30 Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes That Don't Taste Like Cardboard — We Promise (2024)

FAQs

What is the healthiest food to eat on Thanksgiving? ›

Go for small amounts of cooked squash, sweet potato, white potato, beans and carrots. Try to use whole-grain breads and cereals whenever possible; they are rich in fiber and the B vitamins that are not so abundant in simple carbohydrates (white and refined grains, cereals, flours and starches).

Turkey breast and chicken breast both have about 26 g of protein in each 3 oz serving, according to USDA data, making them an excellent source of protein. Chicken breast has only slightly more fat, with 3 g to turkey's 2 g per serving. To keep saturated fat down, avoid eating the skin of any of these poultry choices.

Try it out on Thanksgiving by substituting tofu for your turkey. Tofu can be cooked in a variety of flavorful ways and comes with a ton of nutritional benefits including a lot of calcium, iron, magnesium, vitamin B, and protein.

Boiled shrimp with lemon or co*cktail sauce is a healthier pick than fried hors d'oeuvres. Try having a pot of a roasted vegetable soup, such as carrot or butternut squash, on offer for guests to enjoy. Other healthful starters include stuffed mushrooms, raw veggies with hummus, and seasonal fruit.

Beyond saturated fat, beef has a little more iron, zinc and selenium than does turkey. Turkey has slightly more potassium and phosphorus, and turkey and beef provide similar amounts of protein. The take-home message is that both turkey and beef can be part of a healthy diet.

Deli-sliced meat will be the healthiest option because of the low ingredient list – take this Boar's Head Premium Lower Sodium turkey, for example, which contains only “Turkey breast, water, less than 1.5% of salt, sugar, sodium phosphate.”

But according to the two only remaining historical records of the first Thanksgiving menu, that meal consisted of freshly killed deer, assorted wildfowl, cod, bass, and flint, and a native variety of corn harvested by the Native Americans, which was eaten as corn bread and porridge.

What food did Native Americans have for Thanksgiving? ›

While there is not consensus on the exact details of the event or the foods consumed, it generally is believed that the feast lasted three days and included a variety of corn, beans, squashes along with wild game (deer, ducks, geese) and seafood. Turkey may or may not have been on the menu.

For smaller crowds, swap the turkey with chicken, Cornish game hens, or stuff and roast individual quails for each guest, which is very elegant for a plated meal. Our roast chicken with sourdough stuffing, pomegranate roast chicken, and cranberry stuffed cornish game hen bring a festive Thanksgiving vibe to the table.

The traditional turkey-day feast, replete with fatty, high-cholesterol foods like drumsticks, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing, is generally anything but heart-healthy. Try a healthy roasted turkey and gravy recipe for your Thanksgiving meal.

“Turkey is a great source of protein, rich in many vitamins and minerals, and is low-fat — if you don't eat the skin,” Catherine M. Champagne, professor of nutritional epidemiology and dietary assessment and nutrition counseling at Louisiana State University, told the American Heart Association.