Michigan celebrates Thanksgiving with as much gusto as any other state, but with an added twist: The longstanding tradition of Detroit Lions football games to kick off the holiday. And this season, fans and bettors alike in the state are having a football feast, as their formerly long-suffering franchise is now one of the NFLs best.
But which side dishes in Michigan go best with Thanksgiving turkey and pigskin?
Using Google Trends, BetMichigan.com analyzed the most popular Thanksgiving side dishes for Michigan residents by looking at the search results of each side dish, in data taken from Nov. 1-30, 2023. The dishes analyzed were the most for total searches in the United States, including mashed potatoes, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, candied yams, brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce. BetMichigan.com offers the best Michigan sports betting promo codes as well as trend stories such as this one.
Rank | Side Dishes | Interest Over Time Period |
T1 | Stuffing | 10 |
T1 | Green Bean Casserole | 10 |
3 | Mashed Potatoes | 7 |
4 | Sweet Potato Casserole | 4 |
5 | Cranberry Sauce | 3 |
In Michigan, according to or research from the period we studied, two very different dishes capture the crown for most popular side to pile on your plate next to the turkey. Green bean casserole and stuffing (or dressing) were the options most often searched in the Great Lakes State, the home of Michigan sports betting. Both had a search interest score of 10.
Making green bean casserole is a fairly simple process. Recipes at allrecipes.com and food.com have the same list: A can of green beans, a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup, a cup of French fried onions, plus salt and pepper to taste. The whole process takes about 40 minutes, but most of that is just baking it at 350 degrees and letting the oven do the work.
The other Thanksgiving side dish that’s considered a classic in The Mitten is stuffing. There are a ton of variations for this bread-based favorite – either stuffed inside the bird or baked in a pan. When it’s the latter, it technically should be called dressing, but the terms stuffing and dressing seem to be interchangeable in common usage. Whatever you call it, it’s a great way to soak up some of the leftover gravy from the turkey.
More carb-loading is present on our list with mashed potatoes (search interest score of seven) and sweet potato casserole (four). But let’s give a special shout out to cranberry sauce, which lands in fifth place with a search interest score of three.
Neighboring Wisconsin is the top cranberry-producing state in America, according to statistics at World Population Review and Statistia. Of the 16 states where we produced our research on favorite Thanksgiving side dishes, the only three where cranberry sauce made the top five were Michigan, Colorado and Kentucky.
The Lions have played games on Thanksgiving Day every year since 1934, except for an interruption during World War II. Stay tuned for more tasty Detroit Lions Super Bowl odds as the team continues to gobble up the opposition in the 2024 NFL season.
Author
Jim Tomlin writes and edits for BetMichigan.com. In 30 years as a journalist he has worked for publications such as the Tampa Bay Times, Saturday Tradition, Saturday Down South and FanRag. He now lends his sports and gambling expertise to BetMichigan among other websites.
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