This Thanksgiving, we’re taking a look at the side dishes. Within each side dish category, we pitted the least healthy version of the dish against the healthiest.
For this article, all foods were measured by weight (100 grams). For foods where portion size can be difficult to eyeball, 100 grams is usually about what you’d get if you took a half cup scoop. We used USDA FoodData Central to find the nutritional information for each food.
Keep in mind that “Healthiest” doesn’t mean health food, just the healthiest option out of the 2! We analyzed 11 side dish categories in all, and yes, pie is one of them. And if a category didn’t have a clear-cut winner based on the math, we didn’t declare one.
1. Potatoes
Healthiest: Homemade mashed potatoes
Unhealthiest: Potatoes au gratin
Mashed potatoes are a Thanksgiving classic for good reason, because potatoes bring potassium and a little fiber. Normal portions of butter won’t negate these nutritional properties. Per 100 grams, homemade mashed potatoes made with whole milk and butter have 113 calories, 2.6 grams of saturated fat, and 317 milligrams of sodium.
Potatoes au gratin are also made with butter, but the added cheese and cream (all layered between spud slices) ups the saturated fat and calorie content. Per 100 grams of gratins, you’re looking at 134 calories, 4.7 grams of saturated fat, and 433 milligrams of sodium. That’s almost double the saturated fat of the mashed potatoes, plus about a third more sodium, all taking up pretty much the same amount of real estate on your plate.
2. Casseroles
Healthiest: Green bean casserole
Unhealthiest: Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows
We looked at 5 casseroles you might see at Thanksgiving this year: broccoli-rice casserole, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, squash casserole, and corn pudding. Per 100 grams, green bean casserole had the fewest calories (56), followed by squash (92), broccoli-rice (107), and corn pudding (116).
Green bean also had the lowest amount of saturated fat at 0.5 grams, and the lowest amount of sugar at 2 grams. The green beans help to boost its health factor, and the fried onions, while not health food, make up only a thin layer of the entire casserole.
Sweet potato casserole, made with baked sweet potatoes, brown sugar, butter, 2 eggs, milk, and 2 cups of mini marshmallows, had 177 calories per 100 grams, more than 3x as many as green bean casserole. It also had over 5x the amount of saturated fat (2.8 grams), and over 9x the sugar (18.7 grams) of green bean.
Sweet potato did win, though, in the sodium department: sweet potato had only 81 milligrams per 100 grams, but the use of canned cream of mushroom soup in green bean casserole shoots its sodium content up to 316 milligrams.
3. Mac and Cheese
It depends: Homemade mac and cheese and Boxed mac and cheese
This might come as a surprise to mac and cheese connoisseurs everywhere, but there isn’t really a clear-cut winner between classic boxed mac and cheese and homemade mac and cheese. Per 100 grams, mac and cheese prepared according to the directions on the box has about a quarter fewer calories than the homemade variety (164 vs 223 calories), as well as less than a third the amount of saturated fat (1.6 vs 5.2 grams).
Homemade mac and cheese made with real cheese does edge out the boxed variety in the sodium department with about a 100 milligram lead (358 vs 460 milligrams). This shouldn’t be an issue for most, but those watching their sodium intake to control blood pressure might want to go with the homemade variety.
4. Leafy Greens
Healthiest: Collard greens
Unhealthiest: Creamed spinach
Collard greens. Per 100 grams, cooked collards have 33 calories and only 15 milligrams of sodium, plus 4 grams of fiber and a saturated-fat figure so minuscule that it rounds down to zero. Of course, cooking greens (especially collards) usually entails simmering them in a tasty broth made with onion, garlic, vinegar, etc., but they don’t cease to be greens, nutritionally speaking.
Creamed spinach. This is not, nutritionally speaking, spinach. Per 100 grams, it has 90 calories, 3.3 grams of saturated fat, 1.2 grams of fiber and a remarkable 450 milligrams of sodium, 30 times the sodium of cooked greens, thanks to the cream sauce. If spinach is a must, try sauteed garlic spinach and you’ll get the nutrition to resemble that of greens pretty closely.
5. Corn
Healthiest: Corn on the cob
Unhealthiest: Corn pudding
Sweet corn. Per 100 grams: 96 calories, 1 milligram of sodium, and 2.4 grams of fiber (slightly more than potatoes), plus a perfectly acceptable 4.5 grams of sugar that occurs naturally in the vegetable.
Corn pudding. At 116 calories, 310 milligrams of sodium and 1.4 grams of saturated fat (per 100 grams), corn pudding is closer to a custard than a vegetable. Those eggs, butter and milk will get you there.
