The Best Recipes to Cook This November, from Thanksgiving Dishes to Weeknight Meals

These toasts make for a delicious seasonal appetizer for your Thanksgiving spread or fall dinner party.

We love the play of savory-sweet flavors and big textures in this hearty winter salad. While it’s a filling dish for dinner guests, it can also be prepped ahead for weekday lunches.

Crunch, sweetness, and a touch of richness—this recipe has everything you want in a salad. Dress the greens separately, then tuck in the soft figs and cheese so they keep their shape.

Dramatic-looking black rice has a mellow, sweet taste and pairs really well with butternut squash.

Greek yogurt is the secret to this light but creamy dressing. And because raw kale is so sturdy, it can sit for quite a while without getting soggy.

This is hands-down the most popular stuffing recipe from our archives. If you haven’t tried it yet, make it for your Thanksgiving gathering. Add some extra parmesan!

Chanterelle mushrooms and cipollini onions are worth the splurge, but you can substitute halved cremini mushrooms and frozen pearl onions and the results will still be very tasty.

This side dish (or vegetarian main, if made with vegetable broth) is a colorful version of scalloped potatoes. For richest flavor and color, look for deep-orange-fleshed sweet potatoes with skin that’s burnt orange to dark red. A food processor’s shredding disc and 2-mm. slicing blade make quick work of the cheese, sweet potatoes, and shallot.

Sage adds an earthy flavor to these mashed potatoes, parsnips lend sweetness, and sour cream brings a bit of tang.

If your Thanksgiving tradition includes a smoked turkey, save one of the legs for this easy, soul-satisfying soup.

To achieve a juicy, richly flavored holiday bird, chef Diep Tran takes the initial step of spatchcocking so it lays flat while roasting—and roasts faster and more evenly. (If you’d rather not do this step yourself, it’s worth asking your butcher to do it for you.) She then slathers the bird with a wet rub of ginger, toasted spices, and Red Boat fish sauce, and lets it sit in the fridge for up to 4 days. Finally, when it’s time to roast, Diep encases the turkey in generously buttered parchment paper to keep the bird juicy and tender. 

If you don’t feel like serving turkey this year, why not try roast chicken?

If you’re in search of a vegetarian main dish for Thanksgiving, look no further than this hearty mushroom pasta.

Pork loin is slathered with resiny rosemary and set on a bed of fennel in this recipe. It’s a great main-dish alternative to turkey.

For a lighter main this Thanksgiving, you can always roast salmon.

Pomegranate molasses, a staple ingredient in the Eastern Mediterranean, gives this one-pot dish a delectable tang. The total cooking and prep time is 30 minutes, which is magic to our ears for weeknight meal planning.

These little cakes are a snap to make and, with the salad, create a great vegetarian entrée for a quick, easy fall dinner.

Use asparagus or green beans instead of bok choy if you like, and serve it with steamed jasmine rice—or a warm baguette.

Move over, turkey sandwich! A tostada loaded with Mexican flavors is an unexpected way to dress up Thanksgiving leftovers.

We’ve based this recipe on Welsh rarebit—a simple but rich sauce of beer and cheese poured over toast—and slipped in some leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

So you forgot to make (or buy) pie crust. Never mind—you don’t really need one when you have a fantastic filling. (And anyway, the crust is often soggy on a moist pie like pumpkin.) Pastry chef Angela Pinkerton gave us this delicate dessert—with toasted pecans for crunch, instead of a crust. Use the maximum sugar and spices if you like a bolder, sweeter pie.

Caramel-coated walnuts and cranberries top this tender cake. It’s very easy to make.

Do something a little different with your traditional apple pie this year and add fun cutout shapes.

To completely cover the pie, just double the topping.

Tired of pie? An intriguing mix of spices, plus coconut sugar for subtle sweetness, put this butternut squash cake over the top.