Thanksgiving
2220 recipes found
Citrusy Cheesecake
The nice thing about this cheesecake is that it doesn’t require a water bath or any sort of special baking pan: More shallow than a traditional version, it gets baked right in a pie plate (or tart pan, if you’ve got that). While there are zest and juice inside the cream cheese filling, it’s the fresh sliced citrus on top that makes this cake Creamsicle-like, so don’t skip it. The ultimate do-ahead dessert, this cheesecake can be baked three or so days in advance, just make sure to wrap it tightly as cream cheese tends to easily pick up on that “fridge” scent.
Japanese Cheesecake
Japanese cheesecakes, sometimes called soufflé or cotton cheesecakes, have a melt-in-the-mouth texture that’s like a classic cheesecake crossed with an ethereal sponge cake. This one, adapted from Joanne Chang of Boston’s Flour Bakery, has bright lemon tanginess and crème fraîche richness as well. It’s best made the day before you plan to serve it, and will keep for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. Serve it plain and minimalist, with a sprinkle of confectioners’ sugar on top, or with fresh berries for added color and juiciness.
Sweet Potato and Gruyère Gratin
This rich, cheese-laden gratin is a more savory take on the usual Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole, with sage and rosemary giving it an herbal bite. If you'd like to make it partway ahead, you can peel and slice the potatoes the day before; store in a sealable plastic bag in the fridge. You can also simmer the cream mixture (don’t add eggs) and grate the cheese the day before as well, storing them covered in the refrigerator.
Maple-Glazed Butternut Squash and Sweet Potatoes
You can dress up this side as a whole meal by piling these sweet, warmly spiced vegetables into a grain bowl, putting them over quinoa, couscous or white rice, and adding a lean protein — or even another wintry vegetable like brussels sprouts. You could also throw an egg on top, finishing it with cracked black pepper. Just don’t be tempted to put everything on one sheet pan. Using two allows for more air flow, which creates those crispy edges, a contrast to the soft middles.
Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pull-Apart Rolls
With its luscious mouthfeel and round flavor, the sweet potato is a quintessential soul food ingredient. In this recipe, from “Tanya Holland’s California Soul: Recipes From a Culinary Journey West” (Ten Speed Press, 2022), Ms. Holland uses the vegetable’s texture and flavor as background notes in these buttery pull-apart rolls. While you can make the dough easily using a stand mixer, you can also do it by hand with a whisk, achieving the same finished product. Serve the rolls with room temperature butter for spreading, or alongside a soup, for soaking up broth.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Smoked Paprika
This is a simple way to put an enormous amount of flavor on a plate, and it is particularly delicious with roast chicken — or as a side dish for slab-bacon tacos with burned scallion crema. (Drizzle a little of the crema onto the potatoes just before serving, as if to recall the aioli served with patatas bravas in Spain.) As always when using paprika, smoked or plain, if you can’t recall the last time you did so, it is time for a new jar. All spices go stale. Paprika does so quickly.
Sweet Potatoes Anna With Prunes
This layered sweet potato gratin comes out of the oven caramelized on the edges and glistening with butter. The potatoes in the center are soft, their layers embedded with prunes; the ones around the edges are so crisp and sweet from the port, they taste candied. Slice the potatoes thinly — use a mandoline if you have one — and check the potatoes after 35 minutes in the oven. By 40 minutes, ours were perfect.
Spicy Sweet Potato and Cheddar Croquettes
Sweet potatoes and cheese are flavored with cumin, smoked paprika, black pepper and cayenne for warmth, smokiness and a little bit of a kick. Once these croquettes are breaded and deep fried, a crisp crust delicately encapsulates the soft and gooey mixture within. They are very straightforward to prepare, but the process makes them a labor of love, perfect for entertaining or simply showing off your kitchen prowess.
Maple-Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Candied Sweet Potatoes
When Fred Harvey opened his first Harvey House restaurant in 1876 on the railway line in Topeka, Kan., his idea was radical for the time: Railroad passengers would be fed good food in a pleasant environment. His concept was so successful that it spawned 84 restaurants, a Hollywood movie and an official cookbook. And it was in “The Harvey House Cookbook” that we found this excellent recipe for sweet potatoes candied with confectioners’ sugar and butter. It is best served warm rather than piping hot, which makes it convenient for big meals like Thanksgiving. Bake it before you roast your turkey, then reheat it briefly just before serving.
Stephanie L. Tyson’s Sweet Potato Cornbread
Stephanie L. Tyson, the chef at a Winston-Salem, N.C., restaurant called Sweet Potatoes, likes to blend one Southern staple into another: sweet potato cornbread laced with a holiday-friendly undercurrent of cinnamon and nutmeg. Ms. Tyson has said that the cornbread just clicks with a side of greens, but we have a feeling it will play well with cranberries and gravy, too.
Sweet Potato Soup
This sweet potato soup could take on several roles at Thanksgiving. It may be your first course, one that’s deeply flavored but not dense and heavy. Or you could ladle it into small cups for guests to sip as an hors d’oeuvre before they are seated. The garnish of lightly toasted mini-marshmallows is a shout-out to classic holiday sweet potato casserole.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Believe it or not, not everyone wants their sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows or brown sugar. For them, here is a straightforward dish that lets the natural, earthy sweetness of sweet potatoes shine.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Horseradish Butter
This recipe plays velvety, honeyed roasted sweet potatoes against the sharp bite of a fresh horseradish and herb compound butter. It’s a great dish for feeding a crowd at Thanksgiving or another gathering. You can roast the potatoes and make the horseradish butter ahead, then pop them into the oven just 15 minutes before serving, while the turkey rests. If you can’t find fresh horseradish, substitute another aromatic ingredient like garlic, fresh ginger or scallions, adjusting the quantities to taste. You'll need less ginger and garlic than you would horseradish, and probably the same amount of scallions. Taste as you go.
