Today I bring you the 50 Best Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes ever! Whether you are looking for classic or traditional Thanksgiving desserts, new twists on old favorites, or have special dietary needs; I have you covered.
These fifty crowd-pleasing, quick and easy Thanksgiving dessert recipes include gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian, vegan, and nut-free options. Your only problem will be deciding which of these scrumptious desserts to prepare!
It will come as no surprise that Thanksgiving is the number one food holiday! And for most people, Thanksgiving dessert eclipses even the star of the show, the turkey.
These unique and creative desserts are decadent, delicious, and full of traditional Thanksgiving and Fall flavors like apples, pumpkin, pecans, and chocolate. These luscious and make-ahead top-rated dessert options are from some of the top bloggers around the globe and will be the perfect sweet ending to your Thanksgiving feast!
1 Southern Pecan Praline Cake – Grits and Pinecones
Southern Pecan Praline Cake is about as southern as you can get and perfect for Thanksgiving. If you like pecans and pralines, you will love this easy to make, decadent, and delicious make-ahead cake.
2 French Apple Cake – Pudge Factor
French Apple Cake is moist and flavorful with just the right amount of sweetness to counter the tart apples. With or without the scoop of the vanilla ice cream on the top, it tastes incredible.
3 Pecan Pie Cake Roll – Homemade Interest
Pecan pie filling rolled into a light sponge cake make this Pecan Pie Cake Roll a perfect Thanksgiving dessert.
4 Skinny Pumpkin Cheesecake – Food Meanderings
Just in time for Thanksgiving! This Skinny Pumpkin Cheesecake is a great pumpkin pie alternative. So if you are looking for something a little different for your Thanksgiving dessert, give this healthy dessert a try. You will be amazed by how delicious this light cheesecake recipe tastes!
5 Moist Maple Sweet Potato Walnut Butter Cake – The Delicious Cresent
This Moist Maple Sweet Potato Walnut Butter Cake certainly packs a nutritional punch utilizing some of the most nutritious and flavorful plant foods – sweet potatoes, walnuts, and maple syrup. What a delicious and sweet way to share some love with your loved ones and sneak in some veggies along the way!
6 No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake – Spend with Pennies
No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake is a dreamy dessert with layers of cheesecake, spiced pumpkin and whipped topping all nestled in a graham crust. It is so creamy and delicious; it will become your new Thanksgiving dessert go to!
7 Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse – Flavor and Savor
A rich and creamy no-bake dessert mousse made with canned pumpkin, Greek yogurt, and sweetened with maple syrup. Top with whipped cream and caramel sauce for a decadent Thanksgiving dessert.
8 Cinnamon Caramel Apple Pecan Pie – Veggies Don’t Bite
Cinnamon flavored caramel marries an apple pie and takes up residence in a cute mason jar. Plant-based gluten and refined sugar-free love for Thanksgiving.
9 Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake – Dinner at the Zoo
This Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake is rich, decadent, and incredibly delicious – you must make this! It would be the perfect ending to your Thanksgiving meal.
10 Chocolate Caramel Pecan Pie – Seasoned Sprinkles
There’s pie. And then there’s pie. By that, I mean there’s your basic everyday pie, and then there’s junked up but oh so delicious pie. This chocolate caramel pecan pie is an example of pie.
11 Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake – Lemon Blossoms
This Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake is so delicious! An amazing combination of creamy pumpkin spiced cheesecake with a rich graham cracker and pecan crust. This Cheesecake combines all the fall flavors into one delicious and super creamy bite!
12 Apple Cake – Preppy Kitchen
Apple cakes are a Thanksgiving favorite, and this year I stepped up my game and made a little apple dipped in caramel sitting on top. I even broke my cardinal rule of not using fondant! Browned buttercream infused with Fall spices is completely addictive, by the way. If you don’t do anything else, whip up a batch and slather it on everything!
13 Easy Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing – Grits and Pinecones
If you like carrot cake, you will love this recipe! Easy Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing is chock full of pineapple, carrots, raisins, and because I’m a Southern girl, pecans. If this isn’t enough to get your attention, it’s then topped with a quick and easy, but decadent, luscious, and velvety smooth cream cheese icing.
14 Dot’s Ultimate Southern Pecan Pie – Grits and Pinecones
In the South, there are as many recipes for pecan pie as there are pecan trees. Every family has a favorite, and this is ours. This is a wonderfully rich, old-fashioned southern pecan pie recipe, which isn’t cloyingly sweet like most pecan pies. Classic and simple, and along with pumpkin pie, it’s a Thanksgiving tradition. This pecan pie is also one of the easiest pies you will ever make!
