The ten classic holiday dishes, counted down: sweet potatoes, fruitcake, gingerbread cookies, green bean casserole, pecan pie, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, stuffing, eggnog and, at number one, the turkey. Each one comes with a classic recipe, a twist from another kitchen and, where it matters, the temperature that keeps the table safe.
Updated October 27, 2026.
The holidays are a time for family, friends and, the thing that makes it really special, food. Everyone has their own traditions. Most of us have a dish we would walk across the house for the second someone says dinner is ready. Here are ten classic favorites to celebrate that mix of family and food. Plenty of other dishes could have made it, and you probably have your own. Ham, mashed potatoes, candy canes, figgy pudding, apple cider, roasted potatoes, carrots, roast beef, latkes, cornbread and peppermint bark all came close.
Holiday menus depend on where you live, your family, your culture and plain taste. Some tables run on smoked salmon, corned beef and cabbage, latkes, prawns, tourtiere or Yorkshire pudding. Growing up, ours was a day of thanks, renewal and bonding. Family, both close and far, came to our home: grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. It was a day of fun, hanging out with the family and spending time with my cousins. The parents summed up the year and drifted into politics, which was either a step up or a step down, depending on your point of view. On Thanksgiving, plenty of tables also end up in front of a football game. But the one thing everybody looked forward to was the feast.
Anyone who has cooked a holiday dinner for a crowd learns the same lessons. The oven is the bottleneck, not the stovetop, so the dishes that hold well, like cranberry sauce, casseroles and pies, get made ahead. The turkey and the stuffing set the schedule for everything else. And the side that gets the least attention in planning is usually the one people talk about afterward.
10. Sweet Potatoes
Often called yams, sweet potatoes are not really yams, but this tasty root is one of our holiday favorites. You can fix sweet potatoes in lots of ways. Plants of the World Online treats the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) as a different plant from the true yam (Dioscorea), which is why the yam on a US can or grocery sign is almost always a soft, orange sweet potato. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 6 yams (or medium sweet potatoes, 2 pounds)
- ⅓ cup brown sugar (packed)
- 3 tablespoons margarine (or butter)
- 3 tablespoons water
- ½ teaspoon salt
Scrub but do not peel the sweet potatoes. Place into a pot or saucepan and cover with water. Heat until the water is boiling. Cover and let simmer for approximately 25 minutes. Once tender, uncover and remove skin. Slice the sweet potatoes in ¼ to ½ inch slices.
In a skillet, place the brown sugar, margarine or butter, salt and 3 tablespoons water and stir over a medium heat until soft and bubbly. Add sliced potatoes and stir until covered in the candied sauce.
Recipe with a Twist
From the Food Network, here is their Best Sweet Potato Casserole.
9. Fruitcake
Despite being the red-headed stepchild of holiday dishes, fruitcake is a staple during this festive time. With rum and a mix of other tasty ingredients, it is a shame fruitcake is so misunderstood, because it is absolutely delicious. It is also old. The earliest recipe on record comes from ancient Rome and mixed pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins into barley mash. By the 17th century, English bakers were counting on rum and dried fruit to help the cake keep. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 1 ½ cups red candied cherries
- 2 cups green candied cherries, candied lemon, orange rinds or diced candied pineapple
- 1 pound walnuts and/or pecans
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup rum
- 1 cup butter or shortening
- 1 cup sugar or brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
- 1 teaspoon allspice, ground
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- 4 eggs
- ½ cup butter
- 4 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Mix the fruit in a large bowl and add your rum. Cover and let it soak overnight. Next, stir together your flour, salt, spices and baking powder into the bowl with your soaked fruit. After that is done, in another large bowl, beat in your butter or shortening for about 30 seconds. Add your sugar or brown sugar and beat until combined. Next, add your eggs one at a time and beat well. Beat in your vanilla extract. Next, stir in your nuts. Lastly, add in your rum/fruit mixture a little at a time.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. While the oven is preheating, lightly coat two loaf pans with cooking spray and add your batter to the pans. Once the oven is up to temperature, bake for approximately 2 hours or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out cleanly.
Recipe with a Twist
From Allrecipes.com, here is their Kentucky Bourbon Fruitcake.
8. Gingerbread Cookies
Who doesn’t like gingerbread cookies? Well, I’m sure there are some people, but I love them all the time and especially so during the holidays. Gingerbread is older than the cookie. Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery (1796), the first printed American cookbook, carried seven gingerbread recipes, including a soft gingerbread baked in pans, and gingerbread figures are traditionally credited to the court of Elizabeth I. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 2 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ginger, ground
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon, ground
- 2 teaspoons cloves, ground
- 1 ½ teaspoons nutmeg, ground
- ½ teaspoon allspice, ground
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
In a large bowl, beat in the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer for approximately 5 to 10 minutes until it is soft and fluffy. Next, beat in the egg and molasses then stir in the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger and remaining spices. Do not stir in the granulated sugar. Place in refrigerator and let it sit for a few hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, place cooking parchment on your cookie sheets. Add your granulated sugar to a small bowl. Take your refrigerated cookie dough from the refrigerator and shape into 1-inch balls or larger if you like big cookies. Roll in the granulated sugar as you place your balls about 2 to 3 inches apart. Place your cookie sheets in the oven once it has reached temperature and bake for approximately 10 minutes. Less if you like the cookies chewy.
