26 Side Dishes For the Best Holiday Dinner
Main courses like ham or roast beef may be the star of your holiday menu, but you need some tasty side dishes to accompany them, too. Think Potatoes au Gratin, Raclette-Gruyère Mac and Cheese with Pickled Shallots, and Thousand-Layer Duck Fat Potatoes. With more than 20 to choose from, you'll have plenty to fill your table. Read on for even more of our favorite holiday dinner side dishes.
Cauliflower Salad with Yogurt Sauce and Pomegranate
Inspired by her mother’s (much richer) fried eggplant salad, Reem Kassis tops fried cauliflower with toasted nuts, pomegranate arils, and lemon-and-garlic-laced yogurt.
Stir-Fried Greens with Garlic and Chile
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely
These spiced and tender greens paired with mouth-numbing Szechuan peppercorns are a versatile side dish perfect for rounding out any meal. If you can’t find amaranth, the recipe also works with a variety of different kinds of leafy greens, including chrysanthemum greens or spinach.
Raclette-Gruyère Mac and Cheese with Pickled Shallots
Inspired by älplermagronen, Alpine farmers' macaroni, this macaroni and cheese gets its rich flavor from Gruyère and lush creaminess from Raclette. Traditional versions of this dish are served with applesauce; as a nod to that flavor play, we've added some shallots that are quickly pickled in apple cider vinegar to balance the cheesy richness.
Speck-Wrapped Haricots Verts with Date Molasses
Wrapped in salty speck and glazed with date molasses, these bundles of crisp, tender haricots verts are the perfect pairing for beef or duck. Date molasses is thinner than standard molasses, so it needs to be cooked down to reach a glaze consistency; if it sets up too much, gently reheat it.
Maw Maw B’s Candied Yams
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Dickey / Prop Styling by Jillian Knox
Despite its name, this three-ingredient caramelized treat is made with canned sweet potatoes, not yams. (Read more about the difference between sweet potatoes and yams.) Bernadette Provost, known within the sugarcane farming Provost family as Maw Maw B, takes the “candied” part of this recipe seriously. Simple to make and even easier to devour, sweet potatoes are truly candy-like and are best served with lightly seasoned vegetables or bread-heavy sides.
Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli with Cranberry Agrodolce
A quick, high-temperature oven roast on a baking sheet yields crispy, golden brown brussels sprouts and almost-charred, smoky broccoli. Tossed in a sweet and tangy sauce studded with tart cranberries, Fresno chiles, and shallots, the vegetables become an easy, elegant side dish.
Garlic-and-Herb Mashed Potatoes
These mashed potatoes are a speedy, nearly effortless dish thanks to a flavor-packed special ingredient: a garlic-and-herb-flecked spreadable cheese (such as Boursin). For a colorful twist, use purple Peruvian potatoes instead of Yukon Golds to make purple mashed potatoes.
Sweet Potato Pavé
Super-thin slices of sweet potato are key to the finished texture and shape of these crispy bites. Use a mandoline for the best results, stabbing the last bit of potato with a fork to keep fingers safe.
Fried Wild Rice with Mustard Greens and Mushrooms
Properly cooked wild rice retains a pleasant crunch that adds satisfying texture to this fried rice. Paired with lightly spicy mustard greens, sweet celery, and tender, meaty mushrooms, it's an earthy, savory side dish that could be a meal on its own.
Corn Biscuits with Savory Herb Streusel
2021 Food & Wine Best New Chef Thessa Diadem's streusel-topped corn biscuits star a trio of corn — cornmeal for texture, creamed corn for moisture, and freeze-dried sweet corn for its intense flavor. "Freeze-dried corn works better than fresh corn, which has too much moisture." Diadem says. The labneh in the recipe mimics full-fat buttermilk and provides acid that helps the biscuits rise.
Creamed Spinach and Parsnips
This luscious side dish can be prepared up to three days ahead. The duo of sweet parsnip and creamy spinach is unbeatable.
Flash-Roasted Broccoli with Spicy Crumbs
The genius idea here is pulsing sliced pepperoni with breadcrumbs to add a ton of extra flavor and a great crunch to broccoli.
