We’re getting close to Thanksgiving 2023! That means it’s time to round up the best Thanksgiving recipes.
I stick to old-fashioned easy Thanksgiving recipes, and we have leftovers for days!
I feel the warm fuzzies when I think of even the simple Thanksgiving meals from my childhood.
You might be looking for some new modern Thanksgiving recipes to shake things up (or to impress!).
This is an extensive, tasty collection of all the ultimate Thanksgiving recipes: turkey and brines, gravy, cranberry sauce, dressing (or stuffing), ALL the must-have Thanksgiving sides, mac and cheese, soup, salad, rolls, drinks and punch, and of course, desserts (especially pie)!
You’ll find traditional Thanksgiving recipe ideas as well as some new, unique dishes to try.
And if you’re not interested in traditional at all and want to SKIP the turkey altogether, I highly recommend my Velveeta lasagna rolls that feed a crowd!
At the bottom of this article are tips for choosing the perfect Thanksgiving recipes for your specific meal situation!
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Thanksgiving Turkey Recipes
- Juicy Roast Turkey: This simple Thanksgiving recipe makes cooking a turkey look too easy to be true!
The turkey is rubbed down with a plethora of herbs and spices prior to roasting. The cavity is filled with citrus fruit, garlic, and onion, providing a unique scent and flavor to the bird.
- Best Turkey Recipe Ever: This extremely unique technique involves injecting the bird with wine all over and then putting the stuffing literally everywhere.
Seriously, you get to stab the turkey, then fill its wounds with stuffing. How relaxing!
- Spatchco*ck Turkey: Not gonna lie, I’d never even heard of a spatchco*ck turkey before.
It’s a bit of an advanced technique for cooking a Thanksgiving turkey.
But they cook way faster because you remove the spine and flatten the breasts before cooking.
Just ensure you have a pair of poultry shears in your kitchen first!
Learn the Technique: Watch the really cool video below on how to spatchco*ck a turkey!
- Dry Brine Spatchco*ck Turkey with Herb Butter: No dealing with a bag full of liquid in this recipe!
Just remove the spine and rub the bird down, then it’s ready to go.
This recipe creates a beautifully crispy skin as well.
- Brined Turkey: A super-easy brine recipe, all you need is a giant stockpot to make the brining process as simple as possible.
Brining allows the meat to absorb salt overnight, which helps the meat retain its juices while the turkey cooks!
Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes
Turkey Gravy Recipes
- Easy Turkey Gravy: This no-fuss gravy recipe just uses the drippings from your cooked turkey and some pre-mixed poultry seasoning.
You can use turkey stock instead of drippings to make it even easier!
- Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy: Waiting for the turkey to finish cooking might not leave you enough time to make gravy before guests arrive (or you might forget completely!).
This make-ahead recipe isn’t lacking in fresh flavor, though – you’ll make turkey stock from scratch first.
- Giblet Gravy: If you think about giblets too much, you might get sick (I do).
But if you’re looking for some serious southern flavor – and enjoy hard-cooked eggs in your gravy – this is the Thanksgiving gravy recipe for you.
Cranberry Sauce Recipes
- Homemade Cranberry Sauce: Cranberry sauce is a lot easier to make than you think.
This recipe is fancied up with fresh orange juice and zest, as well as a cinnamon stick.
- Cranberry Cider Sauce: Apple cider makes a tasty substitute for orange juice and cinnamon in this sauce.
It’s the easiest cranberry sauce recipe I’ve seen!
Stuffing & Dressing Recipes
FYI, stuffing and dressing are the exact same thing.
Traditionally, stuffing is when the recipe is “stuffed” into the turkey, while dressing is cooked separately. I call it stuffing either way!
- Cornbread Sausage Stuffing: When my mom makes stuffing, it’s always just bread and veggies. This recipe adds sausage to that.
I love this because I’m not always in the mood for turkey, so it’s another opportunity for me to eat some meat!
This recipe also uses some homemade cornbread for extra yum.
- Slow Cooker Stuffing: Save some space in (or on) the stove and make your dressing in the slow cooker!
Literally “dressing” up regular packets of stuffing mix with sausage, fresh veggies, and eggs, this recipe does require some attention to keep it from drying out, but it makes a TON.
- Apple Sage Stuffing: This is a fresh spin on an old favorite.
Diced apple and chopped celery add a nice crunch to this stuffing.
All you need for the mix is a loaf of bread that’s been diced and left out to dry for one day!
