When it comes to planning the Thanksgiving menu, there’s a fine line between “tradition” and “cooking rut.” You might feel an obligation to serve the same staples year after year … but if you’re talking about a dish you only want once a year, well, maybe it’s not all that craveable to begin with?
Thankfully, there are lots of ways to hit refresh. After all, the beauty of Thanksgiving dinner is that you can keep all the fundamentals the same — turkey, trimmings, sides, dessert — while finding a multitude of ways to tweak, upgrade and generally shake up the classic recipes. Here are some tips for modernizing your holiday spread this year.
Go for varying textures
Our ideal Thanksgiving meal has many delicious attributes — but you’ve got to admit, it’s a very ... mushy meal. Mashed potatoes, for example, have the same smooth mouthfeel as sweet-potato pudding, cornmeal spoonbread and virtually every casserole on offer.
So give your guests a bit more to chew on by presenting a variety of textures. One easy swap: Instead of overcooked green bean casserole, try preparing a snappier variation. Green Giant’s Restaurant Style Garlic Parmesan Green Beans can be cooked on the stovetop in under 10 minutes, as opposed to the 30 to 40 minutes of cooking time a casserole requires — plus, you’ll free up precious oven space for that bird.
Rethink your poultry
Speaking of the bird, your turkey doesn’t have to look like the centerpiece of a painting or magazine spread. If handling a whole 12- or 15-pound turkey makes you anxious due to the potential for uneven cooking and catastrophic carving — and your family is more of a white-meat crowd anyway — you can opt for a roasted turkey breast instead.
Then again, your poultry showstopper doesn’t even have to be turkey. Chicken is a perennial crowd-pleaser, and if you’re more accustomed to cooking that, you can go with chicken breasts or thighs as the main, served up alongside Green Giant’s Restaurant Style Broccoli Pilaf with Garlic Parmesan Seasoning. These pieces will be easier to serve as individual portions than forking up non-uniform cuts of carved turkey, and the veggies will cook in a fraction of the time it takes to cook the chicken.
Let vegetables be the star of the show
Thanksgiving is the perfect time to convince even the greatest salad skeptics that veggies deserve the spotlight too. When worked into a meal of turkey, gravy, and all the trimmings, even a basic option like broccoli can be made to feel like a rich, flavorful upgrade on an already delicious meal. Add Restaurant Style Broccoli & Roasted Red Potatoes with Cheddar Seasoning to the plate and you’ll never hear your loved ones complain about broccoli being “boring” again.
Redirect your focus
The stress of preparing this annual meal comes not only from the multitasking, but from the onerous prep work involved: brining, peeling, slicing, dicing, blanching, parbaking… And if you’re taking on all that work yourself, each individual dish receives accordingly less of your focus, risking imperfect results.
To alleviate this, take advantage of a shortcut wherever you can get it. Green Giant’s Restaurant Style Tri-Colored Potatoes with Steakhouse Butter Seasoning come sliced, seasoned and ready to cook, which frees up your time to focus on prepping fussier dishes that require your care and attention. Or you can even choose ready-to-cook options that contain all the elements of a composed side dish, like the Restaurant Style Asparagus, Pea & Mushroom Risotto with Truffle Parmesan Sauce.
Make individual desserts
Ending the meal with pumpkin or pecan pie is a cherished holiday tradition, but these hallowed desserts are not without their issues. Those picturesque slices you see in magazines can be difficult to achieve, and the attempt is just another burden on the host who has already served up an entire meal.
Individually portioned desserts are an easy solution. This list of Thanksgiving dessert recipes should provide plenty of inspiration. Many of these treats don’t even require silverware — an extra little win-win for you and your dishwasher at the end of a bustling dinner.
