Thanksgiving Menus for Beginners to Experts

The most stressful part of preparing a holiday meal is the timing. The easiest way to get everything on the table at once is to have guests bring side dishes while you prepare the turkey. If you are determined to go it alone, make as many items ahead of time as you can, and reheat them on Thanksgiving Day.

Required reading:

One to Two Weeks Ahead:

• Make a shopping list; beat the holiday rush
• Make and freeze Yummy Yam Casserole (omit topping)

Two Days Before Thanksgiving:

• Place turkey in refrigerator to thaw (birds larger than 12 lbs. will require 3 days to thaw)
• Make cranberry sauce
• Bake pecan bars. Cool completely; slice bars. Store tightly covered with plastic wrap in a cool, dry place.

Day Before:

• Toast almonds for green beans in ungreased skillet over med. heat until golden and fragrant. Transfer to a bowl or lidded container. Cook bacon for green beans, if using; crumble and mix with toasted almonds & refrigerate.
• Make mashed potatoes; store in the refrigerator
• Make stuffing; store in the refrigerator
• Prepare Pumpkin Cream Pie
• Set the dining room table. Include serving dishes for gravy, dinner rolls, butter, and green beans, plus serving utensils.

Night Before:

• Place Yam Casserole in the fridge to thaw
• Chop onion for Jazzed up Gravy; sauté with herbs as directed. Add to prepared gravy; store jar or container in fridge.

Thanksgiving Morning:

• Remove an oven rack, if necessary. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Roast turkey as directed. Remove from oven and let stand for 30 minutes before carving.
• Add pecan topping to yam casserole.

An hour before dinner:

• Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Replace oven rack. Bake the mashed potatoes, the stuffing, and the yam casserole.

Half an hour before dinner:

• Wrap dinner rolls in foil. Place in oven to heat.
• Warm gravy in saucepan over medium-low heat.
• Melt butter for green beans in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Cook beans until tender. Stir in almonds and crumbled bacon and cook until heated through.

Finishing Touches:

• Transfer gravy, rolls and green beans into serving bowls.
• Carve the turkey and arrange meat on a warmed platter.

One to Two Weeks Before:

• Make a shopping list; beat the holiday rush
• Make dinner rolls; proof for twenty minutes, then freeze. When firm, transfer rolls to plastic freezer bag.
• Make pastry for pecan pie (use recipe of your choice). Chill dough, then roll out and line a nine-inch pie shell. Freeze until firm. Wrap frozen dough and pan with plastic wrap and store in the freezer.

Three Days Before:

• Thaw turkey in refrigerator
• Prepare and bake cheesecake crust; cool and wrap with plastic wrap. Store at room temperature in a cool, dry place.

Two Days Before:

• Make chutney
• Cube bread for stuffing: use a mix of multigrain, rye, and country white bread for Old-Fashioned Stuffing, or make pumpkin bread for Ibby's Pumpkin-Mushroom Stuffing
• Bake pie shell (see Perfect Pie Crusts for instructions on blind baking). Cool and wrap with plastic wrap. Store at room temperature in a cool, dry place.

Day Before:

• Remove giblets and neck from turkey cavity
• Brine turkey
• Make stock out of turkey neck and giblets (do not use the liver for making stock, as it can make broth bitter), celery, onion, carrot and aromatics
• Bake cheesecake
• Bake pecan pie
• Prep veggies for roasting
• Toast pine nuts and cook bacon for Brussels Sprouts; store in refrigerator
• Make stuffing

Night Before:

• If you have room in the fridge, arrange frozen dinner rolls on sheet pan and thaw overnight in the refrigerator. (Otherwise, thaw at room temperature on Thanksgiving morning.)
• Set the dining room table. Include serving dishes for gravy, dinner rolls, butter, and side dishes, plus serving utensils.

Thanksgiving Morning:

• Brush dinner rolls with egg wash
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake rolls and stuffing.
• Light coals; prep grill
• Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees F and roast vegetables
• Grill turkey

One hour before dinner:

• Make mashed potatoes. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and rest bowl over pan of simmering water to keep warm.

Half an hour before dinner:

• Collect drippings from roasting pan under turkey. Make gravy.
• Prepare Brussels sprouts
• Keep stuffing and roasted vegetables warm in a 300 degree F oven.
• Wrap rolls in foil and warm in oven, if desired

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