50 Thanksgiving Appetizers to Tide You Over 'Til Dinner

Although carving into a juicy turkey is the most anticipated part of Thanksgiving dinner, the sides, drinks, and desserts deserve their moments in the spotlight, too. And although they're often overlooked during the Thanksgiving dinner menu-planning process, having an array of easy Thanksgiving appetizers on hand is especially important — since all of those main dishes will take a good chunk of time to be ready!

While playing Thanksgiving games, partaking in fun Thanksgiving activities with family and friends, and sharing Thanksgiving puns are all great distractions while the turkey’s in the oven, the best thing for your and your guests’ stomachs is some light food to tide you over. Because everyone knows the more times you hear “Is dinner ready yet?” the longer it takes.

Luckily, the options for keeping hunger at bay are endless: The best Thanksgiving appetizers include a range of light bites — like sweet potato skins and crostini — and more filling, hot finger foods, like tangy cranberry meatballs and creamy pimiento cheese dip.

But you don’t have to worry about spending too much time in the kitchen to make these easy appetizers, as they’re simple to prepare (including make-ahead and no-cook hors d'oeuvre ideas!). This means that you can spend less time in the kitchen and more time watching Thanksgiving movies with the rest of your family. So throw on your holiday cooking apron and dig into these Thanksgiving appetizer recipes.