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Are you looking for Thanksgiving menu ideas? Let’s face it. There is no Thanksgiving without food! Well, you could go with the tried and tested Thanksgiving classics like mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Perhaps you want to spice things up this year and try a different variation, like adding veggies.
Whatever you decide to prepare, the main goal is to make the meal as tasty as possible. After all, Thanksgiving only comes once a year. And no, we do not count the days you stuff your face with leftovers. Here, we will explore some of the best thanksgiving menu ideas to serve your friends and family.
Part 1: Use Free Printable Thanksgiving Card Templates
Before we delve into the thanksgiving menu ideas, let’s go back in time and look briefly into Thanksgiving history. Now, the Puritans of England are believed to have started the popular tradition of Thanksgiving. They commemorated special events by hosting prayers and refraining from food.
Early records do not indicate the people sharing a meal or feasting during the auspicious day. However, things changed in December 1621 when Edward Winslow, the Governor of the Plymouth Colony, organized a feast to be shared between his people and the local Wampanoag community.
The feast lasted for three (3) days! Governor Edward instructed four (4) men to provide enough fowl to feed the entire colony for a week. Hunters from the local community also killed and slaughtered five deer to be eaten during the feast.
Today, Thanksgiving dinner is the most important eating holiday. The average American consumes nearly three thousand calories in one sitting. Thanksgiving Dinner, also known as Turkey Dinner, falls on the 24th of November every year.
Part 2: 10 Best Thanksgiving Menu Ideas
Even if you don’t know why you ought to celebrate Thanksgiving, at least you know your taste buds will be in for a treat. Fortunately, you now understand the origins of this auspicious event. Let’s get into the fun part and discuss the ten (10) best thanksgiving dinner menu ideas to wow your friends, family, and guests on Thanksgiving day.
1. Traditional Thanksgiving Menu
A traditional thanksgiving menu includes classic dishes, such as gravy, turkey, stuffing, veggies, potatoes, and pie.
Here is a list of several dishes you can find at a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.
Main course: Roast turkey is the quintessential dish in a classic Thanksgiving dinner.
Side dishes: One key side dish you could include in the menu is cornbread sausage stuffing.
Desserts: For dessert, you can serve the traditional pumpkin pie.
Beverages: You could include apple cider mojitos and cranberry pear ginger fizz in your traditional Thanksgiving dinner menu.
2. Soul Food Thanksgiving Menu Ideas
The soul food thanksgiving menu stems from African-American origins and contains lots of seasoning and flavor. It is as if the chef placed their entire heart and soul into the meal as they prepared it.
Main course: The main dish in a soul food Thanksgiving dinner is turkey with fresh-herb rubs.
Side dishes: Examples of side dishes you could prepare include bourbon-pecan stuffing, creamy Brussels sprouts, and classic buttermilk biscuits.
Desserts: The mallow-praline sweet potato pie is an excellent dessert to serve your guests after they have enjoyed the meals above.
Beverages: You could serve your guests red Hibiscus-aid to wash down the food during dinner.
3. Easy And Simple Thanksgiving Menu
This easy and simple thanksgiving menu idea is straightforward, making cooking a breeze without compromising the taste and flavor of the food.
Main course: You could slow-cook a garlic herb turkey breast for the main dish.
Side dishes: Scrumptious side dishes that could accompany the turkey breast include mashed potatoes, wild rice salad, and creamy corn casseroles.
Desserts: A popular dessert treat you could include in your menu is pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting.
Beverages: You could serve your guests an apple cider mimosa.
4. Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Menu
The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving was named after a popular animated television show aired on CBS network in November 1973. This show was written by Charles M. Shultz and won an Emmy Award the year it hit mainstream media.
Main course: Since a charlie brown Thanksgiving menu revolves around hurriedly preparing a meal for guests, you could serve a quick main dish of buttered toast.
Side dishes: You could serve cheese, crackers, and nuts to accompany the main dish.
Desserts: A popular dessert in the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving dinner is a handful of movie-style popcorn.
Beverages: The ideal beverage to serve your guests would be an orange fruit punch.
5. Southern Thanksgiving Dinner Menu
Southern Thanksgiving dinners are the embodiment of the cultural stereotype that we associate with the Southern United States. You can’t miss the presence of ingredients like cheddar, pecan pie, and okra.
