recipes

58 Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes So You Don’t Fall Asleep at the Table

Balance out your dinner menu with these healthyish dishes. 
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Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boytsova

From sticky glazed sweet potatoes to roast-y caramelized cabbage, these healthy Thanksgiving recipes fit in perfectly with all their fall flavors and textures.  Because in our book, there’s only one rule on Thanksgiving: The food should be delicious. And trust us, your table needs more green beans topped with crispy shallots and gluten-free wild rice dressing. This list goes beyond appetizers and veggies too. Celiac friends coming over? This decadent coconut pie is coincidentally gluten-free without compromising flavor. (Same with the turkey!) Read on for more of our fave healthy Thanksgiving recipes that’ll make any holiday dinner a memorable one. 

  • Image may contain Plant Food Produce Vegetable Bean Green Bean Meal and Dish
    Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Sophie Leng
    1/58

    Green Beans and Mushrooms With Crispy Shallots

    When Thanksgiving demands green bean casserole but your jam-packed oven has other plans, opt for this buttery stovetop version.

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  • Photograph by Emma Fishman, Food styling by Susie Theodorou, Prop styling by Sophie Leng
    2/58

    Bitter Greens With Cranberry Dressing

    Your Thanksgiving spread doesn’t just need a salad—it needs THIS salad with a bright, tart-sweet cranberry dressing.

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  • Photograph by Emma Fishman, Food styling by Susie Theodorou, Prop styling by Sophie Leng
    3/58

    Kale Salad With Pecan Vinaigrette

    A Thanksgiving salad should have enough flavor and heft to hold its own, and be sturdy enough to dress ahead of time—this one checks all those boxes.

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  • Photograph by Jenny Huang, Food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Martha Bernabe
    4/58

    Asian Pear Salad With Peanut-Lime Dressing

    This sweet-tart salad gets its satisfying crisp-crunchy texture from floral Asian pears and nutty raw cauliflower.

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  • Photograph by Jenny Huang, Food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Martha Bernabe
    5/58

    Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Gochujang Brown Butter

    Crispy Brussels sprouts + sweet-spicy gochujang + nutty brown butter = the side dish you can’t say no to.

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  • Photograph by Jenny Huang, Food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Martha Bernabe
    6/58

    Sweet Potato Tian

    Thin rounds baked until tender and crispy-edged in a warming five-spice brown butter sauce might just be our new favorite way to serve sweet potatoes.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime
    7/58

    Brussels Sprouts With Cranberry Mostarda

    Cranberry mostarda isn’t as sweet as cranberry sauce, it’s got some fire from mustard seeds—and you’ll want it on allll the roasted vegetables this winter.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    8/58

    Squash and Radicchio Salad With Pecans

    This squash-centric salad has an irresistible pecan dressing and hardy radicchio that refuses to wilt.

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  • Photo by Marcus Nilsson, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    11/58

    Coconut Creamed Greens

    These greens are impossible to stop eating. A sauce of coconut milk, a hot chile, and spices create a full range of bitter, sweet, and tingling flavors.

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  • Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    12/58

    Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts

    With this brussels sprouts recipe, get straight to the good stuff: those sweet, bright green, tender-crisp leaves.

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  • Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    13/58

    Radicchio Salad With Sour Cream Ranch

    With salty, sweet, and creamy components, this recipe is more than just a salad: It's a fully realized side dish.

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  • Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    14/58

    Shaved Carrots With Charred Dates

    Tangy, crunchy carrots meet soft and sweet blackened dates for literally everything you want in one bite.

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  • Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    15/58

    Wild Rice Dressing

    This savory wild rice dish is the ultimate gluten-free stuffing, doubling as a holiday-appropriate grain salad with lots of fresh herbs.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, Styling by Chris Morocco
    16/58

    Gluten-Free Coconut Turmeric Pie

    This recipe is inspired by the flavors found in the traditional Ayurvedic Indian drink haldi doodh, made with milk, turmeric, and honey. It's also gluten- and dairy-free.

