How to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner From Start to Finish | Allrecipes

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and whether you're hosting the feast for the first time or you're looking for a no-fuss approach this year, I've got you covered. I've got the easiest turkey you're gonna make, classic cornbread dressing, homemade gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole because you gotta have your greens, and then a little something special with a Brussels sprout salad. We've got traditional cranberry sauce. For the desserts, I'm going truly traditional here. I've got a southern pecan pie. And then for our pumpkin pie, I'm giving you pumpkin cheesecake bars. Are you ready? Three to four days out, you need to plan your menu, do your grocery shopping, and get that turkey thawing. I'm gonna start with the cornbread dressing. So just chopping up celery and onion. I am doubling this recipe because we serve a lot of people. Save your remnants of your vegetables as you prep to make your gravy stock. That's the extent of the prep. Hopefully you can make your cornbread, you know, a day or two before this. Chop up some onion and celery, and let's get cooking. So melt some butter. I always increase the butter in these recipes because it's Thanksgiving. When your butter's melted, add in your celery and onion. I'm gonna cook this until these are nice and soft. In the meantime, I'm going to get my potatoes going in the oven. Okay, I'm gonna wash my potatoes. So whenever I do like mashed sweet potatoes, I like to just bake them in the oven because you don't have to do anything. You don't have to like babysit it in any way. And the flavor just kind of concentrates and it's less watered down. Just gonna give them a little puncture and into the oven for about an hour. So this will give us plenty of time to get other things going. Also like to add in some of the celery leaves. This just adds so much flavor and this is the perfect dish to add those into. So once your onions are translucent, we can just mix everything together. Okay, so I'm doubling this recipe. So I'm looking for about six to seven cups of cornbread. I'm gonna use some jiffy and some homemade. Onion and celery are done. Smells so good. This just goes right on top of your cornbread. To that, we're gonna add in some sage. And then we add in a couple eggs. This is just gonna hold it together. And then just chicken stock. Takes a good bit. Hey, don't forget to season, season, season. Lots of chicken stock. Here's what it looks like before it goes into the casserole dish. You can tell it is super moist. Forgot to mention something you should be doing a few days before you get to this point is cleaning out your fridge. You need all the space. So I'm gonna go ahead and cover this with foil and get in the fridge. All right, stuffing done. Sweet potatoes in the oven. Let's go ahead and make our cranberry sauce. Raise your hand if you like the canned cranberry. I bet I'm gonna have a lot of hand raises. But homemade cranberry sauce is one of the easiest things you'll make all day. So if you are looking, like wanting to sign up for a dish for the family, say you'll bring the cranberry sauce. One bag of cranberries. You could use fresh or frozen. Into your pot. Just a cup of sugar and a cup of orange juice. Plop that on the stove. We're gonna bring that up to a simmer. You're gonna stir it occasionally. You want all that sugar to dissolve. And then those cranberries are gonna start popping. As they pop, they're gonna release their natural pectin inside and that's what's gonna cause it to thicken. So you're gonna get this nice, gelatinous, delicious cranberry sauce. See how it's getting like thick and syrupy already? That is gonna triple in thickness as it cools. And then you just transfer this mixture to a bowl. Look how thick it's already gotten. Cranberry sauce done. All right, back to the sweet potatoes. So I'm gonna crack some eggs into a bowl. Eggs in a sweet potato casserole are just gonna give it some lift. Whisking in some sugar. I'm gonna add in some milk. Some vanilla. Also adding in some salt. I'm going in with a little more than it says because I like to get the little sweet savory in my sweet potato. All right, and this mixture's ready to go when our potatoes are. See how we're being so impatient? I'm gonna go ahead and kind of slit the top. Just gonna let those cool for a second. All right, so you're gonna mash the sweet potatoes. I like to go ahead and put my butter down at the bottom. That way the heat from the sweet potato starts to melt the butter. You know, get it started as you go along. Be sure your sweet potato mixture cools off a little bit before you add your egg mixture in. That way we don't have scrambled eggs, you know, floating throughout our sweet potato casserole. So I'm just gonna let that cool off and go ahead and make the topping. This one has a topping that is not marshmallows and this is why I love this recipe. I'm gonna take our pecans, chop them up. So this is just a mixture of our nuts, brown sugar, flour, and more butter. Grating