It’s a week of choosing sides. Are you team sweet potato casserole? Or maybe you’re a ride-or-die for macaroni and cheese?

When it comes to preparing Thanksgiving sides, Nick Pasco has a clear favorite: “I love, love making stuffing,” he said. Like a sculptor working with clay, he has used it as a building block for some imaginative specials at the Food Market in Hampden, where he is the executive chef. A celery and sage funnel cake dusted with cranberry powdered sugar. Stuffing strips battered in tempura. Doughnuts made out of stuffing.

But nothing has captured the imagination of diners quite like the Food Market’s savory Thanksgiving cupcakes, which Pasco says he first introduced to the menu three years ago. With a base of celery and sage stuffing and a “frosting” of mashed potatoes, the item received tens of thousands of likes and shares when the eatery posted about it in 2023.

Pasco isn’t the first Baltimore chef to offer a unique spin on stuffing. In 2016, TV personality and Charm City Cakes founder Duff Goldman revealed his technique for making “Thanksgiving in a cupcake” on the Food Network as a means of making the most of Thanksgiving leftovers. Goldman’s approach calls for torching the mashed potatoes to add crunchy texture, while Pasco’s version features the addition of dark meat gravy and dried cranberries.

The Food Market version is sold only at dinner at the original location in Hampden and the newer branch in Columbia. The seasonal special is typically available starting around the end of summer through December, but it’s become so popular “I think we could keep it on the menu year-round,” Pasco said.

If it makes it to the regular menu, the cupcake wouldn’t be the only stuffing-centric dish Baltimoreans can nosh on in July. Krause’s Lite Fare, a Lexington Market hallmark going back to the early 1980s, is best known for its Thanksgiving sandwich, which features slices of roast turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce on bread.

Delaware chain Capriotti’s, which has branches in Bel Air, Pasadena and elsewhere in the greater Baltimore region, sells a similar version called “The Bobbie,” a favorite of President Joe Biden (but named for a Baltimore resident). Wawa calls its version “The Gobbler.”

Local favorite Chap’s is known for its pit beef, but this November the eatery is also offering ham and turkey in its special Plymouth sandwich, which comes with stuffing, cranberry and mayo.

For those looking to recreate the dish at home, New England native Zachariah Porter, who has more than 4 million followers on TikTok, created an easy homemade take using Stove Top stuffing and instant potatoes last year. “Savory cupcakes, this is the new thing, I’m telling you,” he told viewers. This year, however, Porter’s trying something else: Thanksgiving burritos.