6. Roasted Vegetables
Healthiest: Roasted Brussels sprouts
Unhealthiest: Glazed carrots
Roasted Brussels sprouts. Roasted Brussels sprouts tossed with olive oil have 67 calories per 100 grams (mostly from the oil), plus 2.2 grams of sugar and 3.8 grams of fiber; sodium is moderate, at 151 milligrams per 100 grams. Brussels sprouts have the most fiber of any vegetable in this lineup except the collards.
Glazed carrots. Raw carrots don’t have much sugar, less than 5 grams per 100 grams. Cooked with brown sugar and butter, though, they turn into a vegetable candy bar, with 12.1 grams of sugar per 100 grams, plus 97 calories, 1.4 grams of saturated fat and 214 milligrams of sodium. The sugar content is about five and a half times that of roasted Brussels sprouts; try roasting carrots rather than glazing them and their nutrients come right back into range.
7. Stuffing
Healthiest: Homemade whole-grain stuffing
Unhealthiest: Boxed stuffing mix, prepared
Homemade. There are lots of different stuffings in our source, the USDA FoodData Central database. Amazingly, they’re all within 20 calories of each other. Our calculations are based on a from-scratch version prepared in a 9 by 13 pan, made with whole-wheat bread, celery, an apple, onion and low-sodium chicken broth, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and no added salt. Per 100 grams: 135 calories, 0.7 gram of saturated fat, 194 milligrams of sodium, 3 grams fiber.
From a box. The boxed-stuffing figures are for the mix prepared as directed, butter included. Per 100 grams: 195 calories, 12 grams of fat (2.3 of it saturated), 479 milligrams of sodium, 0.8 gram of fiber.
Homemade stuffing is the winner here. Stuffing from a box has more than twice the sodium but about one-quarter of the fiber of homemade. Making stuffing from scratch takes about 10 extra minutes. And per 100 grams of dry stuffing-mix ingredients, you’ll be chowing down 1,400 milligrams of sodium before the butter even shows up.
8. Rolls
Healthiest: Whole-wheat dinner roll
Unhealthiest: Butter croissant
A whole-wheat roll has 266 calories per 100 grams, plus 0.8 gram of saturated fat. On the bright side, it also has a hearty 7.5 grams of fiber per 100 grams. In practice, dinner rolls are much smaller than 100 grams apiece, so rolls won’t ruin your otherwise stellar Thanksgiving.
But the USDA does track the butter croissant, which has a similar composition to the refrigerated crescent roll from the tube. It has 406 calories per 100 grams, as well as 11.7 grams of saturated fat, 14 times as much as the roll. There’s 2.6 grams of fiber (compared to 7.5 grams in the roll), but overall this is the fattiest food in the bread basket. So whole-wheat roll it is.
Though, to be fair, its 521 milligrams of sodium (per 100 grams) is worse than the croissant’s 384 milligrams. If you’re limiting salt, your best bet might be to pass on all rolls and reach for more potatoes.
9. Gravy
Healthiest: Homemade pan gravy
Unhealthiest: Canned gravy
Homemade pan gravy made from turkey drippings has 48 calories and 389 milligrams of sodium per 100 grams. A hearty quarter-cup drizzle would have a mere 233 milligrams. Canned gravy has 51 calories and 577 milligrams of sodium per 100 grams; you’d consume about 346 milligrams in a quarter cup.
Again, calories don’t come into it much here; this choice is decided on the basis of sodium. Go with the pan gravy to save around 100 milligrams per quarter cup, and also because it will actually taste like turkey.
10. Cranberry Sauce
Healthiest: Homemade cranberry sauce, half the sugar
Unhealthiest: Canned jellied cranberry sauce
According to the math, cranberry sauce made from the package recipe is worse for you than store-bought, because a standard recipe using a 12-ounce bag of cranberries calls for a whole cup of sugar. That works out to a whopping 38.1 grams of sugar per 100 grams of cranberry sauce.
We thought we’d calculate the stats for cranberry sauce with only half cup of sugar: It would have 111 calories per 100 grams, 23.3 grams of sugar, and 2.5 grams of fiber. As it turns out, jellied canned cranberry sauce has 159 calories and 31.8 grams of sugar per 100 grams.
There’s less fiber (1.1 grams), because the fresh cranberries are strained out (they otherwise would’ve provided 3.6 grams of fiber per 100 grams, as well as a tartness that keeps the added sugar in check).
To determine a winner, you need to take portion size into account. A typical ridged slice of the jellied sauce weighs 50 grams and thus contains a hefty 16 grams of sugar. All told, we rank store-bought jellied cranberry sauce as being less sugary than the package recipe that calls for an entire cup of sugar (which we suspect most people follow). But the recipe is better if you halve the amount of sugar.
