Friendsgiving is the perfect excuse to spend a holiday with friends and eat even more food. If you’re hosting the celebration this year, these easy Friendsgiving recipes will WOW your guests and make your meal unforgettable.
25+ Easy Friendsgiving Recipes to WOW Your Guests
1. No-Fail Thanksgiving Turkey
If you’re intimidated by the idea of cooking turkey, don’t be. This recipe is foolproof, delicious and so easy. Downshiftology even has a video that walks you through the recipe step by step, so you can cook your turkey with confidence.
Don’t forget the roasting rack and carving knife to ensure you’re ready for the big day.
2. Classic Stuffed Shells
If you’re having turkey on the big day, you may want to make something else as the main dish on Friendsgiving. Stuffed shells are the perfect choice, especially if you’ll be having vegetarian guests. They’re so easy to make, and they can easily feed a crowd. But they also look impressive, especially if you top it with freshly chopped basil.
Go the extra mile to make the tomato sauce yourself and use fresh mozzarella.
Related: 20 Mouthwatering Thanksgiving Appetizer Ideas To Make This Year
3. Easy Lamb Roast
You may not expect to find lamb on a list of easy Friendsgiving recipes, but this recipe really is easy. You’ll need just a few simple ingredients: lamb leg roast, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, sage, salt and pepper.
Make sure you have a good carving knife and a pretty serving platter to make your presentation top-notch.
4. Traditional Thanksgiving Stuffing
Stuffing is the ultimate side dish for Friendsgiving, and this recipe is so easy. Forget the boxed stuff. You only need a few pantry staples and day-old French bread to bring this recipe together.
Your friends are sure to be impressed by your from-scratch stuffing. The only downside? You may not have any leftovers.
5. Maple Bacon Carrots
Want to take your side dishes to the next level? These maple bacon carrots are delicious, and they’re incredibly easy to make. Just peel some whole carrots and wrap each one in a slice of bacon. Bake on a roasting rack for about 25 minutes, and then glaze with maple syrup.
If you’re not a fan of bacon or you don’t eat meat, you can skip the bacon and use a little butter instead. The maple syrup will give the carrots so much flavor.
6. The Ultimate Green Bean Casserole
Green bean casserole is a must-have dish for Friendsgiving. It’s super easy to make, and you can get as fancy as you want. The traditional recipe uses canned green beans, French fried onions and cream of mushroom soup, but you can use fresh beans and homemade soup if you want.
Bake and serve it in a pretty casserole dish to wow your guests.
7. Thanksgiving Wild Rice
If you want to serve non-traditional dishes, this Thanksgiving wild rice recipe is a fun one to try. Rice is the perfect side dish for turkey, lamb or even vegetarian main dishes.
While the ingredient list is long, the recipe is so easy to make. Plus, it has classic Thanksgiving flavors like cranberries, rosemary, carrots, oregano and other fresh herbs.
8. Cranberry Brie Crescent Bites
These crescent bites look so fancy, but they take no time at all to make. You’ll need a tube of Crescent dough, some cranberry sauce, fresh rosemary, pecans and Brie. Use high-quality Brie if you really want to impress your friends.
Tip: Make some extras for yourself and hide them! These won’t last long.
9. Thanksgiving Punch
Your dinner menu is on point, but what are you going to serve to drink? Try this Thanksgiving punch. You can make it with or without alcohol. It has all of your favorite fall flavors – apples, ginger, oranges, cranberries and spices. Serve it in a punch bowl or mason jars.
10. The Best Cranberry Sauce
Want to really wow your guests? Make cranberry sauce from scratch. It’s so, so easy and tastes amazing. This recipe calls for fresh cranberries, oranges, cinnamon and sugar. If you want to make it even sweeter, try adding some fresh strawberries into the mix.
Related: 25+ Fancy Friendsgiving Finger Food Ideas on a Budget
11. Creamy Garlic and Herb Mashed Potatoes
No list of easy Friendsgiving recipes is complete without mashed potatoes. This recipe adds garlic and fresh herbs to make your mashed potatoes extra-fancy and impressive.
It’s so easy to make this recipe, and the potatoes are even boiled with fresh herbs to make them even more flavorful.
We recommend using a potato ricer to make sure your potatoes are extra creamy.
12. Homemade Mac and Cheese
Mac and cheese is always a crowd-pleaser and it’s even better when it’s homemade. Follow this recipe, and you’ll be ready to serve this dish in an hour or less. You can even make it the night before to save time in the kitchen.
This recipe calls for Gruyere, Parmesan and cheddar cheese, but you can use whatever combination of cheese you want.
