Top Thanksgiving Side Dish In North Carolina

Turkey steals the show on many American Thanksgiving tables, but for many, it's all about the side dishes, appetizers and the pies — pumpkin, blueberry and pecan, but sweet potato and pot pies, too. And it's not Thanksgiving without sausage balls in Alabama and Tennessee, peanut butter cookies in Indiana or chicken spaghetti in Texas, according to an analysis of top recipe searches for the holiday broken down by state.

Either we've made it so often we could do it in our sleep or we've tired of it, but monkey bread — a sticky Hungarian coffeecake — showed up more often on searches than the perhaps-not-iconic -after-all green bean casserole. Minnesotans searched most often for variations on the concoction Campbell Soup Company dreamed up in the 1950s, but the casserole didn't show up as a favorite in any other state.

The top monkey bread searches came from Iowa, Nebraska and Rhode Island. In Missouri, they're expecting guests to either arrive early or stay overnight, because breakfast casserole was the top search. Buffalo chicken dip — we see a Thanksgiving Day football marathon in the works — was the top search in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

What’s the most popular side dish in North Carolina? According to a list of the most popular Thanksgiving side dishes by state, it’s sweet potato pie. The list was compiled using sources American cooks have trusted for eons. General Mills pulled search data from BettyCrocker.com, Pillsbury.com and other properties for the breakdown, which was published by The Daily Meal.

Here is the run down of the top Thanksgiving side dish searches by state:
Alabama: Sausage balls
Alaska: Cinnamon rolls
Arizona: Shrimp
Arkansas: Chicken and dumplings
California: Macaroni and cheese
Colorado: Cranberry sauce
Connecticut: Butternut squash soup
Delaware: Sweet potato casserole
Florida: Pumpkin cheesecake
Georgia: Sweet potato casserole
Hawaii: Crescent rolls
Idaho: Biscuits
Illinois: Mashed Potatoes
Indiana: Peanut butter cookies
Iowa: Monkey bread
Kansas: Pinwheels
Kentucky: Chicken and dumplings
Louisiana: Cornbread dressing
Maine: Chicken pot pie
Maryland: Crab cake
Massachusetts: Cheesecake
Michigan: Chili
Minnesota: Green bean casserole
Mississippi: Chicken spaghetti
Missouri: Breakfast casserole
Montana: Oven-roasted vegetables
Nebraska: Monkey bread
Nevada: Peanut butter cookies
New Hampshire: Blueberry pie
New Jersey: Crab cake
New Mexico: Pecan pie
New York: Cheesecake
North Carolina: Sweet potato pie
North Dakota: Apple crisp
Ohio: Buffalo chicken dip
Oklahoma: Pecan pie
Oregon: Bread stuffing
Pennsylvania: Buffalo chicken dip
Rhode Island: Monkey bread
South Carolina: Sweet potato pie
South Dakota: Pumpkin pie
Tennessee: Sausage balls
Texas: Chicken spaghetti
Utah: Crescent rolls
Vermont: Butternut squash soup
Virginia: Macaroni and cheese
Washington: Sugar cookies
West Virginia: Buffalo chicken dip
Wisconsin: Shrimp
Wyoming: Pork chop

For all of these dishes and more, check out The Daily Meal's 101 best Thanksgiving recipes.

Tell us in the comments: What's the one Thanksgiving side dish your family expects every year?

Original story by Patch Editor Beth Dalbey

Photo via Shutterstock