Mashed Potatoes Recipes
- Garlic Mashed Potatoes: This is the classic preparation of mashed potatoes: boiled in water, then mashed with garlic, butter, and herbs.
Be warned: this recipe has you put in the work of using a potato masher instead of a mixer!
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes: Save a spot on your stovetop and skip the boiling!
These mashed potatoes cook completely right inside your Instant Pot.
This is one of the best quick Thanksgiving recipes. You can even mash them right inside without having to transfer them!
- Loaded Baked Mashed Potatoes: These are the Holy Grail of mashed potatoes.
They start out like regular potatoes, boiling on the stove and getting mashed…
But then they’re baked in the oven with all the delicious toppings of a loaded baked potato.
You won’t have leftovers of these!
Brussels Sprouts Recipes
- Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts with Bacon: In my experience, even the worst vegetables are rendered edible when cooked in bacon grease.
This recipe includes the actual bacon to eat right alongside the bacon-y sprouts.
You might even finally get your kids to eat them!
- Balsamic Garlic Roasted Brussels Sprouts: The two ingredients that will draw me in to try almost any dish are garlic and balsamic vinegar – and this recipe has both!
The sweet-and-sour flavor of the balsamic will temper the bitter flavor of the sprouts.
- Ginger Brussels Sprouts: This recipe has TWO secret ingredients (and I don’t mean the ginger) – maple syrup and lime!
If you don’t like brussels sprouts after they’re cooked with maple, you’re probably never gonna like them.
Mac and Cheese Recipes
- The Best Mac and Cheese: For me, it’s not the use of heavy cream or the rigatoni noodles that make this the best mac and cheese.
It’s the bacon.
- Southern Baked Mac and Cheese: This heart-stopping soul food recipe uses ALL the cheeses (including cream cheese), as well as both heavy cream AND half and half.
Just cook the noodles and mix it all up in a dish to bake and melt and turn into heaven.
- Cauliflower Mac and Cheese: Trying to cut down on the number of carb-heavy dishes this Thanksgiving, but you’re not ready to give up your mac and cheese?
Try using cauliflower instead of noodles!
We’ve been substituting cauliflower for a lot of carbs in our house for years now, and I won’t say we don’t notice a difference, but the flavor is never bad. Just different!
The cheese and onion will cover up the cauliflower so well, you’ll still get the cheesy goodness you crave.
Carrot Recipes
- Roasted Carrots with Honey and Ricotta: Honey is not such an unusual flavor to add to roasted carrots, but never in my dreams did I think to smear some ricotta on them.
Consider me sold!
- Maple-Glazed Carrots: I love using maple syrup on everything, and carrots are certainly no exception.
These carrots are cooked in syrup entirely on the stovetop – no oven space is required for roasting.
- Air Fryer Carrots (Two Ways!): A simple switch of ingredients can change these carrots from sweet to spicy.
Either way, your air fryer will keep them out of your stove – and cook them up tender but crunchy!
Corn Casserole Recipes
- Classic Corn Casserole: This is how we ate corn on Thanksgiving at my Granny’s house when I was growing up!
Whole kernel corn, cream-style corn, and Jiffy mix were always the main ingredients, no matter how it deviated a little each year.
- Cast Iron Corn Casserole: Poblano peppers add a bit of welcome extra flavor to this skillet-prepared casserole.
Instead of canned cream-style corn, you’ll just use frozen corn mixed with sour cream and heavy cream to provide a rich flavor.
- Cheesy Corn: This recipe can be served by itself as an ooey-gooey side dish, but you can also put it in a slow cooker to keep warm and use it as a dip for veggies and crackers.
It also has ham in it, making it nice and hearty!
Green Bean Recipes
- Easy Green Bean Casserole: This is how my family has always made green bean casserole: with cream of mushroom soup.
Some say it’s the easy way, and I say… they are right!
Why make Thanksgiving recipes hard? You’ve got so much to make!
- Better Than Mama’s Green Bean Casserole: TBH, I don’t think my mama would argue!
This green bean casserole recipe is similar to the first one, except the mushroom sauce is made from scratch – no condensed soups here.
It still doesn’t take as long as you might think.
And don’t worry – it’s still topped with french-fried onions!
- Parmesan Bacon Green Bean Casserole: Normally I wouldn’t include so many types of the same casserole on a recipe list, but I feel like green beans are the ONE VEGETABLE everyone has at Thanksgiving.
