Fill your Thanksgiving bread basket with the best homemade dinner rolls, biscuits, bread loaves, and cornbread ever. These easy bread recipes can be made ahead and frozen for a delightful addition to your Thanksgiving menu.
After you've put together the best Thanksgiving meal plan for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner your family will be thrilled to eat, it's time to consider the finishing touch:
A pretty bread basket filled with homemade Thanksgiving bread rolls or biscuits!
Serving homemade bread for a holiday dinner can be so easy if you use a bread maker to prep the dough for baking in your oven or for finishing the loaf right in the machine.
No bread machine? Not a problem, I've got several easy quick bread recipes and drop biscuits that don't require any special equipment at all.
Jump to:
- How to Make Ahead Bread for Thanksgiving
- 1. Easy Bread Machine Recipes
- Bread Machine Italian Bread
- Bread Machine Crescent Dinner Rolls
- Bread Machine Whole Wheat Buns
- Bread Machine Brown Bread
- Bread Machine Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
- 2. Easy Dinner Rolls
- Rosemary Dinner Rolls
- Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
- Cheddar Bay Biscuits
- Buttermilk Cornbread
- 3. Seasonal Quick Breads
- Best Ever Pumpkin Bread
- Classic Zucchini Bread
- Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- How to Make Homemade Croutons
- Homemade Cornbread Croutons
- More Thanksgiving Ideas
- 💬 Comments
How to Make Ahead Bread for Thanksgiving
Bread is one of my favorite things to make ahead and freeze because the texture keeps so well even after a few months in the freezer.
I usually bake the entire bread recipe, let it cool completely, and then freeze in a well-wrapped airtight bag.
Simply thaw the frozen bread in the fridge overnight. You can reheat it in the oven so it is warm and fresh when you plan to serve it.
Some bread recipes have slightly different instructions, but you'll find the complete make ahead tips on each recipe itself.
1. Easy Bread Machine Recipes
Our bread maker definitely gets a huge work out during the holiday season.
As the author of The Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook, I'm understandably partial to this particular kitchen tool. In fact, most of the 50 recipes in the cookbook would work just perfectly for Thanksgiving right through New Years.
You can get your copy here.
Want to give the bread machine recipes a try right now?
Here are some of my favorite bread machine breads for Thanksgiving:
Bread Machine Italian Bread
This classic Italian bread loaf is an essential recipe for Thanksgiving because it is what I use to make my mom's Italian sausage stuffing.
Just make this loaf in 5 minutes a few days before the holiday. Cube it and toast the bread in the oven in minutes and you've got homemade croutons for stuffing that will be the most delicious you've ever had.
Bread Machine Crescent Dinner Rolls
Crescent dinner rolls are a classic Thanksgiving dinner roll that kids just adore.
When you make the dough for them in your bread maker, you can hand roll big fluffy crescents that beat those refrigerated tubes by a mile.
I recommend prepping at least a couple batches of this and freezing them ahead of time so you don't run out of dinner rolls during the feast.
Bread Machine Whole Wheat Buns
Whole wheat dinner rolls add so much flavor and texture to the holiday meal and they add a deep splash of color to your bread basket.
My whole wheat hamburger buns start in the bread maker and then you can roll them to dinner roll size instead of hamburger bun size very easily.
Bread Machine Brown Bread
Want to have the BEST leftover turkey sandwich ever??
Plan to make my open face turkey sandwich with gravy on this deeply flavorful brown bread.
Bread Machine Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
The hardest part about Thanksgiving for my kids is waiting to eat the big meal so late in the day.
Want to spoil your family with a little Thanksgiving morning treat?
This warm and crispy cinnamon pull apart bread starts in the bread machine but gets baked in the oven for perfectly crispy slices your kids won't be able to resist.
2. Easy Dinner Rolls
If you don't have a bread machine and want to try making a homemade dinner roll with no special equipment, you'll definitely want to look at my simple yeasted dinner rolls or something like a drop biscuit or cornbread.
Rosemary Dinner Rolls
These yeasted buttery rosemary rolls pull apart at the center and are the perfect dinner bun for spreading softened butter in.
My husband loves to make tiny turkey sandwiches out of them for his Thanksgiving dinner.
They can be prepped ahead and frozen for easy holiday baking and just warmed in the oven before serving.
Buttermilk Drop Biscuits
As much as I love a classic layered biscuit, making them from scratch can be a lot of work and no Thanksgiving cook needs more of that.
Instead, I recommend you stick to these super easy buttermilk drop biscuits.
They are mixed together in just one mixing bowl and baked in the oven. You could prep them for baking while the turkey rests.
Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Looking for something a little different?
This cheddar bay biscuit features a delicious herb butter topping and ooey gooey bits of cheddar cheese sprinkled throughout the light and flaky biscuit.
Buttermilk Cornbread
If cornbread and Thanksgiving go hand in hand for you, this easy buttermilk cornbread is the ticket.
You could serve it in squares on the holiday table, but it would be an excellent start to from-scratch cornbread dressing, too.
3. Seasonal Quick Breads
If you're looking for an easy bread to bring to a Thanksgiving potluck or to travel with on your way to family Thanksgiving, you can't go wrong with a sweet and simple quick bread.
There are so many delicious flavors to choose from, but these are the best for the fall season:
Best Ever Pumpkin Bread
This is the BEST Thanksgiving quick bread because one bowl of batter makes three whole loaves of pumpkin bread!
You'll have plenty to share, even if you plan to drop in at several different Thanksgiving open houses.
Slices of pumpkin bread would make a surprise for the bread basket, but I also love to keep a loaf on hand for nibbling in the kitchen while we cook.
Classic Zucchini Bread
Not into the pumpkin spice? How about a beautiful classic zucchini bread instead?
This simple quick bread is the perfect palette for mixing in dried cranberries, pecans, or any other Thanksgiving mix-ins you love.
Cranberry Cinnamon Rolls
Be sure to save some of your homemade cranberry sauce for baking these SUPER easy cranberry cinnamon rolls.
They'd be such a fun day after Thanksgiving breakfast, but I love to freeze my cranberry sauce so I can make these for Christmas breakfast, too.
Cranberry Orange Muffins
Hosting a Thanksgiving brunch? Or just want another sweet addition for the bread basket?
My cranberry orange muffins feature a cinnamon streusel topping. They mix together quickly and are always a hit.
How to Make Homemade Croutons
If you make these homemade breads and discover you have leftovers, don't let a single bite go to waste!
Did you know you can make homemade croutons from bread right in your oven?
As yummy as they are on top of a salad, we even love to nibble on them as a snack.
Homemade Cornbread Croutons
But perhaps you want to be intentional with your crouton baking. You can make this easy cornbread croutons recipe for an incredibly thoughtful Thanksgiving salad with buttermilk herb dressing.
Start with the buttermilk cornbread recipe I mentioned above OR just grab a pan of cornbread from your local bakery to save some time.
More Thanksgiving Ideas
Now that you've got your easy Thanksgiving breads all picked out, what about the rest of your meal plan?
Don't miss my other easy Thanksgiving recipes for your family feast:
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