Recipe with a Twist
From BettyCrocker.com, here is their Chocolate-Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies.
7. Green Bean Casserole
My dad made one of the best green bean casseroles you can ever have. If that was his only contribution to the holiday meal, it was more than enough. The dish has a known inventor: Dorcas Reilly, who worked in the home economics department at the Campbell Soup Company in Camden, New Jersey, created it in 1955 for an Associated Press feature, and Campbell’s first printed it on soup cans as Green Bean Bake. As of 2020, Campbell’s estimated it was served at 20 million American Thanksgiving dinners a year. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 4 cups green beans
- 10 ½ ounces cream of mushroom soup, condensed
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 dash black pepper
- 1 ½ cups French-fried onions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, stir into a 1 ½ quart casserole bowl or baking dish the cream of mushroom soup, milk, soy sauce, and black pepper. Mix in your green beans and 2/3 cups of the French-fried onions. Once the oven reaches temperature, bake the casserole for approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Add the remaining French-fried onions on the top and bake another 5 minutes.
Recipe with a Twist
From SpicySouthernKitchen.com, here is their Cheesy Green Bean Casserole.
6. Pecan Pie
There were always several pies for dessert, and a pecan pie was always one of them, courtesy of my Aunt. Of course, just one slice wasn’t enough. Too bad for the rest of the family. Anyone who has said “just a small piece” at a holiday table knows how that goes. The pie is younger than its Southern reputation suggests: the oldest recipe found is a pecan custard pie published in Harper’s Bazaar in 1886, and the Texas Legislature named pecan pie the State Pie of Texas in 2013. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 1 ½ to 2 cups pecans
- ¾ cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup sugar or brown sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon bourbon, spiced rum or Grand Marnier (optional)
- 1 deep dish pie crust (buy one or make it from scratch)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, place the pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then stir in the light corn syrup, sugar or brown sugar, melted butter, salt and vanilla extract. If using the bourbon, spiced rum or Grand Marnier, add that into the filling. Whisk the filling until smooth. Add the pecans and stir them into the filling. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Once the oven has reached temperature, bake the pie for approximately 55 minutes or until filling is set.
Recipe with a Twist
From Allrecipes.com, here is their Caramel Pecan Pie.
5. Cranberry Sauce
What would a holiday meal be without cranberry sauce? It is one of those classic side dishes that goes with the whole meal. Most of us know someone who insists the sauce is not right unless it still has the ridges from the can. That can-shaped version has a date: commercial canned cranberry sauce reached the national market in 1941 from the growers’ cooperative that later became Ocean Spray. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 12 to 16 ounces cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
In a medium saucepan, add the sugar and water. Bring to a boil over a medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Reduce heat and add the cranberries to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes until the cranberries pop and sauce has thickened.
Recipe with a Twist
From AdrianasBestRecipes.com, here is their Spicy Blackberry Cranberry Sauce.
4. Pumpkin Pie
Pies are my favorite and pumpkin pie during the holidays is next to nirvana. Some holiday feasts, I would just skip the main and go for dessert, meaning multiple pecan and even more pumpkin. The custard style we know dates back at least to Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery of 1796, and by the early 1800s pumpkin pie was a regular Thanksgiving dessert. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin, mashed
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup sugar or brown sugar
- 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ginger, ground
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 deep dish pie crust (buy one or make it from scratch)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. While the oven is preheating, place the pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and then stir in the milk and sugar or brown sugar until combined. Add in the pumpkin and beat until combined. Place the rest of the ingredients in the bowl and mix until it is all incorporated and smooth. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Once the oven has reached temperature, bake the pie for approximately 45 to 50 minutes or until the center is set.
Recipe with a Twist
From TasteofHome.com, here is their Pecan Pumpkin Pie.
3. Stuffing
Over the years, I’ve had so many different types of delicious stuffing, but my heart, and palate, go back to my mom’s classic stuffing. Although simple, at least to me she made the best stuffing. The recipe below bakes in a dish. If you stuff the bird instead, Foodsafety.gov says the stuffing has to reach 165°F, the same as the poultry itself. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 12-14 cups bread, cubes and preferably stale
- ½ cup butter
- 1 ½ cups diced onion (approximately 1 large onion)
- 1 ½ cups diced celery (approximately 2 to 3 large stalks)
- 1 tablespoon sage
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 to 3 cups chicken broth (amounts depend on how moist you like your stuffing. If you like dry stuffing, don’t include the broth)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the oven is preheating, in a skillet pan, melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the onions and celery. Mix in the sage, salt, pepper and thyme. Let it cook for about 4 minutes. Add the chicken broth. Again, add the broth based on how moist you would like your stuffing. Bring to a simmer.