And all of these recipes are quite different!
I like this one because it’s cooked with bacon, the savior of all dishes.
- Southern Green Beans: Now this is more like how my mother-in-law makes green beans!
It’s not a casserole at all.
It’s basically just green beans slow-simmered in a pot with veggies that have been cooked in bacon grease.
Sooo good.
Even if you don’t serve it with the cooked bacon crumbles, you’ll get that hint of satisfying flavor.
- Sauteed Green Beans and Mushrooms: Looking for a simple, light green bean side that’s not a dang casserole?
Here you go!
It’s even still got mushrooms, but there’s no sauce involved – just some red bell peppers thrown in for color and flavor.
Sweet Potato Recipes
- Candied Yams: Don’t worry, candied “yams” in America pretty much always refer to sweet potatoes (because they’re softer and easier to use).
This is how I like to make sweet potatoes when it’s not Thanksgiving, except I use canned yams and cut my cooking time down to 30 minutes, topping with marshmallows for the last ten.
Just make sure you stir a few times so that each piece of sweet potato is thoroughly glazed with the homemade syrup!
- Sweet Potato Casserole with Praline Topping: If you didn’t know, “praline” is a fancy word for sugared pecans.
This yummy recipe has you mash the sweet potatoes up with some of the topping mix, then top with the rest before baking. Yum!
- Sweet Potato Casserole Without Pecans, WITH Marshmallows: Finally, a sweet potato recipe with marshmallows!
This is how it should be, in my opinion – but then again, this is MY recipe!
I don’t like nuts but I love sweet potatoes.
This recipe even has a streusel topping under the marshmallows for extra crunch, flavor, and sweetness.
- Brown Sugar Balsamic Roasted Sweet Potatoes: Mmm, balsamic vinegar again!
It makes all vegetables taste so dang good.
This recipe is super easy too, just roasting them on a baking sheet.
The best part, though? It’s topped with gorgonzola cheese after baking!
Butternut Squash Recipes
- Hasselback Roasted Butternut Squash with Brie: I love any recipe that puts cheese on a vegetable.
This one also uses honey!
It’s quite a fancy side dish, though, so I’d only use it for a small gathering of people – it’d be tough to make more than 8 servings of this.
- Slow Cooker Butternut Squash Soup: You might be thinking, a soup for Thanksgiving?
Well, a simple soup can add an easy “course” to the meal before the big show (especially if you’re not quite done cooking!) – and in a slow cooker, it’s not taking up valuable space in the oven.
This one is thick and creamy and can be fancied up even more by adding a swirl of cream to each bowl.
If you don’t have a heat-proof blender, make sure you have a hand mixer to whip up the squash!
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup: What would we do without instant pots?
This soup is ready in just 6 minutes!
It’s very different from the previous one in other ways, too, with its Eastern-leaning flavors and recommendation of coconut milk instead of cream.
Broccoli Casserole Recipes
- Broccoli Stuffing Cheese Casserole: This is an extremely simple, quick-and-easy broccoli casserole perfect for Thanksgiving.
It even has the stuffing on top!
- Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Casserole: A much more sophisticated version of broccoli casserole, this recipe has broccoli and onion cooked up in creamy coconut milk.
Red pepper flakes give it a nice zing, too!
- Roasted Broccoli Salad with Bacon and Pecans: The broccoli and bacon are cooked and then cooled before tossing them together with onions and pecans.
It’s all topped with a BOMB dressing made of mayo, honey, and cider vinegar.
No one will believe how delicious a broccoli recipe could be without the cheese.
Salad Recipes
- Roasted Sweet Potato Salad: This salad is just so perfectly autumn, filled with beets, sweet potato, and pumpkin seeds (or your preferred nut).
It’s topped with a wonderful cranberry balsamic vinaigrette, and if I’m not careful I will eat the whole bowl myself.
- Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad: Not sure if you’ll like brussels sprouts as your salad base?
You might not care once you taste the apples, cranberries, almonds, and feta too, all topped with a honey mustard vinaigrette.
- Fall Apple Mandarin Orange Spinach Salad: A simple, light, fruity salad is sometimes all you need for your mouth to get a little break from all the warm, hearty side dishes abundant at Thanksgiving.
But don’t worry, there’s still cheese on it!
- Pomegranate Coleslaw: My husband absolutely hates the traditional creamy coleslaw, but he’ll destroy this fruity, tangy version.