butter is one of my favorite food hacks and really you don't even have to soften the butter. I've said this before, but the sides are my favorite part of Thanksgiving. Like I would prefer my plate just be all sides and then I eat the turkey as a leftover. Like a turkey sandwich, a leftover turkey sandwich is better than turkey on the day of Thanksgiving. Changed my mind. All right, potatoes have cooled down. It's okay if they're still a little warm, just not like super hot. We're just going to get this mixture incorporated. I'm just adding in a little sprinkle of cinnamon. My grandmother always just made candied yams, which is just like sliced sweet potatoes in like a syrupy goodness. I think that's why I like little chunks in my sweet potato casserole. Okay, and then we're just going to sprinkle on our little streusel-y topping. Done. Get this in the fridge and then we're off to the races with our desserts. I'm making pecan pie. The ingredients are so simple. You have everything at home and I will not be making my own crust. That's a different show. So into a bowl, three eggs. Beat the eggs until they're well beaten. To that, I'm adding in a cup of sugar. I'll beat that in and then goes a cup of corn syrup. The dark kind of gives it a little bit of a richer kind of taste and texture and the light is just, you know, a little more simple tasting. Okay, then in with some salt, vanilla. So I'm just buying the chopped pecans. I don't really want to use the pecan halves because I think that's just a little too much bite. So you just stir them right into the mixture. And that, my friends, is how easy it is to make a pecan pie. So I'm using a store-bought frozen pie crust and you just pour your filling directly into the unbaked crust. Crap, forgot the melted butter. Two tablespoons of melted butter goes into the filling. Even people like me make mistakes. This is when my lack of baking knowledge hopefully doesn't make a difference. And then this just goes into the oven. You start it at a high oven, 400 degrees for about 15 minutes and then turn it down to 350 for about 35 to 40 minutes. You want to pull it when it's still slightly jiggly and puffed. Gonna let it cool on a wire rack. And I mean, this dessert is done. My next genius move is to take the ever-popular pumpkin pie and turn it into something different and more fun and serves a lot more people. So this is going to be pumpkin cheesecake bars. So this starts with just like a shortbread crust, kind of what you would have in like lemon bars. So it's just a mixture of flour, stick of softened butter, and then a quarter cup of sugar. And this is gonna form a thick mixture, kind of like a dough. And we're just gonna press it onto the bottom of our pan. That's what it looks like. All right, now we make our cream cheese layer. Obviously cream cheese. You want this to be completely softened, otherwise you're gonna get little chunks. All right, so I'm gonna whip this together with a quarter cup of sugar. Oh wait, this is supposed to go in the oven. You want to pre-bake your crust for about 15 minutes at 350. It's gonna get lightly golden brown, and then we let it cool completely before we put this on top. In goes the egg and vanilla. All right, pumpkin layer, two more eggs. Okay, and then in goes a can of pumpkin, a can of evaporated milk. Low sugar. And then in with your spices. Now cinnamon, cloves, ginger. Also adding in some salt. The crust is cooled. I've also chilled that cream cheese mixture while we were waiting. And now I'm gonna spoon it in so I try not to disturb the layers. Smells so good. Back into the oven, 350 degrees. It's gonna take about an hour. Done. It has a slight jiggle in the center. We're gonna let this cool completely in the pan, and then I'm gonna pop it in the fridge till tomorrow. Our pie is cool, ready for the fridge. Desserts are done. Since we've just been so efficient, we can go ahead and make our green bean casserole. Start by bringing a pot of water to a boil, and then we just trim our green beans. You just wanna take off this little stem end. Sometimes I just get a pile of them, all their stems at one end. Cut off the stem, cut them in half. And that's the hardest part. All right, so we're gonna boil these until they're just tender, just about like three to five minutes. And let's just drain. All right, in goes the cream of mushroom. Okay, so the recipe doesn't have any salt and pepper, but Nicole's version does. Only a little bit of salt, but a good little sprinkle of pepper. So I'm gonna put some of the cheese in here, and then most of it on the top. Same with the onions. Into our casserole dish. Gorgeous. Definitely looks better than those brown, mushy, canned green beans. Okay, and then I'm gonna sprinkle on cheese and our onions. Can't get any easier than that. Covered and ready for its debut tomorrow. We are locked and loaded. The more you do today, the less you have to do tomorrow, and the more you can enjoy. So we're gonna do a chopped Brussels sprout salad, and today I could go ahead and make the dressing. It's just one less thing I have to do tomorrow. Starts just by