Thanksgiving Vegetable Side Dishes

You can’t have Thanksgiving dinner without a few familiar vegetable dishes. Friends and family wait all year for candied yams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.

You can’t have Thanksgiving dinner without a few familiar vegetable dishes. Friends and family wait all year for candied yams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. But trying something different doesn’t mean letting anyone down. There are so many veggies to choose from this time of year, so finding a new, seasonal vegetable side dish idea is easy!

Here are a few vegetable side ideas that you probably didn’t think of:

Garden Salad
We serve salad with so many dinners all year, but somehow it doesn’t make the cut for Thanksgiving dinner. Break the trend. A bed of mixed greens is a perfect canvas for fall color, in the way of heirloom tomatoes, apples, carrots, oranges, raisins or mixed nuts.

Beets
Beets are sweet and delicious when prepared correctly. Skip the can, and use fresh beets from your garden! Try sauteing sliced beets in a few tablespoons of butter, or saute in oil and drizzle with a balsamic vinaigrette.

Cabbage
Cabbage is another winter vegetable that doesn’t get the credit it deserves. A nice fall preparation for your Thanksgiving feast includes sliced apples. Cook cabbage, chopped apples and cloves for a few minutes in melted butter. Add vegetable stock or white wine and cook until the cabbage is tender and the apples have disintegrated. Stir in a little apricot jam and lemon juice just before serving.

Onions
Onions can finally take center stage when served stuffed. Boil onions until tender and remove the centers. Fill with a sausage stuffing and bake until the top of the filling browns. Not only will the onion make an interesting container, it will add more flavor to its contents!

Feel free to share any of your unique vegetable side dish recipes below!