Superstar athletes share the Thanksgiving dishes they make room for in their diet

"I love a sweet potato casserole," Raheem Mostert told Insider while describing his approach to balancing his diet for peak NFL performance. "I could go for a sweet potato casserole and some turkey — I think that those are the two things that I like."

"Oh, and gravy," he added.

Mostert and the Dolphins head to MetLife Stadium to face the New York Jets in the NFL's first-ever Black Friday matchup. And even though he has a game to prepare for, Mostert is confident he'll manage to enjoy some of his holiday favorites.

"Oh yeah, I mean, you can always enjoy leftovers too," he said. "You can't go wrong with leftovers."

Azzi Fudd won't be heading home this Thanksgiving. Instead, she and the No. 6 Huskies are headed to the Cayman Islands to compete against some of the top programs in the country in the "Cayman Islands Classic."

But Fudd has a plan to make up for the missed holiday; she's hoping "to make a Thanksgiving meal up here after Thanksgiving when we come back."

What she'll serve is still up for debate. Fudd admits "I'm so indecisive and I love food," which makes narrowing down her favorites pretty tough.

"I love my mom's sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top, but everything my parents make is really good," Fudd told Insider. "My dad would smoke a Turkey and stuff, but we usually do things like that kind of stuff on Christmas as well, so I would say the casseroles because that's really the only time we ever eat that."

Marquez Valdes-Scantling has a well-documented sweet tooth, so the food he nabs first off the Thanksgiving table should hardly come as a surprise.

"My favorite dish is probably sweet potato casserole," the Chiefs wide receiver told Insider. "Yeah, that'd be mine for sure."

Though she suited up for Turkish basketball powerhouse Fenerbahçe earlier in the fall, Napheesa Collier told Insider that she's back in the US and will be joining family back in St. Louis for Thanksgiving.

She's looking forward to her "mom's mac and cheese" most of all when it comes to the food.

"It's really good," Collier said.

American diver and Olympic silver medalist Andrew Capobianco loves eating his mom's "fried cauliflower" on Thanksgiving, he told NBC Sports.

"It's something that, when I was younger, she only made on Thanksgiving," Capobianco said. "So I always looked forward to it every year."

Reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Nick Bosa is a big butternut squash guy. He told Kron4 that the dish made its way to the Bosa's table "a lot growing up" and added that it's always "delicious."

Bosa's teammate, wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, had an answered prepared for dinner and dessert.

"I'm looking forward to the ham," he told Kron4. "And also the apple pie with a little bit of ice cream."

Reigning Olympic all-around champion Suni Lee is all about the mac and cheese on Thanksgiving Day.

"I love a good mac and cheese," the superstar gymnast told NBC Sports. "It's just so creamy. So good. Always good."

Then, she changed her mind:

"Oh, mashed potatoes are my favorite," Lee said. "Top tier."

NHL superstar and longtime Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby doesn't feel any pressure to choose favorites from the Thanksgiving lineup; he likes "everything," he told DK Pittsburgh Sports.

"The green bean casserole, or the stuffing," Crosby said. "I like mashed potatoes. And I like the rolls. I like the turkey. Yeah, everything."

"I'll say cranberries, go off the board," he added.

Brooke Raboutou, a rock climber who represented the United States at the Tokyo Olympics, told NBC Sports she's torn between "sweet potatoes mashed or just nice and cooked and caramelized."

"I don't know if I'm a fan of the marshmallows on top," she added controversially. "If they're there, I'll eat 'em, but I wouldn't put them there."

Cowboys cornerback Stephon Gilmore knows that "mac and cheese" is his favorite Thanksgiving dish. Back when he played for the Buffalo Bills, he told The Buffalo News that he loves it so much that he has to "try not to eat too much of it."

After leading his Celtics past the Dallas Mavericks with 37 points and 13 rebounds the day before Thanksgiving last year, NBA superstar Jayson Tatum told ESPN he loves seeing "candied yams, dressing, and ham" on his table for the holiday.

Skateboarder Jagger Eaton, who won a bronze medal for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, named "my mom's yams" as his favorite Thanksgiving dish.