13. Mini Pecan Pies
These mini pecan pies are perfect for Friendsgiving dessert. They’re easy to make, taste amazing and will impress everyone at the table. You can use store-bought pie crust to save time.
These little guys cook up in just 25 minutes.
14. Baked Feta + Roasted Grapes
I can’t believe that I didn’t think of this recipe myself, but it’s literally feta, red grapes and a handful of spices to make this savory side dish. Easy and delicious!
15. Green Bean Casserole Cups
Casserole cups are a treat if you want your guests not to have to sit down and mingle. Small parties are the ideal time for these cups, and you’ll need:
- Frozen filo shells
- Butter
- Fresh mushrooms
- Flour
- Heavy cream
- Green beans
- Parm cheese
- French fried onions
- Spices
It takes all of 20 total minutes to put this dish together, and it tastes delightful. You will need a baking sheet, cutting board and skillet.
16. Sweet Potato Casserole with Butter Pecan Crumbles
Sweet and savory is an understatement. You’ll need a casserole dish for this one, and it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to complete. Eggs, sweet potatoes, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and a handful of other ingredients offer a party of flavors. If you want to tame the sweetness, you can remove the marshmallows.
17. Loaded Mac & Cheese
If your turkey doesn’t put everyone to sleep, you’ll want to follow these easy Friendsgiving recipes for loaded mac and cheese. A sinful dish for Friendsgiving, you’ll want to add bacon (or a substitute), mustard, breadcrumbs, cheddar and Monterey jack cheese, among other hardy ingredients for this meal.
Making your own mac and cheese will taste better, and the recipe is super easy to follow.
18. Roasted Parmesan Green Beans
It doesn’t get much easier than this recipe, and it’s the ideal mixture of flavors. You’ll certainly want to use fresh green beans because they taste so much better. You’ll only need some Parm cheese, breadcrumbs, salt, olive oil and garlic powder. Mix everything in a mixing bowl, put it on a baking sheet and bake.
19. 5 Ingredient Corn Casserole
In less than an hour, you’ll have this delish casserole on the table. If you have vegetarian guests coming over, they’ll love that you only used: whole corn kernels, creamed corn, Jiffy corn muffin mix, sour cream and butter.
Related: 22 Delicious Friendsgiving Food Ideas for Your Party This Year
20. Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
A classic for Friendsgiving, you’ll love this casserole, which mixes sweet potatoes, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pecans, butter, marshmallows and a few other ingredients into the mix.
You can easily adjust this recipe by eliminating some of the sweet potatoes.
21. Duchess Potatoes
While these soft and fluffy treats take just under 90 minutes to make, they’re a delight to the tastebuds. You’ll only need a few basic items, like potatoes, eggs, butter, heavy cream, milk, salt and pepper and nutmeg.
If you want to mash the potatoes quickly, I recommend using a hand mixer.
22. Jalapeno Poppers
One of our favorite easy Friendsgiving recipes for any time of year. If you’re not a fan of mushrooms, you won’t like this recipe. Otherwise, you’ll find it filled with flavor and really easy to make.
You’ll be mixing bacon and cream cheese, but don’t forget to remove the seeds from the jalapeno and mix them into the cream cheese. Place on the Bella mushrooms and add some Monterey Jack cheese – or any cheese you want.
And once everything is melted, you’ll bite into a purely blissful appetizer.
23. Brie, Apple and Honey Crostini
Want to “WOW” your guests? They’ll love these crostini. You’ll need just a few ingredients:
- Apple butter
- Large apples
- Baguette
- Brie
- Candied pecans
- Fresh lemon juice
You only need to put these crostini in the oven long enough for the Brie to melt. Drizzle a bit of honey on the crostini and serve.
24. Artichoke Bruschetta
Bruschetta is always delicious. Add in this artichoke recipe, and you’ll be even more impressed. You’ll need quite a few ingredients, including whole artichoke hearts, mayo, paprika, garlic salt, French baguette, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and mozzarella.
All you need to do is bake for 30 – 40 minutes, and you’ll have the perfect treat for you and your guests.
25. Fall Harvest and Apple Salad
If you’re short on time or don’t have enough room left on your stove, you’re going to love this recipe. You’ll want to use a large salad bowl or platter, and then just mix together all of these fall ingredients:
- Apple slices (Pink lady)
- Gorgonzola cheese
- Pear slices
- Whole pecans
- Pomegranate seeds
- Sage leaves
- Pancetta
- Kale
You can drizzle on any salad dressing you like and serve.
