33 Cheap Thanksgiving Recipes for an Easy, Impressive Feast

You don’t have to spend a lot to create a spectacular, inflation-friendly holiday menu.

Thanksgiving, for a lot of us, means a glistening table practically buckling under the weight of the food: a burnished bird, overflowing side dishes, every kind of pie and several bottles of wine. But maybe you’re out of work, or child care costs are crushing you, or you’re saving for a vacation, and you want to spend less on the annual feast this year. How do you create a feeling of plenty when the dollars in your bank account are anything but?

The truth is, it doesn’t take a lot of money or a long list of fancy ingredients to cook a memorable Thanksgiving meal. These 33 budget-friendly Thanksgiving recipes are not only easy, they also come together with ingredients you can find at any standard grocery store. Oh, and many are adaptable, so if you can’t find one ingredient, you can always substitute.

1. Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts

These sweet, salty and spicy brussels sprouts from Genevieve Ko are the ideal counterpoint to the otherwise very brown, sometimes bland foods on the Thanksgiving table. Letting one side of the sprouts sear in the pan and then adding a splash of water to soften the inside results in a vegetable that is delightfully crisp-tender.

Recipe: Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts

2. Toasted Garlic Rice

If you don’t think rice belongs on the Thanksgiving table, this toasted garlic version from Ham El-Waylly will change your mind. It has only four ingredients, but the garlicky payoff is huge. He recommends topping it with toasted garlic chips for crunch, which can be store-bought or made at home.

Recipe: Toasted Garlic Rice

3. Creamy Mashed Potatoes

For the most velvety potatoes, do as Kay Chun does: Roast your potatoes instead of boiling them and then add just enough milk and butter, and plenty of salt. And no need to splurge on fancy potatoes. Good old russets work very, very well.

Recipe: Creamy Mashed Potatoes

4. Dry-Brined Turkey

This recipe from Kim Severson is one of our most popular Thanksgiving turkey recipes, in part because it calls for just a handful of affordable ingredients and yields flavorful, juicy meat. It borrows a technique perfected by Judy Rodgers, the former chef of Zuni Café in San Francisco, in which you generously salt the bird two days before roasting.

Recipe: Dry-Brined Turkey

5. Lemony Cranberry Relish

Thanks to Eric Kim, we have the cheeriest, and easiest, cranberry relish for your holiday meal. He takes an entire lemon — pith and all — and blitzes it with cranberries, sugar and salt for a ruby red, palate-delighting condiment.

Recipe: Lemony Cranberry Relish

6. Cheese Puff

This retro classic from Vaughn Vreeland lies somewhere between a savory bread pudding and a puffy soufflé. Stale white sandwich bread works best, but you can easily dry out fresh bread by baking it at a low temperature for about 10 minutes.

Recipe: Cheese Puff

7. Flan

Rick Martínez’s six-ingredient flan is inspired by the flavors of tres leches cake. Canned evaporated milk, condensed milk and whole milk make it taste creamy and luxurious. Best of all, it requires chilling overnight, so you can make it in advance for a stress-free dessert on the big day.

Recipe: Flan

8. Adobo Roasted Potatoes

All you need is garlic powder, oregano and black pepper to elevate roasted potatoes from good to great. Von Diaz transforms fluffy baby potatoes here with a simple Puerto Rican adobo seasoning mix, resulting in a side that’s almost exciting enough to steal the show.

Recipe: Adobo Roasted Potatoes

9. Prăjitură Turnată Cu Mere (Jammy Apple Bars)

Honeycrisp apples, a fall mainstay, may be the only ingredient you need to purchase to make these Romanian apple pastries from Carolina Gelen. They’re a mix between a cake and a jam bar, with a layer of buttery apple in the middle, and would be the perfect finale to your holiday meal.

Recipe: Prăjitură Turnată Cu Mere (Jammy Apple Bars)

10. Classic Deviled Eggs

A lovingly arranged platter of deviled eggs deserves a place at every celebration, and this classic version, which is adapted by Alex Witchel from “U.S.A. Cookbook,” written by Sheila Lukins, is foolproof.

Recipe: Classic Deviled Eggs

11. Coconut-Braised Collard Greens

Von Diaz braises tough-stemmed collard greens in coconut milk and soy sauce, which makes them sweet, soft and rich. (For a traditional version of braised collard greens, try this recipe from Millie Peartree.)

Recipe: Coconut-Braised Collard Greens

12. Apple Crisp

Pie enthusiasts may have convinced you that you must spend hours making a homemade apple pie for Thanksgiving, but it is not so. Enjoy the same textures and flavors of the classic with this far simpler, far less time-consuming crisp from Genevieve Ko. The most exciting part? You don’t even have to peel the apples.

Recipe: Apple Crisp

13. Stuffing With Mushrooms, Leeks and Bacon

There is much debate about how best to prepare stuffing. (Or is it dressing?) Melissa Clark calls this recipe “the peacemaker, because it’s adaptable enough to make everyone happy.” Nix the bacon, use white bread or cornbread (or even gluten-free bread) and sub onions for the leeks. It’s your meal, after all.

Recipe: Stuffing With Mushrooms, Leeks and Bacon

14. Air-Fryer Green Beans

If you have an air fryer, Thanksgiving Day — when the oven and stovetop are prime real estate, and you’re short on time — is a smart occasion to use it. This simple five-ingredient recipe from Eleanore Park will give you beautifully blistered green beans in about 10 minutes.