Sweetened Condensed Milk Rolls
A cross between Chinese milk bread and Portuguese and Hawaiian sweet bread, these tender rolls are easy to make and are perfectly sized for sliders. Sweetened condensed milk pulls double duty in this recipe, adding a subtle sweetness to the rolls and a rich, glossy sheen to their tops.
Thousand-Layer Duck Fat Potatoes
When chef Shaun Searley prepares these crispy potatoes at The Quality Chop House in London, he starts with King Edward potatoes, which have a fluffy texture. Be sure to start a day ahead so the cooled confit potatoes slice cleanly. The portioned potatoes can then be stored in the freezer for up to a month before frying.
Overstuffed Twice-Baked Potatoes
These twice-baked potatoes are so large and filling that some of Emeril Lagasse's customers have ordered them as an entrée. Lagasse calls them overstuffed because he adds an extra baked potato to the stuffing mixture. Feel free to scale them down by baking and mashing only four (instead of the five used here), or use smaller potatoes.
Mustard, Kale and Cheddar Pull-Apart Bread
Photo: Jennifer Causey / Food stylist: Ali Ramee
These light, fluffy pull-apart rolls are rich with mustard, garlic butter and cheese.
Caramelized Broccoli with Garlic
Here, chef David Gingrass slowly caramelizes broccoli to bring out its sweetness, then enlivens it with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of crushed red pepper. The resulting broccoli is tender, flavorful, and makes an easy side dish.
Winter Squash-and-Shallot Tart
This elegant tart is just the thing to serve for dinner on a chilly night. The rich, cheesy filling is packed with sweet cubes of butternut squash and savory shallots, and lightened by the acidity of the sherry vinegar and brightness of the lemon zest. A peppery arugula salad tops it off.
Brown Butter Parsnip Puree
At the Brooklyn brasserie Francie, John Winterman and Christopher Cipollone offer this cozy side dish of pureed parsnips. To make it, naturally sweet parsnips are simmered in bay leaf–infused cream until very tender, then pureed in a blender until they take on a silky, mashed potato–like texture. A garnish of diced green apples adds tart, mouthwatering acidity and refreshing crunch, while a generous drizzle of brown butter lends a pleasant richness.
Three-Cheese Cauliflower Gratin
If there’s a better way to eat cauliflower than this gratin from Blacklock, we have yet to come across it. A powerhouse of English cheeses — Montgomery’s crumbly and nutty cheddar; Ogleshield, a washed-rind Jersey cow milk cheese; and buttery, blue-veined Colston Bassett Stilton — blankets cauliflower florets in a béchamel.
Warm Barley and Caramelized Mushroom Salad
Browned mushrooms, fresh sage, and lemon juice dress up this version of a classic mushroom-barley salad.
Braised Red Cabbage with Apples and Bacon
F&W editor Melanie Hansche really disliked sauerkraut growing up, but sweeter, milder "rotkohl" she could get on board with. This sweet-and-sour, traditional Bavarian braised red cabbage is always served with goose, duck, or pork.
Wild Rice Salad with Ciabatta Croutons
Starring hearty wild rice and toasty ciabatta croutons, this satisfying side dish comes together entirely on the stovetop, freeing up oven space. Bread and wild rice carry this dressing-meets-salad mash-up, but it's the flavorful additions that steal the show, namely salty pancetta, crunchy pine nuts, buttery olives, and plenty of fresh parsley.
Potatoes au Gratin
In this rich, beautiful gratin, potatoes and onions are arranged in concentric circles, coated in a creamy cheese sauce, and topped off with a few more handfuls of shredded cheese. A quick run under the broiler at the end browns the top of the gratin for a little extra flavor and texture.
Rustic Bread Stuffing with Swiss Chard and Chestnuts
Swiss chard lends a pleasant earthiness to this hearty stuffing; meaty chestnuts add texture and richness. Choose high-quality crusty bread for this recipe to ensure a fluffy texture and crisp top.
Gamja Jorim (Soy Sauce–Lacquered Potatoes)
For this riff on Korean soy sauce–braised potatoes, 2021 F&W Best New Chef Angel Barreto of Anju in Washington, D.C., simmers tiny peewee potatoes in a sweet-and-savory syrup infused with soy sauce, garlic, and ginger, resulting in potatoes with a creamy, tender interior and a gorgeously lacquered skin.
