Plan and Cook a Stress-Free Thanksgiving Dinner in 1 Week

While some people have the whole month of November to plan, others only start thinking about Thanksgiving the week before (ahem, have you seen the busy calendar?). But don’t worry: A week still gives you plenty of time to plan an incredible meal, and even have some downtime in between. Here’s a week-long timeline stuffed full of delicious recipes and drinks to make the food holiday of the year feel like a breeze. 

The Friday before: finalize your guest list and plan your menu 

Before you decide what to make, you first have to know who you are cooking for. Check in with your guests to confirm their attendance, and get a list of dietary preferences and/or allergies. From there, you can make your menu to be sure you have all your bases covered from start to finish. Need some ideas? Check out this full range of recipes for Thanksgiving turkeys, sides, appetizers, desserts and cranberry sauce. And if your guest list is heavy on vegetarians, or you simply aren’t a turkey fan, check out this list of phenomenal vegetarian mains and sides.

For drinks, decide on a house cocktail for a crowd and pick the wines that can extend from start to finish. We like to pick a bubbly, white, red, and dessert but not pair any with any specific dish. For the best wines for Thanksgiving, look no further than this list. 

Once you have your menu, assemble your grocery list. Since it’s rare you can get everything from one store, organize your list not only by the sections of the grocery store, but by the stores themselves (or what you might need to order online). This little bit of extra pre-planning will help you save a ton of time once you’re roaming the aisles. And if you haven’t done so already, order or reserve a turkey from your butcher.   

The Saturday before: clear your fridge and prep the table

Before you can fill your fridge with everything you need for your Thanksgiving meal, you have to make space. Use this as an excuse to throw away any leftover jars of pickles, condiments, and sauces you haven’t touched in a year. And don’t forget about the veggie and cheese drawers — this is a great time to eat up leftovers to make room in your fridge. Anything that’s not going to be used by Thanksgiving week needs to go.

This is also the time to gather your tools and get out the plates, flatware, linens, and serving dishes you’ll use to set your Thanksgiving table. Go ahead and give each serving dish a label (and utensils, too). If you’re missing anything, you still have time to borrow from your neighbor or order it so it gets to your house on time. If you’re looking to make the day extra special, see what the chefs do. 

The Sunday before: grocery shop and start thawing the turkey

Now that you have a clean fridge, it’s time to fill it with all the ingredients you’ll need for Thanksgiving. This isn’t the time to skimp, so we recommend buying extra butter, cream, lemons, and herbs (especially parsley, rosemary, and thyme) so you are ready to give a recipe a little boost or a garnish.

If your turkey is frozen, you’ll want to start defrosting it today. For every 5 pounds of turkey, it takes about 24 hours for a bird to thaw, so if your bird is 15 pounds, you’ll need 3 days. But don’t worry if you miss your thawing window, or if you aren’t able to get your bird until a few days before since Butterball recommends a cold water method that will have the bird defrosted in a few hours.

The Monday before: time for turkey stock and sides prep 

Prep your vegetables for your side dishes and use the scraps to make your turkey stock. If  you’re using a fresh pie pumpkin, or roasting vegetables for your stuffing, get these done now to reserve that precious oven space on Thanksgiving. Speaking of stuffing, this is also a great time to cut your bread and set it out to dry (note: keep this in a cupboard instead of the counter if you have an agile dog or cat). You can also make any vinaigrettes or sauces that will hold, like your cranberry sauce. Don’t forget that you can alleviate some holiday stress by prepping your Thanksgiving hors d'oeuvres ahead of time, hard-boiling eggs for deviled eggs or assembling a smoked fish dip. And get ahead of dessert by candy nuts for your dessert garnishes or tackling any other make-ahead dessert steps.

The Tuesday before: set up the bar

There’s nothing worse than people coming into the kitchen and standing in your way when you’re trying to cook the meal. Head this off by setting up a bar in the dining or living room. Plan for pitchers of pre-batched cocktails, with alcohol and nonalcoholic, all types of glassware, stirrers, garnishes, ice buckets, and ice. If you have an ice maker, now’s the time to make sure it’s on or full. Otherwise, pull out a cooler to have on hand and ask one of your guests (the reliable one who shows up on time or early), to pick up ice on their way to your house.

The day before Thanksgiving: bake your pies and make most of your sides

Pies, tarts and hearty sides, such as sweet potato casserole, stuffing, green bean casserole, and brussels sprouts, all can be made a day ahead so you can save your oven for rolls and turkey tomorrow. If you are going to brine or dry-brine your turkey, do it today. And last but certainly not least, throw together a batch of these Herb Yeast Rolls to rest overnight. 

If you can, go ahead and set the table so it’s one less thing to do tomorrow. Now pour yourself a glass of wine and relax before tomorrow. 

Thanksgiving day: cook the turkey and serve your feast

In the morning, make sure your house is ready for your guests. Put all the final touches on your table setting and bar cart, unload the dishwasher, and don’t forget to clean the bathroom too. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and pull the meal together.  

To make sure everything is hot and ready at the time you want to serve, work your day-of timeline backwards, building it around cooking your turkey. For a 4 p.m. dinner, plan to have your turkey out of the oven by 3:30 p.m. at the latest to let the turkey rest. Before the turkey goes in, bake your rolls. That way when your turkey comes out of the oven, you’ll have time to reheat all your sides and use your turkey drippings to make gravy. When the turkey is cooking, assemble your appetizers and lay them out in platters away from the main cooking area, preferably near the bar. Make your mashed potatoes and prep your salad so all you have to do is add dressing.

Then finally, enjoy all the effort you’ve put into assembling this beautiful meal. You’ve done an incredible job and all your hard work has deliciously paid off.