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Thanksgiving always begins with the best intentions. Guests are told when to arrive and what to bring. The turkey goes in the oven anticipating that it will be coming out with crisp golden brown skin and savory aromas just in time for your dinner guests to walk through the door.
Then the inevitable happens. This year’s turkey is bigger than last, so the bird seems to be taking a bit longer to cook than in the past. Or because Aunt Edna keeps opening the oven door to check on her sweet potato casserole, the oven temperature plummets 10 degrees with every open and shut and the turkey refuses to get hotter. Whatever the reason, even that fancy instant read thermometer of yours can’t will that bird to finish on time.
Meanwhile, like a pack of wild dogs circling for the kill, the family is hovering, just waiting to unleash their ravenous hunger on the Thanksgiving spread. Something must be done to placate the savages until that turkey hurries up and finishes. This is the time for some killer Thanksgiving apps, enough to quell the agitated guests while still leaving lots of room for them to devour the main event.
The biggest thing to consider when putting out an appetizer is the already strained capacity of the kitchen space. At this point, the oven is certainly in use and likely most of the burners are being used to make gravy, sauté Brussels sprouts, and keep mashed potatoes warm. Even the kitchen counter space is likely near full. Whatever appetizers are put out should be dishes that require as little effort as possible the day of.
Enter the Thanksgiving soup. Most soups can be made in advance and reheated the day of in a Crockpot. Soups tend to be light enough that they will temporarily fill the empty space in a guest’s stomach but not linger taking up room before dinner. I like lighter vegetable based soups or broths for this purpose. Think about thematic flavors like butternut squash, spicy corn, or even a lighter French onion, served with small parmesan topped croutons instead of the usual gruyere and thick bread cubes. Have your guests serve themselves ladling into plastic mugs, the kind you might use for cider, and you have one less dish to worry about at the end of the meal.
As any head of Thanksgiving Day production in a household knows, keeping people out of the kitchen during final meal preparations can be one of the most difficult tasks all day. The appetizer is a crucial tool in keeping those pesky fingers from sneaking off with your toasted pecans and crispy bacon that are waiting to garnish the finished side dishes. Bacon in particular is one of those ingredients I purposefully make more of than I need for the recipe because I know I’ll lose at least a half a pound of to passersby before it makes it to the intended destination.
Putting bacon in the Thanksgiving appetizers is a sure-fire way to keep the cooking bacon out of the hands of the guests by distracting them with some of their own. Bacon can go in just about everything, but keeping the constraints of the kitchen in mind, some snacks will work better than others. The easiest way is too cook some extra bacon while prepping the side dishes and use the cooked bacon in some apps that don’t require much kitchen space.
As a twist on the classic cheese plate appetizer, try making queso dip in a fondue pot by melting cheddar and stirring in a bit of chopped chipotle in adobo, a couple of slices of the cooked bacon crumbled, and maybe a little sour cream to lighten it up. Place the dip in another room with veggies and chips and let the hungry ones go at it. Or make some BLTG crostini by smearing some herbed goat cheese (G) on a thin round of French bread and topping it with a cherry tomato (T) sliced in half, a leaf (L) of baby arugula, and a one to two inch slice of cooked bacon (B). If you have an extra oven, or have room in the turkey oven, stuff dates with a bit of gorgonzola and wrap the date in a half slice of bacon. Put the dates in the oven until the bacon crisps and the gorgonzola melts for sweet and savory bite that will keep the wild guests at bay.
Holidays have enough stress between bickering relatives, traffic and flight delays that stressing about dinner being ready on time shouldn’t be something a cook needs to worry about. Keeping the guests occupied with a soup to slurp at or bacon snacks to munch on will keep the uninterrupted chef happy and the dinner guest satisfied. Before the guest even knew dinner was late and before the bellies start to rumble again the bird will arrive, hot from the oven, just in time--whatever time that might be.
©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1103-thanksgiving-appetizers/
Thanksgiving Dinner's Late? There's an App for That.
Thanksgiving always begins with the best intentions. Guests are told when to arrive and what to bring. The turkey goes in the oven anticipating that it will be coming out with crisp golden brown skin and savory aromas just in time for your dinner guests to walk through the door.
Then the inevitable happens. This year’s turkey is bigger than last, so the bird seems to be taking a bit longer to cook than in the past. Or because Aunt Edna keeps opening the oven door to check on her sweet potato casserole, the oven temperature plummets 10 degrees with every open and shut and the turkey refuses to get hotter. Whatever the reason, even that fancy instant read thermometer of yours can’t will that bird to finish on time.
