All the Thanksgiving sides you need – made easy in one hour! Roasted garlic mashed potatoes, herbed squash, and maple mustard brussels sprouts. Perfect for a small gathering!
One-Hour Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Sides
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This is absolutely genius! Thank you so much for this, I was just telling my husband that I am not going to make a big Thanksgiving meal this year as it will just be our family of 5 and our 3 little girls don’t love the traditional foods. But I can totally handle this and have some Thanksgiving-ish foods to go with the pulled pork I am planning to make 🙂
Sarah Jane
This recipe is sponsored by ALDI
Hi. Let me introduce you to the easiest way to make three Thanksgiving sides, with minimal hands-on work, in roughly one hour: THE SHEET PAN METHOD.
Here are the three delicious sides that you’ll get with this one hour of time:
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes – creamy, tangy, rustic and full of roasty garlic flavor. I honestly have a hard time stopping with these.
- Herbed Squash – delicate and earthy and deep, thanks to a heavy pinch of thyme and some roasted-caramelized onions. Beautiful.
- Maple Mustard Brussels Sprouts – crispy, very thoroughly browned (the only way to eat a brussel sprout), textural with the toasted walnuts and dried cherries, and sweet and a little spicy from the mustard. Just… wow. Even my toddler loves these.
This sounds like it will take you hours to make.
I PROMISE YOU IT WILL NOT.
A few sheet pans, a few pours and sprinkles = done.
As I’ve been playing with this, and eating a lot of Thanksgiving food in the process, I’ve been laser focused on the following goals:
- saving time
- saving money
- saving kitchen / stove space
- getting three ACTUALLY good Thanksgiving sides without feeling like you just spent the whole day doing a lot of hard work.
In 2020, when we’re gathering for Thanksgiving with like, maybe five people? and cooking mostly by ourselves? and all that work? Oh my gosh, let’s give ourselves a break. When it can taste this good with so little work, it’s just not necessary.
Here’s my proposition: You pick the Thanksgiving stars that you really want to put your time, energy and fancy tricks into this year. The turkey? The stuffing? The pie? It doesn’t need to be every single dish. You pick. Pick one, two, maybe three stars.
And then you let these three sheet pans take care of the rest.
Here’s my other proposition: make your Thanksgiving haul at ALDI. You’ll save money, and you’ll find not only quality, fun, interesting ingredients but also many of them ORGANIC.
I bought everything for these three sheet pan recipes at ALDI for a fraction of the cost of my usual Thanksgiving grocery haul, but I would also like to recommend the following to round out the table:
- Butterball turkey (That’s right, you heard it, ALDI sells butterball turkeys.)
- Chef’s Cupboard Stuffing Mix (This boxed stuffing is… I just… I don’t know why it’s so good. I love it. I leave it totally as-is but maybe just broil at the end for some crunchiness.)
- Sweet Harvest Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce (I like to add some orange juice and/or zest for a semi-homemade cranberry sauce.)
- L’oven Fresh Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (Yes, you should make some fancy herb or honey butter to go with them.)
- Cheese, olives, and every other dip and cracker for an appetizer situation.
All the yumminess. ALDI, WE LOVE YOU.
All the things that Thanksgiving is *usually* about feel especially up in the air this year. Like…
- Traveling to see family and friends
- Gathering with large groups
- Sharing meals around warm, cozy, and close-together tables
But sharing a good meal with someone you love is not canceled. Let’s make it happen.
Whether you’re doing the normal thing this year or not (probably most of us some version of not), this one-hour sheet pan sides method, this complete brain-and-space-and-time-saver, is kind of my new favorite thing about Thanksgiving.
A note that the photos here show these sheet pan recipes DOUBLED. The original recipes written here are meant to serve a smaller group (thanks, 2020) but you can easily scale up as needed to serve more people or get more leftovers.
Common Questions About Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Sides
Can these Thanksgiving sides be prepped ahead of time?
You can cut and trim your vegetables the day before, but we’d really recommend baking your sides right before you want to enjoy them.
