Celebrity Thanksgiving Traditions Revealed — The Unexpected Dishes Blake Shelton, Donna Kelce, and Other Stars Serve Their Families
From Flamin’ Hot Cheetos-Covered Turkey to Sweet Marshmallow Rolls and Caviar-Topped Potatoes, These Famous Families Have Some Surprisingly Unusual Holiday Favorites
Thanksgiving is a holiday built around familiar traditions. Families gather around tables filled with roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and the recipes that have appeared at holiday dinners for generations.
But inside some celebrity households, the Thanksgiving menu looks a little different.
Imagine arriving for dinner and discovering a turkey covered in crushed Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, a dinner roll with a melted marshmallow hidden inside, or a plate of potatoes finished with expensive caviar.
These are just a few of the unusual dishes that famous families have incorporated into their celebrations.
With Thanksgiving falling on Thursday, November 26, 2026, stories about celebrity holiday traditions are offering a fresh look at the foods that bring people together.
Some of these recipes began as playful experiments. Others have been passed down through generations, becoming so important that family members refuse to celebrate without them.
And as several celebrities have discovered, even the most carefully prepared gourmet dish cannot always compete with the comfort of a familiar family favorite.
Blake Shelton’s Family Once Covered Thanksgiving Turkey in Flamin’ Hot Cheetos
Country music star Blake Shelton has embraced a Thanksgiving tradition that might surprise anyone who believes turkey should be prepared with nothing more adventurous than butter, herbs, and seasoning.
In a 2023 television appearance, Shelton discussed how he and Gwen Stefani’s sons, Kingston, Zuma, and Apollo, had experimented with unusual turkey preparations.
Among their creations were birds coated with crushed Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Funyuns. The family also tried a bacon-covered version.
Rather than following a traditional recipe every year, the children were given opportunities to help choose unusual ingredients and turn Thanksgiving cooking into a family activity.
The Flamin’ Hot Cheetos turkey was particularly memorable because of its bright color and unconventional coating.
However, Shelton acknowledged that the experiment did not necessarily improve the turkey itself.
He suggested that the Cheetos coating offered little practical benefit, even if the family enjoyed the experience.
For Shelton’s household, the tradition was less about creating the perfect roasted turkey and more about having fun together in the kitchen.
It is a reminder that holiday memories sometimes come from recipes that nobody would seriously recommend repeating.
Donna Kelce’s Marshmallow Rolls Became a Family Favorite
For Donna Kelce, the mother of former NFL star Jason Kelce and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Thanksgiving has long included a sweet treat that sounds almost too simple to be memorable.
Her marshmallow rolls have become a beloved family tradition.
The recipe involves coating marshmallows with cinnamon and sugar, wrapping them inside crescent roll dough, and baking them until the pastry turns golden.
During baking, the marshmallows melt, leaving a sweet, soft interior surrounded by buttery pastry.
The result combines the familiar taste of cinnamon rolls with the convenience of refrigerated crescent dough.
For the Kelce family, however, the appeal goes beyond the ingredients.
Jason has spoken enthusiastically about his mother’s rolls, even joking about how much he enjoys them compared with other holiday dishes prepared by his wife, Kylie.
His comments highlight the powerful connection between childhood food memories and adult holiday preferences.
A recipe does not need expensive ingredients or complicated preparation to become the dish everyone remembers.
Sometimes, the simplest food on the table becomes the one family members request year after year.
Kelly Ripa Defends One of Thanksgiving’s Simplest Side Dishes
Television personality Kelly Ripa has demonstrated that not every celebrity Thanksgiving tradition involves elaborate cooking.
One of her family’s favorites is canned cranberry sauce.
Rather than preparing a complicated homemade version, Ripa has embraced the familiar jellied sauce that can be sliced and served directly from the can.
For many American families, this version of cranberry sauce is instantly recognizable.
Its smooth texture, sweet-tart flavor, and distinctive shape have made it a holiday staple for decades.
Although homemade cranberry sauces can include fresh fruit, citrus zest, spices, and other ingredients, the canned version continues to inspire considerable loyalty.
Ripa’s family also enjoys more elaborate dishes, including cheesy Hasselback potatoes.
Hasselback potatoes are prepared by making thin cuts across each potato without slicing completely through it.
As the potatoes bake, the cuts open slightly, creating crisp edges and spaces where butter, cheese, and seasonings can settle.
The contrast between a sophisticated potato dish and simple canned cranberry sauce illustrates how Thanksgiving menus often combine convenience with tradition.
Kathy Hilton Adds a Luxurious Twist With Caviar
While some celebrities favor inexpensive comfort foods, Kathy Hilton has described holiday dishes that take a more luxurious approach.
Her menu includes scrambled eggs served with caviar and baked potatoes topped with butter, sour cream, and additional caviar.
Caviar, traditionally made from salt-cured sturgeon roe, is often associated with fine dining and special occasions.
Its rich, salty flavor can provide a striking contrast to creamy eggs or soft baked potatoes.
Although the ingredients may sound extravagant, the basic preparations are surprisingly familiar.
