59 Thanksgiving Desserts That’ll Steal Your Turkey’s Thunder
There’s Thanksgiving dinner, and then there are Thanksgiving desserts. These are two separate events, and in between, it’s perfectly fine to take a disco nap. (In fact, we recommend it.) Once your energy is restored, it’s time to set the dessert table—this is its own event, remember?—and line it down the center with pumpkin cheesecake, pecan pie, caramel apples, Bundt cake, brownies, cupcakes with maple buttercream frosting, and whatever other fall flavors your heart and stomach desire. Whether you’re a die-hard traditionalist or here for fun twists on the classics, we’ve got all of our best Thanksgiving desserts in one place.
Alex Lau1/59Whiskey Sweet Potato Pie
We start with one of our best Thanksgiving desserts. Why the prime placement? 1. The spelt flour pie crust is amazingly flaky. 2. The custard is enriched with coconut cream and a generous pour of smokey whiskey. 3. Did you hear that we said whiskey?
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Judy Kim, Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca4/59Saffron Milk Cake
Photograph by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio6/59Sweet Potato Cake With Salted Cream Cheese Frosting
This may look like a pumpkin cake, but sweet potato is the star here. To balance the sweetness: salted cream cheese frosting.
Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua7/59Easy-Fancy Pear Galette
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Judy Kim, prop styling by Beth Pakradooni8/59BA’s Best Pumpkin Pie
Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua9/59Cinnamon Crunch Crinkle Pie
Fold sheets of flaky, frilly phyllo pastry around a cinnamon- and orange-scented custard for an easy-to-assemble pie recipe with lots of wow factor.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Liberty Fennell, Prop Styling by Suzie Myers11/59Pumpkin Spice Crumb Cake
Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua12/59Salted Coffee Custard Pie
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne14/59Dutch Apple Pie
Apple crumble meets classic apple pie in this best-of-both-worlds dessert. Before heading out to the store, check out our list of the best apples for making pie.
Photo by Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski16/59Banana Cream Pie
Photograph by Isa Zapata17/59Extremadura Almond Pie
This Spanish almond pie sports a lofty, fudgy almond custard barely contained within a tender, flaky crust. It comes from Bocadillo Market in Chicago, one of our Best New Restaurants of 2022.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne, Prop Styling by Carla Gonzalez-Hart18/59Coconut-Cardamom Doughnuts
We are here to tell you that these oh-so-pillowy baked doughnuts can be considered desserts for Thanksgiving. If that's not your vibe, then we're also here to tell you that they work for Thanksgiving brunch.
Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski19/59Cranberry Linzer Tart
If you love cranberries so much that you want them as a side dish at Thanksgiving dinner and later on for dessert, this recipe features a tart cranberry filling hiding inside two layers of buttery, crumbly walnut crust.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser, Prop Styling by Paola Andrea21/59Sweet Potato Pie With Marshmallow Whip
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Liberty Fennell, Prop Styling by Suzie Myers22/59Caramel Apple Snacking Cake
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Taneka Morris, Prop Styling by Maya Rossi23/59Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by Pearl Jones, prop styling by Summer Moore24/59Chewy Date and Dark Chocolate Cookies
This treat is like an elevated peanut butter cookie and an elevated oatmeal-raisin cookie and an elevated chocolate chip cookie raised a child together. It gets tahini for nuttiness, dates for concentrated sweetness, big chunks of dark chocolate, and a combo of granulated and brown sugars for the perfect chew.
Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by Kat Boystova, prop styling by Allie Wist25/59Classic Banana Pudding
This banana pudding is the real deal. Many recipes call for using instant pudding mix, but making it from scratch adds about five minutes and a creaminess and complexity you won’t get from the boxed stuff.
Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott26/59Chocolate Fudge With Bourbon Sugar
They may look like chocolate pie bars, but these glossy, exceptionally fudgy two-bite desserts for Thanksgiving are, well, fudge. (There's a reason they're so fudgy.)
Photograph by Guang Xu28/59Chocolate Pecan Pie
All the gooey goodness that pecan pie lovers crave, but with a cocoa crust, bittersweet morsels baked right into the custard, and fluffy chocolate cream.
Photograph by Jenny Huang, Food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Martha Bernabe29/59Milk Tea Bread Pudding With Crème Anglaise
Perhaps one of our more unexpected Thanksgiving dessert recipes, milk tea makes for an irresistibly sweet and creamy base for this bread pudding. (And, now that we think of it, why shouldn't bread pudding be considered one of the best desserts for Thanksgiving?)
