Food

Ina Garten is the queen of easy Thanksgiving. Here are 9 recipes we think should be on your menu this year.

Ina Garten Turkey 7
We've tested many of Ina Garten's recipes. These nine should be on your Thanksgiving menu. Rachel Askinasi/Business Insider
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Holiday hosting can be a stressful thing, which is why we've always loved Ina Garten's recipes.

The Barefoot Contessa's delicious and foolproof dishes are essential for planning a Thanksgiving menu that's stress-free and lets you spend more time with friends and family.

We've made dozens of Garten's recipes over the years, exploring everything from her comforting pastas to her mouth-watering desserts.

So you can trust us to pick Garten's best dishes for your Thanksgiving table.

Garten says her go-to homemade appetizer is a batch of chipotle cheddar crackers, and we agree they can be a hit.

Ina Garten chipotle cheddar crackers
Ina Garten's chipotle cheddar crackers. Rachel Askinasi/Business Insider

When it comes to appetizers, the Barefoot Contessa says she likes to make one item and then buy the rest. In October 2022, she told Bon Appétit that her tried-and-true homemade dish for this purpose is a serving of chipotle cheddar crackers. 

Garten says she keeps a log of the cracker dough in her freezer. This way, even if she has some surprise guests over for drinks, she can pull them out and bake off a few as she needs them. 

We thought this recipe tasted just like Cheez-It crackers, but with the consistency of a biscuit. These could be a pre-meal crowd-pleaser at your Thanksgiving gathering.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's chipotle cheddar crackers here.

Garten says this brown-butter skillet corn bread is the best she's ever made, and we feel exactly the same.

Ina Garten cornbread
Ina Garten's brown-butter skillet corn bread. Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

We first made Garten's brown-butter skillet corn bread for Friendsgiving, and it was the biggest hit on the menu. 

The corn bread — which serves 10 to 12 people — has a gorgeous golden-brown hue, making it the perfect centerpiece at the Thanksgiving table. 

Garten's corn bread was easy to whip up and tasted deliciously fluffy and moist, with a salty and crunchy crust and delightfully sweet filling. No one could resist getting seconds, and the leftovers still tasted just as fresh.

It's no wonder the brown-butter skillet corn bread has earned a permanent spot in our holiday cooking repertoire. 

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's brown-butter skillet corn bread here.

Garten's overnight mac and cheese is the perfect make-ahead dish.

Ina Garten's mac and cheese in a gray bowl, topped with breadcrumbs
Ina Garten's overnight mac and cheese. Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

We love making Garten's pasta recipes, and this overnight mac and cheese is among our favorites. 

Garten calls this dish the "creamiest, crustiest, most delicious mac and cheese" that she's ever made. It features cavatappi or elbow macaroni, heavy cream, Gruyère and sharp white cheddar cheeses, nutmeg, breadcrumbs, and plenty of butter. 

This mac and cheese is the perfect make-ahead dish. We made it the night before Friendsgiving and just threw it in the oven when the party started. It was ready in less than 30 minutes and made a big day of cooking much less stressful. Plus, it's extremely delicious. 

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's overnight mac and cheese here.

And her easy turkey-breast recipe might save your meal at the last minute.

Ina Garten Turkey 7
Ina Garten's herb-roasted turkey breast. Rachel Askinasi/Business Insider

Whether you're looking to keep the main dish low-lift this year, or you find out you're in charge of cooking turkey the day before Thanksgiving, we think this recipe should be your go-to. 

This dish is easy to put together and doesn't require the same amount of time and prep as cooking a full-size bird, which makes it ideal for last-minute chefs. 

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's herb-roasted turkey breast here.

This wet rub from Garten's turkey recipe is worth making, even if you're not cooking the main dish.

turkey rub in a bowl
A lemon and oil-based wet rub for Ina Garten's herb-roasted turkey breast. Rachel Askinasi/Business Insider

This quick marinade was our favorite part of the turkey-breast recipe. You can use the extra rub to season green beans, sauce up potatoes, or even serve it as a general dipping sauce for the table. 

Even if you're not making Garten's turkey breast, you should pull out this part of the recipe and add some bright, citrusy, fresh-herb flavors to your otherwise rich plate. 

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's lemony, herby turkey rub here.