Can I add any meat to these sides dishes?
Diced pancetta would be a great add-in with the Brussels sprouts.
How do I store leftovers?
You can store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
One-Hour Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Sides
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3–4 servings 1x
Description
All the Thanksgiving sides you need – made easy in one hour! Roasted garlic mashed potatoes, herbed squash, and maple mustard brussels sprouts. Perfect for a small gathering!
Ingredients
Scale
Roasted Herbed Squash:
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and diced, + olive oil and salt
- 1 teaspoon Simply Nature Organic Thyme Leaves
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced
Maple Mustard Brussels with Walnuts and Cherries:
- 1 package brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut + olive oil and salt
- 1/2 cup Southern Grove Walnuts
- 1/2 cup Southern Grove Dried Cherries
- 2 tablespoons Specially Selected 100% Pure Maple Syrup
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
- 1 1/2 pounds round potatoes + olive oil and salt
- 6 cloves garlic, + olive oil and wrapped in foil
- 1/4 cup Countryside Creamery Salted Butter
- 1/4 cup broth or milk
- 1/4 cup Friendly Farms Sour Cream
- kosher salt to taste (I used about 1 teaspoon)
Optional extras to serve from ALDI:
- Butterball Turkey
- Chef’s Cupboard Stuffing Mix
- Sweet Harvest Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce
- L’oven Fresh Hawaiian Sweet Rolls
Instructions
- Roasting Everything: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place squash and potatoes + seasonings on a sheet pan or roasting pan. Place brussels sprouts + seasonings on a sheet pan or roasting pan, cut side down. Roast squash and potatoes for 15 minutes. Add brussels sprouts to the oven; roast both pans another 20-30 minutes. During the last 5-or-so minutes, add the walnuts and cherries to the brussels sprout pan to get them nice and toasty.
- Roasted Herbed Squash: Season to taste – this one is pretty much ready to go out of the oven!
- Maple Mustard Brussels: Toss roasted brussels with maple syrup, olive oil, and Dijon mustard. Season to taste.
- Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes: Pull the peels off the potatoes if you want – I don’t mind them so I usually leave them on. Mash potatoes by hand or use a stand mixer to mash until they break down. Add in roasted garlic, butter, milk or broth, and sour cream. Season to taste.
- Serve: Serve up your beautiful spread of roasted garlic mashed potatoes, herbed butternut squash, maple Dijon brussels sprouts with whatever else you love on Thanksgiving!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Roast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: one hour thanksgiving, thanksgiving sides, small thanksgiving, sheet pan thanksgiving
Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this post!
Filed Under: All Recipes Dinner Fall Main Dishes Quick and Easy Recipes Sheet Pan Sugar-Free Vegetarian
November 16, 2020
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
Thank you for this! Exactly what I was looking for, to make things delicious but easier since we are staying home. Thank you for acknowledging that some of our normal recipes may be too much this year! Can’t wait to try
We hope you love this sheet pan version, Rosemarie!
I was JUST thinking yesterday that I wished someone would put out a sheet pan Thanksgiving meal bc I am not up to more than that this year for celebrating with only my husband and three kids. THANKS! This looks amazing.
Enjoy, Brittany!
I had never thought of roasting potatoes to make mashed – excited to try this as I was looking for a more interesting potato recipe than just regular mashed. Thank you!
We hope you like this version, Kate!
This is absolutely genius! Thank you so much for this, I was just telling my husband that I am not going to make a big Thanksgiving meal this year as it will just be our family of 5 and our 3 little girls don’t love the traditional foods. But I can totally handle this and have some Thanksgiving-ish foods to go with the pulled pork I am planning to make 🙂
Thank you Sarah! We hope you love this sheet pan version!
Krista, are you new ?
Hi Daniel! No, I’m not new to Pinch of Yum. Helping out with comments these days!
These all look so fantastic! Our Canadian Thanksgiving is over…but dinner tonight, dinner next week, Christmas dinner — they are all coming up.! Thanks for this great, practical post!
