Hosting a pre-Thanksgiving celebration with friends? Here’s the very best of our Friendsgiving Menu to help you have the most delicious feast this season.
Good food, good friends, good fun… that’s what Friendsgiving is all about!
We feel so very lucky to have some of the best friends in the world. And, that they love good food as much as we do!
Whereas Thanksgiving tends to be focused as a family gathering, Friendsgiving is a lovely chance to get together with good friends ahead of the big Thanksgiving event.
Here’s a look at our most recent Friendsgiving Menu, along with our best tips for hosting a delicious, stress-free, super fun Friendsgiving gathering.
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Marlynn’s Tip
Friendsgiving Hosting Tips
- Friendsgiving is typically hosted on a Saturday or Sunday one to two weeks before American Thanksgiving.
- Send out invites at least two weeks prior. Three weeks to one month prior is a good lead time for a larger gathering, and one that is closer to Thanksgiving.
- About 1-2 weeks before your Friendsgiving, take stock of what tablecloths, napkins, serving platters, dishes, and cutlery you have on hand. That gives you enough time to buy or borrow anything you might need ahead of time.
Setting the table
Colors – Fall colors like orange, red, brown, yellow, and dark green.
The main course: spatchcock turkey
While a Thanksgiving turkey is the common Go To main course for the main event, Friendsgiving offers a more flexible menu. If you decide to make a turkey, try our spatchcock turkey recipe. This is our favorite way to make turkey. It cooks the dark and white meat evenly, cooks in faster time than the traditional roasting method, and results in crispy skin.
For a smaller Friendsgiving gathering, try our air fryer turkey tenderloin. It cooks quickly, turns out nice and tender, and is great for about 6 adults.
If you choose to make something other than turkey, consider a dish that serves a lot of people. Our dairy-free lasagna, dairy-free lobster mac and cheese, or air fryer chicken pot pie are great alternatives to turkey.
Filipino lumpia
While lumpia (Filipino spring rolls) aren’t a traditional Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving dish, we can’t celebrate any holiday without it. And, our holiday guests would revolt if we invited them to a holiday gathering and we didn’t serve lumpia!
The crispy rolls are filled with a mix of ground beef and pork, lots of veggies, and are truly irresistible.
Vegan butternut squash mac and cheese
If you’re having a vegetarian or vegan Friendsgiving, this butternut squash mac and cheese would be a great main course.
For our Friendsgiving, we served it as a side dish. We have friends who are vegetarian, friends who are dairy-free, and a friend who is allergic to soy, so many of the dishes we served could be enjoyed by the whole gang.
Vegan Mashed Potatoes
Just as turkey is the most traditional main course, mashed potatoes have gained their place as the Must Have side dish for Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving.
We made a vegan version of our Instant Pot garlic mashed potatoes for our Friendsgiving. You could also make roasted herby potatoes or whipped sweet potatoes as a mashed potato alternative.
Make ahead tip: Make these the night before, then reheat in the oven at 350°F for at least 15 minutes, until the center is heated through. Stir a few pats of butter in and top with chopped chives just before serving.
Apple pie bars
For dessert, we love making these apple pie bars. They are a fun twist on the traditional apple pie. They’re easy to slice into individual squares or bars, and are great served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Make-Ahead Tip: Make these apple pie bars up to 3 days ahead of time. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.
Mini pecan pies
For an alternative to pecan pie, try these mini pecan pies. They’re so easy to make, and you can make them a few days ahead of time.
Make-Ahead Tip: Make this one week ahead of time and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator about 2 days beforehand, then reheat in a 300°F oven for about 15 minutes, just until heated through.
Chewy ginger molasses cookies
For another dessert alternative that you can make ahead of time, try these chewy ginger molasses cookies. Yes, the flavors are distinctly more winter holiday themed and Christmas themed, but they’re a great addition to any Friendsgiving table!
Make-Ahead Tip: Make these up to 2 or 3 days beforehand and store in an airtight container at room temperature. You can also bake these up to 1 month beforehand, then freeze and thaw at room temperature 2 days before serving.
Friendsgiving FAQs
Friendsgiving is usually a lunch or dinner event. If you host for lunchtime, aim for starting between 12-1pm. If you host for dinner, aim for starting around 6-7pm. You want to plan for at least 2 hours for the event. Our last Friendsgiving lasted about 6 hours!
Consider a sparkling apple cider, sparkling water, or make mocktails like our cranberry mocktail recipe.
You can do some of the same activities you would do for Thanksgiving. For instance, have guests all write down what they are feeling thankful for. Play Friendsgiving Bingo. Or set out some of your group’s favorite board games or mahjong tiles for game time after feasting.
🍷 🥂 Friendsgiving wine pairings
For Friendsgiving, we poured three main styles of wine:
- Sparkling wine – we served a lovely Oregon Brut Rosé as our welcome wine. It’s nice to offer guests a drink when they first come inside.
- Gamay – the fruit forward, high acid Gamay wines are perfect to pair with all the rich, creamy sides.
- Pinot Noir – the earthiness of Pinot Noir pairs beautifully with turkey and most fall vegetables.
Did you make any of these recipes? Don’t forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating and comment below letting us know which one you made and how it turned out. Thank you!
More Friendsgiving recipes
Side Dishes
Sweet Potato Gratin
Side Dishes
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Carrots
Dessert Recipes
Sweet Potato Pie with Graham Cracker Crust
Side Dishes
