Fall Side Dish Recipes You'll Love

Buttery onions, cheddar and green chilies lace our stuffinglike pudding. Inspired by traditional skillet corn bread, this recipe works as a side or as a meatless main served with a salad or garlicky sauteed kale.

Southwest Corn Pudding

This side dish is an autumn favorite at Iowa's Rapid Creek Cidery -- and a great way to explore nutritious collard greens. The recipe takes a while, but most of the cooking is hands-free, leaving plenty of time to prepare pork chops or chicken.

Long-Cooked Collards with Apples and Bacon recipe

Garlic, shallots and lemon brighten crisp-tender beans. Save time by parboiling the green beans a day early.

Lemony Green Beans

Dry-cured country ham adds smoky-salty flavor to veggies, but regular ham will work as well.

Brussels Sprouts with Ham and Leeks

We put everything we love about fall into this easy side dish— a riot of bright colors, hearty veggies, woodsy sage, and a brown sugar-sweetened hard cider glaze.

Cider-Glazed Vegetables

Apple cider and lemon juice add a touch of pucker that keeps this hearty grain salad from tasting too sweet. For a nutritional boost, use whole wheat couscous.

Apple and Couscous-Bulgur Salad

This dead-simple and totally delicious casserole is a homey addition to any weekend meal, potluck or even a holiday spread.

Pepper Jack Corn Casserole

Similar recipes call for sausage, but these acorns of plenty overflow with a healthy mix of barley, spinach, sunflower seeds, shiitake mushrooms, dried cranberries and smoked Gouda.

Cornucopia Stuffed Squash

When cooler nights trigger cravings for warming autumn suppers but the garden still bears a summer’s bounty of tomatoes, zucchini, peppers and eggplant, we call on the French for help. The classic vegetable stew is traditionally served unadorned, but we love it spooned over homemade garlic bread as a luxe fork-and-knife sandwich.

Ratatouille

This easy-to-make layered cheesy potato dish pairs well with pork chops or ham.

Creamy Scalloped Potatoes

This colorful salad stars sweet roasted cherry tomatoes with the tart of red wine vinegar.

Roasted Panzanella Salad

Orange zest, nutmeg and smoked paprika add layers of flavor to these tender biscuits.

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Cinnamon and curry powder balance Granny Smith apples in this roasted cauliflower mixture.

Curried Cauliflower, Apples and Chickpeas

At Iowa's Rapid Creek Cidery, chef Matt Steigerwald serves this gratin (which tastes sort of like the best French onion soup ever) with grilled artisan bread. Crisp and charred, it’s a good foil to the gooey richness.

Onion, Apple and Cheese Gratin recipe

Serve this old-fashioned potluck dish warm.

German Potato Salad

Frying bacon in the skillet, then tossing sprouts and red onion in the drippings before roasting means you'll only dirty one pan making this elegant side dish.

Bacon-Roasted Brussels Sprouts

They're light, buttery and fall artwork on your plate. We almost hate to cover up the baked-on apple slice with the whipped maple butter. Almost.

Apple Scones with Spiced Maple Butter

A colorful mixture of sweet potatoes, red onion and pears blends with sage and sweet honey in this easy roasted side.

Honey-Sage Sweet Potatoes, Pears and Walnuts

Tossing cauliflower with bread crumbs, Dijon, cheddar, herbs and almonds makes this humble veg holiday-special.

Cauliflower Gratin

For a gloriously orange update to scalloped potatoes, we layered sweet potatoes, sharp cheddar and chipotle peppers. But the luscious creamy goodness? Still the same.

Spicy Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Lemon and grapes brighten the fresh green bean, broccoli and mushroom mixture.

Lemony Greens, ‘Shrooms and Grapes

Cast iron's heat retention means oil holds a high temperature, so fried foods crisp quickly and evenly. These traditional Jewish potato-onion fritters have tender centers and lacy rims. Top them with sour cream or applesauce.

Potato Latkes

Mix pantry ingredients—canned apple pie filling, canned sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, apricot preserves, orange marmalade and chopped pecans—for a quick and easy side dish with a crunchy nut topping.

Cranberry-Apple Sweet Potatoes

Combining cinnamony pumpkin-pie spice with fresh mint lends North African flavor in a flash. Try this simple salad as a side dish to grilled chicken.

Moroccan Carrot Slaw

Sweeter than traditional risotto, this dish from Rapid Creek Cidery works beautifully as a side to chef Matt Steigerwald’s Roast Chicken with Mushroom Jus (see the chicken recipe here).