Scrambled eggs and baked potatoes are ordinary household dishes that can be transformed with a premium topping.
Hilton’s approach demonstrates how holiday food can reflect personal tastes and family preferences rather than a fixed traditional menu.
For some households, Thanksgiving is an opportunity to prepare dishes that feel especially indulgent.
For others, the holiday would not be complete without the simplest recipes from childhood.
Mila Kunis Learned That Her Family Preferred the Original Green Bean Casserole
Actress Mila Kunis discovered that trying to improve a classic Thanksgiving recipe does not always produce the reaction a cook expects.
According to her account, she once attempted to prepare an upgraded version of green bean casserole.
Instead of welcoming the more elaborate dish, her family preferred the familiar recipe made with canned green beans, condensed mushroom soup, and crispy fried onions.
The traditional casserole has been a fixture at American holiday tables for generations.
Its appeal comes from the combination of tender green beans, creamy sauce, and crunchy onion topping.
Although countless variations exist, many families remain attached to the version they grew up eating.
Kunis’s experience illustrates a common Thanksgiving dilemma.
A cook may want to experiment with fresh ingredients, new techniques, or more sophisticated flavors, while guests simply want the dish they remember.
In the end, holiday cooking is not always about producing the most technically impressive meal.
Sometimes, respecting a beloved recipe matters more than changing it.
Kathie Lee Gifford Keeps Her Mother’s Thanksgiving Recipes Alive
Among these celebrity traditions, one of the most meaningful comes from television personality Kathie Lee Gifford.
In 2025, Gifford discussed how she often began preparing Thanksgiving dishes several days before the holiday.
Her preparations included family favorites such as stuffing, yam soufflé, gravy, and mashed potatoes.
But the significance of those dishes extended far beyond the meal itself.
The recipes were connected to memories of her late mother and the family celebrations they had shared.
By continuing to prepare them, Gifford was preserving a connection to someone she loved.
She also expressed the hope that younger generations would continue enjoying those foods and carrying the traditions forward.
For many families, handwritten recipes and familiar holiday dishes become a form of inheritance.
They preserve small details that might otherwise disappear, including the way a parent seasoned stuffing or the particular texture a grandparent preferred in mashed potatoes.
Preparing those recipes can bring back memories of earlier gatherings, familiar voices, and people who are no longer sitting at the table.
Gifford’s tradition captures one of the most emotional aspects of Thanksgiving: the way food can connect generations.
Why Even Famous Families Refuse to Give Up Their Favorite Holiday Foods
Despite their different lifestyles, these celebrities share something familiar with millions of American households.
They have strong opinions about what belongs on the Thanksgiving table.
For Blake Shelton’s family, the holiday has included playful experiments that allow children to participate in cooking.
For Donna Kelce, a simple marshmallow pastry has become a family favorite that her sons continue to celebrate.
Kelly Ripa’s preference for canned cranberry sauce demonstrates that convenience foods can hold just as much sentimental value as homemade recipes.
Kathy Hilton’s caviar dishes show how families can incorporate their own tastes into traditional celebrations.
Mila Kunis’s casserole experience reveals that a familiar recipe may be more welcome than an elaborate replacement.
And Kathie Lee Gifford’s devotion to her mother’s cooking illustrates how deeply food and memory can be connected.
These traditions differ in ingredients, cost, and preparation, but they serve a similar purpose.
They give families something to anticipate, remember, and share.
Thanksgiving 2026 Could Be the Perfect Time to Start a New Tradition
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, in 2026, giving families another opportunity to revisit favorite recipes or introduce something new.
For anyone looking for inspiration, these celebrity traditions offer several possibilities.
A playful turkey experiment could encourage children to become more involved in meal preparation, while a simple sweet roll recipe could become a new family favorite.
Traditional dishes such as canned cranberry sauce and green bean casserole may deserve their place on the table, even when more elaborate alternatives are available.
And for families who want to preserve memories, preparing a recipe associated with a parent or grandparent can be a meaningful way to honor the past.
Not every new dish will become a success.
Some experiments may produce laughter rather than compliments, and others may never appear on the menu again.
But those moments can become part of the stories families remember long after the dishes have been cleared away.
The Most Memorable Thanksgiving Ingredient Isn’t Always Food
From Cheetos-covered turkey to marshmallow-filled rolls, celebrity Thanksgiving celebrations can be surprisingly creative.
Some families embrace unusual flavors, while others insist that the original recipes should never be changed.
What makes these traditions memorable is not necessarily the price of the ingredients or the complexity of the preparation.
It is the personal meaning attached to each dish.
A simple casserole can remind someone of childhood. A sweet roll can become a family joke. A treasured stuffing recipe can preserve memories of a loved one who is no longer there.
As Thanksgiving 2026 approaches, these celebrity stories offer a reminder that the best holiday traditions are often the ones that bring people closer together.
And sometimes, the dish everyone remembers most is not the one that took hours to prepare, but the one with the best story behind it.
Which of these celebrity Thanksgiving dishes would you actually try: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos turkey, Donna Kelce’s marshmallow rolls, or Kathy Hilton’s caviar-topped potatoes?