Garlicky Hasselback Sweet Potatoes
Tender in the middle, with charred ruffles on top, hasselback potatoes — sliced thinly all the way through so that they fan open like an accordion — are the ultimate treat for people who can’t choose between creamy and crisp. In this recipe, the sweet potatoes are halved first, so they cook faster and so their flat sides sear in the hot pan, leaving a caramelized edge. If your spice cabinet is fully stocked, try adding red-pepper flakes, smoked paprika or dried oregano to your garlic-butter mixture. A sprinkling of chopped parsley, right before you’re ready to eat, would also be welcome. Serve these as you would roasted potatoes, like alongside roast chicken.
Sweet Potato Bebinca
Adapted from Nik Sharma’s first cookbook, “Season,” this lightly sweet pudding cake is an ideal fall dessert — a far less stressful alternative to a more labored pie. Here Mr. Sharma riffs on a traditional dessert from the Indian state of Goa, using a base of coconut milk, eggs and sweet potatoes that are roasted and then puréed, perfumed with nutmeg. Though he sweetens the bebinca with jaggery or muscovado sugar, alternatives like panela or dark brown sugar work too; the addition of maple syrup is a distinctly American touch. (Mr. Sharma likes to make this for Thanksgiving.) Be sure to leave time for the bebinca to cool and set — at least 6 hours in the refrigerator, but preferably overnight.
Sweet Potato Galette
Every part of this simple galette has its charms. The crust is easy to pull together and since it’s rolled out flat — no crimping or fluting — it’s doable even if you’re not a pie-hand. The topping is thin slices of sweet potato and apple brushed with maple syrup. And the filling is a hidden gem, a mix of cream cheese, Parmesan and maple syrup spiked with chile powder. Here, it’s piment d’Ville, a California chile grown from the seeds of piment d’Espelette, native to French Basque Country. This type of chile is warm and toasty, a little hot and a little sweet and a jazzy partner that swings sweet and savory, just like the rest of the galette.
Maple-Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges With Bacon
To make maple-glazed sweet potatoes irresistible, you may want to look to bacon, another of maple syrup’s best friends, for a salty, smoky boost. The bacon fries in the oven while the sweet potato cooks, leaving the stove open (grits? oatmeal? fried eggs?) and avoiding the messy sputtering of bacon cooking in a skillet.
Sweet Potato Aligot
In a classic French pommes aligot potatoes are mashed with butter and enough cheese to turn them into a stretchy purée that’s soft, gooey and eminently comforting. This version, made with sweet potatoes, has a gently caramelized flavor and a deeply satiny texture. Pan-fried sage leaves make a crisp, herbal garnish that’s worth the few extra minutes of work. Note that the bigger the sage leaves, the easier they are to fry. If you can’t find Saint-Nectaire or Tomme de Savoie cheese, you can use fontina or mozzarella. And if you want to make this ahead, or reheat leftovers, let the mixture cool, then store it in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat it on low, stirring in a little cream until the mixture is elastic and smooth. Serve this as a side dish to sausages or roasted meats, or as a meatless entree with a fresh, crunchy salad.
Candied Yams
Sweet enough for dessert but savory enough for a side, candied yams are a quintessential Southern staple for Sunday dinner, get-togethers or holidays. Many supermarkets use the terms “sweet potatoes” and “yams” interchangeably. For this recipe, any orange-fleshed varieties like Jewel or Garnet will do. Whatever you use, this dish will definitely round out anything savory on your plate, on Thanksgiving and beyond.
Sweet Potato-Garlic Soup With Chile Oil
This silky-smooth sweet potato soup features the deep flavor of roasted garlic and a splendid dose of garlicky, Sichuan peppercorn chile oil, which delivers heat and a tingling sensation with every spoonful. Roasting the sweet potatoes at a high temperature does a few things in this recipe: First, it develops the sweet potato’s flavors, and second, it softens the tubers, yielding a smooth texture. Serve this soup with thick slices of buttered, toasted bread to sop it up.
Sweet Potatoes With Miso-Ginger Sauce
Think of this miso-ginger sauce as a universal sauce, because it’s so good on so many things: tofu, tempeh, winter squash and napa cabbage salads, for starters. This recipe, adapted from "In My Kitchen," by the vegetarian cookbook author Deborah Madison, spoons the dressing over sweet potatoes, and suggests serving them with spicy Asian greens or stir-fried bok choy, and maybe soba noodles or brown or black rice. Not surprisingly, the sauce is good on them, too.
Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding
There are two secrets to this silky, not-too-sweet pudding, a Jamaican holiday staple from Hazel Craig, the mother of the pastry chef Jessica Craig: Freshly grated nutmeg provides the warm, toasty flavor and batatas (white-fleshed sweet potatoes) give the dish its dense, starchy texture. The combination of sweet potato and coconut is decadent, but not overly so — like a poundcake merged with a cheesecake.
Sweet Potato and Onion Dip
George Washington Carver, the botanist, educator and inventor, was known as “the peanut man,” but he geeked out over sweet potatoes as much as peanuts. He recorded recipes for sweet potato flour, sweet potato starch and commercial canning. “The delicate flavor of a sweet potato is lost if it is not cooked properly,” he wrote in his 1936 Bulletin No. 38. (His paper booklets were distributed to rural farmers to assist with crop rotation and provide instructions for added-value products.) Dr. Carver considered baking the best way to cook sweet potatoes while preserving the most flavor. Use varieties like Covington, Vardaman or jewel; the sugary notes balance the alliums and warming spices. Raw vegetables or tortilla chips make practical dipping utensils for this spread, or lather the dip over toasted thick-cut bread.