15 Pumpkin Bundt Cake – Pudge Factor
Tired of the same old pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving? If so, you should try this incredible Pumpkin Bundt Cake. It has the same characteristic flavor of a pumpkin pie, but will leave your family and guests saying “WOW”! What’s even better is that it’s easy to make, and can be made ahead of time and frozen.
16 Pumpkin Coconut Panna Cotta – Spoonabilities
This Fall inspired dessert sounds fancy and complicated to make, but it’s a quick dessert that you can throw together with just a few ingredients. Panna Cotta is creamy, smooth, light, doesn’t need to be baked, and is so easy to make at home. You will impress your friends for sure by serving this delicious dessert for Thanksgiving.
17 Pumpkin Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Toffee Sauce – Super Golden Bakers
This vegan pumpkin spice cake requires no mixer and only one bowl! Top with cream cheese frosting and toffee drizzle and watch it disappear fast…
18 Spiked Eggnog Cake – Liv for Cake
This rum-spiked eggnog cake with cream cheese frosting and white chocolate ganache is just the thing to warm you up this holiday season.
19 Vegan Pumpkin Ganache Cake with Maple Buttercream Frosting – This Seasons Table
Pumpkin Spice Cake with Maple Buttercream Frosting is not only AMAZINGLY delicious, but it is completely vegan. No dairy, no eggs, and uses whole wheat pastry flour instead of the regular refined white stuff. It still contains sugar, because, duh, it would kind of taste like garbage without it, but you can switch it out for a less refined option like coconut sugar or sucanat and still get great results.
20 Best Apple Pie Ever – Easy and Made from Scratch – Melanie Cooks
This made-from-scratch apple pie is the king of all apple pies! Sweet apples with a perfect texture and a hint of cinnamon nested between the flaky tender crust dough – this is the best apple pie recipe ever!
21 Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Cake – Garden in the Kitchen
This Chocolate Espresso Hazelnut Cake is insanely flavorful, rich, super moist, not overly sweet with crunchy hazelnut bites, and a hint of espresso!
23 Butterfinger Cake Recipe – Living Sweet Moments
This delicious Butterfinger Cake Recipe dessert is made from scratch and features a moist chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and butterfingers.
24 Pumpkin Chocolate Ganache Cake – Taste and See
It’s the season for all things pumpkin, and I’m finding inspiration in one of my favorite flavor combos: pumpkin and chocolate. So today, I give you the Pumpkin Chocolate Ganache Cake!
25 Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake with Pecan Crisp Topping – The Unlikely Baker
Imagine – crunchy, buttery crust. Cinnamon apple layer. Creamy, melt-in-your-mouth cheesecake. Crispy pecan oat topping. Salted caramel drizzle. There is no better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than with this salted caramel apple cheesecake!
26 Pumpkin Cheesecake with Praline Sauce – The Gingered Whisk
This pumpkin cheesecake is the ultimate fuss-free dessert – its almost fool-proof, it doesn’t require a finicky water-bath, and it hardly ever cracks. And it doesn’t matter if by some strange happenings it does crack because you are topping it with a gorgeous brown sugar pecan sauce. The whole thing ends up being dreamy and creamy and so silky smooth. Add a dollop of slightly sweetened whipped cream, and you have a decadent dessert that hardly requires any work at all. It’s Thanksgiving dessert heaven.
27 Sweet Potato Cake with Pecan Praline Icing – Biscuits and Burlap
Sweet Potato Cake with Pecan Praline Icing is the perfect Thanksgiving dessert. Cooking it in an iron skillet makes it even better!
28 Apple Pie Cheesecake Recipe – Homemade Food Junkie
This delicious Apple Pie Cheesecake is a merger of two excellent desserts. The apple pie filling sits on top of a wonderful low-fat cheesecake surrounded by a crunchy graham cracker crust. The flavors complement each other beautifully!
29 Our Favorite Carrot Cake – Buy This, Cook That
Turn your calorie counter off. Forget what a carb is for just a little while. Our Favorite Carrot Cake recipe is worth the indulgence. Savor every bite of this moist and perfectly spiced cake! This layered cake recipe is loaded with shredded carrots, fresh chopped pineapple, coconut, and pecans. Between each layer is a little wow-factor, and of course, the very best cream cheese frosting ever.
30 Paleo Pumpkin Pie Flan with Coconut Whipped Cream – This Seasons Table
Looking for an alternative to the same old pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving? Check out these amazing Pumpkin Flans – paleo with no dairy or refined sugar!