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  • Photograph by Laura Murray, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Sophie Strangio
    21/58

    Smashed Green Beans With Lemony Sumac Dressing

    These make-ahead green beans soak up a bright lemon and sumac dressing overnight.

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  • Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova
    22/58

    Big-Flavor Broccoli

    Chances are you’re trimming off and discarding way too much of your broccoli stems. This is our hands-down favorite way to cook the whole plant. 

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  • Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Yekaterina Boytsova
    27/58

    Charred Kale With Citrus and Green Tahini

    No more free massages for stubbornly tough greens. Here, a quick char in a hot skillet tempers the raw edge of kale and balances its vegetal flavor.

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  • Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by Pearl Jones
    28/58

    Broccoli Spoon Salad With Warm Vinaigrette

    This salad puts all the best textures on a spoon: crisp, raw broccoli; chewy, sticky dates; and crunchy toasted pistachios. The ras-el-hanout, a Moroccan spice blend featuring aromatic and warm spices, adds a smoky depth to the bright citrusy dressing, which soaks into the broccoli as it sits. Don’t have ras-el-hanout? Garam masala, baharat, or curry powder will also work. And if you’re a meal prepper, this is a great make-ahead salad—it only gets better with a little time.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Rebecca Jurkevich
    29/58

    Steamed Kabocha With Ginger-Soy Dressing

    This creamy kabocha squash with a punchy ginger-soy dressing makes a case for steaming over roasting any day of the week. 

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  • Photo by Marcus Nilsson, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    30/58

    Glazed Leeks With Pine Nut Salsa Verde

    When cooked until tender, doused in a chile-honey-vinegar sauce, and finished with a nutty, herby salsa verde, humble leeks transform into the in-demand side that no one saw coming.

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  • Photograph by Laura Murray, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Sophie Strangio
    31/58

    Winter Squash Bharta

    Bharta is a Bangladeshi style of seasoned meat or mashed vegetables usually served at room temperature alongside hot steamed rice.

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  • Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    32/58

    Broccoli Caesar

    You've never met a better, brighter riff on the classic Caesar than this raw broccoli twist.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski
    35/58

    Brussels Sprouts With Pistachios and Lime

    These roasted whole brussels sprouts get so crispy you’ll worry they’re burnt (they’re not!). Then toss ’em in a date molasses–brown butter glaze.

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  • Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio
    36/58

    Roasted Squash Salad With Crispy Chickpeas

    Crispy, creamy, chewy, bright, and about a dozen other wonderful (see?) adjectives apply to this easy dinner.

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  • Peden + Munk
    47/58

    Cashew Caesar Dressing

    Try this drizzled over roasted potatoes or as a dressing for that pre-dinner salad.

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  • Gentl & Hyers
    48/58

    Chocolate-Avocado Pudding

    Leave it to cool-kid mecca Gjusta in Venice, CA, to create a produce-based, low-sugar, vegan-friendly, “good”-fat-filled, crowd-pleasing chocolate pudding recipe.

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  • Annabel Mehran
    51/58

    Whole Wheat–Apple Crisp

    Natalie Chanin is famous for her dead-simple but delicious apple crisp, which is often on the menu at the café in her Alabama Chanin store.

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  • Alex Lau
    52/58

    Curried Butternut Squash Soup

    For this butternut squash soup recipe, you need to toss the squash occasionally while it’s roasting so it doesn’t burn or stick, and to encourage as much caramelization as possible.

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  • Alex Lau
    53/58

    Black Tie Crudite with Whipped Ricotta

    Intentionally burning vegetables—it’s a thing! The burnt onion powder adds a smoky, slightly bitter finish to the rich dip, and is responsible for the black part of this tuxedo-inspired crudite.

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  • Christopher Testani
    54/58

    Vegan Chocolate Tart with Salted Oat Crust

    You don’t have to use a vegan chocolate to make this decadent tart—any bittersweet baking bar will be great. And that cookie-like crust? It's made with coconut oil, not butter.

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