Garten's Parmesan smashed potatoes are a fun twist on a Thanksgiving classic.

Ina Garten's smashed potatoes
Ina Garten's Parmesan smashed potatoes. Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

Garten's Parmesan smashed potatoes feature red potatoes, unsalted butter, half and half, sour cream, and freshly grated Parmesan cheese. 

This dish blew us away. The potatoes were delightfully thick, deliciously creamy, and packed with tons of flavor thanks to the salty Parmesan and subtly sweet potatoes. One friend even said it was the best mashed potatoes they've ever tasted. 

And the recipe is incredibly easy and quick. After giving the potatoes some time to just sit on the stove, we barely had to do five minutes of work. It's another great make-ahead dish from the queen of hosting. 

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's Parmesan smashed potatoes here.

And Garten's roasted rosemary potatoes are the easiest Thanksgiving side dish.

Ina Garten's roasted rosemary potatoes
Ina Garten's rosemary roasted potatoes. Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

If you're looking for something a little more classic, we recommend trying Garten's rosemary roasted potatoes instead. 

The recipe only requires a few basic ingredients: small red and white-skinned potatoes, garlic, olive oil, and fresh rosemary leaves.

The potatoes looked gorgeous when they came out of the oven, and were an instant crowd-pleaser. They had a deliciously crispy exterior that gave way to a perfectly warm and creamy middle, and the rosemary added a burst of surprising flavor to the dish.

With so many dishes to juggle on the menu, Garten's recipe is a great way to get delicious potatoes on the table with as little effort as possible.

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's rosemary roasted potatoes here.

But if you want to try our favorite Barefoot Contessa potato dish, you have to make Garten's potato-fennel gratin.

Ina Garten's potato gratin
Ina Garten's potato-fennel gratin. Anneta Konstantinides/Business Insider

Garten's potato-fennel gratin recipe appeared in her very first cookbook, "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook."  It only requires a few main ingredients: russet potatoes, one small fennel bulb, yellow onion, Gruyère cheese, and heavy cream. And it's so comforting. 

The gratin is deliciously creamy and satisfying thanks to the Gruyère, and the potatoes are perfectly cooked. The fennel also adds a lovely mild sweetness that cuts through the saltiness of the cheese.

Better yet? You can even make it ahead. Garten says her gratin can be cooked the day before and reheated for 30 minutes — perfect if you want to save some time on Thanksgiving. 

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's potato-fennel gratin here.

When it comes to dessert, we think these massive chocolate-chip cookies are certainly impressive.

Ina garten's cookies sit on a plate
Ina Garten's giant crinkled chocolate-chip cookies. Rachel Askinasi/Business Insider

What makes these cookies special is that they're super thin and ripple out from the middle to the edges. This wrinkly effect is due to Garten's tip for banging the pan on a counter or stovetop several times throughout the baking process. 

These cookies were both sweet and salty, and their texture was a combination of crispy, flaky, crunchy, and gooey. The finished product was well worth the effort. 

Get the full recipe for Ina Garten's giant crinkled chocolate-chip cookies here. 

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Rachel Askinasi is a freelance writer for Business Insider, where she was formerly a food reporter. She holds a bachelor's degree in multiplatform journalism from the University of Maryland. Rachel has been eating and talking about food for a quarter of a century, cooking for more than a decade, and reviewing restaurants and comparing foods professionally since 2017.Follow her on Instagram at @raskinasi or Twitter @rachel_askinasi.
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Anneta Konstantinides
Anneta Konstantinides is a lifestyle correspondent at Business Insider, with a focus on food and travel. She loves taking readers inside Michelin-starred kitchens and exploring the world of fine-dining, and she's always trying to find the best Ina Garten and Gordon Ramsay recipes. Her second home is LAX, where she's often catching a flight and reviewing airlines.Anneta has also been reporting on the pageant industry for the last six years and has interviewed every Miss USA and Miss Universe winner since 2019. She was a finalist at the LA Press Club Awards for her investigation into the  2022 Miss USA scandal and was featured in The New York Times Presents episode "How to Fix a Pageant" on Hulu in September 2023. After graduating from UCLA with a B.A in English Literature and a minor in film & television, Anneta worked as a journalist in London, Sydney, New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. You can reach Anneta at akonstantinides@bjinnox.com.