31 Easy Southern Sweet Potato Pie – Grits and Pinecones
My oh my, Sweet Potato Pie! Easy Southern Sweet Potato Pie tastes like a cool, crisp Fall day, warm, pungent spices, and Thanksgiving all wrapped up in one delicious and decadent bite. And, it’s a classic Southern Thanksgiving dessert
32 Pumpkin Dump Cake – Snappy Gourmet
Can’t decide between pie and cake? Check out this recipe for Pumpkin Dump Cake, which is like a combo of pumpkin pie and a pumpkin crunch cake. The perfect quick and easy dessert for Thanksgiving!
33 Apple Dapple Cake with Caramel Glaze – Grits and Pinecones
Apple Dapple Cake with Caramel Glaze, where have you been all my life? Never had this delicious cake and wondering what I’m talking about? Check out my recipe for this delicious Thanksgiving cake and to find out how to make this amazingly simple and wonderfully delicious apple cake. Oh, and don’t forget the yummy caramel glaze!
34 Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes – Pudge Factor
Southern Hummingbird Mini-Bundtlettes are bite-sized bundt cakes made with a slightly modified classic Hummingbird Cake recipe. Think carrot cake with bananas replacing the carrots, and you’ll have an idea of the taste and texture of this amazing Thanksgiving cake. Don’t forget, however, the decadent cream cheese frosting that sits like a jewel atop these mini-bundtlettes.
35 Easy Southern Banana Pudding Poke Cake – Grits and Pinecones
Banana Pudding Poke Cake is a classic Southern recipe and a unique Thanksgiving dessert made with creamy vanilla pudding, crisp vanilla wafers, heavenly whipped cream, and bananas. In the spirit of keeping this banana pudding sheet cake recipe as simple as possible, it is also made with a boxed cake mix and instant pudding for great taste in half the time!
36 No-Bake Marshmallow Pumpkin Pie – My Organized Chaos
Looking for a No-Bake Pumpkin Pie? No-Bake Marshmallow Pumpkin Pie is a sweet and creamy twist to a classic pumpkin dessert. Using a store-bought crust, it’s a quick and easy pumpkin pie recipe and a traditional Thanksgiving dessert.
37 Tarte Normande Aux Pommes (Julia Child’s Custard Apple Tart) – Pudge Factor
Julia Child’s Tarte Normande aux Pommes, a.k.a. Custard Apple Tart from Mastering the Art of French Cooking is fantastic and a creative Thanksgiving dessert. Unlike many desserts, this tart is not overly sweet. It is, however, quite delicious and has the perfect blend of apples and custard.
38 Georgia Cornbread Cake AKA Pecan Cake – Grits and Pinecones
Georgia Cornbread Cake is a funny name for this simple, quirky, old-fashioned cake, which is much more like a pecan cake or pecan coffee cake. Contrary to its title, Georgia Cornbread Cake doesn’t contain any cornmeal, and I don’t think it tastes or even looks like cornbread. But what I will say is, this easy Thanksgiving cake is delicious!
39 Turkey Sugar Cookies for Thanksgiving – Finding Zest
When I think of baking for the holidays, I usually think of sugar cookies for the Christmas season and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. But who says you can’t decorate some fun cookies for Thanksgiving too? Imagine showing up to a Thanksgiving get together with these adorable turkeys in tow?
40 Lemon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake – Pudge Factor
Brighten your Thanksgiving dessert table with this rich and moist Lemon Cream Cheese Bundt Cake. It feels like springtime and tastes incredible under a layer of lemon glaze. The perfect Thanksgiving cake.
41 Holiday Cranberry Apple Bake – Julia’s Simply Southern
‘Tis the holiday season and that likely means rich desserts. After a few heavy holiday meals, you may be searching or something a tad lighter. Holiday Cran-Apple Bake is the perfect solution. This easy fruity dessert is like a crisp with colorful seasonal fruits. The perfect Thanksgiving dessert. Bright claret cranberries add color and offer a slight tartness that blends so well in each bite with the sweet apples and oat topping.
42 Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce – Grits and Pinecones
A beautiful and festive Southern dessert, Easy Cranberry Cake with Hard Sauce, will make a unique sweet ending for your Thanksgiving meal. Full of fresh tart cranberries, this cake has it all; the colors of the season, a winning combination of flavors and textures, and the creamy, blissful yumminess of a decadent hard sauce.
43 Key Lime Pie with Lemon Oreo Crust – Pudge Factor
Key Lime Pie is a southern Thanksgiving classic that is as delicious as it is easy to make. Absent the crust; Key Lime Pie boasts only three ingredients – Key lime juice, sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolks. Traditionally, the crust of choice is graham cracker crust. However, the store-bought graham cracker crust that I intended to use was a broken mess when I opened it. Fortunately, I had some Lemon Oreos on hand, and voila – Lemon Oreo Crust was born.