Apple and pomegranate lend some sweetness to the dish while a homemade dressing of cider vinegar, agave, and dijon liven up the cabbage, carrots, and beets.
- Dill Pickle Potato Salad: You can’t call it a party unless there’s potato salad present.
This one has all the good veggies – pickles, peas, carrots, and broccoli.
The dressing is, very simply, good old mayo!
Dip Recipes
- Sun-Dried Tomato Asiago Cheese Dip: The title really says it all with this dip.
It’s extremely easy to make with only five ingredients, and sour cream and mayo are two of them, so it’s super creamy!
- Veggie Dip: This is great to have ready and sitting out with fresh vegetables for everyone to nibble on until dinner is completely ready.
There are no weird ingredients and you can throw it together in five minutes!
Fruit-Based Side Dish Recipes
- Cranberry Fluff Jello Salad: Depending on how old you are, if you think back to your childhood, you just might remember Grandma serving up something like this at her Thanksgiving.
This weird-but-tasty fluffy fruity concoction isn’t usually even considered a dessert, just a normal side dish!
Well, at least, it used to be. Still tastes good to me!
- Sauteed Apples: Sure, this recipe is insanely easy, but I like warm fruit as much as I love warm veggie casseroles.
It’s good to have something sweet in the mix!
This recipe makes the apples particularly tasty with molasses and maple syrup.
Other Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes
- Spinach Cheese Bake: This is creamed spinach in casserole form and I am HERE for it!
Creamed spinach is one of my all-time favorite sides – though I admittedly tend to put the emphasis on cream.
Fortunately, this recipe does, too!
- Braised Red Cabbage: The beautiful color of cabbage lends a nice look to a fully laid-out Thanksgiving buffet.
This recipe adds some zip with diced apple and a long simmer in lemon juice, along with some cinnamon and sugar.
- Wild Rice Pilaf with Cranberries and Pecans: This rice comes across as particularly autumnal, filled with the traditional Thanksgiving flavors of cranberry and pecan.
Pulling off a bit of turkey with your fork before scooping up a bite of this mix would be heavenly!
Bread & Roll Recipes
- Cast Iron Skillet Cornbread: If you’re from the South like me, you know cornbread is THE bread of choice to go with most meals.
Thanksgiving is no different!
Being able to serve your bread straight out of the skillet means there’ll be one less serving platter to wash, too.
- Honey Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls: You won’t believe how easy it is to make your own perfectly rounded, fluffy dinner rolls with this recipe.
Just make sure you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment and the time and patience to let the dough proof before baking.
Thanksgiving Drink Recipes
- Thanksgiving Punch Recipe: Apple cider and ginger ale form the base of this punch, but the flavor is super amped up with fresh fruit, cinnamon sticks, and pumpkin pie spice.
You can make it a few days ahead in a pitcher, too!
- Fall Party Punch: This recipe starts out similar to the first, but it’s much, much easier!
Instead of fruit and spices, it just adds in pineapple juice for an unexpected twist.
- Cranberry Wassail: Dictionary alert! “Wassail” is a hot mulled cider drink.
This recipe is non-alcoholic and makes a perfect drink to serve the kids while the grown-ups have their post-meal cups of coffee!
Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes
Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Dessert Recipes
- Pumpkin Pie: At the top of the list of Thanksgiving essentials, this pumpkin pie recipe is no-frills, old-fashioned, and will be tasty till the end of time.
Just make sure you have some Cool Whip to put on top of each slice!
- Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting: Not totally unlike carrot cake, but with a distinctly fall aesthetic, this is a super-simple cake that can be cut to any size you need based on your number of guests.
It calls for walnuts, but I don’t care for nuts, so I just leave them out.
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars: A pumpkin cheesecake is delicious enough, but these amped-up bars take the cake!
With dual layers of pumpkin and cheesecake topped with special cinnamon whipped cream, it’s gorgeous to boot.
- Instant Pot Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake: The instant pot helps your cheesecake set up super-fast before putting it in the fridge.
An excellent make-ahead Thanksgiving dessert, this cheesecake has not only caramel drizzled on top but a CHOCOLATE graham cracker crust.
It’s heaven!
- Pumpkin Streusel Bread: Streusel is just about my favorite topping for literally everything.
Pumpkin bread is yummy enough on its own, so streusel is just a super awesome holiday bonus!
This recipe makes five mini-loaves, too, which should be plenty for serving Thanksgiving dinner guests.
