"Get your stretchy pants and table settings ready because the holiday of giving thanks, eating food, and enjoying delicious Thanksgiving desserts is quickly approaching! Whether you’re hovering over the stuffing and mashed potatoes or watching the football game, Thanksgiving is filled with much-needed quality time with loved ones and also gives us the perfect reason to try new recipes.
Whether you’re celebrating with just your immediate nearest and dearest this year or hosting a bigger family gathering, we know one way to make this year’s get-together extra special: delicious Thanksgiving desserts. To help you decide which winning desserts you’ll whip up this November, we’ve rounded up our favorite desserts—that aren’t pumpkin pie. Check out the list of 40+ Thanksgiving desserts below.
1. Gluten Free Apple Galette
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Give your friends and family a gluten-free option with a flaky and buttery pastry filled with this sweet apple treat. It’s a simple recipe that’s beautiful.
2. Pumpkin Butter Rugelach Cookies
I know these flaky, buttery cookies will be calling my name long after all of the leaves have fallen off the trees this year.
3. Gluten-Free S’mores Pie
Take your s’mores indoors with this s’mores pie recipe.
4. ‘Turkey’ Decorated Muffins
How cute are these festive muffins? You and your little ones will gobble them up right away.
5. Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Maple Glaze
If you need a little pick-me-up after Thanksgiving dinner, eat some pumpkin coffee cake with a side of your favorite fall flavored coffee.
6. Carrot Cake Mini Doughnuts
Turning a signature fall treat like carrot cake into doughnut form may be the most genius idea we’ve seen all year.
7. Apple Crisp
‘Tis the season of the apple, and everyone at the dinner table will be ready to loosen a button and reach for a scoop of this.
8. Five-Ingredient Graham Cracker Toffee
This simple but delicious treat will leave everyone extra satisfied after filling up on turkey and stuffing.
9. Pumpkin Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
It’s not Thanksgiving without a pumpkin treat or two. Combine the earthy pumpkin with a cream cheese frosting and you’ve got a match made in heaven.
10. Mini Pecan Butter Apple Rose Tarts
Not only are these tarts a delightful aesthetic addition to your table, they’re also refreshing and delicious.
11. Samoa Cheesecake
My favorite Girl Scout cookie in cheesecake form? I’m sold!
12. Pecan Pie Bars
When you’re all pie’d out but can’t imagine a holiday without pecan pie, try making these bars this year instead!
13. Mini Strawberry Swirl Cheesecakes
These mini strawberry swirl cheesecakes are the perfect addition to the holiday meal. We know everyone will be reaching for them again and again.
14. Pecan Pie Cheesecake
Make this cake a day or two in advance. You’ll be thanking yourself later, but you’ll need self-control not to eat it before Thanksgiving dinner.
15. Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Just when I thought I was helpless in finding a combination more perfect than pumpkin and cream cheese, this recipe came along and told me to add cinnamon to the mix.
16. Pumpkin Creme Brûlée
Our favorite fancy treat takes on an autumnal twist in this recipe—and we couldn’t be happier about it!
17. Pecan Pie Milkshake
This recipe speaks for itself. Whip up a pecan pie milkshake to share with your guests and you will leave them speechless.
18. Pumpkin Rice Krispies
A yummy and easy treat for the kids in the family to enjoy. It can also be an activity before dinner starts to keep the kids busy.
19. Vegan Oatmeal Cream Pies
Channel your inner ‘Little Debbie’ by making this healthier version of her classic oatmeal cream pies.
20. Chocolate Icebox Cake with Caramel Drizzle
I can just imagine this cake melting in my mouth and I know it’s just what I need to perfect my holiday events.
21. Baked Apples Stuffed with Cinnamon Oat Crisp
I know I can’t be the only apple lover in the bunch. Get creative with the fruit of the season by making this delicious dessert.
22. Shortbread Star Cookies
Not only do these look delicious, they also would be a fun activity for the whole family to make together. You don’t have to wait for Christmas to decorate some cookies!
23. Ricotta Nutella Cookie Pie
There are few foods in the world that are more appealing to me than ricotta. Mixing this with Nutella in a cookie pie sounds simply heavenly.
24. Cinnamon Sugar Crescent Rolls
Grab some extra crescent rolls to serve as a dessert with these cinnamon sugar crescent rolls.
25. Gluten-Free Pumpkin Roll
Put this roll out on your Thanksgiving dessert table and just see how fast you run out—we know it will be a new personal record.