Main course: A must-have main dish in the Southern Thanksgiving dinner is bacon-wrapped turkey.
Side dishes: A typical side dish to accompany the main meal is hushpuppies.
Desserts: An excellent dessert dish you could prepare is chocolate pecan pie.
Beverages: Bourbon-based cocktails are a staple in Southern Thanksgiving dinners.
6. Vegetarian Thanksgiving Menu
As the name suggests, vegetarian thanksgiving menus are meatless. However, the delicacies are loaded with protein and other fall recipes that compensate for the lack of meat that we have become accustomed to every Thanksgiving.
Main course: An appropriate main dish would be mushroom-sweet potato moussaka.
Side dishes: Some excellent side dishes you could serve include Thai peanut squash soup and cinnamon-spiced Brussels sprouts.
Desserts: It would be best to serve poached pears with vegan ice cream.
Beverages: Pomegranate cider sangria is the best drink to serve at a veggie Thanksgiving dinner.
7. Budget-Friendly Thanksgiving Menu
Thanksgiving can be costly, considering all the ingredients you need to buy. Fortunately, this budget-friendly Thanksgiving menu can ease the burden on your pockets.
Main course: For the main dish, you could serve roasted chicken over vegetables instead of turkey.
Side dishes: An appropriate budget-friendly side dish you could serve on Thanksgiving would be hot spinach and artichoke dip.
Desserts: The subtle sweetness of cornbread will complement the roasted chicken and won’t hurt your pockets.
Beverages: A great example of a cost-effective Thanksgiving beverage you could serve your guests is an apple raspberry sangria.
8. Spicy Thanksgiving Dinner Menu
This spicy Thanksgiving menu is characterized by ingredients that set your taste buds aflame and require you to have a glass of water nearby. If you can’t take the heat, you had better steer clear.
Main course: For the main dish, you could serve a roast stuffed turkey with mole Colorado.
Side dishes: An appropriate side dish for a spicy Thanksgiving dinner would be spicy scalloped sweet potatoes.
Desserts: It would be great to serve your guests chipotle-cream cheese pumpkin pie.
Beverages: White hot chocolate would suffice in this type of menu.
9. Asian And Chinese Thanksgiving Menu Ideas
Even though Thanksgiving is primarily an American and Canadian holiday, Asians have not been left behind. Asian and Chinese Thanksgiving menus are characterized by cooking in advance or passive cooking, like placing a dish in the oven for an extended period.
Main course: You could serve Hong Kong poached chicken as the main dish.
Side dishes: An excellent side dish for your menu is oven-roasted broccoli.
Desserts: For dessert, you could serve pumpkin cake.
Beverages: You could serve your guests some delicious Asian pear sparklers.
10. Healthy Thanksgiving Menu Ideas
Thanksgiving is associated with the consumption of many unnecessary calories. This recipe is one of the best thanksgiving menus if you are trying to eat clean this year:
Main course: For the main dish, you could serve air fryer turkey breast.
Side dishes: A healthy side dish would be mashed sweet potatoes.
Desserts: It would be best to serve mini apple pies for dessert, which are also excellent for portion control.
Beverages: If you are edging towards a healthy Thanksgiving dinner, it would be great to serve non-alcoholic drinks like a ginger-cranberry sparkler.
Part 3: Printable Thanksgiving Menu
By now, you have some Thanksgiving dinner menu ideas you could use. Well, you could spice things up further by placing a menu on the table to let your guests know what awaits. Yes, you can create a wonderful bespoke menu to wow your guests!
The best place to start is to design a Thanksgiving menu. However, you might not have the skill and the time to design a good menu. Fortunately, Wondershare PDFelement has some sumptuous Thanksgiving menu templates to make your work easier.
You can also choose the one that tickles your fancy without the hustle of designing from scratch. Once you create your printable menu, you can even send your friends and family a digital copy just to entice them!
Conclusion
In a nutshell, Thanksgiving day is a happy event that brings friends and family together. The food is to die for and probably the most enjoyable part of the day. However, as you celebrate Thanksgiving and indulge in tasty treats, don’t forget the true meaning of the occasion.
A thankful attitude is paramount if you want to thrive in life. You can never be happy if you are always looking for the negatives. We hope you have learned a thing or two about some of the best food you can prepare during Thanksgiving to make the dinner table as colorful and delicious as possible!