The Quad Cities’ Most Popular Thanksgiving Sides
If you didn't stuff your face with enough candy, oh, do we have good news for you. The holiday season is almost here and in case you forgot, Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday season. I know it's easy to skip over it with all of the Christmas decorations out now, but it exists. Thanksgiving is a chance for you to stuff your face with turkey, ham, and whatever other sides the poor sucker who got roped into cooking this year made.
If you want to contribute to the Thanksgiving feast besides bringing three beers so you can grab the other 9 out of someone else's cooler, you could whip up your state's favorite Thanksgiving side. Our friends at Zippia came out with their annual list revealing each state's top-turkey-day side.
To determine each state's favorite Thanksgiving side, Zippia used Google Trends to examine over 20 Thanksgiving sides. From there, they determined what side is searched a disproportionately, high amount in each state. Zippia said some controversial decisions were made, including leaving gravy out as a side. Shrimp cocktails, Red Lobster Cheddar biscuits, and other "non-traditional" but not totally crazy sides were also left out. We are talking traditional Thanksgiving sides.
Zippia looked at the month of November 2020 to determine what folks were searching for the most in each state. Web traffic about Thanksgiving soars leading up to and on Thanksgiving day.
Before we reveal each state's most popular Thanksgiving side, here are some fun facts that Zippia found in their search:
- Mashed potatoes are America's favorite with 9 states loving mashed potatoes the most.
- Rolls are second with 4 states saying it's their favorite.
- In general, carbs are the most popular (crescent rolls, stuffing, dressing, bread, etc.).
- 15 states have some type of potato as their favorite turkey day side.
- Mac N’ Cheese took a nosedive from last year.
We'll look closer at the Quad Cities in a second, but here is the map of the U.S. showing each state's favorite Thanksgiving side:
In the Quad Cities area, depending on what side of the river you live on, depends on your favorite side. Iowa's favorite Thanksgiving side is green beans. Illinois' favorite Thanksgiving side is mashed potatoes.
The great news is that you can have as many sides as you want at your Thanksgiving meal. Actually, the more sides the merrier. Except for cranberry sauce. No one needs cranberry sauce.