Many families have traditional dishes they eat at every Thanksgiving meals. These recipes are passed down from generation to generation and treasured as much for the memories they bring back as the deliciousness of the dish. Although my family does not have any dishes that appear at every Thanksgiving, I have been privileged to spend Thanksgiving with many friend’s families that do and have noticed that there are some dishes that appear over and over again.
The staples include corn, yams, green bean casserole, squash, and potatoes tend to appear on most tables. How they are served is where the variations come in. If you intend to make a new tradition and add a dish to your family’s meal it should be something that is relatively easy to reproduce so that it can be made year after year, no matter who is responsible for cooking that year. Write it down somewhere too since not everyone’s memory remains year after year when it comes to preparing a dish.
Here are five Thanksgiving side dishes that you may want to add to your table and traditions this year.
1) Grandma’s Green Bean Casserole
Amy Barry submitted this one to Allrecipes.com and it’s been a terrific hit. I’ve made a few changes to her version since I’m not keen on canned beans, so I’ve gone to steamed fresh green beans instead. Her recipe leaves out the French fried onions from the can but feel free to throw them on top if you would prefer them, likewise you may wish to cut back on the cheese a bit.
- 2 TB unsalted butter
- 2 TB all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white sugar
- ¼ cup onion, diced
- 1 cup sour cream
- About 3 cups of steamed, fresh green beans
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- ½ cup crumbled buttery round crackers
- 1 TB butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350 F. Melt butter (2 TB) in a large skillet over medium heat. Add flour and stir until smooth, about a minute. Add onion, sour cream, salt and sugar and mix well. Add green beans and stir to coat. Move it into a large casserole dish. Top with cheese. Then mix crackers with remaining butter (1 TB) and sprinkle them over the casserole. Bake for about 30 minutes, top should be golden coloured and cheese should be melted.
2) Southern Style Candied Yams with Gingersnap Crunch Topping
This comes from the Cooking Channel. Growing up yams were somewhat traditional and my grandfather made them every year although he did it on my grandmother’s birthday, not on Thanksgiving.
- 8 medium yams or sweet potatoes (about 4 pounds), peeled, halved crosswise and cut into 8 wedges
- 1 TB vegetable oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 3 TB unsalted butter
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 TB honey
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
CRUNCH:
- 4 oz gingersnap cookies (about 16)
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 4 TB unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 400 F. Toss yams with oil, salt and pepper. Melt 2 TB of butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Add remaining ingredients, excluding the crunch topping ingredients. Stirring, cook it at a simmer until the sugar melts and it is completely mixed, about 4 minutes. Remove the sauce from heat, add it to the yams and toss until coated. Put the yams and any extra sauce in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Spread it out to fill the dish. Cover it tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes until yams begin to become tender.
Meanwhile, crumble the cookies (pulsing them in a blender works but you can also crush them by hand) and then mix them with remaining crunch ingredients.
Remove the foil from the yams and stir them to coat them with the sauce again. Continue to bake them uncovered until the sauce has thickened and the yams are tender, about 25 – 30 minutes. Sprinkle cookie crumb mixture over the top and return them to the oven for about 10 minutes, until the topping is browned.
3) Grandma’s Corn Pudding
This is another popular side dish from Allrecipes.com. It was submitted by Lisa Cohen.
- 5 eggs
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ½ cup milk
- 4 TB cornstarch
- 1 (15.25 oz) can whole kernel corn
- 2 (14.75 oz) cans cream-style corn
Preheat oven to 400 F and grease a 2 quart casserole dish. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Mix in butter, sugar, and milk. Whisk in cornstarch. Stir in corn. Mix thoroughly. Transfer it to the casserole dish and bake for an hour.
4) Merritt’s Butternut Squash au Gratin
This too is an Allrecipes.com favourite. It comes from Merrittorious.
- 3 TB butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (2 ½ lb) butternut squash – peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 8 oz shredded Gruyere cheese
- 8 oz shredded extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1 cup dry bread crumbs
- 1 TB chopped fresh thyme
- 1 TB chopped fresh rosemary
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for about 10 minutes, until onions have begun to brown and are soft. Add squash and sugar. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Squash should be brown at the edges but relatively firm in the centre still. Scrape everything in the pan into the baking dish and add the chicken broth. Cover tightly with foil. Bake in the oven until squash is tender and all liquid has been absorbed, about 45-50 minutes.
In the meantime, mix Gruyere, Cheddar, bread crumbs, thyme and rosemary in a small bowl until well mixed. Remove foil from the squash and sprinkle evenly with cheese mixture. Sprinkle Parmesan on top of the cheese mixture. Return to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes until topping is brown and somewhat crunchy.
5) Scalloped Potatoes
Our final Thanksgiving side dish comes from Vicki G at Food.com.
- 4 cups thinly sliced potatoes
- 3 TB butter
- 3 TB flour
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 dash cayenne pepper
- 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- ½ cup grated cheese, to sprinkle on top
- Paprika
Preheat oven at 350 F. In a large saucepan, melt butter over medium heat and mix in flour. Let sit for a minute. Add cold milk and stir with a whisk. Season with salt and cayenne. Cook sauce on low heat until smooth and boiling, stirring occasionally. Stir in cheese.
Place half of potatoes in a greased, 1 quart casserole dish. Cover with half of the cheese sauce. Repeat with remaining potatoes and sauce. Sprinkle extra cheese on top and then sprinkle on paprika. Bake uncovered for about an hour, until potatoes are tender and cooked through.
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