26. Sweet Potato Pie
It seems like it would be a crime to make this recipe without throwing on some Alabama to jam out to.
27. Pumpkin Chocolate Swiss Roll Cake
Pumpkin and chocolate together? This is a spin on a classic roulade.
28. Homemade Apple Cobbler
As we dive into cozy season, it’s only right to have a treat to accompany us. This cobbler recipe is just the ticket.
29. Apple Cider Donut Cake
One of my favorite fall treats is the apple cider donuts you always find at pumpkin patch or apple orchard. This recipe takes this delicious idea and makes it even better by putting it in cake form.
30. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Footballs
Whether you have a team you cheer for every year or couldn’t care less about the sport, these egg-less cookie dough footballs are festive and fun. We know they won’t last until halftime.
31. Apple Pie Cookies
We’re sure these buttery, flaky cookies will be a new family favorite to bring out year after year.
32. Spiced Pear Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream and Chai Salted Caramel
Apples are usually the star of the show during autumn, but let’s not forget that pears are a tasty part of the season, too! They come to life in this lovely and fragrant cake of fresh pear and spices, caramel chai sauce, and homemade frosting. The star anise poached pears on top are a festive touch worth adding if you have the time!
33. Chocolate Covered Snickers Stuffed Dates
You might not get a lot of takers willing to pop a plain date into their mouth—especially if they have the option of choosing a Snickers bar instead. But, if the date is hidden in an abundance of fresh chocolate and stuffed with fresh peanut butter and crushed peanuts, it might become too enticing to pass up! Especially since it’s much less processed and full of added sugars.
34. Apple Butter Cheesecake Bars
A gooey, yummy vegan cheesecake bar. It’s filled with a creamy coconut, cashew, and maple syrup that’s swirled with apple butter, and topped off with a cinnamon sweet crumble. If you have any leftover apples from apple picking, this is their time to shine if you opt to use her homemade apple butter recipe!
35. Salted Peanut Butter Cookies with Chai Spices
What’s better than biting into a freshly-made soft and chewy cookie? These peanut butter cookies spread seasonal cheer with the homemade chai spice seasoning that’s added to the batter. If you really want to go all out, you can turn these into cookie sandwiches filled with frosting, or ice creams like vanilla, chocolate, or pumpkin!
36. Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
I already love this recipe because the crust is made with oreos. Pair this with an actual bourbon drink for a double dinner treat.
37. Real Deal Southern Caramel Cake
Covering apples in caramel is one thing, but covering a homemade cake with it sends this fall activity to a whole new wonderful dimension. This recipe proves that you don’t need to go to fancy and elaborate lengths to achieve a dessert with mouthwatering flavor and decadence.
38. Red Velvet Cinnamon Rolls
Bring the cinnamon-laced goodness of the season in the form of these fluffy cinnamon rolls, whose red velvety appearance makes for an eye-catching treat. With a buttery cinnamon and brown sugar filling, and vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, what’s not to love?
39. Nutella and Cream Cheese Stuffed Monkey Bread
Nutella addiction or not, this monkey bread is to die for.
40. Pumpkin Lasagna
If your Thanksgiving table won’t feel complete without some semblance of pumpkin pie, this pumpkin lasagna should do just the trick. Made of three layers with complementary flavors—a gingersnap cookie crust, a fluffy cheesecake middle, and a whipped pumpkin pudding topping—this is definitely pumpkin pie’s more enticing counterpart!
41. Candied Pecans
This recipe for candied pecans doubles as a snack before dinner and a dessert for the Thanksgiving evening activities!
Kathy Sisson, Senior Editor
A mom of two, Kathy is passionately committed to sharing the honest, helpful—and often humorous—stories of motherhood, as she navigates her own everyday adventures of work, marriage, and parenting. She honed her creative and strategic skills at advertising agencies in Detroit and Chicago, before pivoting from marketing to editorial. Now instead of telling brand stories, she’s sharing her own, with articles published across popular parenting sites—including hundreds of stories on The Everymom.
Patty Schepel, Editorial Intern
As the editorial intern, Patty works with The Everymom’s team on pitches, creating original articles, updating existing content, photo sourcing, writing shopping product descriptions, inputting freelance articles, and more. When she’s not working, you can find her spending time with her family, training for half marathons—she ran one 16 weeks pregnant—traveling, cooking, reading a rom-com, and keeping her sourdough starter, Rose, alive.