on how they’re cooked, but I’d say bacon fat is a foolproof starting point.

• Try It: Smashed Brussels Sprouts

She’s the It Girl of Thanksgiving dinner for a reason. Creamy, warm-spiced and begging for its Instagram closeup, pumpkin pie epitomizes everything folks love about fall baking. Even your conflict-averse aunties (and conflict-loving sisters) will come to near blows over the last slice. That said, the custard filling can be a bit fussy to prepare, but no one’s going to complain if you opt for a store-bought pumpkin pie instead. Just have whipped cream at the ready, OK?

• Try It: Pumpkin Pie with Cinnamon Roll Crust

ICYMI, stuffing is stuffed in the cavity of a turkey (or another animal) and cooked, while dressing is a general term for a type of seasoning or sauce that goes with food. Some sources say they’re the same thing, but stuffing is cooked in the bird and dressing isn’t. Po-ta-to, po-tah-to, right? Whatever you call this side, I’m eating at least three helpings of it, especially if it’s studded with bits of Italian sausage and teeming with fresh thyme. I know I kinda talked s*** about cornbread earlier, but this classic Thanksgiving food is one use for it that I’ll devour with gusto.

• Try It: Julia Turshen’s Sheet Pan Stuffing with Sausage and Spinach

Odds are you have the boxed kind on the regular. But there’s something about a baked, over-the-top mac and cheese that feels celebratory and special. IMO, it all comes down to the quality and diversity of the cheeses (a mix of melty, creamy and a little pungent, if you ask me) and the noodles not being overcooked. If you splurge on the good stuff and keep the texture al dente, this baked pasta is sure to steal the show. (I like mine with a generous dose of Louisiana-style hot sauce and a side of smoky, meaty collard greens, in case you’re wondering.)

• Try It: Mac and Cheese with Crispy Parmesan-Phyllo Crust

She is beauty, she is grace, she’s my favorite classic Thanksgiving food of all time. The marriage of rich, sticky, sweet filling and crunchy, toasty nuts makes my taste buds short-circuit in the best way, year after year. Eat it hot, eat it at room temp, eat it cold like a starved subway rat by the light of the fridge. There are countless ways to make pecan pie (black bottom for chocolate lovers, maple syrup instead of old-school corn syrup, infused with bourbon for a bit of razzle-dazzle), and I love them all. Pumpkin pie stans, don’t @ me—this is not your year.

• Try It: Maple Pecan Pie