20 Tasty Thanksgiving Treat Ideas

Thanksgiving is one of the most involved cooking days of the entire year. Outside of cooking the turkey, making side dishes, and entertaining family, the day can be very hectic. Try making some of these Thanksgiving treats ahead of time to give you and the family something to snack on before, during, and after dinner!

How to choose what kind of treats to serve at Thanksgiving

When deciding what treats to serve to your Thanksgiving guests, you want to have a multitude of options. You should have a variety of flavors like sweet, salty, and savory in the form of small bites, so the guests don’t fill up. Try and factor in any health or dietary restrictions that your guests may have. Additionally, since you’ll be busy cooking the main dish, make sure to prep all your treats in the days before, so all you’ll have to do is set them out for consumption.

20 tasty Thanksgiving treat ideas

Here are 20 Thanksgiving day treats that will add even more flavor to the day:

1. Pretzel turkeys

Take a pretzel stick and place it in the center of a soft caramel candy. Shape it, so it looks like a drumstick. Dip it in chocolate to finish the fresh-out-of-the-oven turkey leg appearance. Alternatively, dip pretzel sticks in chocolate and use candy corn to form the beak and tail feathers of the turkey. Finish with white chocolate for the eyes.

2. Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Upgrade your normal chocolate chip recipe with a fall twist by adding pumpkin pie spice and pumpkin purée to your cookie dough before baking.

3. Turkey Oreos

Kids will love eating these turkey-shaped Oreos. First, take an oreo cookie and insert a few pieces of candy corn next to each other to mimic the tailfeathers. All you need to finish these cookies are two candy eyes and a butterscotch chip for the beak. These can be attached with a drop of icing. 

Grab it now on Instacart:

Pretzel Sticks (1 lb)

Libby's Pumpkin Pure Pumpkin (15 oz)

Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies (52.5 oz)

Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese (8 oz)

Torani Sugar Free Caramel Sauce (64 oz)

Candy Corn (17.5 oz)

Dried Cranberries (12 oz bag)

Aerosol Whipped Cream (13 oz)

White Chocolate Chips (each)

Apples ()

Sweet Potatoes (each)

Fudge (each)

Peanut Butter Cup (each)

Hershey's Kisses Milk Chocolate (12 oz)

4. Pumpkin shaped cheese ball

Mix cream cheese, pumpkin purée, pumpkin spice, onion, dried beef, and shredded cheese until combined, then form into a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and then take butcher twine and wrap it to create pumpkin lines. Chill it for an hour, so it retains its shape. Garnish the pumpkin with the stem of a bell pepper to give it the perfect finishing touch. Serve with veggies or chips. 

5. Caramel apple fondue dip

Either make your own caramel sauce or buy a premade container for this dip. Fill a small crockpot with the caramel and keep it on low so that it stays warm and is easy to dip. Cut up your favorite varieties of apples for dipping. You can even add a bowl of chopped nuts to dip the apple slices in as well.

6. Pumpkin cupcakes 

Take a standard cupcake recipe and add both pumpkin spice and purée to it and bake. When finished, top them with a pumpkin spice buttercream. Garnish with a piece of candy corn or pretzel stick for the perfect Thanksgiving cupcake.

7. Cranberry and sweet potato doughnuts

This doughnut will make you crave the actual side dishes. This recipe uses a mashed potato-based doughnut that’s popular in Idaho. The dough is mixed with dried cranberries and fried. Make a glaze out of apple cider and confectionary sugar to give them a sweet finish.

8. Pumpkin pie bars

Making a pumpkin pie in bar form will leave you room to snack on all of the other treats. Bake a thin crust in a sheet pan, then pour on your pumpkin custard and bake. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon. 

9. Pumpkin cheesecake balls

Beat together cream cheese, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice. Add in a mixture of crushed ginger snaps and graham crackers. Roll into bite-sized balls and freeze. Finally, dip the balls in white chocolate and garnish with additional cookie crumbs.

10. Pumpkin cannoli

Take a standard cannoli shell and pipe it full of a pumpkin-flavored creamy filling to create this treat.

11. Apple pie rings

Core an apple and cut it into rings. Dip it into a light batter and fry until golden brown. Top with a dusting of cinnamon to finish a smaller version of apple pie.

12. Sweet potato bars

These bars start with a crust made out of browned butter and brown sugar. This is topped with a layer of custard primarily made from sweet potatoes. The best part is the topping of broiled marshmallows.

13. Pumpkin spice fudge

Use pumpkin purée in a white chocolate-based fudge recipe and include pumpkin spice. This will give the fudge a Thanksgiving flavor.

14. Cake pops

Put a Thanksgiving spin on cake pops by making apple, cherry, or pumpkin flavored cakes dipped in white chocolate. Garnish with red, yellow, and brown sprinkles.

15. Pumpkin spice pretzels

These simple to make snacks involve taking a pretzel, drizzling on melted white chocolate, and then dusting them with pumpkin spice.

16. No-bake pilgrim hats

Make a cookie that looks like a pilgrim hat by taking a premade chocolate-covered cookie and putting an upside-down peanut butter cup or truffle on top. Garnish with an orange M&M candy.

17. Chocolate acorns

These cute treats are made simply by attaching a chocolate kiss to the bottom of a mini-vanilla wafer with melted chocolate. 

18. Turkey cookies

Bake sugar cookies and use a turkey-shaped cookie cutter to cut them out. Decorate with colored icing and sprinkles.

19. Rice Krispie pumpkins

Make Rice Krispie treats that have been dyed orange into a pumpkin shape. Top them with green Rice Krispies or choclate to make a stem.

20. Pumpkin pretzel bites

Dip bite-sized pretzels in white chocolate that has been dyed orange. Use a drop of chocolate that has been dyed green for the stem.

How to make treats Thanksgiving-themed

There are a few simple ways you can change any treat into something that fits in at Thanksgiving. Here are a few tips:

• Orange, brown, red, and yellow food coloring can give a fall vibe. 
• Make your favorite Thanksgiving desserts into bite-sized portions.
• Decorate your treats to look like a pumpkin or incorporate pumpkin spice into the snack.

Final thoughts on Halloween treat ideas

Once you pick out some Thanksgiving Day treats to make, you can easily shop for everything you need on Instacart. You will definitely want to order ingredients in advance to have everything you need on Thanksgiving Day. If you do need a last-minute ingredient, you can choose either same-day pickup or delivery!

Instacart

Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.