"Because she makes them with brown sugar and marshmallows on the top," he told NBC Sports. "It's unbelievable."

American sailer Daniela Moroz, who is set to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics, said she's "a big mashed potatoes girl" on Thanksgiving.

"You've gotta get those carbs, you know?" she told NBC Sports.

Legendary Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker seemingly doesn't take much pride in his top choice on the Thanksgiving table:

"I gotta admit, my favorite Thanksgiving dish is stuffing, for sure," he said in a video released by the franchise.

Two-time NBA All-Star Ja Morant named one of his "favorite foods" generally as his top pick for Turkey Day.

"I like macaroni," Morant said in a video shared by Supreme Highlights. "I'm a big macaroni guy. It's just one of my favorite foods, so Thanksgiving I gotta have that."

In the same video, Morant's All-Star teammate, Jaren Jackson Jr., said he loves stuffing most of all for a wholesome reason.

"Just because of the way my grandma makes it," Jackson said. "She puts a lot of stuff in there. I don't always ask what's in there, but it just tastes like love, so I love that."

Atlanta Hawks sharpshooter Trae Young, who was also featured in that clip, said: "Mac and cheese. Easy."

And Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma added that "mac and cheese, yams, and stuffing" are at the top of his list.

"The side dishes don't get a lot of respect, but in my house, they do," Kuzma said.

Discus thrower Laulauga Tausaga, who is expected to join Team USA Track & Field at the 2024 Paris Olympics, told NBC Sports that her favorite Thanksgiving dish "has to be candied yams."

"Who doesn't love some sweetness?" she said. "And it's also a sweet potato."

"But also, for the specific reason of when the juices get seeped into a mac and cheese, and it makes the most delicious combination of sweet and salty," Tausaga added.

Five-time Pro Bowler Joel Bitonio had trouble narrowing down his Thanksgiving favorites, according to a video shared by his longtime franchise, the Cleveland Browns. He simply likes "a lot of stuff."

"Ham, mashed potatoes," he said, then took a beat. "But ham would be No. 1."

Back when he was on the Boston Celtics, three-time NBA All-Defensive First-Teamer Marcus Smart named ham, chicken, and dressing as his favorite Thanksgiving dishes in a video shared by the franchise. Somewhat controversially, he added that "I don't do turkey."

In the same video, two-time NBA All-Star Jaylen Brown said "dressing is No. 1 for sure" and "mac and cheese probably is No. 2."

Leanne Wong, an alternate for the United States' gymnastics squad at the Tokyo Olympics and a favorite to join Team USA in Paris next year, loves to enjoy a good "green bean casserole" over the holiday.

"It's also easy to make, and it tastes good," she told NBC Sports.

If Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Taven Bryan has it his way, he'd skip Thanksgiving dinner and head straight to the dessert table.

"It's definitely gonna be the pie," Bryan said in a video shared by the Jaguars back when he played in Jacksonville. "I like apple pie, cherry pie, pecan pie is really good too. Really just all the pies."

Offensive tackle Cam Robinson, who has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars for his entire NFL career, said in the same video that he's big on his mom's cooking:

"My mom makes a really good broccoli, rice, and cheese casserole," Robinson said. "That's probably my favorite one at our house."

Team USA paralympic swimmer Noah Jaffe, who primarily races in freestyle and butterfly events, told NBC Sports that he likes bread above all else on the Thanksgiving table.

"I don't know, I think you can do so many things with bread," he said with a chuckle. "You can have stuffing, you can just have normal bread, and it's just great."

Rising NBA star Tyrese Haliburton's Thanksgiving favorite is either "mac and cheese or honey ham," he revealed in a video shared by his team.

His teammate, center Myles Turner, also answered with "mac and cheese."

"That's easy," he added. "Or collard greens."

Star wide receiver Calvin Ridley is a big fan of eating mac and cheese and ham on Thanksgiving Day, he told the Falcons back when he played in Atlanta. He'll skip the potato salad, he added.

Team USA beach volleyball star Kelly Cheng told NBC Sports "I love Thanksgiving side dishes." Her favorite, though, is "sweet potato casserole."

"My mom makes the best and it's so good," she added.