Meal Prep · A holiday collection
Thanksgiving dinner
Every dish of a traditional American Thanksgiving in one place: the turkey seven ways, stuffing and dressing, gravy, potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls, vegetables and pies. Some recipes are new; others live elsewhere in Meal Prep and are gathered here. Pick your menu, get one shopping list, and let the timeline tool work out when to thaw, brine and start the oven.
⏰ Timeline: when to thaw, brine and start the oven
Enter when you want to eat and how big your turkey is. The plan works backward from dinner, using USDA’s thawing and roasting times, and fits your oven dishes into one oven after the turkey comes out.
- Loading the plan…
Times are planning guides. The turkey is done when a food thermometer reads 165°F in the breast, the innermost thigh and the innermost wing, whatever the clock says. If it’s done early, tent it with foil: it stays hot 40 minutes or more, and the oven is free for the sides sooner.
The turkey, seven ways
Pick one. The classic roast suits most kitchens; dry-brining needs a day’s head start; spatchcocking frees the oven fastest; smoking and frying happen outdoors. For a small table, roast just a breast.
Gravy and stock
Make stock from the neck and giblets (or turkey wings) days ahead, and gravy is easy.
Stuffing and dressing
Same idea, different name: stuffing goes in the bird, dressing bakes in a dish. USDA says baking it in a dish is safest. If you do stuff the bird, follow the rules in the box below.
Stuffing the bird safely (USDA)
- Safest: bake the stuffing in a dish (dressing). It cooks evenly and gets a crisp top.
- If you stuff the turkey, mix the wet and dry ingredients just before stuffing, never the night before.
- Spoon it in loosely, about ¾ cup per pound of turkey, and roast right away.
- The center of the stuffing must reach 165°F on a food thermometer, even if the turkey is done. A stuffed bird takes longer to roast.
- Cook raw sausage, meat or oysters before they go into the stuffing.
- Let the turkey stand 20 minutes before taking the stuffing out.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes
Classic mashed potatoes on the stove, or a make-ahead dish that bakes while the turkey rests. Sweet potatoes two ways.
Vegetables
A green bean casserole and something roasted.
Cranberry sauce
Whole-berry sauce takes 15 minutes. Jellied sauce needs a night in the refrigerator to set.
Rolls and cornbread
Bake the rolls ahead and freeze them, or shape them the night before and bake while the turkey rests.
Mac and cheese, salads and nibbles
Mac and cheese is on many family tables. Deviled eggs and a relish tray keep people happy while the turkey rests.
Pies and dessert
Bake pies a day or two ahead; they free up the oven on the day.
Leftovers: soups and sandwiches
Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and use them within 3 to 4 days, or freeze them (USDA).
Creative leftovers
Fun things to make the day after, the kind families trade every November: a famous TV sandwich, a whole-dinner pie, stuffing waffles and more. For the pot pie, use turkey in place of chicken.
🥪 The sandwich from Friends
In a 1998 episode of the TV comedy Friends, “The One with Ross’s Sandwich” (season 5), Ross is upset when a coworker eats the leftover Thanksgiving sandwich he brought to work. Its secret is an extra slice of bread soaked in gravy in the middle, which he calls the “Moist Maker.” Many fans make it with their own leftovers. Here is our version: turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing and that gravy-soaked middle slice.
- Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of dinner, in shallow containers. Carve the turkey off the bone first.
- Eat them within 3 to 4 days, or freeze them. Homemade gravy: 1 to 2 days.
- Reheat to 165°F, and bring gravy to a rolling boil.
- A dish made from leftovers doesn’t restart the clock: count the days from Thanksgiving.
🧑🍳 Make it from scratch
Want to make the parts most people buy? These from-scratch pages scale to what your menu needs: stock from the turkey’s neck and giblets, pumpkin purée from a real pie pumpkin, a butter crust, whipped cream, bread for the stuffing, rolls, cornbread and marshmallows for the sweet potatoes.
🌡 Food safety: the numbers that matter
Done is 165°F
A turkey is safe to eat when a food thermometer reads 165°F in all three of these spots, without touching bone (USDA):
- the thickest part of the breast,
- the innermost part of the thigh,
- the innermost part of the wing.
A pop-up timer or the color of the juices isn’t a reliable test. Then let it rest 20 minutes before carving. Roast at 325°F or higher; USDA advises against lower oven temperatures.
Thawing
- In the refrigerator (the easiest way): about 24 hours for every 4 to 5 lb. Keep it in its wrapper on a tray. A thawed turkey keeps 1 to 2 more days in the refrigerator.
- In cold water: about 30 minutes per lb. Keep it in its wrapper, submerged, and change the water every 30 minutes. Cook it as soon as it’s thawed.
- In the microwave: follow the oven maker’s directions, and cook it right away.
