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My ideal Thanksgiving dinner is all about keeping things simple, affordable, and realistic. Not everyone wants to spend the entire day in the kitchen, or start cooking days before the big meal.
I love a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, but I don’t think you need every possible side dish to make it feel special. Give me the easy favorites like dinner rolls and mashed potatoes, add a few more good sides, and I’m happy.
Budget matters too. You don’t have to make everything under the sun to put together a holiday meal your family will love.
If you want more options, including complete menus, budget ideas, sides, desserts, and leftover recipes, check out my Easy Thanksgiving Recipes guide. It’s a great place to mix and match ideas based on your budget, time, and the kind of Thanksgiving dinner you want to make.
The Best Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes (Made Easy):
Side dishes:
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Difficulty: EasyI love making Homemade Cranberry Sauce to add to my Thanksgiving spread. It’s so delicious and fresh and takes almost no effort to make.
Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing
Difficulty: Easy
Easy One Hour Dinner Rolls
Difficulty: EasyThese One Hour Dinner Rolls are super soft and pillowy and can be made from start to finish in under 60 minutes.
Baked Mac and Cheese
Difficulty: Easy, MediumThis delicious Baked Mac and Cheese is such a tasty mix of cheeses in the perfectly creamy cheese sauce to make the ultimate comfort food.
Main entree:
Juicy Slow Cooker Turkey with Mashed Potatoes
Difficulty: EasyJuicy slow cooker turkey breast with creamy mashed potatoes and homemade gravy to make the best home-cooked meal for the family.
Dessert:
Pumpkin Pie Bars
Difficulty: EasyTraditional pumpkin pie but make it into a bar — pumpkin pie bars. The best buttery crust with a creamy pumpkin filling!
More to add to Thanksgiving Dinner:
Obviously, these are not the only recipes you can make for your Thanksgiving dinner. However, it does cover all the delicious basics.
Plus, when it is just me and my family, I know we will all enjoy these easy Thanksgiving dinner recipes.
If you want more ideas of what to serve at your holiday table, give these other recipes a try. Sometimes, it’s great to have options if you plan to serve a crowd.
Deviled Egg Pasta Salad
Difficulty: EasyDeviled Egg Pasta Salad is a crossover of two of my favorite side dishes.
Southern Sweet Potato Casserole
Difficulty: Easy
Apple Cranberry Christmas Dump cake
Difficulty: EasyThe best Fall dump cake recipe — Apple Cranberry Christmas Dump Cake has the best combination of apple pie and cranberry sauce flavors!
Pumpkin Crumble Dump Cake
Difficulty: EasyThe best fall recipe, pumpkin dump cake! It will give you all the pumpkin pie spice vibes, in the form of an easy cake recipe.
Either way, no matter what you make this holiday season, the best thing you can do is try not to stress and let the meals be the added benefit to the time spent with family and friends.
So excited to try these recipes this year! Thank you!