44. Pumpkin Pie Cream Puffs – A Farm Girl Dabbles
Looking for an alternative to pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving? How about these fantastically fun Pumpkin Pie Cream Puffs?
45 Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust – Grits and Pinecones
Move over pumpkin and pecan pie, this amazing Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust is sure to become your new favorite Thanksgiving dessert! With a crunchy homemade gingersnap and pecan crust, a layer of rich, creamy pumpkin cheesecake with warm spices, and a layer of thick, silky, cream cheese icing, this decadent Pumpkin Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust is the ultimate sweet ending to your Thanksgiving dinner!
46 Meringues Chantilly – Pudge Factor
Meringues Chantilly is one of the most elegant Thanksgiving desserts that you could imagine. It’s also one of the easiest desserts that you can make. Imagine light and crispy meringue shells filled with whipped cream and topped with fruit and a decadent raspberry sauce. Are you drooling yet? What’s even better is that everything can be made ahead of time!
47 The Best Pumpkin Truffles – Sizzling Eats
Pumpkin Truffles are a delicious, bite-sized Thanksgiving dessert that your kids will love. A rich and creamy pumpkin filling is nestled inside a semi-sweet chocolate outer layer. This easy dessert recipe can be made ahead of time to making it an excellent choice for parties, and potlucks.
48 Apple Pie Cheesecake with Caramel Topping – Grits and Pinecones
Say yes to Apple Pie Cheesecake with Caramel Topping for a sweet ending to your holiday meals, and be prepared to be blown away by all of the flavorful layers and textures tucked into this delicious dessert!
49 Easy Tiramisu with Pound Cake – Feast and Farm
An easy tiramisu with pound cake is the perfect solution to your Thanksgiving dessert puzzle, and you’ll be shocked to see how truly it easy it is to put together. Even better, it just tastes wonderful, is portable, and even people who hate coffee will like it.
50 Southern Pecan Praline Cheesecake – Grits and Pinecones
I have a tasty make-ahead Southern Thanksgiving dessert for you today! Southern Pecan Praline Cheesecake is everything a cheesecake should be and includes a delicious and decadent pecan praline topping. It’s the stuff dessert dreams are made of.
Bonus: Ultimate Cranberry Upside Down Cake – Grits and Pinecones
This exceptionally moist Cranberry Upside-Down Cake, topped with luscious deep garnet cranberries, is a unique twist on the more familiar pineapple upside-down cake. This quick and easy cranberry cake combines fresh fruit, orange juice, brown sugar, and cornmeal with a box cake mix and takes only minutes to prepare.
Well, what do you think? Isn’t this an incredible roundup of luscious homemade Thanksgiving dessert recipes? Which one of these delicious dessert recipes will you choose? Will, it be a Thanksgiving cake, a Thanksgiving cheesecake, a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, or a unique or creative Thanksgiving dessert?
★ If you make any of these 50 Best Thanksgiving Desserts, please leave a comment and let me know which one you chose. I would love to see how you liked it! Thanks so much for visiting Grits and Pinecones!
Need even more Thanksgiving dinner menu ideas? Check out these roundup posts:
- 42 Best Thanksgiving Savory Side Dishes
- 35 of the Best and Easiest Sweet Potato Recipes for Thanksgiving
- 22 Easy No-Fuss Turkey Recipes for Thanksgiving
- 25 Best Thanksgiving Stuffing and Dressing Recipes
- 40 Best Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes and Menu Ideas
- 27 Best Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes and Menu Ideas
- 241 Best Thanksgiving Recipes and Menu Ideas
And, because Christmas isn’t far behind, I thought you might be interested in these Christmas recipe roundup posts:
- 29 Best Christmas Dessert Recipes
- 25 Best Christmas Breakfast/Brunch Recipes
- 30 Easy and Elegant Christmas Dinner Menu Ideas
- 31 Easy Homemade Edible Christmas Gifts
- 37 Fun & Festive Holiday-Party Appetizers
*This Thanksgiving dessert roundup post was updated and republished on October 5, 2019, to include 19 additional recipes.
Wow! What a fabulous round up. So many great choices! Thanks so much for including my Greek Yogurt Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse. Pinned and shared!
Thanks Elaine, and thank you so much for sharing it. It looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it.
Sharon, I don’t know how it is I’m just now seeing this, but great round up of desserts! Thank you for including our sweet potato cake.
Thanks so much Pam. Your cake looks delicious and I love that you baked it in a cast iron skillet. Thanks for sharing!