Thanksgiving Side Dishes by Region: A Guide

Thanksgiving side dishes by region tell you more about the country than the turkey does. The bird is much the same everywhere, but the table around it changes at every state line: cornbread dressing in Georgia, wild rice in Minnesota, green chile in New Mexico, creamed onions in Connecticut.

Cold weather shapes the holiday table, and winter markets sell food for it. Read the Philadelphia holiday markets guide for a market that sells gifts, pastries and hot drinks.

What are regional Thanksgiving sides?

They are the dishes a family makes because their grandparents made them, and they follow what grew nearby. A fall harvest of squash and cranberries shaped the New England table. Corn and pecans shaped the South. Wild rice grows in the northern lakes, so it turns up in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Chiles are roasted in the Southwest in the autumn, so they end up in the stuffing.

Most households keep a few fixed dishes and let one or two vary. That is why two neighbors can both say they have a traditional dinner and sit down to completely different plates.

Which Thanksgiving side dishes by region define the South?

The Southern table is built on cornbread, greens and sweet potatoes. Expect cornbread dressing instead of bread stuffing, collard or turnip greens simmered with smoked pork, macaroni and cheese baked until the edges crisp, and sweet potatoes either candied with brown sugar or topped with pecans. Gulf Coast kitchens add oyster dressing and rice dishes. Texas tables lean toward jalapeño cornbread and pinto beans.

Gravy matters more here than elsewhere, and it is often made with giblets chopped into it. If you are a guest, take a spoonful of everything and say which one you liked best.

What is Southern Thanksgiving dressing, and how is it different from stuffing?

Southern Thanksgiving dressing is a savory cornbread casserole, usually baked in a dish rather than inside the bird. It combines crumbled cornbread with onion, celery, sage, butter and stock, and some cooks add eggs to make it set. The texture should be moist in the middle and crisp on top.

Stuffing, in the strict sense, is cooked inside the turkey and is usually made from white bread. In practice many families use the words interchangeably, so ask what is in the dish before you promise to bring something similar.

What do New England and the Mid-Atlantic put on the table?

New England leans on its harvest: mashed turnip or butternut squash, creamed pearl onions, cranberry sauce made from berries grown in the region and bread stuffing with sage. The pie comes with apple cider or maple. In Pennsylvania Dutch country the stuffing is often called filling and is made with mashed potato, which makes it heavier and softer. Sauerkraut shows up on some tables there too, and so does a chicken or ham pot pie with square noodles.

Coastal New Jersey and Maryland families add oyster stuffing, while New York City tables often reflect the immigrant kitchens that surround them, with rice dishes, plantains or an extra pasta course.

What about the Midwest, the Southwest and the West Coast?

The Midwest brings wild rice stuffing, mashed potatoes with plenty of butter, green bean casserole and, in the Upper Midwest, dishes that come from Scandinavian and German cooks, such as lefse or rutabaga. Church basement cooks in the region are the best guide to the home recipes.

In the Southwest, expect green chile stuffing, calabacitas (a squash and corn dish), posole and blue corn bread. California and the Pacific Northwest lean on sourdough stuffing, wild mushrooms, chestnuts and roasted vegetables. Hawaii tables often include rice, sweet bread rolls and dishes from the island's many food traditions beside the turkey.

Which Thanksgiving pies by region should you know?

Pumpkin is the national pie, but the supporting cast shifts by region. Pecan pie rules in Texas and across the South, with sweet potato pie close behind in the Black Southern tradition. Apple, often with cheddar on the side, is the New England favorite. Sugar cream pie is a favorite in Indiana, and chess and buttermilk pies sit on many Southern sideboards. Pennsylvania Dutch cooks make shoofly pie, a molasses crumb pie that works at breakfast too.

For a table with six or more people, plan on two or three pies, and buy at least one that nobody in the family has made before. See how winter dishes follow in the winter comfort food guide.

How can you buy Thanksgiving sides without cooking them all?

Many bakeries, delis, butcher shops, farm stands and grocery counters sell cooked sides and pies for the holiday, and some restaurants do the same with a full meal. The rule is to ask early: the popular items sell out and pickup slots close days before the holiday, often by the weekend before.

Ask what is made in house, how many people a tray serves and how to reheat it. Keep the oven plan simple. A casserole that goes in at 350 degrees for twenty minutes is easy, and a dish that needs a fresh sauce at the last minute is not. If you are buying from a local source for the first time, try the pie before you build the meal around it. Travelers can use the how to find good food in a new city guide to choose a bakery they have never tried.

How do you build a table from several regions?

Pick one dish from each place that matters to your family and let the rest follow. A cornbread dressing for the Southern side of the family, a squash dish for the New England side and a pie from the town where you live now make a balanced table. Write down who made what, and what was left on the plate, because a note taken on Friday morning will save you in November next year.

Compare notes with a friend from another state and swap one recipe each. You will both learn something about the other table, and the dishes that travel best are the ones with a clear method. The US guides hub has more regional food pages to browse while you plan.

After the dinner, get the Mosey app, rate the sides and pies you tried, and build a list of the bakeries and kitchens worth returning to next year.