If you’ve been here for a while, you already know: my family is not a turkey family. A classic Thanksgiving dinner just isn’t our thing, so every year I find some creative way to make the holiday feel like us. We’ve done duck, an extensive cheese situation, potatoes au gratin… all of it. (One year we made 20 honey lavender duck breasts in my uncle’s restaurant kitchen, and that’s a story for another time.)
I love a French riff on an American classic. It’s in my nature — my last name is Bouchard, I want bread and cheese with everything, and I will find a way to get Gruyère involved. Last year’s French bistro Friendsgiving is still one of my favorite menus I’ve ever made. This year I went in a completely different direction and reimagined the classics: the stuffing, the sweet potatoes, the crispy onions, the pecan pie. It’s all here. It’s just been turned into dishes we actually get excited about. Yes, that includes turkey (lol I know, I know).
Please, please mix and match. If it isn’t Thanksgiving without your family’s sweet potatoes or the green bean casserole, put them right on the table next to these. This is not an all-or-nothing situation. Take what you love, leave what you don’t, and build a table that still tastes like the holiday.
A few of these (especially the 2025 and 2026 menu dishes) live in The Dining Room, my Substack, with the full prep lists, grocery lists, and wine pairings. Where a recipe lives inside a monthly menu booklet rather than on its own page, I’ll say so.
Thanksgiving Appetizers
The goal here is something you can plop on the coffee table with a knife, some forks, and plates, and let people have at it while you finish the rest of the meal.
Thanksgiving Mains
Pick one. Or pick two if you’re feeding a crowd and want a little “choose your own adventure” energy on the table. That’s very on-brand for us. (I’m only noting serving sizes where the recipe actually states a yield.)
Thanksgiving Sides
This is the part I care about the most. Thanksgiving is a sides holiday, as far as I’m concerned. Want a richer salad than the Brussels slaw? My Ultimate Thanksgiving Salad has caramelized onions, roasted squash and goat brie.
Thanksgiving Desserts
Make at least one of these the day before. Future you will be so grateful.
Friendsgiving Drinks
A make-ahead game plan
You do not need to cook this entire list. Please don’t. Pick a main, two or three sides, a starter, and a dessert, and let the rest of the archive be there if inspiration strikes.
Here’s how I’d actually break up the work, based on what these recipes already allow:
A few days ahead (or even weeks, for the onions):
Caramelize a big batch of onions. You’ll use them in the French onion baked brie (those can be frozen for weeks), the pumpkin risotto (up to 4 days ahead), and the scalloped potatoes. Whip the feta for the carrots and/or the sweet potato gnocchi (up to 3 days).
The day before:
Make the filling for the autumn-inspired chicken pot pie (assemble with the crust and bake it off the next day). Make the cranberry pumpkin pie and let it set. Make the chai crème brûlée custards (torch them right before serving). Assemble the pumpkin spice tiramisu and refrigerate overnight. Roast the squash for the Brussels slaw. Assemble the honeynut squash gratin without the breadcrumbs. Roast the rainbow carrots if you want; they reheat at 350°F.
The day of:
Bake the brie or a pull-apart wreath while people walk in. Cook your main (if you’re doing the pot pie, this is when the crust goes on and it goes into the oven). Finish the sides that want to be served hot (risotto under the broiler, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato purée, creamed spinach, gnocchi). Add breadcrumbs to the gratin, dulce de leche to the pie, and torch the crème brûlée. Pour the Kir Royales. Breathe.
A few Friendsgiving hosting notes
Any room can be the dining room. The actual dining room you only open for company, the kitchen counter, the coffee table with a good movie on… it all counts.
Put the appetizer out early and walk away from it. The baked brie especially: knife, forks, plates, done. It buys you real time.
Match the main to the size of your table. The cider-cream roast chicken is a small Thanksgiving for 4. The filet roast au poivre also serves 4 (or a 1-pound roast for 2). The duck is great for about 4 to 6. The turkey au vin blanc was built as a 6-to-8-person main. The braised chicken with gravy is the one that feeds 10 to 12.
You do not need a formal appetizer if your sides are doing a lot (something bright and crunchy, something rich and creamy, something cozy and buttery). That’s how I built the 2026 menu. If you do want a starter, make it shareable and mostly make-ahead.
If you’re cooking turkey, a Gamay (like a Cru Beaujolais) or Pinot Noir is a great place to start for your red. One white and one red will do the job when everything goes on the table together. Have some extra for after.
And if your table doesn’t look like a magazine “traditional Thanksgiving,” good. Mine doesn’t either. That’s the whole point.
If you want the full monthly menus — the 2026 Thanksgiving booklet, the French bistro Friendsgiving, the grocery lists, the prep timelines, the wine pairings — they’re all in The Dining Room. It’s the place I send the recipes I make for my own table, and I would love to have you there.
Happy Thanksgiving, happy Friendsgiving, and may your onions be jammy and your puff pastry golden. I’ll be at the table. Come sit.
xo,
Skyler
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