How To Curate The Perfect Fast Food Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is here, which means it's time for turkey, a generous boatload of Thanksgiving sides, and some hearty dessert. But we thought it'd be fun to cobble our own sort of Thanksgiving together by collecting existing year-round fast food items in order to create a turkey day-themed feast for one. I embarked on a mission that took me to six fast food restaurants to create a turkey-centered meal replete with four sides (which are arguably more important than the turkey itself) along with a dessert.

You'll notice that I didn't go with limited-time seasonal items because yes, oftentimes fast food chains will release their own Thanksgiving-adjacent things to eat. That would be entirely too easy. Plus, you know what? My approach means you can create a Thanksgiving meal like this whenever the mood strikes — come April, who knows, you might be wishing for that Thanksgiving(ish) vibe without having to make stuff at home. It's not always about the destination, as they say, but the journey it takes to get you there.

I wanted at least one green item to lighten up the load from the typically carb-heavy sides you see at Thanksgiving, which is why I hit up Chick-fil-A for its side kale salad ($4.59 at my location), which the company once nearly took off the menu until customers made an uproar about it. It's a blend of kale and cabbage, and comes dressed with an acidic apple cider and dijon vinaigrette, along with a little packet of roasted almonds on the side for crunch. 

My initial hope had been to score green beans somewhere. I researched whether or not any fast food chains serve them, but I emerged from that rabbit hole frustrated. That's because no fast food restaurants seem to serve green beans as a side in my area. I thought at the very least that a fried chicken chain would carry some, but Popeyes' discontinued its green bean side in 2021, and Chicago isn't a home to Bojangles (yet), which does sell them. So I had to go with kale, which honestly isn't a bad option: a refreshing salad at Thanksgiving isn't a bad idea. It's sort of like a palate cleanser.

Out of all the fried chicken chains I've tried mashed potatoes from, I have to say, Popeyes has the most Thanksgiving-like offering. Its mashed potatoes ($3.59 at my nearest Popeyes) have a pleasantly pronounced, buttery flavor. But most importantly, its gravy features a detail that others don't: It has bits of meat in it. That's reminiscent of the giblet gravy one of my family members always brought to our huge potluck Thanksgiving every year, and because Popeyes' version has such a homestyle feel to it (at least to me), it felt like the best choice.

My other choices were options from KFC and Jollibee, but neither quite seemed to hit the right chord with me. KFC's mashed potatoes are fine, but the gravy's somewhat watery. Jollibee's gravy is an underrated fast food sauce meant for multiple types of uses, including dipping your fried chicken in, but it wasn't right for the occasion. Popeyes just had the right feeling and the right ingredients in it to classify as Thanksgiving-like.

I have a confession to make: I'd never had Potbelly's mac and cheese ($4.89 by me) before, which is why I picked some up. It's a creamy three-cheese combination that's fit for a fall day, and what's good about it is that the noodles aren't swimming in glop. Instead, the sauce clings tightly to the elbow macaroni, and has a decidedly more adult taste to it than just a generic cheddar sauce (though that kind has its time and place). If you want to go all out, you can ask to have it customized by adding veggies, bacon, or, of course, more cheese.

Other fast food chains that have mac and cheese include Popeyes, KFC, Panera, and Chick-fil-A. So really, the world's sort of your oyster when it comes to this side dish. I just think Potbelly's a slightly novel choice, just because you don't usually think of mac when you think of the toasted sandwich joint.

What's a Thanksgiving meal without any corn, right? Thankfully, KFC has a simple side of sweet corn ($2.99 at my location) without any bells and whistles. It's just corn, which is oddly refreshing. I feel like corn is almost a necessity at any Thanksgiving. It's just starchy, comforting, and a bit sweet, and the juicy kernels actually bring a welcome textural contrast to the meal. It's not often that fast food chains offer a plain vegetable as a side item, so let's just appreciate this one as beauty in simplicity. 

Besides, it's most likely you'd be eating a meal of this magnitude at home and not in the car. So, if you want to dress your corn with butter, salt, and black pepper, that's up to you. But when I sat down to enjoy it, I had it plain, and I realized I didn't want to add anything else to it. Besides, who hasn't done the thing where you mix a forkful of mashed potatoes and gravy with a few corn kernels, right? It was pretty difficult tearing myself away from KFC's superior coleslaw, but I persevered, because I've never seen anyone eat coleslaw at Thanksgiving. 

The pick of a turkey sub might seem controversial for a centerpiece at first, but when you think about it, turkey's not really an option at most fast food restaurants. I've long wondered why turkey's not featured more often. Because chicken's such a popular protein choice these days, you'd think turkey would at least show up in a supporting role. But the one place you do see turkey is in sandwiches in the form of deli meat, which is why Jimmy John's Turkey Tom ($8.69 by me) is a solid pick.

It recently came out as our favorite turkey sub out of a lineup of some major chains, including Jersey Mike's and Subway, and that's because it's so simple. It's just turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on French bread. I'd done some thinking about other potential spots I could have picked (like Panera), but Jimmy John's just seems like the most accessible of the bunch. Its core items are easygoing, fast, and reliable. You know exactly what you're going to get there for a standard turkey sub.

The process of choosing a dessert to conclude this joyful experiment surprisingly stressed me out. I did consider breaking my rule of year-round permanent menu items for this part, because it almost seems unfathomable to finish a Thanksgiving meal without pumpkin pie. But in the end, it was about finding something accessible. I can't think of a single place that would offer pumpkin-anything other than during the Thanksgiving season, can you?

So my initial ideas of Arby's limited-time Pumpkin Pie Turnover, or Church's Pumpkin Cheesecake Fried Pie weren't eligible anymore. Plus, McDonald's Pumpkin and Creme Pie isn't available in my neck of the woods this year even if I'd wanted it, so that was completely out. That's why I went with the classic, comforting McDonald's baked apple pie ($1.99 at our McDonald's), which is sort of a year-round taste of fall. This pie is a quiet standard on McDonald's menu for a reason.

Sure, you could go somewhere that specializes in, say, rotisserie chicken (R.I.P. Boston Market) and pretty much get an approximation of a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal all in one spot. But honestly, that wouldn't be nearly as fun. And when you bring single elements from multiple restaurants together, the feeling for your overall meal shifts. This isn't one singular combo meal from Popeyes, Chick-fil-A, or Jimmy John's say; it's something else altogether. I had a lot of fun bouncing between bites, which is one of the best parts of a fully-loaded Thanksgiving plate.

So if you're feeling cheeky and want to try this for yourself, you don't even have to do this alone. You can make it potluck style, and have multiple people bring a sharable quantity of a single dish from each restaurant. Nothing like crowdsourcing the effort for a meal, even one as quirky as a little fast food Thanksgiving. Any excuse to get together is a reason to be thankful anyway, might as well make it an entertaining one.