Pumpkin or pecan pie? See most popular Thanksgiving desserts by state - USA Today
With Thanksgiving just two weeks away, group chats are likely buzzing as friends and family discuss which desserts they’ll include this year. Will it be sweet potato pie? Pumpkin? Or perhaps pecan? New analysis is shedding light on the most popular sweet treats ahead of the holiday on Thursday, Nov. 26.
According to DoorDash, which analyzed Thanksgiving orders from last year, the most popular dessert nationwide was chocolate cake, followed by apple pie, cheesecake, pumpkin pie and pound cake. But when DoorDash looked at what customers ordered in higher quantities regionally, other sweets came out on top.
Pumpkin pie reigned supreme in terms of being the "most over-indexed pie or cake," as it bought more than other desserts in 14 states, including Arizona, California and Washington, DoorDash said in a news release this month.
DoorDash’s Consumer Trends Expert Cristen Milliner said in the release that pumpkin pie has long been a Thanksgiving staple whether guests have requested it or not. But despite pumpkin pie being bought in more states, chocolate cake still outranked it and other desserts.
“Chocolate cake outranking every pie tells me people are ordering for the room instead of for the occasion,” Milliner said. “Chocolate cake is something nobody turns down, and when you’re feeding a mix of adults, kids and the one cousin who doesn’t like pie, that matters more than tradition does.”
The company also looked at sweet potato pie, comparing data from Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day in both 2024 and 2025. According to DoorDash, store-bought sweet potato pie purchases on DoorDash rose more than 210%. Sweet potato pie also ranked sixth among store-bought pies nationally between Nov. 19 and Nov. 27, DoorDash told USA TODAY this week.
DoorDash said that people in Washington, DC, ordered sweet potato pie at a higher rate than other states, making it a top contender among store-bought pies and cakes. On the savory side, sweet potatoes got a lot of love as a side dish in Washington, DC, as well.
DoorDash’s national ranking includes 10 popular sweets, the company said.
The company found that chocolate cake topped DoorDash's list of most-ordered Thanksgiving desserts nationwide last year, followed by apple pie, cheesecake, pumpkin pie, pound cake, chocolate pie, strawberry cake, pecan pie, cherry pie and vanilla cake.
When DoorDash looked at which desserts customers ordered most by state, other sweets rose to the top. In the southern region of the country, residents of Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas ordered pecan pie in larger quantities than other parts of the country, DoorDash found.
DoorDash also looked at which side dishes were most popular, noting that nationally, mashed potatoes were the most popular, followed by corn, sweet potatoes, green beans, gravy, carrots, mac and cheese, stuffing, cornbread and cranberries.
Although potatoes were the most-ordered side nationally, regional favorites include carrots in Colorado, green beans in Iowa and sweet potatoes in Missouri.
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.
