5 Latin-Inspired Dishes for Your Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is about getting together with family and friends to express gratitude for the year that has passed. But for many folks what it really comes down to is making the most scrumptious, mouth-watering, tummy-stuffing meal and possibly regretting it all by Friday morning.

Roast turkey. Cranberry sauce. Pumpkin arroz con leche.

Wait, what? For Latino families in the US, the dinner table is the perfect place to manifest their mixed heritage. And Thanksgiving has become the perfect occasion to do so, taking the best from traditional dishes and adding some Latino spices, twists and flavors.

We've collected some creative dishes to help you express your roots at the dinner table and discover brand new reasons to be thankful on Thanksgiving.

Cranberry Jalapeño Dip With Cream Cheese

Get things started with this fresh appetizer with a kick. The dish perfectly combines the traditional tarty taste of cranberry with spicy jalapeños to take your mouth for a ride. The appetizer also includes fresh cilantro and green onions, resulting in a colorful platter for your table. To top it all off, the recipe takes a total of five minutes to prepare.

Pumpkin Soup

Thanksgiving is all about celebrating the harvest and there's one crop in particular that gets most of the attention all-season long. Pumpkins are a Thanksgiving staple but you can definitely spice them up without going the Pumpkin-spice route. This soup recipe makes use of ingredients like cumin and queso fresco to add some much appreciated sabor to the pumkpin-verse. Plus, who doesn't appreciate a hot bowl of soup during a cold November day?

Adobo Turkey

Everyone has their own unique turkey recipe and, in many cases, it's been passed on from prios generations. But if you're looking to truly wow your guests, can we interest you in some toasted guajillo and ancho chiles to give your Thanksgiving recipes some Latin flair? This turkey dish combines the aforementioned chiles with a wide range of aromatic spices like cumin, cinnamon and oregano to create a red adobo sauce that glazes the bird and leaves you hoping for leftovers.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Pommes Anna

With just five ingredients you can take sweet potatoes up several notches and create a true latino-inspired Thanksgiving side dish. The flavorful creation gets extra points for finding inspiration in the classical French dish called Pommes Anna, which is a fancy way of referring to sliced and stacked roasted potatoes. The latin flavor comes courtesy of melted butter mixed with chipotles in adobo and fresh rosemary. All in all, an incredible-looking dish with an incredibly simple preparation.

Pumpkin Arroz con Leche

Pumpkin arroz con leche is a seasonal take on the classic latin dessert your abuela used to make. The name itself conjures up all sorts of childhood memories. Made with long grain rice, cinnamon sticks and condensed milk, the recipe infuses the classic with pumpkin and autumn spices to make it the perfect example of the melting pot that make up a latino Thanksgiving dinner.