Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Key Takeaways
- Thanksgiving traditions focus heavily on food, including staples like turkey, cranberry, and green bean casserole.
- Convenience has increased with options like frozen dinners and pre-portioned holiday meals, as many Americans plan to eat out.
- Limited Time Offerings (LTOs) are trending, leading to creative flavors like stuffing-flavored snacks.
- To create new Thanksgiving traditions, people explore global flavors from Middle Eastern spices to Mexican cuisine.
- Regardless of your traditions, embrace the flavors that make Thanksgiving special and unique.
Favorite Foods & Flavorful Trends to Spice Up the Holiday
Thanksgiving is a time for traditions—but Thanksgiving flavor innovation is reshaping what that means for product developers. For CPG manufacturers and ingredient suppliers, this holiday represents a critical planning window. Consumer spending concentrates, demand patterns are predictable, and bold flavor concepts get tested. Understanding what consumers actually want during Thanksgiving—and translating that into formulation strategies—separates innovative brands from those chasing tired nostalgia. Such traditions can center around friends, family, football, and, who are we kidding, food!
This Thanksgiving, we wanted to look at some of everyone’s favorite food traditions. Also, we examined how some trends are helping create brand-new ones.
Being a food lover, Thanksgiving is definitely one of my favorite holidays! I love how all of the food pairs so well together; the balance of the turkey with tart cranberries and buttery mashed potatoes is an iconic combo. We recently had a big change in my family’s Thanksgiving tradition; after 50 years of hosting Thanksgiving, my mom passed on the reins to my brother, so I looking forward to the new spin he will put on all of the classic dishes.
Julie Drainville —Director – Global Sensory & Innovation
Thanksgiving Flavor Innovation: What Consumers Actually Buy
Each family get-together or Friendsgiving might have its twists on what makes it to the dining table. Still, it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a few of these staples.
One look at the numbers and it’s clear this isn’t a matter of opinion.
- 40 million whole turkeys are eaten in the U.S.; that’s 50% of all whole bird turkeys sold.
- 40% of name-brand Cream of Mushroom soup (a key ingredient in green bean casserole) is sold.
- Consumers buy 32.2 million dinner rolls
- 80 million pounds of cranberries, or around 20% of the yearly total, are purchased.
- $96 million is spent on stuffing
For ingredient and flavor suppliers, these data points validate a critical insight: consumers are actively engaged in Thanksgiving food choices, making this an ideal moment for Thanksgiving flavor innovation. This concentration of spending and demand creates a testing ground for bold formulations that might otherwise seem too adventurous.
Yet, for many, bringing these essential dishes to the table means hours, maybe even days, spent in the kitchen. That’s why more and more people are looking for a more convenient way to feast on their favorite festive foods—and why Thanksgiving flavor innovation extends beyond home cooking.
My favorite food tradition at Thanksgiving is easily my father-in-law deep frying our turkey. Honestly, I don’t know what part is better, how amazingly delicious it is, or that I don’t have to cook!
Kami Hunt —HR Director, Human Resources
A Huge Helping of Convenience
Believe it or not, Thanksgiving is part of the reason why we have so many convenient food options year-round.
As the story goes, in 1953, an ordering error left a company with nearly 260 tons or ten rail cars full of extra turkeys after Thanksgiving. Eager to make the most of the mistake, the frozen TV dinner was born.
Though frozen foods and canned foods might be a common sight in the Thanksgiving day kitchen, developers find ways to provide fresh convenience with items like fully brined and seasoned turkeys. At the same time, they offer pre-portioned and season holiday vegetable hash.
Still, an increasing number of people are looking to outsource the hassle of holiday cooking in its entirety.
An astonishing 57% of Americans said that they plan to eat out for their main holiday meal this year.
When asked why, 88% said it was to support local businesses. Furthermore, 82% saw it as a way to reduce stress. Meanwhile, 72% saw it as a way to spend more time with family and less time on dishes.
This shift has profound implications for Thanksgiving flavor innovation strategies. Product developers are now formulating not just for home cooks—they’re formulating for foodservice operators, meal kit services, and prepared-food retailers who need bold, differentiated Thanksgiving flavor innovation profiles that justify premium pricing.
My favorite tradition involves “alternate stuffing.” Each year, a different person or couple is tasked with bringing a second, unique stuffing to Thanksgiving. The one I recall most fondly used pumpernickel as the bread base with apples and sage, but we’ve done sweet ones, vegetarian ones, ones with meat, and even a Cuban-inspired stuffing that my sister-in-law devised. Sometimes they worked well, and sometimes they didn’t, but it was always fun.
Peter Kern — Junior Flavorist
Thanksgiving Flavor Innovation Through Limited Time Offerings
Holiday LTOs (Limited Time Offerings) are nothing new, and while Christmas often gets much of the shine, Thanksgiving is no stranger to these “creative” flavor concepts.
They can range from the weird (e.g.,turkey and gravy soda or Thanksgiving dinner flavored candy) to the intriguing (sweet potato and marshmallow chocolate bars and Thanksgiving-themed pizzas). Still, now and then, one of these flavors hits the perfect balance of nostalgia and novelty.
We’re all familiar with pumpkin spice, which went from an autumnal beverage flavor that disappeared before the last leaves fell to a late-August release that appears in cookies, cereals, and everything in between.
Is it possible that Stuffing-flavored foods could be the savory alternative to the sweet pumpkin spice?
Successful Thanksgiving flavor innovation happens when novelty pairs with nostalgia. The close association with the last Thursday of November might keep it from extending that far out, but it is clearly having its moment for Thanksgiving flavor innovation testing.
My favorite Thanksgiving food is sweet potatoes, but I’m not a fan of the brown sugar and marshmallow variety that is popular here in the Midwest. I like mine more savory, so I dice them, season them with salt and pepper, and then roast them in the oven. After they start to caramelize, I add some brown butter, fresh sage, and a splash of sherry vinegar. If there are any leftovers, they taste even better the next day.
Anne Druschitz – Corporate Research Chef
Thanksgiving Flavor Innovation: Global Flavor Integration
What about those of us who want to honor our delicious traditions but also want to try something a little bit different? Or maybe even use our adventurous palettes to start some brand-new traditions.
While nothing is more American than Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving flavor innovation increasingly involves global ingredients. Product developers are discovering that consumers—particularly younger demographics—are actively integrating international flavors into their celebrations.
For Thanksgiving flavor innovation, Middle Eastern spices like Za’atar bring bright acidity and herbaceous complexity. Asian flavors such as Miso or Kimchi add savory umami depth. Jamaican Jerk brings heat and smoke, while Mexican Mole adds complex chile-based layering.
There is also the opportunity to incorporate side dishes or desserts from various countries around the world. Many of these places have their own version of the holiday, creating a flavorful fusion feast!
Whatever traditions you hold dear or are looking to try out for the first time this year, we here at Edlong wish you and yours a happy, healthy, and delicious Thanksgiving!