Thanksgiving Recipes, Menus & a Day-by-Day Plan
Four complete menus, a make-ahead timeline and every chart you need, from a classically trained chef. Below the plan, you’ll find every Thanksgiving recipe on Lemon Blossoms.
Classically trained chef
·
Caterer
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01
Plan your Thanksgiving in five questions
Answer these first. Your answers point you to the menu that fits, so you only plan the dinner you can actually pull off.
1
Time
Do you have time to cook every dish from scratch? Are you working the days before? Can you spare a few hours the weekend before, when most of the make-ahead work lands?
2
Budget
Keep it lean (one main, three sides, one dessert, guests bring the rest), go for a full traditional spread, or splurge on an appetizer, a cocktail and two pies.
3
Space
Can a 25-pound turkey and a brining bucket fit in your fridge? How many dishes can your oven hold at once? Most fit two racks.
4
Skill level
Making pie crust from scratch, or buying dessert? Both are a perfectly good Thanksgiving.
5
Your guests
Kids who don’t like turkey, a vegetarian at the table, a food allergy to plan around.
Which menu fits you?
If you answered…
Start with
Small household, 2–4 people, want leftovers
Traditional dinner, 8–12 guests, cooking it all
Big crowd, short on time or budget
Vegetarian guests, or skipping turkey
You want to mix and match
02
Four complete Thanksgiving menus
Each menu is built from recipes tested in my kitchen, with a make-ahead timeline that counts back from Thursday. The hour-by-hour oven schedule and the shopping list for each menu are in the printable PDF.
Every menu needs cranberry sauce. Use your favorite homemade recipe or a good store-bought sauce, and make or buy it by Tuesday.
The printable version · Free 35-page PDF
This whole plan, plus shopping lists and oven schedules, ready to print
Each menu gets a shopping list by store section and an hour-by-hour Thanksgiving Day schedule, plus a fill-in guest sign-up sheet. Stick it on the fridge.
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03
Build your own Thanksgiving menu
Pick one main, an appetizer or two, three to five sides, a bread and a dessert. Start with the main: here are the pros and cons of each.
✓
The traditional bird, foolproof, gravy included. Written for 10–12 lb; works up to 15 lb.
−
Needs a day of brining and fridge (or cooler) space overnight. Needs a working oven.
✓
Perfect for a small dinner. Easy to double in one oven. Great for small spaces.
−
Needs a working oven. Not for dark-meat lovers.
✓
No oven needed. Easy to transport, and the slow cooker keeps it warm.
−
Needs a crock pot that fits a 6–8 lb breast. Not enough alone for a crowd.
✓
A holiday favorite that serves a crowd. Delicious warm or cold.
−
Not a turkey. Needs the oven for about 2½ hours.
✓
A showstopper for vegetarians and rule-breakers. Budget friendly.
−
Not a turkey. Needs the oven to roast the squash.
Then add the rest of the table
Appetizers and soup
Sides and gravy
Breads
04
How much food do you need for Thanksgiving?
Buy for the people at the table, then decide whether you want leftovers. When in doubt, round up on turkey and potatoes and down on everything else: with a full table of sides, everyone takes a little of each.
Mains, sides and drinks
Item
Per person
For 4
For 8
For 12
Whole turkey
1 lb (1½ lb for leftovers)
Choose a breast instead
10–12 lb
12–18 lb
Bone-in turkey breast
¾–1 lb
6–7 lb (with leftovers)
6–8 lb
Two breasts, or add a ham
Bone-in spiral ham
1 lb
—
8 lb half ham
8 lb ham + a turkey breast
Gravy
⅓ cup
1⅓ cups
2¾ cups
4 cups
Mashed potatoes
½ lb raw potatoes
2 lb
4 lb
6 lb
Stuffing
1 batch serves 8
½ batch
1 batch
1½ batches
Other sides (4+ on the table)
½ cup of each
1 recipe each
1 recipe each
1–2 recipes each
Rolls
1½–2
8
16
24
Pie
1 slice (8 per pie)
1 pie
2 pies
2–3 pies
Wine
½ bottle
2 bottles
4 bottles
6 bottles
Ice
1–2 lb
5 lb
10–15 lb
15–25 lb
Appetizers
Guests
Appetizers to serve
Pieces of each, per person
Dip
4
2–3
2
12 oz
6
2–3
2
16 oz
8
3–4
2
1½ lb
12
3–4
1½–2
2 lb
25
4–5
1½
3 lb
Soup as a first course
Guests
Soup
4–8
1½–2 quarts
12
2½ quarts
25
5 quarts
05
How long to thaw a turkey
The most common Thanksgiving mistake happens days before anyone cooks: the turkey isn’t thawed. Count back from the day you’ll cook, not from Thanksgiving morning.
