Simple Thanksgiving Dinner Menu

It is possible to put together a simple Thanksgiving dinner menu, cook the whole meal in one day, and have everything taste delicious! Follow these steps to see how I set up my menu for the day and the timeline that I followed to make sure we had a simple, but tasty Thanksgiving meal!

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Step 1, Choose your Thanksgiving dinner recipes

I wanted to keep my Thanksgiving dinner menu very simple so I stuck to the basics. I used some of my own recipes, but many are from other blogs.

• Turkey – Recipe by Tastes Better From Scratch

• Gravy – Recipe by Tastes Better From Scratch

• Mashed Potatoes – My recipe

• Stuffing – Recipe by The Girl Who Ate Everything

• Cranberry Sauce – Recipe by Erin Lives Whole

• Brussels Sprouts – My recipe

• Charcuterie Board Appetizer – My recipe

I asked my guests to please bring alcohol and dessert to round out the menu.

Step 2, gather the ingredients

I got our 12.85 lb turkey from Butcher Box for free (promo available through November 17th). The rest of the ingredients were easy to grab from local grocery stores. I made sure to double check my ingredients first thing in the morning and sent Amy out with a list of anything that I missed.

Be sure to defrost your turkey a few days prior to cooking! It took our bird about two and a half days in the refrigerator to defrost. You should allow 24 hours of defrost time per 5 lbs of turkey.

Step 3, Plan it out

Beyond picking my recipes and gathering my ingredients there were a couple of other things that I did to prepare for cooking my simple Thanksgiving dinner. I chose which serving dishes I wanted to assign to each dish. I also figured out roughly how long it would take to cook each item so that I would have enough oven space and so that the turkey would be cooked in time.

Step 4, cook the meal

The best way to show you guys how I made this meal is to share my timeline for the day.

8am – Cube the white bread for stuffing and place on a large baking tray. Double check for all ingredients.

8:30am – Pull the turkey out of the refrigerator and double check that it has thawed. Preheat oven to dry out bread for stuffing.

9am – Pop the stuffing in the oven to dry out.

9:30am – Prep the Brussels sprouts.

10am – Roast the Brussels sprouts in the oven

10:30am – Start cooking the mashed potatoes.

(Pancake break!)

12pm – Mashed potatoes are finished. Start prepping stuffing.

12:30pm – Stuffing into the oven.

1:15pm – Start cranberry sauce

1:20pm – Stuffing is finished. Start prepping turkey with herb butter.

1:50pm – Turkey into the oven.

2pm – Cranberry sauce is complete

(Shower break!)

3:20pm – Tent the turkey breasts with foil.

4:50pm – Take the turkey out of the oven to rest.

5pm – Prepare the gravy.

6pm – Carve the turkey.

6:30pm – Reheat the sides in the oven.

7pm – Eat dinner!

Step 5, enjoy!!!

The last step is pretty simple! Enjoy the meal that you slaved over all day. I hope this helps you plan for a simple and delicious Thanksgiving dinner with loved ones!