The Most Popular Thanksgiving Recipes in Every State, According to Google
It turns out that Thanksgiving dinner can be pretty divisive. Sure, it’s based around turkey, but should you brine it, stuff it, sous vide it, or make gravy from it? Do the cranberries go in relish, salad, or sauce? Is it dressing or stuffing, and is there cornbread involved? Where do the green beans, sweet potatoes, and squash fit in?
We had a look at the Google searches from every state at the beginning of November — peak planning time — and got a preview of what each state was thinking about making for Thanksgiving dinner.
Stuffing vs. Dressing
What do Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee all have in common? Dressing is the top uniquely searched Thanksgiving recipe in those states. Texas, on the other hand, specifically searches out cornbread dressing. Meanwhile, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, and Rhode Island are all looking for stuffing. Technically, stuffing is cooked in the bird while dressing is outside, but in practice, people tend to use their term of choice for either — but it doesn’t look like regionality governs which term they use, given examples like the Indiana/Illinois split.
What Do We Do with Cranberries?
Alaskans are going traditional with cranberry sauce, but Connecticut, Maryland, and Montana are too early in their search to have pinpointed exactly what type of cranberry recipe they’re looking for. Maybe they should take a hint from Wisconsin and give cranberry salad a try?
Vegetables
Green bean casserole is the classic T-day vegetable, right? Well, yes, if you’re in Florida or Georgia. Meanwhile, Virginia is digging green beans, but hasn’t yet committed to casserole. (Might we suggest Ina’s green beans?). Vermont and Pennsylvania haven’t even gotten that far yet; they are still searching for any vegetable. Wyoming is roasting carrots, California’s making creamed corn, and South Dakota’s cooking some type of corn, preparation TBD. Utah and Washington are both looking at salads, but having lived in both states, let me tell you, I do not think that they’re searching for the same thing.
Sweet Potatoes and Squashes
South Carolina takes the traditional route with sweet potato casserole, while Kentucky, Missouri, and Oregon are still deciding how to prepare their sweet potatoes. Massachusetts and New Hampshire seem to have a New England take on the meal that involves butternut squash.
Soup
For me, soup was always a day-after kind of dish, but for Nevada, New Jersey, and New York, it’s part of the meal. And in Hawaii and Louisiana it’s a specific one — stone and chicken, respectively.
Turkey
So much of the time, how to cook the bird is the issue, but very few people seem to be uniquely seeking out that info. Only West Virginia is sensibly searching for how to roast their turkey, while Maine needs some help on turkey gravy.
Dessert
Mad respect to the states where everyone just wants to know how to make dessert. For Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Ohio, it’s all about the pumpkin pie. But D.C., smart city that it is, needs to know how to make Thanksgiving cookies.
You’re Making a What Now?
We have a lot of questions for Arizona (ham) and Delaware (keto brisket) and are leaning away from spending the holidays with any relatives there. We’ll stick with North Dakota, where they’re figuring out how to make punch.
Alabama: dressing
Alaska: cranberry sauce
Arizona: ham
Arkansas: dressing
California: creamed corn
Colorado: pumpkin pie
Connecticut: cranberry
Delaware: keto brisket
D.C.: cookies
Florida: green bean casserole
Georgia: green bean casserole
Hawaii: stone soup
Idaho: stuffing
Illinois: stuffing
Indiana: dressing
Iowa: casserole
Kansas: pumpkin pie
Kentucky: sweet potato
Louisiana: chicken soup
Maine: turkey gravy
Maryland: cranberry
Massachusetts: butternut squash
Michigan: dressing
Minnesota: stuffing
Mississippi: dressing
Missouri: sweet potato
Montana: cranberry
Nebraska: pumpkin pie
Nevada: soup
New Hampshire: butternut squash
New Jersey: soup
New Mexico: dressing
New York: soup
North Carolina: dressing
North Dakota: punch
Ohio: pumpkin pie
Oklahoma: dressing
Oregon: sweet potato
Pennsylvania: vegetable
Rhode Island: stuffing
South Carolina: sweet potato casserole
South Dakota: corn
Tennessee: dressing
Texas: cornbread dressing
Utah: salad
Vermont: vegetables
Virginia: green bean
Washington: salad
West Virginia: roast turkey
Wisconsin: cranberry salad
Wyoming: roasted carrots