What America Is Cooking for Thanksgiving, According to Reddit

On Thanksgiving Day, many families were testing out turkey prep methods; but in my house, we were preheating the oven for salmon. It’s partly a nod to my love of all things Alaska, and partly because my little sister just doesn’t enjoy traditional meat. And honestly, choosing a protein your whole group loves feels like the real point of a holiday meal.

That had me wondering: What unexpected dishes showed up on everyone else’s tables this year? So I started searching for the most creative, most-discussed Thanksgiving ideas, which led me straight to Reddit.

How we built a crowdsourced Thanksgiving menu app

To explore the most interesting Thanksgiving dishes, I opened up r/thanksgiving and started pulling posts using Domo’s JSON No Code Connector. Once everything was streaming in, I used Magic ETL to join the threads, grab the titles, and extract the keywords people were using the most. Then came my favorite part: building a little menu out of the most engaging—and occasionally unhinged—posts using the Gallery app component.

I specifically looked for dishes that weren’t just traditional turkey talk. I wanted the wildcard ideas, the experiments, the “should I even try this?” energy. Because if you’re crowdsourcing a Thanksgiving menu from strangers on the internet, it may as well be interesting.

And Reddit did not disappoint.

Turkey panic and the kindness of strangers

One of the top threads this year was “Turkey Newbie—help please!”—which tells you everything you need to know about the vibe. People genuinely want to help each other pull off this meal, and the comment sections were full of kind, thoughtful advice.  

That warmth carried through even in the more chaotic posts, including one asking, “How long do you microwave a turkey?” If you remember the viral 2018 meme, you know exactly what they were referencing.  

The great green bean casserole divide

Food debates were everywhere too. The one that got me the most was the green bean casserole showdown: “Traditional green bean casserole: Yea or nay?” This single question pulled in nearly 300 comments, proving that no dish is more divisive—or passionately defended—than this crunchy, creamy classic.

What the keywords say about our collective cooking questions and anxieties

When I looked at the keyword bubble chart, it confirmed the big themes: “thanksgiving” and “turkey” were by far the largest bubbles, but surrounding them were clusters of words like “help,” “ideas,” “recipe,” “side,” “make,” and “need.” Basically, a portrait of a nation collectively Googling, texting group chats, and praying their turkey thaws in time.

At the end of the day, Thanksgiving isn’t really about following the “right” menu. It’s about making something your people actually want to eat—whether that’s turkey, salmon, mac and cheese, chorizo stuffing, or whatever brilliant idea Reddit serves up next.

Explore the conversations, and happy Thanksgiving!  

Looking through these posts, I loved seeing how generous, encouraging, and creative everyone was. Even the most chaotic questions had dozens of kind replies. Feel free to explore the dashboard and click through the conversations for yourself. It’s a surprisingly delightful way to get inspired for your next holiday meal.

For everyone in the US who celebrated, we’re wishing you a belated Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your meal, traditional or not, was exactly what you craved.