The Hour-by-Hour Thanksgiving Dinner Plan
16 tested recipes, a shopping list, and an hour-by-hour plan for Thanksgiving dinner for 12.
Instant PDF download
The recipes were never the hard part
You can find a good stuffing recipe in thirty seconds.
What you can't find is how to get the turkey, the stuffing, and the biscuits through one oven before twelve people sit down at four o'clock.
That's the real problem with Thanksgiving. Not the cooking. The timing!
So I made you a plan.
What's inside
16 tested recipes
The whole dinner, plus three recipes for the leftovers.
A kitchen checklist
Every pan and dish you need, so nothing's missing on Wednesday night.
A one-page shopping list
Sorted by store section and already scaled for 12.
A make-ahead week
Small jobs from Saturday to Wednesday. Six dishes are done before Thursday.
Thanksgiving Day, hour by hour
From 8:00 a.m. to dinner at 4:00, with an easy way to shift it for your turkey or your dinner time.
Take a look inside
The menu
The turkey
The bread
The sides
Dessert
The leftovers
Why this plan works
- One oven and two slow cookers. That's the setup the whole plan is built around.
- Six dishes are done before Thursday.
- A quiet oven on the big day. The stuffing, biscuits, and cornbread go in while the turkey rests.
- Shortcuts on purpose. Frozen green beans, canned soup, a store-bought pie crust. They taste great!
- Tested at the size printed. Every recipe was cooked at the amounts in the book.
- Done by thermometer, not the clock. No guessing on the turkey.
Hosting for the first time? You're in the right place! If this is your first turkey, the Apple Cider Brined Turkey is the one to make.
Frequently Asked Questions
Skip it or swap it! Just pick something that doesn't need the oven on Thursday, and the timeline still works.
The plan is built for a 14-pound turkey and dinner at 4:00. Figure 15 to 17 minutes per pound at 325 degrees F and shift everything to match. The order never changes, only the clock.
Yes, two that are 6 quart or more. The green beans and the butternut squash cook side by side on Thanksgiving afternoon. Making the mashed potatoes on Wednesday is what keeps it to two.
A smaller turkey works with the plan as is. Just adjust the roasting time. Or try the Slow Cooker Turkey Legs, but you'll need a third slow cooker, since the plan keeps two busy all day Thursday.
Not really! It's built on shortcuts like canned soup, frozen vegetables and a store-bought pie crust, and it says so up front. If you love making everything from scratch, this isn't your book, and that's fine!
A 39-page PDF you can download right away. Read it on your phone in the kitchen, or print the pages you need.
Get your copy
$9.99
Instant PDF download. Yours to keep, and it works again next year!
I wish you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving. Happy cooking!