- Never thaw on the counter or in hot water. Forgot to thaw? You can roast it frozen; it takes about 50% longer.
| Turkey | Refrigerator | Cold water |
|---|---|---|
| 4 to 12 lb | 1 to 3 days | 2 to 6 hours |
| 12 to 16 lb | 3 to 4 days | 6 to 8 hours |
| 16 to 20 lb | 4 to 5 days | 8 to 10 hours |
| 20 to 24 lb | 5 to 6 days | 10 to 12 hours |
| Turkey | Unstuffed | Stuffed |
|---|---|---|
| 8 to 12 lb | 2 hr 45 min to 3 hr | 3 hr to 3 hr 30 min |
| 12 to 14 lb | 3 hr to 3 hr 45 min | 3 hr 30 min to 4 hr |
| 14 to 18 lb | 3 hr 45 min to 4 hr 15 min | 4 hr to 4 hr 15 min |
| 18 to 20 lb | 4 hr 15 min to 4 hr 30 min | 4 hr 15 min to 4 hr 45 min |
| 20 to 24 lb | 4 hr 30 min to 5 hr | 4 hr 45 min to 5 hr 15 min |
| Breast, 4 to 8 lb | 1 hr 30 min to 3 hr 15 min | not usual |
After dinner
Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours. Carve the meat off the bones and divide everything into shallow containers so it cools fast. Use leftovers within 3 to 4 days, or freeze them. Reheat to 165°F, and bring gravy to a rolling boil (USDA).
🔪 Carving, step by step
Carve on a board with a groove to catch the juices, with a long sharp knife and a carving fork. Let the turkey rest 20 minutes first; it carves more neatly.
- Legs off. Cut through the skin between the leg and the body. Pull the leg out and down until the hip joint pops, then cut through the joint to free the whole leg.
- Thigh and drumstick. Set the leg skin side down and cut through the joint between them; you’ll feel where the knife slips through. Slice the thigh meat off the bone.
- Wings. Pull each wing out from the body and cut through the shoulder joint.
- Breast off in one piece. Cut down along one side of the breastbone, keeping the knife against the ribs, and lift the whole half breast off. Repeat on the other side.
- Slice across. Lay each breast half flat and slice it crosswise, across the grain, about ¼ inch thick, so every slice has some skin.
- Platter and bones. Arrange dark and white meat with the drumsticks and wings. Save the carcass for turkey stock and soup, and refrigerate the meat within 2 hours.
📋 Make ahead, and one oven
What you can do before the day
- Weeks ahead: make and freeze turkey stock, make-ahead gravy, pie dough, Parker House rolls (baked) and the cornbread for dressing.
- 3 to 4 days ahead: start thawing a frozen turkey in the refrigerator (sooner for a big one). Shop for everything else.
- 2 to 3 days ahead: make cranberry sauce (it keeps a week). Dry-brine the turkey. Make the make-ahead mashed potatoes. Hard-cook the eggs for deviled eggs.
- 1 day ahead: bake the pies. Dry the bread cubes and cook the onions and celery for stuffing (keep them apart from the broth and eggs). Blanch green beans and make their sauce. Mash the sweet potatoes. Cut the relish tray. Set the table. Start a wet brine.
- The morning of: take the giblets out, set up the roasting pan, and put the turkey in on time. Whip the cream. Mix the stuffing just before it bakes.
Keep make-ahead dishes in the refrigerator and reheat them to 165°F.
Sharing one oven
- Bake pies the day before. That frees the morning.
- Use the turkey’s rest. It needs at least 20 minutes, and it stays hot under foil for 40 or more. Turn the oven up and bake the casseroles and rolls then.
- Two racks: bake on both, with the racks spaced so air can move. Swap the dishes between racks halfway so both brown.
- Different temperatures: most casseroles are forgiving. Bake at the higher temperature and check them a little early.
- Move dishes out of the oven: mashed potatoes keep warm in a slow cooker; cranberry sauce, salads and the relish tray need no oven at all; spatchcocked, smoked or fried turkey frees the oven for hours.
- Keep hot food hot (140°F or above) and cold food cold until serving (USDA).
📜 Thanksgiving in brief
1621, Plymouth. After their first harvest, the English colonists at Plymouth held a celebration of about three days. Massasoit, a leader of the Wampanoag people, came with some 90 men. The only eyewitness account is a few lines in a letter by the colonist Edward Winslow, printed in London in 1622 in the book known as Mourt’s Relation:
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others.”
Edward Winslow, 1621, in modern spelling (public domain), as given by the Pilgrim Hall Museum.
What they likely ate. Winslow names wild fowl and deer. Governor William Bradford wrote later of waterfowl, “great store of wild turkeys,” venison and Indian corn that autumn. So turkey may well have been there, along with ducks or geese, corn, and whatever the season offered. Mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie as we know them came much later. The colonists didn’t call the 1621 event a thanksgiving; to them that word meant a day of prayer.
Sarah Josepha Hale. The editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book (and author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”) campaigned for a national Thanksgiving Day for about 17 years, from 1846, with editorials and letters to presidents. Many states already kept their own Thanksgiving days, on different dates.
1863, Lincoln’s proclamation. On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving. From the proclamation (public domain):
“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
1941, the fourth Thursday. Presidents proclaimed the day each year after that. In 1939 the date was moved a week earlier, and states disagreed about which Thursday to keep. Congress settled it by law, signed on December 26, 1941: Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November.
Families mark the day in different ways. Many Wampanoag people and other Native Americans see the 1621 story differently from the familiar school-pageant version, and museums in Plymouth today tell it from both the colonists’ and the Wampanoag side.