Easy Thanksgiving Dinner recipes for beginner cooks
Are you a newbie cook looking for Thanksgiving dinner recipes? Then this article is definitely for you! As exciting as it sounds to cook for your loved ones and explore your culinary skills, many Thanksgiving dinner recipes seems quite a challenge for beginner cooks. But, don’t panic. It’s not the most impossible task. There are a host of quick, simple, and easy recipes for a three to four-course meal that will set you up for a remarkable dinner this Thanksgiving.
First things first, decide how many items you want on the menu. Write them down. You’ll need at least one starter drink, an appetizer (or two, if you can), the turkey, some stuffing, and of course, a dessert.
If you are doing everything by yourself, then you might want to pick a few dishes that you can make ahead, at least a day earlier.
Check out these Thanksgiving dinner recipes you can whip up in no time –
Mashed/Baked potatoes
A mashed or baked potato dish is a kind of classic for a Thanksgiving meal. You can also use sweet potatoes. Try some basic mashed potato recipe, which everyone is sure to love. For a meatier flavor, throw in turkey bits or bacon bits for topping. You can boil and keep the potatoes a day before and get them ready just before you serve.
Vintage style roasted vegetables
A lot of people make single vegetable dishes, like roasted brussels sprouts or butternut squash. But with this old-school, colorful platter of roasted veggies, you can cut down on cooking time and bring the fall color theme to the table.
You can easily peel and cut everyone ahead and all you have to do on Thanksgiving is throw them on a sheet pan with herbs and olive oil and roast them golden. Try root veggies like sweet potatoes, yams, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, etc., or Ina Garten’s recipe with fennels and beans, which is considered to be one of her popular Thanksgiving dinner recipes.
Bread stuffing
Most beginner cooks like to do it all from the scratch. It’s great to do it, but when there are multiple dishes to make, the table to set, and making sure the dinner goes fantastic, you might want to outsource a few things and focus on the main items, like the turkey and the dessert. So, as much as stuffing is an essential part of the menu, there’s no harm in buying a boxed base and then adding your own twist.
Turkey
Now for the star of the show. First, release that pressure off your head. It’s okay to be nervous but the most important part of being a newbie is to be excited about doing something for the first time. If you don’t have an oven big enough to fit a whole turkey, try a slow-cooker recipe. At the end of the day, the turkey on the Thanksgiving dinner table is what matters. There are a few easy ways you can elevate the turkey flavors.
Pumpkin Pecan Pie
For the big finale fix the traditional pie. If you think pumpkin pies are too overused, then this Pumpkin Pecan Pie from Pillsbury could be a refreshing change from the usual. And it’s easy to make with ready pie crusts and canned pumpkin pulp.
Tips for a memorable Thanksgiving Dinner
What about the cranberry sauce and the gravy you ask? You can get a canned/boxed one for either of these or make your own, depending on how much time you have in hand. There are plenty of brands dishing out sauces and gravies that taste as close as homemade. At least that was a 90s trend. So, why not bring a touch of retro to your 2022 Thanksgiving dinner?
Apart from these iconic dishes, you can also choose from vintage recipes, with pineapple ham and cranberry fluff, or go 90’s style with mac-n-cheese. Or, if you want to push yourself for a little culinary challenge, you can bring in different flavors from different decades and surprise the crowd. The key is to keep it simple and no-frills, so you pace yourself between each dish and make the Thanksgiving dinner memorable for yourself and your guests. So, get that chef hat on and have a sumptuous, scrumptious Thanksgiving!