If you are looking for a few healthy options to have as side dishes at your Thanksgiving feast, welcome to your one stop shop. Not only are these recipes much lighter than traditional Thanksgiving sides, but they are also sure to impress your dinner crowd. We are all about easy, healthy, and foolproof recipes! There is no need to complicate things on a day that is bound to have a little bit of stress.
A perfectly golden, roasted turkey is typically the star of the show at the Thanksgiving table. The truth is, though, having a great assortment of side dishes can make or break your big meal. The best side dishes even outshine the turkey, provided they have the right amount of flavor! That is why executing your textures, flavors, and colors is paramount for the best Thanksgiving side dishes.
In this article, we will not provide mainstays like mashed potatoes or roasted Brussels sprouts. You probably have recipes for those items, or you already have your preference on how to make them. Instead, we want to lighten what is a classically heavy meal and provide you with vegetable-forward dishes that offer lots of nutrition, and even more flavor. Even though they may be root vegetable or squash dishes, they are still much lighter than fattening sides you usually see at the table.
Rainbow Roasted Carrots With Maple Tahini Sauce
What a great side dish for the upcoming holiday feast! These roasted rainbow carrots with maple tahini dressing boast big time flavors! Don’t forget the freshly chopped parsley and pomegranate arils for extra flavor and flair.
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Baked Butternut Squash Fries
Crispy on the outside and sweet and soft on the inside, baked butternut squash fries are a great low-carb, healthy side dish to bring for Thanksgiving. Don’t forget to make the lemon garlic dipping sauce that accompanies the fries!
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Herb-Roasted Acorn Squash
We don’t want to sound overconfident, but this is a near perfect recipe. Roasted to perfection, you just can’t get enough of this squash, which goes above and beyond the typical combination of butter and brown sugar. This recipe takes an herbaceous turn to play off the squash’s inherent sweetness.
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Sautéed Garlic Green Beans
Get ready to experience green beans like you’ve never experienced them before. Perfectly blistered with an amazing garlicky punch, these green beans are far from that creamy, fattening casserole that grandma makes. Full of flavor and easy to digest!
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Baked Parsnip Fries
Paleo, Whole30, and nightshade-free, these baked parsnip fries are the perfect side dish for your Thanksgiving spread. If you feel like going the extra mile, consider making your own ketchup or dipping sauce from scratch to pair with the fries.
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Holiday Honeycrisp Salad
It’s rare that a salad makes it to the Thanksgiving spread, but let’s change that this year. Gorgeous, refreshing, crispy, zesty, and slightly sweet, this holiday Honeycrisp salad will go great at your big holiday feast, or even a regular weeknight dinner.
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Mashed Butternut Squash
You’ve never seen a butternut squash recipe like this one! This mashed butternut squash is creamy, comforting, and exhibits subtly sweet and earthy flavors. This is an excellent last-minute dish because it requires very little cooking effort on your part. Just have a sharp knife and be careful when cutting the butternut squash in half.
Click here to make the recipe.
Vincent Stevens is the senior content writer at Dherbs. As a fitness and health and wellness enthusiast, he enjoys covering a variety of topics, including the latest health, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle trends. His goal is to inform people of different ways they can improve their overall health, which aligns with Dherbs’ core values. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Redlands, graduating summa cum laude. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.
