Friendsgiving is a popular trend where you hold a Thanksgiving dinner with your group of friends. It’s a nice way to feel at home away from home in college. As busy students, most of us don’t have a lot of time to think about recipes or cook. Luckily for you, I have compiled a list of several different dishes you can cook, rated by ease. I have linked all of the recipes I’ve found for your convenience.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these recipes. Make at your own risk.
Appetizers:
Appetizers are the first course of meals, and some of the easiest dishes to whip up.
- French Onion Brie Puffs– easy
These little bites combine sweet and savory ingredients on a crispy bed of puff pastry. These are super easy to make and only require 7-8 ingredients. You can find most of these ingredients fairly easily at HEB. Additionally, if you want to make it even easier, you can find premade puff pastry shells at Walmart. The most difficult part of this recipe is caramelizing the onions.
If you want to bring something refreshing but still festive to the table, consider this delicious sweet and savory salad. This salad is super easy to make–you can buy most of the ingredients. One potential issue is that you might have to buy quite a few ingredients if you don’t have them on hand already (especially for the dressing). However, if you have most of the ingredients or don’t mind spending a bit of money, you can easily toss this salad together in less than 20 minutes.
- Apple Pie Focaccia or Rosemary Focaccia– easy
My good friend Emily often makes focaccia for my friend group, and I find it to be a perfect appetizer, warm, soft, and a little crunchy. I found two recipes perfectly on theme, depending on whether you want sweet or savory. Handling dough can be a bit difficult for beginners, but I still think it’s very doable. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll want to bake focaccia forever.
Sides:
Controversial opinion, but I like the sides even more than the main course (that might just be because I don’t like turkey). Here are some traditional and unique recipes to bring to the table.
I might be a mashed potato hater, but I will always eat these garlic confit mashed potatoes up. They’re perfectly rich and packed with that delicious garlic flavor. This recipe only takes a handful of ingredients. It’s relatively straightforward, but the confit part might be challenging, especially if you don’t own a ramekin. You can make this creamy dish in 1 hour. I promise it’s better than regular mashed potatoes.
- Butternut Squash Mac n Cheese– medium
I learned about Butternut Squash Mac n’ Cheese through Trader Joe’s. Deliciously cheesy and nutty, it’s the perfect comfort food. It is a one-pot recipe, which is very doable for most college students. The author even gives instructions on how to safely cut the butternut squash, which is helpful if you’ve never cooked with squash before. You don’t need too many ingredients, and you likely already have some of the seasonings needed. This unique twist on Mac n’ Cheese will be a crowd favorite.
I found this recipe by accident, but it has an interesting twist on a typical sweet potato casserole. This would be good to make if your friends are adventurous eaters or want to try something new. The author describes it as a mix between “Mexican hot chocolate” and “Christmas dinner.” The recipe is straightforward; simply make and bake!
- Baked Cranberry Sauce– easy
Why use jellied cranberry sauce when you can quickly and easily make this baked cranberry sauce? Made of only six ingredients, this cranberry sauce is sweet, tart, and nutty. Not only will your house smell delicious, but your guests will be grateful for something not in a can. I recommend serving this with dinner rolls.
This recipe elevates traditional roasted carrots to the next level–sweet and salty with a lovely pine flavor from the rosemary. The recipe only takes 15 minutes to prep, and 35 more minutes to bake. If you want to sneak in some vegetables for Thanksgiving without sacrificing flavor, this is the way to do it!
Dessert:
Everyone’s favorite part of Thanksgiving: dessert! There’s nothing wrong with the traditional apple, pecan, or pumpkin pies, but here are some unique recipes if you want to change it up.
- Pumpkin Chai Cheesecake– medium
This pumpkin chai cheesecake is packed with flavor. The gingersnap crust adds a nice spice to the creamy pumpkin filling. Cheesecake is a little more challenging to make, considering you need to make a water bath to bake it in. But if you’re willing to put in a little extra time and care, this recipe is perfect for you!
- Apple Pie Cookies– medium
If you want to bring something hand-held and easy to eat, these apple pie cookies are for you! This recipe does require a lot of ingredients, so if you want to make it easier, you could use premade cookie dough (results may vary). There are several components to this recipe: cookie, filling, streusel, “ice cream,” and glaze. You can likely omit some of the parts, like the “ice cream” or glaze, if you want to make it easier on yourself. These cookies pack the warm comfort of an apple pie, while being small enough to fit in your hand.
- Pumpkin Tres Leches– easy
Traditional tres leches is great as it is, but why not make it festive? This recipe features a pumpkin cake topped with spiced cream. The cake requires a lot of ingredients, but I’m sure you could use a box of pumpkin cake mix instead to make it easier. Heads up, this recipe will take a lot of prep time! You need to cool the cake down for at least 4 hours before you can top it with the spiced cream. If you have time and patience, this is the perfect dessert for you to bring!
I know that was a lot of reading, but thank you for making it this far. I hope these recipes helped or at least provided inspiration for your Friendsgiving! Happy cooking, everyone.