Photograph by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio30/59Flaky Cranberry Hand Pies
Photograph by Rana Duzyol, Food Styling by Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua31/59Hazelnut Butter Cup Tart
Photo by Laura Murray, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Nicole Louie32/59Cheesecake-Cake
Photograph by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio33/59Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies
Photograph by Laura Murray, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Sophie Strangio35/59Milk and Honey Pie
Photograph by Laura Murray, food styling by Sue Li36/59Tahini Linzer Torte Bars
Combine childhood favorite Fig Newtons with a more elegant jam-filled linzer torte—and you get these fruity dessert bars.
Photographs by Jenny Huang, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Sophie Strangio37/59Chocolate Buckwheat Cake
Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by D'Myrtrek Brown38/59Chocolate-Biscoff Banoffee Pie
While this pie involves a combination of chocolate, bananas, and butterscotch, it isn’t your traditional British banoffee pie. The twist? Gingerbread-like speculoos cookies, which add a hint of spice and bitter chocolate to the crust.
Photograph by Heami Lee, food styling by Frances Boswell, prop styling by Sophie Strangio39/59Beet Halwa With Pistachios
Photograph by Emma Fishman, food styling by D’mytrek Brown, prop styling by Elizabeth Jaime40/59Flourless Chocolate Cake With Café de Olla Ganache
Consider this the sweet treat that will fuel you through the days of prep work leading up to Thanksgiving: The cake gets better throughout the week, whether warmed up or still cold from the fridge.
Photo by Emma Fishman, food styling by D'mytrek Brown41/59Pumpkin-Tahini Mousse Pie
Store-bought chocolate wafer cookies form the crust for this pie, which is filled with a no-bake, whipped pumpkin-cream cheese filling enhanced by nutty tahini.
Photo by Chelsie Craig, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich43/59Apple-Walnut Upside-Down Cake
This nutty upside-down cake—studded with caramel-glazed apple halves—uses a cast-iron skillet for a caramelized bottom.
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susie Theodorou, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski44/59Pecan-Rye Pumpkin Pie
Photo by Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski45/59Chocolate Pudding Pie
Here's a truly dazzling chocolate pudding pie topped with voluminous whipped cream. They key to that height: Setting it with gelatin, so it won’t deflate when chilled.
46/59Apple Pandowdy
Who needs apple crisp or apple cobbler when apple pandowdy exists? The topping for this dessert is made of irregular cuts of store-bought puff pastry.
Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski47/59Butternut Squash Tarte Tatin
Hold the apples, sub in butternut squash, and watch out for the jaws dropping to the Thanksgiving table for this fall dessert.
Alex Lau49/59Pumpkin Spice Icebox Cake
Some things are better from a can or a box. Pumpkin purée and graham crackers are two of those things, and both are in this killer make-ahead dessert recipe.
Alex Lau50/59Margaret’s Maple Sugar Pie
There’s no maple syrup in this pie recipe (not a mistake), but the finished product will remind you of maple-sugar candies thanks to the caramel notes in the brown sugar.
Photograph by Emma Fishman. Food styling by Pearl Jones.51/59Thandai Shortbread Cookies
Buttery, floral, heavily spiced, and dipped in white chocolate, these shortbread cookies are a great gift for your Thanksgiving dinner guests to take home.
Alex Lau52/59Salted Caramel–Chocolate Tart
A generous sprinkling of flaky sea salt before serving not only brings out the flavor of the chocolate but also tempers the sweetness of the caramel in this tart.
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Susan Spungen, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski54/59Double Pecan Thumbprints
Christopher Testani55/59Pumpkin-Caramel Tart With Toasted-Hazelnut Crust
This may look like a pumpkin-chocolate pie, but it's actually a deep amber caramel that gives this dessert its rich color.
Photo by Ted + Chelsea Cavanaugh, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski56/59Lemon Meringue Pie
Photo by Alex Lau, styling by Sean Dooley58/59BA’s Best Snickerdoodles
You may look at these cookies and think, "As a Thanksgiving dessert? Really?" First, yes, these chewy Snickerdoodles would be worthy, but allow us to set our true intentions: This is your post-dessert dessert. Thanksgiving is not a time for restraint.
Christopher Testani59/59No-Bake Chocolate Cream Pie With Toasted Meringue
The swirly meringue topping on this pie is stable enough to make a day ahead and keep chilled—even if you’ve brûléed it. (You didn't think we'd get through a list of our best Thanksgiving desserts without giving you an opportunity to use a kitchen torch, did you?)