chopping up a shallot, then in with some apple cider vinegar, and then some Dijon mustard. This is going to be our emulsifier. Sweetness from some honey. I'm just gonna use olive oil. This is basically like a honey mustard vinaigrette. Mm, that makes your taste buds dance. We are just doing so good. We're gonna go ahead and chop up our Brussels sprouts for the salad, and that way tomorrow, all we have to do is toss it. So I'm gonna take my Brussels sprouts, give them a rinse. So just half them, and then go through and slice them. Tomorrow, our lives are gonna be so much easier. All we have to pray for now is that the turkey turns out. Got our desserts, our casseroles, cranberry sauce done, dressing done. That's it, okay? Tomorrow, we are in good shape. All that's left is now. Now is the time to clean the kitchen, and then you can put your feet up. Let's go ahead and make a drink. I'm gonna use this cranberry sauce and make a Cosmo. And let's just go in with a couple spoonfuls of this. Look at that color. It's delicious. And we're gonna start with the turkey, of course. All right, I am cooking a little over 13-pound turkey. The rule of thumb is about one to 1 1⁄2 pounds per person. Prepping your turkey is gonna be the hardest part, and it's not hard. Chances are you're gonna buy your turkey while it's frozen, okay? Don't underestimate the time it takes to thaw your turkey. The right way to thaw your turkey is in the fridge. Pull it from the freezer to the fridge three to five days in advance is ideal. So get you a pot. We're gonna take the neck out. In here, you find the heart and the liver. I'll just put this in there. All right, so you'll want to take some paper towels. Make sure he's all good and dry. All right, I'm just gonna kind of remove some of the little uglier parts. You can do this with some kitchen shears or a knife. And then before I start seasoning, we're gonna take our little wings and tuck them under. These are gonna get burned first if you don't. Okay, so we're gonna do just a very simple spice rub. A tablespoon of the lemon pepper, two tablespoons of kosher salt, and then I'm gonna do a tablespoon of ground sage. The recipe also calls for dried thyme and dried rosemary. Those are not my favorite dried, so I'm gonna add those fresh later. Parsley, and then two teaspoons of pepper. This is our spice rub, done. And I'm gonna prep the vegetables that go in the inside. All right, gonna add in some celery. I am choosing the upper portion with these leaves. And then I've washed my carrot. I really don't need to peel it. And then some onion. Then I'm gonna take a lemon, because we have that lemon pepper in there, along with some orange. Some fresh rosemary. This is far superior to the dried version, okay? All right, and then some fresh thyme also. All right, then we have to prep our pan. If you do not have a roasting pan, just get one of these. Two really long pieces of foil. And one across this way. You want it to be long enough to fully cover your turkey without touching it. We're creating like a steam pouch for our turkey. Okay, one to go that way, and then one to go the other way. This is worth it, because also it's gonna make this clean up a whole lot easier. And then if you do have one of these pans, it probably came with a rack that goes inside. If you do not, if you're using the aluminum pan, then just, you know, roll up some foil. Or you can just put a lot of veggies down on the bottom. Now I'm going to season this. I've always been taught to season the inside and the outside. Season all over, okay? I'm gonna put a lot on the inside. Once you get it in there, take your hand, and then kind of, you know, rub it all around. And then a nice, like, even coating along the outside. All right, and then into the cavity. Don't forget your herbs. I'm gonna tie the legs together. Our little birdie's ready to go in. I'm gonna spray my rack, and then in goes our turkey. The magic ingredient, champagne turkey. A whole bottle. The recipe does state to pour it over the bird. I just went through all this trouble, so I'm going to pour this entire bottle around the turkey. We have two layers of foil. It should all stay in there. It's gonna, you know, steam the whole time in this delicious champagne. Now we're gonna tuck this baby in and tell him goodnight. You wanna wrap your foil around, but you don't want it to touch the turkey. We just wanna create a little spa. See, it's not touching. So I'm actually gonna start mine at about two hours. I want most of the cooking to happen in that pouch, but I'm going to uncover it and let it get brown. And that part could take anywhere from, you know, 40 minutes to another hour or so. After that turkey's been going about an hour, I'm pulling out my casseroles, gonna let them sit out on the counter until the turkey's done. And then these go right into the oven. Okay, our little juicy insides, we're gonna make a flavorful stock. All you do is cover it with some cold water. And then I'm gonna add in the remnants from the rest of the onion and stuff that we were gonna put inside the turkey, give our little stock some flavor. A