In the refrigerator (safest)
About 24 hours for every 4–5 pounds, at 40°F or below. Set the turkey in a pan to catch drips. A thawed turkey keeps 1–2 days in the fridge.
Turkey size
Thawing time
Move it to the fridge by
4–12 lb
1–3 days
Monday
12–16 lb
3–4 days
Sunday
16–20 lb
4–5 days
Saturday
20–24 lb
5–6 days
Friday the week before
In cold water (short on time)
Leak-proof bag, submerged in cold tap water, water changed every 30 minutes. About 30 minutes per pound; cook it as soon as it’s thawed.
Turkey size
Thawing time
4–12 lb
2–6 hours
12–16 lb
6–8 hours
16–20 lb
8–10 hours
20–24 lb
10–12 hours
Never thaw a turkey on the counter.
Dates assume cooking Thursday. Brining Wednesday night? Move it one day earlier.
06
The Thanksgiving hosting timeline
Use this checklist alongside your menu’s make-ahead timeline. It covers everything that isn’t cooking.
3–4 weeks before
- Make a guest list and send invites.
- Plan your menu.
- Check your equipment.
- Order rentals and a fresh turkey.
2 weeks before
- Clean out the freezer.
- Plan the table decor.
- Make your shopping list.
- Buy drinks.
- Send the “What can I bring?” sheet.
1 week before
- Make room in the fridge.
- Buy the turkey; check the thawing chart.
- Make pie dough and stock.
- Gather serving dishes.
- Set up the bar; make a playlist.
4–5 days before
- Start thawing a frozen turkey.
- Make dips and cranberry sauce.
- Make no-bake desserts.
- Plan table settings.
2–3 days before
- Buy perishables.
- Cut up vegetables.
- Make soups.
- Set the table.
- Thaw frozen pie crust.
1 day before
- Bake pies.
- Assemble casseroles.
- Brine the turkey.
- Make gravy without drippings.
- Chill the drinks.
Thanksgiving Day
- Last trip to the store for last-minute items.
- Take the turkey out of the brine, rinse it and pat it dry.
- Roast the turkey on your menu’s oven schedule.
- Take make-ahead sides out of the fridge so they reheat faster.
- Bake the breads, or rewarm them in foil.
- Set out the appetizers.
- Make gravy from the turkey drippings.
- Set out bread baskets and butter.
- Serve and enjoy!
07
What can I bring to Thanksgiving?
When someone asks, hand them a specific dish: it beats “oh, anything!” every time. Ask every guest the last question before the big day. An oven slot at 3:45 is easy to plan and impossible to find at 4:10.
If you’re the guest: dishes that travel well
- No oven needed at the host’s house: dips and deviled eggs (bring them cold), wild rice salad, cranberry sauce, any pie, pumpkin bundt cake, pecan pie bars.
- Bring it in its own appliance: mashed potatoes in the slow cooker, plugged in when you arrive.
- Needs a quick reheat: stuffing, gratins and casseroles. Bake them at home, then tell your host how long they need in the oven.
- Always: bring it in the dish you’ll serve from, with its own spoon, and a label if it contains nuts or other common allergens.
