This is the typical Thanksgiving menu: 11 recipes to make your own Thanksgiving

When each year I am attacked by Christmas carols and Polvorones at earlier dates, it almost makes me want to have some holiday as important as Thanksgiving for Americans, a holiday that has more and more presence in Spain even if it is only as an excuse to start getting together around a feast and trying something different. And it serves as a test or inspiration for Christmas menus, since roast turkey is very typical in many Spanish homes.

Thanksgiving menu ideas

Anyone who follows the American press or its regular series will have already had a Thanksgiving headache from a distance, and it is getting all the attention these days. Besides the turkey, do you know what the typical Thanksgiving menu is like? We suggest you imitate it with our own version through these recipes.

Best thanksgiving menus

We have already commented that today’s typical dishes would not have much to do with what the pilgrims ate, but it hardly matters. Traditions evolve and settle into popular culture, becoming something special, and in reality no two Thanksgiving menus are identical. Of course there are the “classics”, but in each house there are variations according to the family’s own tastes and customs. So you don’t have to follow any recipe strictly, but with these suggestions you can create a delicious Thanksgiving-style menu.

The turkey, king of the function

Let’s start with what’s important: there is no Thanksgiving without turkey, or without a vegetarian version. It is the main dish around which the entire menu revolves, the one that requires greater preparation and maximum care, since despite its simplicity it can be easy to spoil.

Thanksgiving food list

 It is a very large animal, perfect for satisfying the appetites of large families and with always, always plenty of meat. In fact, leftover turkey is another delicacy that many Americans dream of, ideal for sandwiches and other dishes.

Traditional thanksgiving menu

It is normally bought frozen and that is why you also have to remember to take it out in time to start roasting it well in advance. Important points: get the cooking time right, achieve juicy meat with a well-browned exterior, and that it is not too dry or bland. We have a Thanksgiving turkey recipe in the purest American style, without too many complications. Of course, there are also those who prefer it fried, although frying a whole turkey is no mean feat.

Gravy or sauce

Mashed potatoes

It must be admitted that turkey meat is a little dry, even if we are the kings of roasting and cover it well with butter, oil or broth. Eating it alone is unthinkable at a good Thanksgiving dinner, and the sauce or gravy plays a fundamental role. It is another of those essential components of the menu for which each family keeps its secret. Although it seems that in recent years many people prefer to play it safe by buying the sauce directly in a jar.

Thanksgiving menu ideas for a crowd

But if prepared well, the gravy takes on its own prominence and ends up washing down all the other dishes on the table. It’s actually a simple meat sauce that starts with a roux and is cooked with broth, slowly to avoid lumps. The gravy sauce recipe is very useful for other occasions or for chicken, and another option is to fix a roast that does not have sauce, or you can prepare a multipurpose sauce for meats that also works with salads.

Thanksgiving menu template

We finish the basic trilogy of the Thanksgiving menu with the other essential dressing, the famous cranberry sauce. Surely many of you met it for the first time watching a series or movie – in my case it was ‘Friends’ and its legendary Thanksgiving episodes -, in those times when we didn’t know that red and blue cranberries existed. Cranberries are very typical in the United States during the fall, although in Spain they are still difficult to find, and are usually at exorbitant prices.

Top 20 thanksgiving foods

So we can go easy and serve our turkey with jam or compote, cranberry jam or some equivalent: currants, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc. This sauce does not have as many followers as the previous one, and many homes prefer to buy a jar and save the step. But if you find fresh cranberries, the cranberry sauce recipe goes great with many other dishes. We also recommend trying the recipe for baked red fruit jam. It is a delicacy that combines wonderfully with roasted meats as in this case.

Stuffing or filling

Filling or stuffing

The concept of “stuffing” the Thanksgiving turkey is always curious to us. At least it catches my attention that such a caloric and satiating dish is prepared to accompany an already gargantuan menu, taking into account that it is served next to the turkey, and not inside. That is, the logical thing would be to stuff the bird with ingredients such as fruits or vegetables with some fat,

but traditional stuffing would end up drying it out more.

Old-fashioned thanksgiving dinner

In this dish there are many variations depending on the special touch of each family, although the base is cubes or thick bread crumbs, usually corn or a rustic loaf, with bacon, sausage, nuts or fruit, cheese, some vegetables. .. In the turkey recipe you have the instructions to prepare a very easy classic stuffing, which is generally served in a bowl as a garnish.

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