Thanksgiving Main Dishes That Are Better Than Turkey (2024)

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Thanksgiving Main Dishes That Are Better Than Turkey? ›

Cornish game hen, goose, duck, ham, beef, salmon, and mushroom recipes make worthy centerpieces for holiday meals.

So go ahead and shake things up this Thanksgiving with one of these flavorful alternatives to cooking up a whole bird this year, like mushroom, Gruyère, & spinach-stuffed pork tenderloin, vegan mushroom pot pie, or a juicy prime rib.

It's Smaller

Chickens are much smaller than turkeys, which make them a great alternative for smaller families or gatherings. Unless, of course, you want to eat leftover turkey for weeks. Because chickens are smaller, cooking them is also so much easier to manage.

There are only two surviving documents that reference the original Thanksgiving harvest meal. They describe a feast of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, a bounty of cod and bass, and flint, a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

If you're hosting a crowd this year, you'll most certainly want another Thanksgiving main dish, like ham or beef, to serve alongside your favorite turkey recipe.

"For the third year in a row, cranberry sauce takes first place as the most disliked traditional Thanksgiving food. Over 31% of respondents, 82 million American adults, do not want cranberry sauce for their Thanksgiving dinner.

Main Course: Turkey . . . for Days

The Thanksgiving turkey, perhaps most famously depicted as the centerpiece of Norman Rockwell's 1943 Freedom from Want, is an iconic image for Americans. Today, it remains a popular choice for most Americans.

Cornish game hen, goose, duck, ham, beef, salmon, and mushroom recipes make worthy centerpieces for holiday meals.

For smaller crowds, swap the turkey with chicken, Cornish game hens, or stuff and roast individual quails for each guest, which is very elegant for a plated meal. Our roast chicken with sourdough stuffing, pomegranate roast chicken, and cranberry stuffed cornish game hen bring a festive Thanksgiving vibe to the table.

Nearly All U.S. Turkeys Are Raised on Factory Farms

Each year, more than 200 million turkeys are slaughtered for food in the U.S. — and over 99 percent of U.S. turkeys are raised on industrial farms and kept in severely crowded and unsanitary conditions.

Is turkey healthier or chicken? ›

Both chicken and turkey provide healthy protein. Generally, chicken tends to be higher in vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid, and turkey tends to be lower in calories, fat, and sodium while having more zinc, niacin, and vitamin B12.

Thomas Jefferson was famously the only Founding Father and early president who refused to declare days of thanksgiving and fasting in the United States.

The first Thanksgiving banquet consisted of foods like venison, bean stew and hard biscuits. And while corn and pumpkin had their place on the table, they hardly resembled the cornbread stuffing and pumpkin pie we feast on today.

Whether mashed or roasted, white or sweet, potatoes had no place at the first Thanksgiving. After encountering it in its native South America, the Spanish began introducing the potato to Europeans around 1570.

Pasta with Sausage and Arugula

It's easy to justify a pre-Thanksgiving pasta dinner when it feels like a salad, and this recipe does just that. Crumble up bits of spicy Italian sausage and roast them with sliced red onion and fennel: the sausage bits get nice and crispy and help season the vegetables as they cook.

As for cooking methods, duck, pheasant and goose can roast in the oven just like you would a turkey. The fattier duck and geese should be slow-roasted so the fat renders and you get a crispy skin. A quick reminder: Just like all poultry, make sure your bird reaches an internal temperature of at least 165°F.

Ham Is Easier and Quicker To Cook

As we mentioned, fresh ham has a higher fat content than turkey, so it won't dry out nearly as easily; this means you don't have to watch it as intensely. However, that only applies to fresh ham.

Duck is healthy.

Duck has the same amount of calories as turkey, but contains more essential nutrients like iron and vitamin E. It also contains no tryptophan, so you can avoid the traditional post-turkey food coma!