Recipe: Air-Fryer Green Beans

15. Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon

Most holiday sweet potato side dishes verge on dessert, but this one is lighter and brighter. It came to The Times in 1992, accompanying an article by Molly O’Neill about Edna Lewis, who wrote the groundbreaking cookbook “The Taste of Country Cooking.”

Recipe: Sweet Potatoes Baked With Lemon

16. Chess Pie

Yewande Komolafe’s version of the classic Southern buttermilk pie shimmers with lemon flavor. A surprising pop of lemon zest and black pepper in the crust balances the bold sweetness of the filling.

Recipe: Chess Pie

17. Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

One surefire way to save money this year is to skip the turkey and host a vegetarian Thanksgiving. Samantha Seneviratne’s vegetarian shepherd’s pie is full of French green lentils and mushrooms, and look at that — the requisite holiday mashed potatoes are built right in.

Recipe: Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie

18. Southern Macaroni and Cheese

This special-occasion macaroni and cheese from Millie Peartree calls for two types of cheese: extra-sharp Cheddar for a little bite and Colby Jack for a superb gooeyness. We promise you’ll get recipe requests.

Recipe: Southern Macaroni and Cheese

19. Green Beans With Ginger and Garlic

Julia Moskin brought this four-ingredient recipe to The Times in 2006, and it’s been a perennial Thanksgiving favorite since. Using sautéed and fresh garlic and ginger makes these beans extra-snappy.

Recipe: Green Beans With Ginger and Garlic

20. Pumpkin Pie

You can’t go wrong with this super adaptable classic. Use fresh or canned pumpkin (or butternut squash) purée, homemade or store-bought pie crust and fresh or ground ginger.

Recipe: Pumpkin Pie

21. Roast Chicken

If you’re serving a small crowd this year, consider skipping the turkey and roast a chicken (or two) instead. (And let’s be honest: Turkey meat is “pretty good” at best.) This recipe from Mark Bittman is as easy as they come, and it calls for just chicken, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Recipe: Roast Chicken

22. Dodo (Fried Plantains)

Dodo, or fried sweet plantains, elegantly complements the savory foods usually found on the Thanksgiving menu. Yewande Komolafe tosses the plantains with pickled red onion for a little tangy bite. Make sure you use ripe plantains; the skin should be deep yellow and speckled with large black dots.

Recipe: Dodo (Fried Plantains)

23. Buttermilk-Brined Turkey Breast

Readers loved Samin Nosrat’s buttermilk-brined roast chicken, so she adapted it for a full-sized turkey as well as for a turkey breast, which is ideal for a smaller guest list. The salt-and-buttermilk brine keeps the white meat from drying out, so you don’t have to drown it in gravy.

Recipe: Buttermilk-Brined Turkey Breast

24. Stuffed Mushrooms

Don’t overdo the appetizers — you’ve worked too hard and too long to watch your guests spoil their appetite — but these two-bite mushrooms filled with buttery bread crumbs, garlic, shallots and parsley from Kay Chun will keep your guests from veering into hangry territory.

Recipe: Stuffed Mushrooms

25. Roasted Butternut Squash With Brown Butter Vinaigrette

The hardest part of this recipe from Ali Slagle is prepping the butternut squash (no need to peel), but once that’s done, roast the slices until tender and then toss with brown butter that has been spiked with a little apple cider vinegar and crushed red pepper.

Recipe: Roasted Butternut Squash With Brown Butter Vinaigrette

26. Turkey Gravy

You can make the gravy ahead of time to avoid last-minute worries about lumps and fat separation, but if you want to make gravy the old-fashioned way, by using the turkey drippings, Sam Sifton’s version is a classic, and it won’t steer you wrong.

Recipe: Turkey Gravy

27. Cranberry Sauce

Simmer cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange zest until the berries start to burst. And … that’s it for this classic cranberry sauce from Sam Sifton.

Recipe: Cranberry Sauce

28. Kaddu (Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash)

Priya Krishna loves this recipe for kaddu, a traditional Indian dish in which butternut squash is gently stewed with ginger, onion, turmeric, tomatoes and brown sugar for a salty, tangy and sweet side.

Recipe: Kaddu (Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash)

29. Corn Casserole

An extreme comfort food, corn casserole is a very moist cornbread laden with egg, cheese, butter, sour cream and fresh or frozen corn kernels. It is typically made with store-bought Jiffy cornbread mix (which we fully support), but Ali Slagle created a from-scratch version that is equally nap-inducing.

Recipe: Corn Casserole

30. Drop Biscuits

Readers love these fuss-free biscuits from Samantha Seneviratne because there’s no chilling, rolling or cutting. (They are also more forgiving for beginners because you’re less likely to overwork the dough.)

Recipe: Drop Biscuits

31. Roasted Carrots

For a vibrant, inexpensive side dish, try this one from Martha Rose Shulman: Toss carrots with olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme and oregano, roast and then toss with fresh parsley.

Recipe: Roasted Carrots

32. Cornbread

This classic cornbread from Yewande Komolafe calls for just a few pantry ingredients, and it makes a great starter for cornbread dressing. It can also stand alone with a swipe of butter and a dollop of cranberry sauce.

Recipe: Cornbread

33. Pecan Tassies

A full slice of pecan pie can be a little heavy after a big meal, but these little pies from Samantha Seneviratne deliver just the right amount of gooey sweetness and pecan nuttiness in a tender cream cheese crust. (And you need much less of those pricey pecans.)

Recipe: Pecan Tassies

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