Thanksgiving Dinner in 5 Shots

FWx Editors

Depending on your taste and how much you like family, the best part of Thanksgiving is probably either the stuffing, the pie or the drinking. To balance your diverse holiday needs, FWx transformed the traditional meal into five distinct and surprisingly tasty shots suitable for Friendgivings, Wednesday night reunions and Thanksgiving pairings (for a big drinking family).

We started with five favorite Thanksgiving dishes: cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, turkey with stuffing and pumpkin pie. From there, our resident mixologist Justine Sterling crafted recipes for shots based on key flavors and our least terrible ideas. After taste-testing them, we can say that they are highly shootable.

Cranberry Sauce Jell-O Shot

We’ve never minded the jiggly cranberry sauce from a can, so here's a Jell-O shot homage.

Makes About 20 shots

  • 1 3-ounce package of cranberry Jell-O

  • 1 cup boiling water

  • 3/4 cup gin

  • 1/3 cup Domaine De Canton ginger liqueur

  • Orange zest

Mashed Potato Shot

This version has way less starch than the original.

Makes 1 shot

  • 1 1/2 ounces potato vodka

  • brown butter rim

  • potato chip

Cook a stick of butter over moderate heat shaking until the butter is nutty-smelling and the foam subsides. Strain off the solids and pour them onto a plate. Rim a shot glass with the brown butter solids. Pour in vodka, garnish with potato chip and serve.

Green Bean Casserole Shot

For lovers of the pickleback.

Makes 1 shot

  • 1 ounce blanco tequila

  • 1/2 ounce pickled green bean brine

  • Pickled green bean

Pour tequila and brine into a shot glass. Garnish with green bean and serve.

Turkey with Stuffing Shot

Leg or breast not included.

Makes 1 shot

  • 1 1/2 ounces Wild Turkey 101 Rye

  • 8 dashes celery bitters

  • Bell's Poultry Seasoning

Pour the seasoning onto a plate. Wet the rim of the shot glass with water (or chicken broth) and roll the edge in the poultry seasoning. Pour the rye into the glass, add the bitters and serve.

Pumpkin Pie Shot

Absolutely no Thanksgiving meal is complete without a pumpkin pie.

Makes 1 shot

  • 1 1/2 ounces spiced rum

  • Heavy cream

  • Pumpkin pie spice

Make fresh whipped cream with a cocktail shaker using Jim Meehan's technique. Pour rum into the shot glass and layer on whipped cream. Garnish with a sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice.

Tweet your own holiday shot ideas using #FWxHoliday or share it in the comments.