There are several Thanksgiving & Christmas side dish staples — mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing — but even the best of those traditional sides can get a little boring year after year. Spice up your holiday by giving your side dishes a little kick! Add some heat the holiday season with these spicy sides that you and your family will love.

Spicy Brussels Sprouts

A little spicy twist on traditional roasted brussels sprouts. A simple to make recipe from PureWow, the sprouts are tossed with sweet honey and spicy hot sauce and roasted until caramelized. Total time is about 1 hour.

 

Chipotle Potato Gratin with Jalapeño Gouda

From Devour blog, here’s a tasty recipe that can be made in about an hour. This dish combines cream, potatoes, jalapeño gouda, parmesan, and chipotle chile powder.

 

Poblano Cornbread Stuffing

From Love & Lemons, this is a southwestern take on traditional stuffing. I love cornbread stuffing, and the idea of adding peppers is brilliant. If you want more spice you can certainly use jalapeños or serranos instead of poblanos.

 

Creamed Spinach with Roasted Jalapeños

Andrea Lynn, senior editor of Chile Pepper magazine, shares a spicy take on a traditional dish. The creamy spinach is heightened with roasted jalapeños.

 

Spicy Garlic Green Beans

From ‘What’s Gaby Cooking’ comes this spicy take on green beans. Red pepper flakes add the heat, so you can control just how spicy you’d like your dish.

 

Garlic, White Cheddar and Chipotle Mashed Potatoes

From Epicurious, this recipe adds some serious flavor to regular old mashed potatoes! Add more chipotles in adobe sauce for even more heat!

If you make any of these recipes, let us see! Tag your photo with #cayennediane on Instagram or Twitter.