Meanwhile, like a pack of wild dogs circling for the kill, the family is hovering, just waiting to unleash their ravenous hunger on the Thanksgiving spread. Something must be done to placate the savages until that turkey hurries up and finishes. This is the time for some killer Thanksgiving apps, enough to quell the agitated guests while still leaving lots of room for them to devour the main event.
The biggest thing to consider when putting out an appetizer is the already strained capacity of the kitchen space. At this point, the oven is certainly in use and likely most of the burners are being used to make gravy, sauté Brussels sprouts, and keep mashed potatoes warm. Even the kitchen counter space is likely near full. Whatever appetizers are put out should be dishes that require as little effort as possible the day of.
Enter the Thanksgiving soup. Most soups can be made in advance and reheated the day of in a Crockpot. Soups tend to be light enough that they will temporarily fill the empty space in a guest’s stomach but not linger taking up room before dinner. I like lighter vegetable based soups or broths for this purpose. Think about thematic flavors like butternut squash, spicy corn, or even a lighter French onion, served with small parmesan topped croutons instead of the usual gruyere and thick bread cubes. Have your guests serve themselves ladling into plastic mugs, the kind you might use for cider, and you have one less dish to worry about at the end of the meal.
As any head of Thanksgiving Day production in a household knows, keeping people out of the kitchen during final meal preparations can be one of the most difficult tasks all day. The appetizer is a crucial tool in keeping those pesky fingers from sneaking off with your toasted pecans and crispy bacon that are waiting to garnish the finished side dishes. Bacon in particular is one of those ingredients I purposefully make more of than I need for the recipe because I know I’ll lose at least a half a pound of to passersby before it makes it to the intended destination.
Putting bacon in the Thanksgiving appetizers is a sure-fire way to keep the cooking bacon out of the hands of the guests by distracting them with some of their own. Bacon can go in just about everything, but keeping the constraints of the kitchen in mind, some snacks will work better than others. The easiest way is too cook some extra bacon while prepping the side dishes and use the cooked bacon in some apps that don’t require much kitchen space.
As a twist on the classic cheese plate appetizer, try making queso dip in a fondue pot by melting cheddar and stirring in a bit of chopped chipotle in adobo, a couple of slices of the cooked bacon crumbled, and maybe a little sour cream to lighten it up. Place the dip in another room with veggies and chips and let the hungry ones go at it. Or make some BLTG crostini by smearing some herbed goat cheese (G) on a thin round of French bread and topping it with a cherry tomato (T) sliced in half, a leaf (L) of baby arugula, and a one to two inch slice of cooked bacon (B). If you have an extra oven, or have room in the turkey oven, stuff dates with a bit of gorgonzola and wrap the date in a half slice of bacon. Put the dates in the oven until the bacon crisps and the gorgonzola melts for sweet and savory bite that will keep the wild guests at bay.
Holidays have enough stress between bickering relatives, traffic and flight delays that stressing about dinner being ready on time shouldn’t be something a cook needs to worry about. Keeping the guests occupied with a soup to slurp at or bacon snacks to munch on will keep the uninterrupted chef happy and the dinner guest satisfied. Before the guest even knew dinner was late and before the bellies start to rumble again the bird will arrive, hot from the oven, just in time--whatever time that might be.
Serves/Makes: 30
- 1 pound bacon
- 15 ounces herbed goat cheese
- 30 cherry tomatoes
- 4 ounces baby arugula
- 1 loaf French bread
Working in batches or in a couple of pans at once, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp and all the fat has rendered. Drain on paper towels.
Slice French bread into 1/2 inch thick rounds. If desired, toast bread in the oven or toaster oven.
Spread 1 Tb. herbed goat cheese on each round. Slice tomatoes in half. Top each round with goat cheese and two tomato halves.
Break bacon into pieces just long enough to fit on each crostini, about 2-3 inches. Top each crostini with a bacon piece and a leaf of arugula.
Serve immediately.
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©2026 CDKitchen, Inc. No reproduction or distribution of any portion of this article is allowed without express permission from CDKitchen, Inc.
To share this article with others, you may link to this page:
https://www.cdkitchen.com/cooking-experts/amy-powell/1103-thanksgiving-appetizers/