little more celery. Pop that over on the stove. I'm gonna add in a little bit of salt and pepper. And then I'm just gonna simmer that. I'll probably cover it so that it doesn't all evaporate out. Looking so good. I'm going to go about, I'm gonna start with like 30 more minutes, and then we'll check it from there. And in the meantime, I think it's the perfect time for another cocktail. For the past several years, I have been having an apple cider margarita while I do my cooking on Thanksgiving, and it's just the best. Ice and a shaker. Tequila. Half a shot of orange liqueur. Grand Marnier, Cointreau, Triple Sec. Lime juice. Little bit of orange juice. A little cinnamon sugar rim. Is that the most Thanksgiving drink you've ever seen? We are getting close. But look at it. It's been about exactly three hours. Your turkey is going to rest and carry over cook for a little bit after you take it out. But I am looking for like 165 to 170 in the thigh portion, because that lets you know that that innards are really all cooked. Come on, baby. Yes! The time has come. The turkey is done. But keep it tinted with foil so that it stays kind of moist and somewhat warm. Now is the time. All our sides go in. We're gonna keep them covered for the first half, and then uncover them until they're all gooey and bubbly. Now let's take a look at our turkey stock. We're gonna strain this out and discard the solids. I like to just kick it up just a little bit with some chicken bouillon. My turkey's gonna continue to rest while we go ahead and make that gravy. So I'm gonna strain out this liquid into our prepared turkey stock, and this is gonna be our flavorful liquid. And then all we need to do is thicken it up. Okay, here's how we do it. I'm gonna make a roux, and I'm gonna get that roux browned a little bit. And the butter is gonna add some richness, so that's what I'm starting with. When your roux looks about the color of what you want your gravy to look like, I'm gonna whisk in some of our flavorful liquid. You'll know how thick your gravy is gonna be once it comes up to a simmer. See, this is how I like it. Not too thick, not too thin, just enough to coat. All right, he's ready to go in the gravy boat. Much as I hate to ruin the beauty here, I know you wanna know how to carve the turkey. I always start with the legs. They have a natural break to them, and it just kinda helps you. Get it started, and then it will naturally start to separate, and then comes right off. So now we're left with the breast. The breast bone runs right here, so I'm gonna go just on this side of it and just on this side of it. And cut, and you wanna stay as close to the bone as you can so that you don't leave too much meat still sitting there. You can then go back in and slice off some more of the breast meat. If you didn't get it in the one piece. And we're gonna save that carcass. That makes the best soup. So you slice up your breast meat, and then I'm just gonna separate the thigh and the drumstick. You can start it where the natural separation is, and then you just kinda find the joint. Cut right between. All right, and then we're just gonna arrange it on a platter. Take some pride in your work. Just gonna decorate the platter with some fresh herbs. And then we also had some oranges and lemon in there, so go ahead and throw those on your platter also. Turkey, the carved version. Works for me. Last thing to do before everybody comes is toss that salad. So we have our Brussels sprouts, our crunchy cold apple, roasted pumpkin seeds, some sunflower seeds, some sliced almonds, and then sweetened dried cranberries. That dressing we made yesterday. Give that a toss. It's gonna be the hit. All right, guys. It's go time. Don't forget about our desserts. We're just gonna plop that pecan pie straight on the table with those pumpkin bars. You can cut these as big or as small as you want. I'm gonna have a little taste test. Yes, yes. People are actually gonna eat these. Cranberry one. Going in with the canned cranberry. My favorite. She gorgeous. The very, very last thing you do before you serve is heat up that gravy. It's hard to keep that turkey piping hot for plating time, but you put that hot gravy over it, that's key. That's just like a pro move. This is probably my favorite meal of the year, and this is how I make my perfect plate. We did it. This is the original perfect bite. Dressing, green bean casserole, canned cranberry sauce, gravy. Mom, how'd I do? Mm. Then you're like, wait. I wanna be healthy. Y'all, everything just goes so good together. That turkey is not only juicy, but it's super tender. Flavorful gravy takes it home. We definitely scored all A's on this report card. Mm. I almost forgot my other dessert. If we're being honest, I usually save this for breakfast. My God. Salt. Mm. For sure, the best pecan pie I've ever made. Quite possibly the best pecan pie I've ever had. Definitely make this. From turkey and dressing to homemade gravy and all the sides, I had you covered, and we didn't even break a sweat. I have full faith in you that you can make the whole feast this year. Don't even delegate.