Having said that, I must also add that you do know the reason I check this blog daily (maybe even several times daily) is not for the recipes, it’s because I am waiting anxiously to hear news of the new little Yum! Can’t wait until you give us a tiny peek.
We hope you love the recipe, MayLynne! Head on over to Lindsay’s personal Instagram page for the baby news: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaymostrom/
loving the sheet pans – I wanted to jazz up my butternut squash and carmelized onions were the ‘thing’ to do so. Love brussel sprouts although I can’t stand the after smell – Happy Thanksgiving to All
We hope you love the butternut squash! Happy Thanksgiving to you!
thanks Lindsay! Sounds so good and sooo easy! No company this year, but still want to make great food! Make so many of your recipes I have lost count! Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Pam!
Thanks so much Pam! We hope you love the recipe!
Love the way to do a whole delicious veggie meal in the oven if you add tofu!
Can the Brussels be made ahead and then reheated?
They can be, but sometimes Brussels sprouts lose their crispy texture and become a teeny bit mushy when reheated. We’d recommend popping them back in the oven to reheat!
This is fabulous! What a timesaver and very important this Thanksgiving in particular when we will be dining alone. I will miss Thanksgiving with the usual crowd of 25! It will just be my husband and me. I love so much of the Thanksgiving food items, that I have decided the best way to still get to eat them all is to include them the rest of the month in all my regular dinners. You hit all the important dishes we usually have too! I just want to say, instead of onions, I will use pancetta in my squash. That is one of the traditional dishes we usually have. What a perfect and timely post and wishing you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving. Stay well!
Pancetta sounds like a wonderful addition to the squash! Happy Thanksgiving to you!
LINDSAY! Just like many others, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for! My family is doing a very scaled-down Thanksgiving and I am in charge of sides. This is perfect. Will make and report back! 🙂
Yes, Anna! We’d love to hear back!
Hi love your Burussels and squash recipe ❤️
So glad to hear that!
The herbed squash and brussels sprouts look so delicious!
http://alexagmarsh.blogspot.com/
Roasted Herbs Squash i my favourite i even simple mashed potatoes that are half boiled and then mashing them on a hot oiled pan with some simple pick rock salt and spices, letting them burn a little bit and then just enjoying them with a netflix.
LINDSAY! Just like many others, this is Really what I was searching for! My cousin brother is organizing a very scaled-down Thanksgiving and I am in charge of sides. This is awesome. Will make and report back! 🙂
We hope you love the recipe!
Hi – for the walnuts, are raw walnut pieces ok? Do I need to toast them first? Thanks!
I really like the site, I am very satisfied)
I was so glad that I found this Maple Mustard Brussels Sprouts recipe, it is a perfect dish for this coming holiday season.
How much is “1 package” of Brussels sprouts? In my area the quantity in a bag varies widely!
About 12-16 ounces!
What a brilliant, delicious idea! I’ve been in the mood for Thanksgiving food, and this method was perfect for our small little family. I took a few shortcuts, with everything still from Aldi:
–I used 3 sheet pans: 1 half sheet pan for brussels sprouts and 2 quarter sheets for butternut squash and potatoes.
–For potatoes, my husband voted for more garlic flavor, so we may roast a whole head of garlic next time. Otherwise, delicious and lovely method of preparation!
–For squash, I used my regular method of prep: I bought two 10-oz bags of frozen butternut squash, roasted (from frozen) with only olive oil and salt. Since they were frozen, I extended cook time after removing other dishes from oven, so maybe roast for 50-55 min, broil for 5. Mix with 1/4 tsp cinnamon before serving.
–The brussels sprouts definitely were the star of the show! Delicious flavor combo. This will be a keeper recipe, for sure!
–And finally, I purchased a turkey tenderloin from Aldi and air fried at 350 for 25-28 minutes, flipping halfway through. It was very tender and perfect amount of turkey for 4-6 servings.
And all this for $20-25, depending on pantry staples already on hand. Thank you for these tasty recipes that felt “doable” on a Monday night in September. We will definitely enjoy the leftovers! 🙂