The host’s sign-up sheet
Dish
Suggested recipe
Arrives
Appetizer
Cold
Stuffing
Needs reheating
Potatoes
Best Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes (bring the slow cooker)
Needs an outlet
Sweet potatoes
Needs reheating
Vegetable
Needs reheating
Kid-friendly side
Needs reheating
Salad
Room temperature
Bread
Room temperature
Cranberry sauce
Homemade or store-bought
Cold
Dessert 1
Room temperature
Dessert 2
Room temperature
Drinks and ice
Wine, sparkling water, a bag of ice
Cold
Not a cook?
Flowers, rolls from a good bakery, take-home containers
—
The fill-in version with “Who’s bringing it” and oven columns is in the printable PDF.
08
When things go wrong: a chef’s fixes
In catering, something always goes sideways. The difference between a disaster and a story you laugh about later is knowing the fix.
The turkey
Switch to the cold-water method: keep it in a leak-proof bag, submerge it in cold water, and change the water every 30 minutes. Allow about 30 minutes per pound, then cook it right away. Skip brining this year.
Don’t panic, and don’t carve it yet. Tent it loosely with foil and keep it somewhere warm. A whole bird holds its heat far longer than you’d expect. Use the time to bake the sides that need the oven.
Bring out the appetizers or serve the soup. If the breast is done but the thighs aren’t, carve off the breast, keep it covered, and put the rest back in the oven.
Slice it, arrange it on a platter, and spoon warm broth over the slices before the gravy goes on. Nobody will know.
The gravy
Whisk hard. If the lumps won’t go, pour it through a fine-mesh strainer or give it a few seconds with an immersion blender.
Whisk in warm broth a little at a time. Gravy keeps thickening as it sits, so make it a little thinner than you think you need.
Let it simmer a few more minutes. Still thin? Melt a tablespoon of butter, whisk in a tablespoon of flour, cook for a minute, then whisk it into the gravy.
Season with salt and pepper first. Then add a splash of cognac, brandy or white wine, and let it simmer for a minute.
The oven
Use the turkey’s resting time: that’s when the oven is free to go hot. Move what you can to the stovetop, the slow cooker or the pressure cooker. Reheat make-ahead casseroles covered with foil.
Bake pies, rolls and stuffing the day before. Rewarm rolls wrapped in foil for the last few minutes before dinner.
Make the Slow Cooker Turkey Breast with Gravy or the Slow Cooker Ham, and finish the sides on the stovetop.
The sides and desserts
Keep them in the slow cooker on warm, and stir in a splash of warm half-and-half just before serving.
Cover the edges with a pie crust guard or a ring of aluminum foil.
Cover it with maple whipped cream. It was always going to be the best part.
Stretch the meal with a soup course, an extra batch of rolls, and more of whatever side is fastest to make. Slice the turkey thinner; it goes further than you think.
09
What to make with Thanksgiving leftovers
Get leftovers into the fridge within 2 hours. Take the turkey off the bone and pack everything in shallow containers so it cools quickly.
How long leftovers keep
Leftover
Fridge
Freezer
Turkey and ham, off the bone
3–4 days
2–6 months
Stuffing
3–4 days
2–6 months
Gravy
1–2 days
2–6 months
Mashed potatoes and other sides
3–4 days
2–6 months
Reheat leftovers to 165°F. A splash of broth keeps turkey and stuffing moist in the microwave or oven.
10
7 habits of highly successful Thanksgiving hosts
The cooking is the easy part. These are the habits that make the day feel calm.
1
They aren’t afraid to break tradition. Duck instead of turkey will be just fine. So will stuffed acorn squash.
2
They know shortcuts and store-bought items are assets. Nobody remembers whether the rolls came from a bakery.
3
They use recipes from trustworthy sources, or stick with family favorites.
4
They don’t shy away from help. When someone asks what to bring, they have a list ready.
5
They plan, prep and make ahead. Every menu here does half the work by Wednesday.
6
They delegate. Someone pours drinks; someone else runs the dishwasher.
7
They have a plan for the leftovers. Containers ready, and a turkey pot pie on Saturday.
Take the plan with you
Print it: all four menus, shopping lists, oven schedules and a guest sign-up sheet
Recipe index
All Thanksgiving recipes
Every Thanksgiving recipe on Lemon Blossoms: turkey and ham, sides, rolls, pies, drinks and leftovers.