- Pumpkin Roll: THIS is the one dessert I always looked forward to during the holidays!
My mom makes an amazing pumpkin roll.
This recipe is super similar, it’s just got some healthier ingredient recommendations. One surprising ingredient for the filling on this pumpkin roll is maple syrup!
- Pumpkin Fluff: There are simply not enough dessert dips in the world.
This delicious concoction of pumpkin puree and Cool Whip is great for dipping fruit, cookies, and crackers – if you have any room left in your belly.
- Sweet Potato Pie with Marshmallow Whipped Cream: Since sweet potato pie also uses cinnamon and brown sugar, to me, it doesn’t taste all that different from pumpkin pie.
This genius recipe cuts out the potato prep by using baby food pouches of pureed sweet potato!
The homemade marshmallow whipped cream adds a decadent touch, too.
Pecan Dessert Recipes
- Chocolate Pecan Pie: Another classic Thanksgiving pie, this one is filled with chocolate, sugar, and pecans.
What more could you ask for?
- Pumpkin Pecan Pie Cheesecake: The best of both worlds, this modern Thanksgiving recipe has a standard graham cracker crust, followed by pecan filling, a pumpkin cheesecake layer, and a caramel pecan topping – plus whipped cream!
- Pecan Cobbler: Cobbler is a very hearty kind of dessert, full of puffs of bread on top of your favorite sweet filling.
Usually, the filling is a fruit, but pecans lend a Thanksgiving-friendly flavor to this dish.
- Bourbon Chocolate Walnut Pecan Pie: That’s a mouthful – literally!
So many amazing flavors come together in this incredible fall dessert recipe.
It’s not as difficult as it sounds, either – you can throw this Thanksgiving recipe together in 10 minutes.
Cranberry Dessert Recipes
- Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies: Looking for a dessert that’s easy to serve (or for guests to help themselves)?
Cookies are the ticket!
And these are extremely easy to make, too.
- Lemon Cranberry Meringue Pie: As much as I love everything chocolate, when given the choice between lemon and chocolate flavors, I pretty much always choose lemon.
There’s just something about the tangy citrus I can’t get enough of.
If it’s your first time making meringue topping, make sure you’ve got a kitchen torch on hand!
Apple Dessert Recipes
- Dutch Apple Pie: There are people out there who think pumpkin pie is totally unnecessary at Thanksgiving, and would rather only have apple pie.
Those people are obviously wrong, but if you serve this pie, your guests might not be able to take their eyes off of it long enough to touch the pumpkin!
- Apple Crumble: Almost like an upside-down apple pie, but with an even better streusel-like crust, this is one of my fave fruity desserts.
It smells so good while baking, you might want to try popping it in the oven after everyone starts eating Thanksgiving dinner.
Then the house will smell amazing and you can serve it warm with ice cream.
- Southern Fried Apple Hand Pies: When I went to pumpkin patches as a kid, I always hoped they had these hand pies available.
They’re so good (and so bad for you, naturally), and an easy way to carry your dessert around with you while enjoying the cool autumn air outside.
- Caramel Apple Pecan Dump Cake: This dump cake is insanely easy to make, looks awesome, and serves a crowd.
Have a can of Redi-Whip in the fridge for some ultra-lazy, super-tasty Thanksgiving dessert vibes.
Want even MORE ideas? Check out this huge list of amazing Thanksgiving desserts!
How many dishes should you make for Thanksgiving?
How much food you should cook on Thanksgiving depends on two things:
- Are you the host? and
- How many people will be at dinner?
Generally speaking, the host tends to make the most dishes – even if it’s a Thanksgiving potluck where everyone will be bringing a side dish or dessert.
As host, I would recommend cooking the turkey yourself (and accompanying gravy and sauce), as well as one or two key sides, a dessert, and drinks.
You can base your side choices on whatever someone hasn’t volunteered to bring!
If you’re cooking the whole meal yourself, whether it’s for a family of four or a group of 30, I like to stick to this rule:
One dish per party attendee, but no less than five and no more than 15.
Now 15 dishes may seem like a lot, but it’s really not that bad! It could be broken down like this:
- turkey
- gravy
- cranberry sauce
- stuffing
- mashed potatoes
- mac and cheese
- sweet potato casserole
- green bean casserole
- roasted carrots
- stir-fried brussels sprouts
- butternut squash soup
- warm cheese dip
- yeast rolls
- pumpkin pie
- apple crumble
The volume of each can be based on your total number of guests, but keep in mind when there are so many choices, not everyone is going to grab a spoonful of everything.
