Wow Your Guests With These Thanksgiving Plating Techniques

After spendings hours—maybe even days!—whipping up a mouthwatering meal for Thanksgiving, it’s only natural that you want the food you’re serving to look as good as it tastes. Not to mention, a pretty presentation is what helps get everyone into a festive mood. But how can you master the art of the plate if you’re not aesthetically inclined? These easy-to-pull off tips will help your fare pass the photo-worthy test and, bonus, they’ll have your meal tasting great, too. The only catch: With food so delicious, it may not last long enough for a picture.

Cook with color

With its comforting, warm flavor palette, Thanksgiving food always tastes amazing, but dishes also tend to skew heavily brown. (Or okay, let’s call it golden.) To add a little variety to the table, focus on ways to bring color and texture to your courses in a tasty, delightful way. That could mean tossing a handful of pomegranate seeds into a salad adding bright citrus as eye-catching garnishes, or leaning into produce in pretty colors, like purple potatoes, orange cauliflower, or yellow carrots. Just a few pops of an unexpected hue is enough to keep the traditional vibe, while making your spread look Insta-ready. For more ideas on amping up the look and flavor of your dishes, try the beloved McCormick® Flavor Maker app—the recipe-inspiring, meal-planning sidekick you need in your life. (You'll find everything you need to level-up your holiday (and everyday) cooking, including ideas on how to use traditional Thanksgiving ingredients like McCormick Rubbed Sage or McCormick Dried Thyme.)

Let the servingware be the star

Let’s be real: It’s not always easy to make a heap of mashed potatoes look fancy, no matter how hard you try to pool the butter just so. Here’s a little trick: Sometimes it’s not about the food, but about the dish or vessel you’re using to present it. Try serving butternut squash soup in a carved-out pumpkin or putting dips into bread bowls; or, if you prefer, add color to the table with accessories, like festive placemats. To make it feel special, and not overdone, you only need an item or two to really pop.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Make one thing mini

Thanksgiving dishes are all about the big, robust, family-style feel—bowls brimming with stuffing, stacks on stacks of sliced turkey brined with McCormick Bay Leaves and salt, gravy boats overflowing. But you can make things feel endearingly unexpected by shrinking one of your famous courses into a smaller portion, like condensing your traditional stuffing into muffin-tin sized bites or making individual-sized pumpkin pies.

Add a joyful touch

Leaning into the season’s theme can be a total win and you don’t have to just rely on decorations to pull it off, either. Try using a leaf-shaped cookie cutter to carve out dough you can bake on top of apple pies or use to give a classic plate of cranberry sauce a fun, festive vibe. Bonus points if your recipes feature seasonal flavors, too, like McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice!

Photo Credit: Shutterstock

Don’t forget the drinks

There are so many easy, and unique ways to infuse pretty touches into beverages. Swirl McCormick Cinnamon Sticks into warm drinks, garnish cocktails with a festive herb or serve kid's punch with a side of gummy turkeys or pumpkins. These low-effort "extras" will have guests talking about your delightful libations for holidays to come.

Check out McCormick’s time-honored recipes to make this Thanksgiving the most memorable one yet!