11. The Pie
Healthiest: Pumpkin pie
Unhealthiest: Pecan pie
Pie is another food that can’t be ignored this time of year, so we did the math on two common Thanksgiving options. Pumpkin pie is basically custard, meaning that pumpkin, milk, and eggs are its major contributors; pecan pie is named for its major contributor. Per 100 grams, pumpkin pie has 243 calories, 18.9 grams of sugar, 9.8 grams of fat (2 of them saturated). Pecan pie has 407 calories, 25.2 grams of sugar, and 16.7 grams of fat (2.7 of them saturated).
Pumpkin pie wins, with about 40 percent fewer calories per bite and one-third less sugar. Most of pecan pie’s fat is in the form of nuts, but it’s still a fattier food than pumpkin pie. Its sugar content is also much higher (thanks to the corn syrup-laden filling). If you are having 1 slice, have the one you want; if you’re having two helpings, make the second one pumpkin.
The Thanksgiving Sides Verdicts at a Glance
| Category | Healthiest in this pair | Unhealthiest in this pair | What decided it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Potatoes | Homemade mashed potatoes | Potatoes au gratin | Half the saturated fat, a third less sodium |
| Casseroles | Green bean casserole | Sweet potato casserole with marshmallows | 3x the calories, 5x the saturated fat, 9x the sugar |
| Mac and Cheese | Homemade mac and cheese and Boxed mac and cheese are a split decision | No clear loser | The box wins on fat, homemade wins on sodium |
| Leafy Greens | Collard greens | Creamed spinach | 30x the sodium in the creamed version |
| Corn | Corn on the cob | Corn pudding | 310 mg of sodium against 1 |
| Roasted Vegetables | Roasted Brussels sprouts | Glazed carrots | Five and a half times the sugar in the glaze |
| Stuffing | Homemade whole-grain stuffing | Boxed stuffing mix, prepared | Less than half the sodium, nearly 4x the fiber |
| Rolls | Whole-wheat dinner roll | Butter croissant | 14x the saturated fat in the croissant |
| Gravy | Homemade pan gravy | Canned gravy | Sodium alone; calories are tied |
| Cranberry Sauce | Homemade cranberry sauce, half the sugar | Canned jellied cranberry sauce | A third less sugar, more than twice the fiber, if you halve the sugar |
| The Pie | Pumpkin pie | Pecan pie | 40 percent fewer calories, a third less sugar |
The Plate That Wins Every Category
Here is the plate that wins every category:
- Mashed potatoes
- Green bean casserole
- Collard greens
- Corn on the cob
- Brussels sprouts (roasted)
- Stuffing (homemade)
- A whole-wheat dinner roll
- Pan gravy
- Homemade cranberry sauce with half the recommended sugar
- And, of course, pie (pumpkin!)
So why is this plate any healthier than others? As with most meals, sodium and sugar were the differentiating factors. Sodium accounted for 8 out of the 10 victors: In nearly every case, there was a plain (thus virtually sodium-free) food on one side and a casserole or canned food (with hundreds of milligrams of sodium) on the other.
Sugar made all the difference in a few matchups, with the carrots (thanks to the glaze), sweet potato casserole (thanks to the marshmallows), cranberry sauce (when canned), and pecan pie.
For the matchup that we didn’t declare a winner in (boxed vs. homemade mac and cheese), which one is healthier depends on which number you are watching. Homemade mac and cheese has less sodium, but the box has fewer calories and less saturated fat.
Methodology: Every figure is per 100 grams from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy and FNDDS entries), checked October 19, 2026 and linked where it is cited. Three sides have no USDA entry as served, so they were computed from USDA ingredient entries for a disclosed recipe: the sweet potato casserole (900 g baked sweet potato, 110 g brown sugar, 57 g butter, 2 eggs, 80 g whole milk, 100 g mini marshmallows, 10 percent baking loss), the whole-grain stuffing (450 g whole-wheat bread, 480 g low-sodium chicken broth, 150 g each of celery, onion and apple, 27 g olive oil, 15 percent baking loss) and the cranberry sauce (one 12 oz bag of cranberries, 100 g sugar, 240 g water, about 2 cups of yield). Roasted Brussels sprouts use the USDA entry for sprouts cooked with added fat, and the butter croissant stands in for crescent rolls, which USDA does not track separately. Rankings are editorial comparisons at equal weight, not a validated health score, and the scoop on your plate may be larger or smaller than 100 grams.
Cory Jones has spent 20 years in media and publishing and now leads the data and editorial operation behind The Greenest.
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