You don’t need to quadruple all of your Thanksgiving recipes just because it’s a larger crowd coming to eat.
I’ve hosted many, many parties where there were 30-35 guests and provided all of the food myself.
As long as there is enough of your main food (in this case, turkey), enough of your dessert (which is why you should reserve at least two dish slots for desserts for a big Thanksgiving), and enough to drink, you can leave your side dishes at their normal casserole sizes.
For a non-Thanksgiving party, I can easily feed 30 people with a meat main dish and 4-5 sides!
If you have a dish that is created in specific individual servings (like rolls), make sure you have enough so there is at least one for each person, too.
Host a perfect Thanksgiving even your in-laws will be proud of.
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How do you choose what recipes to cook for Thanksgiving?
How do you decide which Thanksgiving recipes to use? Consider these factors:
- How much will each dish cost to make?
Some things are expected to be pricey, like the turkey.
But while most vegetables are priced low, if a recipe calls for a specific type of cheese you don’t normally cook with or you need to buy new spices for a certain kind of sweet potato recipe, the costs can add up!
Check over the entire ingredients list for any outliers before choosing.
(Psst: it’s perfectly okay to make cheap Thanksgiving recipes. They still taste good.)
- How many things can you cook at once?
It’s always a great idea to choose some dishes that are either cold or can be made ahead and quickly reheated just before dinner.
This will save a lot of stress on Thanksgiving day.
But also remember, the average stovetop has four burners and the average oven has two racks – you can have a lot of food cooking at once!
Not only that, you should choose Thanksgiving recipes that make use of a slow cooker, an instant pot, and an air fryer so you can have more going that will be hot and fresh all at the same time.
- What are the other guests bringing?
If you’re not sure, ask the host.
If you ARE the host, be sure to send out a menu of what you’re preparing to your guests.
Even if it’s not a potluck, they may want to bring a dish along, and this way they won’t duplicate one of yours.
- Do you LIKE the recipe enough to eat the leftovers?
One of the best parts of Thanksgiving recipes is that they’re designed to have LEFTOVERS!
Just make sure if you’re only making one dish that it’s something you really like because you’ll likely go home with your own leftovers.
- How far are you traveling with the dish (if you’re not hosting)?
If you’re driving a long distance to Thanksgiving dinner, you’ll want to prepare a cold dish or just volunteer to provide drinks.
If you want to bring a hot dish but it will need to be reheated (or cooked) upon arrival, be sure to let your host know well ahead of time.
They may not have any available space in the oven or microwave otherwise!
When should you start cooking your Thanksgiving recipes?
There is no one set answer to when you should start working on your Thanksgiving recipes – there are too many factors involved!
I’ve actually got a really great Thanksgiving planner printable that can help you sort out your plan of attack.
But here are things to consider when setting up a timeline for cooking:
- Make the cold stuff and room temperature dishes that can be made ahead FIRST.
Deviled eggs and potato salad can be made the night before; pies and cookies can be made a day or two in advance.
Even warm dips can be made in advance and reheated in the microwave before dinner.
A lot of the casseroles on this list can be assembled the day before, then popped in the oven before dinner.
Just make sure you give them time to come to room temperature first to avoid cracking your glass dishes!
- Your turkey needs to start super early.
Even smaller turkeys usually take several hours to cook in the oven.
Larger turkeys can take over six hours!
But also remember this: that turkey is taking up valuable casserole space in your oven while it cooks.
It’s best to start cooking the turkey at a time when it should be done an hour to 90 minutes before dinner time.
It can be covered and kept warm after it’s done, giving you more baking space for your side dishes.
- Some casseroles stay hot better than others.
You’re probably not going to be able to bake all of your oven sides at the same time.
Try and cook the ones that will hold their heat better first.
Anything with a lot of sauce, cheese, or density will hold its heat a little better than something with pockets of air (like green bean or sweet potato casseroles).
- Prep all dishes early in the morning.
Peel, chop, season, and otherwise prepare all of your vegetables, liquids, and butter servings first thing in the morning, then put them back in the refrigerator.
Then you can just pull them out and dump them into a pot or pan without having to pause for measuring or cutting.
All of these Thanksgiving recipes have gotten my stomach rumbling, and I can’t WAIT to try some new ones for this Thanksgiving!
Which ones will you be cooking this holiday? Let me know in the comments below!