Sweet Apple Risotto recipe

A crispy, savory crust of cheese, crushed cornflakes and butter tops a combination of ham, hash browns, cubed cheese, condensed soup and sour cream. A potluck favorite!

Hash Brown Casserole

Salty bacon and Cajun seasoning liven up this roasted veggie mixture for a hearty side.

Cajun Sweet Corn and Bacon Jumble

The combo of butternut squash, rigatoni, bacon and smoked cheese makes for a delicious twist on traditional mac and cheese.

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Pulsing cauliflower in the food processor yields an uncanny, 100-percent-good-for-you alternative to rice. Our version has Middle Eastern-inspired flavorings, but you can make a plain version by sautéing the ground cauliflower in a bit of oil and seasoning with salt.

Cauliflower Pilaf

You'll have more Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette than you need for this fresh-tasting potato salad; keep the extra dressing on hand for another potato or pasta salad. The recipe is from Chicago chef Myk Banas.

Fingerling Potato Salad with Honey-Thyme Vinaigrette

Mix and match different kinds of beans and meat to suit your preferences. Our smoky-sweet baked beans will beat canned beans every time!

Sassy Baked Beans

Soy sauce, ginger, sugar and nutty almonds lend this cabbage mixture a sweet and salty appeal.

Nutty Asian Cabbage with Plums

Health considerations aside, this recipe from chef Marshall Paulsen of Minneapolis' Birchwood Cafe will make you question the wisdom of always roasting veggies in olive oil. The butter browns to aromatic perfection while the sprouts cook—genius! If you want to fancy the sprouts up, add the bacon and pomegranate seeds.

Butter-Roasted Brussels Sprouts

These sweet oven-roasted carrots are a perfect complement to a holiday menu, but they're easy enough to be a weeknight side. This comfort food recipe comes from Big Cedar Lodge in Ridgedale, Missouri.

Cinnamon Carrots with Maple Thyme Butter

Pumpkin-pie spice is the secret ingredient in this nutrient-packed side dish.

Wilted Asian Kale

The bitter earthiness of Swiss chard hides under a healthy dose of garlic and crushed red pepper in this soothingly satisfying weeknight supper dish.

Chard, Mushroom and Cannellini Beans over Parmesan Polenta

Quivey's Grove in Madison, Wisconsin, whips up this version of mashed potatoes that matches plenty of dairy richness with garlic, Parmesan, black pepper and green onion.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Experiment with a variety of potatoes—such as baby Dutch yellow, fingerlings, baby purple and round red—in this easy recipe.

Roasted Baby Potatoes with Herbs

This is the ultimate feel-good dish: two kinds of mashed potatoes with bacon. Cream cheese adds richness; chipotle chile brings a subtle smoky flavor.

Chipotle Smashed Potatoes

Use either unpeeled sweet potatoes or russet potatoes for these easy grilled potato wedges. Cook wedges in boiling water first to shorten grill time. Serve with Creamy Chive Sauce or Honey Sesame Sauce.

Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Dipping Sauces

Give Brussels sprouts a fresh taste with this colorful side dish flavored with bacon and feta. The trick to preserving the sprouts' mild taste is to avoid overcooking. 

Browned Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Feta

Onion, garlic, cabbage and apple simmer in a flavorful bath of apple cider, red wine, brown sugar and caraway seeds. Serve with chunky mashed potatoes or crusty bread for soaking up the juices.

Red Cabbage, Apples and Kielbasa

Salty brine boosts the flavor of these petite vegetables. Then they're skillet-roasted and tossed with seasoned mushrooms to make a tasty side dish for meat or chicken.

Brined Brussels Sprouts with Lemony Mushrooms

Beth Dooley, author of the farmers market cookbook Minnesota's Bounty, won us over with the brilliant, frugal simplicity of this dish: roasted red or golden beets tossed in a frying pan with their own chopped green tops, olive oil, salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar.

Beets and Beet Greens Salad

Bits of sweet potato fleck these moist dinner rolls from Sandra Schifferle of Lansing, Kansas. She puts Kansas wheat to good use in this recipe. For a quick prep, microwave your sweet potato, then cool and mash the veggie for the rolls.

Sweet Potato Rolls

Not too spicy, yet buttery and tender, roasted spaghetti squash is given an autumnal glow from cayenne pepper and pumpkin pie spice.

Double-Spiced Spaghetti Squash

Toasted pumpkin seeds and dried apples add a crunchy-sweet richness to brown and wild rice.

Apple and Pepita Wild Rice Blend