Why Martha Stewart Isn’t Making a Turkey for Thanksgiving This Year

If I had to name one person as the preeminent expert on holiday hosting, it would be Martha Stewart. After all, while she may be a household name today, the cookbook author, television host, and founder of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia empire got her start in the catering business — and her shows and social media feed have always focused on good food and effortless entertaining. 

Luckily for all of us, Martha Stewart sat down with Food & Wine to talk about everything from her recently-revived collection with JCPenney to how she’s celebrating Thanksgiving this year. (Spoiler alert: there is no turkey involved!) 

Martha Stewart is going abroad this Thanksgiving

Instead of roasting a turkey, Martha Stewart will be skipping the big day entirely and hopping on a flight to Italy with her family. More specifically, Stewart plans to head directly to Rome, and told us, “We’re having a little family excursion, where we will be eating pasta and white truffles.” While I’ve always been a fan of big family meals, even I have to admit that jetting off to the Eternal City sounds like a great way to celebrate.

Although she’s not following tradition as strictly in 2024, Stewart still gave us some insight into the dishes and ingredients she likes using on her holiday table.

The 83-year-old entrepreneur pointed out that she’s already made quite a few Thanksgiving recipes this year while working on her recently released 100th cookbook, Martha: The Cookbook: 100 Favorite Recipes, with Lessons and Stories from My Kitchen, so she’s not in a rush to spend another day cooking them. (Among the book’s holiday recipes Stewart noted both the pumpkin pie with a phyllo crust or scalloped potatoes as good options for Thanksgiving, so it’s worth snagging a copy to help with your own menu planning.)

In spite of her travels, she’s still baking a bevy of pies

Of course Martha Stewart can’t forgo cooking entirely, and she is still celebrating the holiday in her own way before heading out of town, telling us, “My Thanksgiving this year is basically baking 40 pies for people who work for me.” She puts together a list of the pies she feels like baking — this year it’ll be the aforementioned pumpkin phyllo, a chocolate pecan, cranberry, and one undetermined flavor — and then people can choose which one they want. In the words of Stewart, “I make them to order.”

When she is hosting a full Thanksgiving dinner, Martha Stewart says she’s a traditionalist. On her table you’ll usually find cranberry sauce, stuffing (like her classic Fruit and Nut Stuffing — when I mentioned it, she said, “oh god, that is so good”), brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, soup as an appetizer, and turkey. But when it comes to the poultry, Stewart spares no expense. 

The turkey is the centerpiece of the table

She raises her own turkeys — in addition to chickens and geese — because a freshly butchered bird tastes so much better. And sourcing a good quality turkey is important to Stewart, because she loves turkey. So while the ones she raised this year might be getting a pardon on Thanksgiving, it’s likely she’ll still be serving turkey on Christmas.

One of my favorite new holiday tips that I learned from Martha Stewart is what she brings when visiting other people’s parties: a carton of eggs. The dozen she brings are farm fresh from her own chickens, but even if you just stop by a farmers’ market and get some good quality eggs for a host gift, it’s a unique item that almost everyone can use and appreciate.