In a large bowl, place your cubed bread. Pour in the onion-celery mix over the bread, tossing well as you do so. Place the thoroughly coated bread mixture in a baking dish and place into oven once it has reached temperature and bake for 30 minutes.
Recipe with a Twist
From FavFamilyRecipes.com, here is their Stuffing With Bacon.
2. Eggnog
Trimming the tree, holiday music in the background and a glass, or several, of eggnog was and is still one of my favorite times during the holidays. Like music, eggnog brings out all the great memories of the holidays. The drink has a rowdy American footnote. At West Point, cadets smuggled whiskey into the academy for an eggnog party on Christmas Eve 1826, and the riot that ran into Christmas morning ended with twenty cadets and one enlisted soldier court-martialed. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 3 cups milk
- 6 egg yolks
- 1 cup cream, heavy
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg, ground
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- 1 cup rum, brandy, bourbon (optional)
In a medium saucepan, add the milk, cream, vanilla extract, nutmeg and cinnamon and bring to a low boil. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until it is a pale yellow in color. Slowly add in your milk and spice mixture, whisking until combined. Place the combined mixture back into the saucepan and cook over a medium-low heat for approximately 5 minutes or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Refrigerate.
Recipe with a Twist
From AllRecipes.com, here is their Eggnog Gingerbread Trifle.
1. Turkey
What would the holiday feast be without the “roast beast”? In this case, the turkey, no grinches please. I remember waking up the morning of the holiday dinner and the turkey was already being prepared. That is how long it took to get it right. Anyone who has carved a turkey with the whole family watching knows it is a little like a stage show. Here is a classic recipe followed by one with a twist.
Classic Recipe
- 1 turkey, 12 to 16 pounds
- 1 cup olive or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons garlic
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 2 ½ cups water
The prior night remove the contents from inside the turkey. In a medium-size bowl, add the olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, basil and sage. Lightly coat the turkey with the oil mixture. Truss the legs of the turkey with twine if you like. Cover the turkey and place in the refrigerator. Cover the oil mixture and place in the refrigerator.
The turkey will take about 3 hours to prepare. When you’re ready, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. While the oven is preheating, use the remaining oil mixture and rub thoroughly into the turkey, both inside and out. Place the water in the roasting pan. Place the turkey into the roasting pan breast down.
Cook breast down for about 1 hour, basting periodically with the cooking juices. After an hour, flip the turkey and continue cooking for approximately another 2 hours, again basting every 20 minutes. After about 2 hours, place a thermometer into the thickest part of the turkey. It is done when the thermometer reads 165 degrees and the juices are clear. Remove from the oven and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Carve and serve.
Recipe with a Twist
From NYTimes.com, here is their Mojo Turkey.
Holiday Dishes and Safe Temperatures
Two dishes on this list carry real food-safety risk. Foodsafety.gov lists a safe minimum internal temperature of 165°F for whole poultry and for stuffing cooked inside the bird, checked with a food thermometer. Homemade eggnog is the other one. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service says eggnog is safe when it is made from a cooked egg-milk mixture that reaches 160°F, or from pasteurized eggs. FSIS also gives homemade eggnog 2 to 4 days in the refrigerator. A thermometer beats the coat-the-spoon test.
Holiday Dishes FAQ
What are the most popular holiday dishes?
Turkey tops this list, followed by eggnog, stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, pecan pie, green bean casserole, gingerbread cookies, fruitcake and sweet potatoes. Your own table may look different. Regional and family traditions, from latkes to tourtiere, change the menu a lot.
Is a sweet potato the same as a yam?
No. Plants of the World Online treats the sweet potato and the true yam as different plants in different families. In North America the soft, orange sweet potato is often sold as a yam, so the label on the can is a market name rather than a botanical one. Either works in the candied recipe above.
What temperature should the holiday turkey reach?
Foodsafety.gov gives 165°F as the safe minimum internal temperature for whole poultry, checked with a food thermometer. Stuffing cooked inside the bird must reach the same 165°F. Put the thermometer in the thickest part of the bird, away from bone, and let the turkey rest about 20 minutes after it leaves the oven before you carve.
Who invented green bean casserole?
Dorcas Reilly of the Campbell Soup Company’s home economics department in Camden, New Jersey, created it in 1955 for an Associated Press feature. The recipe used ingredients most households kept on hand and first appeared on soup cans as Green Bean Bake. Campbell’s estimated in 2020 that it was served at 20 million American Thanksgiving dinners a year.
How do you make eggnog safely?
Cook the milk and egg-yolk base gently and check it with a food thermometer. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service says an egg-milk mixture is safe once it reaches 160°F, and pasteurized eggs are the other safe route. Refrigerate the eggnog right away. FSIS gives homemade eggnog 2 to 4 days in the refrigerator and says not to freeze it.