Because this is Rivals.com and everything should be ranked...
1. Sweet Potato Casserole - With Brown Sugar and Pecans, delicious.
2. Mac and Cheese - If you don't have Mac and Cheese at thanksgiving you are at the wrong fete.
3. Broccoli-Cheese Casserole - My favorite style of this has Ritz crackers on top and enough cheese to stop your digestive tract in three bites.
4. Brussels and Bacon - Baked on a cookie sheet together and served warm.
5. Corn Pudding - In a casserole dish this is almost always money.
6. Green Bean Casserole - Simple and classic with onion straws on top.
7. Baked Apples - My sister puts cinnamon and red hots in there. BOOM.
8. Hawaiian Rolls - Not sure this is a side dish, but they are delicious.
9. Canned Cranberry Sauce - It is berry with the ridges still intact on the sides.
10. Cornbread - Could be great (cast-iron) could be terrible (dry and crunchy). Use discretion.
11. Mashed Potatoes - Mashed Potatoes are the Kansas basketball of Thanksgiving side dishes - always in the conversation, always assumed to be elite, but most of the time not really elite and frequently should be better than they turn out.
12. Homemade Cranberry Sauce - Wildly inconsistent. Could be great, could be awful. You don't know until you try it.
13. Creamed Spinach - I've had it done very well. I've also had it terrible. Who knows.
14. Roasted Cauliflower - Don't knock it until you have tried it.
15. Potato Au Gratin - Gonzaga. Interesting and appealing. This dish looks incredible when it comes out of the oven, but almost never lives up to its resume and can often be a mess under its beautiful outward appearance.
16. Roasted Butternut Squash - Okay. I guess.
17. Grilled Asparagus - Can be done really well and every now and then could make a Final Four run, but often mushy and weak. Something you put on your plate to try to act healthy.
18. Stuffing/Dressing - You have to have it, you have to eat it, but when was the last time it was exciting?
19. Salad - All of them. They are always around at Thanksgiving and you almost always have to put them on your plate, but you never like it.
20. Haricots Verts - Those are just church'ed up green beans and they are an auto-bid league. Lehigh.
And my No. 1 every year - Corn Ooh LaLa. (bacon and grilled onions with sweet corn and cream. Hot Damn it is good!)
1. Sweet Potato Casserole - With Brown Sugar and Pecans, delicious.
2. Mac and Cheese - If you don't have Mac and Cheese at thanksgiving you are at the wrong fete.
3. Broccoli-Cheese Casserole - My favorite style of this has Ritz crackers on top and enough cheese to stop your digestive tract in three bites.
4. Brussels and Bacon - Baked on a cookie sheet together and served warm.
5. Corn Pudding - In a casserole dish this is almost always money.
6. Green Bean Casserole - Simple and classic with onion straws on top.
7. Baked Apples - My sister puts cinnamon and red hots in there. BOOM.
8. Hawaiian Rolls - Not sure this is a side dish, but they are delicious.
9. Canned Cranberry Sauce - It is berry with the ridges still intact on the sides.
10. Cornbread - Could be great (cast-iron) could be terrible (dry and crunchy). Use discretion.
11. Mashed Potatoes - Mashed Potatoes are the Kansas basketball of Thanksgiving side dishes - always in the conversation, always assumed to be elite, but most of the time not really elite and frequently should be better than they turn out.
12. Homemade Cranberry Sauce - Wildly inconsistent. Could be great, could be awful. You don't know until you try it.
13. Creamed Spinach - I've had it done very well. I've also had it terrible. Who knows.
14. Roasted Cauliflower - Don't knock it until you have tried it.
15. Potato Au Gratin - Gonzaga. Interesting and appealing. This dish looks incredible when it comes out of the oven, but almost never lives up to its resume and can often be a mess under its beautiful outward appearance.
16. Roasted Butternut Squash - Okay. I guess.
17. Grilled Asparagus - Can be done really well and every now and then could make a Final Four run, but often mushy and weak. Something you put on your plate to try to act healthy.
18. Stuffing/Dressing - You have to have it, you have to eat it, but when was the last time it was exciting?
19. Salad - All of them. They are always around at Thanksgiving and you almost always have to put them on your plate, but you never like it.
20. Haricots Verts - Those are just church'ed up green beans and they are an auto-bid league. Lehigh.
And my No. 1 every year - Corn Ooh LaLa. (bacon and grilled onions with sweet corn and cream. Hot Damn it is good!)
