These past few months have been busy for our family, especially since our oldest joined a local swim team. Between juggling our work schedules and balancing school with practices... we're all pretty wiped out.
Although it's a lot of work, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. Preparing the holiday meal for our family fills my heart with joy, and I can't wait to get started.
To make things easier for me, I don't deviate much from
our first Thanksgiving as a family. The dishes I make are familiar ones, and the recipes for them live at my fingertips. Keeping the same menu year after year means I don't have to spend time researching recipes or planning a new one.
Here are my tried-and-true Thanksgiving recipes, as well as my prep timeline for the big day!
2024 Thanksgiving Menu
- Roast Turkey with Pan Gravy
When it comes to the turkey, I use this recipe as the starting point. To make the bird extra flavorful, I make an herb compound butter to spread underneath the skin instead of melting the butter to pour over it.
- Apple Chestnut Stuffing
My favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal is this stuffing. While it's the stuffing my parents made when I was a kid, I've tweaked it over the years.
And now that my own kids are older, they can help me roast and peel the fresh chestnuts ahead of time.
- Green Bean Casserole
I was tempted to change things up this year... to skip this classic recipe in favor of a different dish featuring green beans as the star.
But then I think about how disappointed I'd feel if the casserole was missing.
So it stays.
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
This is one of the easiest ways to make sweet potatoes, and the recipe is next to impossible to mess up.
Most of the time, I serve them as is... but a layer of marshmallows on top takes the sweet potatoes to the next level of awesome.
- Orange Maple Cranberry Sauce
Everyone in the family loves my cranberry sauce. I'm trying to convince them that a double batch is plenty for Thanksgiving, but they're begging me to triple the recipe.
It's that good.
Thanksgiving Meal Prep Timeline
- Monday, November 25
- Put turkey in refrigerator to thaw
- Tuesday, November 26
- Wednesday, November 27
- Choose serving dishes and utensils
- Put butter for compound butter on the counter
- Chop onion and celery for Apple Chestnut Stuffing
- Peel and chop apples for Apple Chestnut Stuffing
- Make Orange Maple Cranberry Sauce
- Thursday, November 28
- Make compound butter for the turkey
- Roast turkey
- Assemble Apple Chestnut Stuffing
- Assemble Green Bean Casserole
- Peel and chop sweet potatoes for Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- While the turkey rests
- Separate fat and drippings for the pan gravy
- Bake Apple Chestnut Stuffing
- Bake Green Bean Casserole
- Make Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Make pan gravy
Need more Thanksgiving inspiration? Check out:
