If you regularly host Thanksgiving dinner, it will come as no surprise that the average home cook spends hours (and sometimes days) preparing for the annual feast. No wonder that advice for reducing Thanksgiving stress abounds! The good news is there are ways to make Thanksgiving easier for yourself or the cook in your life.
The low-hanging fruit: limit the number of dishes, limit the number of guests and prepare as much as possible in advance. Some hosts like to ban guests from the kitchen but there’s a better way to reduce the traffic around your stove—use your Hamilton Beach® appliances to prepare side dishes. This approach lets your oven cook the turkey without interruption and frees up your stovetop so it can tackle just one or two things—like making gravy or melting butter.
Your Hamilton Beach slow cooker is the go-to tool for side dishes (think: stuffing, potatoes, casseroles and veggies) because you can set it up and forget it, letting you attend to other tasks or even to your guests. If you like your stuffing, potatoes or other sides to have a golden brown finish, consider the 2-in-1 Air Fryer Slow Cooker and enjoy the versatility of an appliance that can do creamy and crispy equally well. An air fryer is also a big help for making anything—like our glazed brussels sprouts or crispy smashed red potatoes—that would normally require frying on the stovetop. (Another boon of using your air fryer: you can prepare the dish with less oil and less mess.) And of course a food processor is simply indispensable for many Thanksgiving staples, including cranberry relish, soups, sauces and salad dressings.
Here are eight recipes for Thanksgiving sides that you can make with a slow cooker, air fryer or food processor:
Slow Cooker Herb and Cranberry Stuffing
Whether it’s called stuffing or dressing at your house, everyone will love this simple herb and cranberry side that cooks to perfection in your slow cooker.
Slow Cooker Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
With Gruyere, cheddar and parmesan cheese, these decadent scalloped potatoes will be a hit on your Thanksgiving table.
Slow Cooker Cranberry Sweet Potatoes
Cranberries and sweet potatoes are both Thanksgiving staples—put them together and you have a doubly delicious (yet simple) Thanksgiving side dish.
Slow Cooker Green Bean Casserole
Particularly if you live in the South, Midwest or West, green bean casserole is likely to be a regular on your Thanksgiving table. Jazz it up this year with this easy recipe.
Corn was served at the first Thanksgiving in 1621, and you’ll want this creamy corn casserole at your celebration. With butter, cheese, eggs and yoghurt, this dish is the ultimate comfort food.
Air Fryer Glazed Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
Prepare these crispy brussels sprouts in your Hamilton Beach air fryer to add some crunch to your vegetable sides without creating a traffic jam around the stove.
Air Fryer Crispy Smashed Red Potatoes
Sure, mashed is great, but smashed and crispy is an even better way to serve up potatoes. Once again your air fryer comes to the rescue.
What would Thanksgiving be without cranberry sauce or relish? Your Hamilton Beach food processor can mix this up in no time. Make in advance and store in the fridge so the Grand Marnier® has time to flavor the cranberries.
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