The Serious Eats Guide to Thanksgiving

Turkey

From questions about defrosting and dry-brining to deep dives into the kinds of turkey you can buy and the benefits of spatchocking, we've got everything you need to know about how to make a big, beautiful bird for Thanksgiving. Want to try something new this year, like deep-fried turkey? Want to take sous vide for a spin? Or maybe you're strapped for oven space and need an alternative to roasting a whole bird. No matter the quandary, no matter how small a concern, we're here to help.

Prep, cook, and carve your way to success

Turkey Recipes and How-tos

The Definitive Guide to Buying, Prepping, Cooking, and Carving Your Turkey

Literally everything you need to know about perfecting your Thanksgiving turkey.

The Quick and Dirty Guide to Brining Chicken or Turkey

Nothing but the facts: a quick reference guide to dry-brining or wet-brining your holiday turkey for juicier results.

How to Cook a Spatchcocked Turkey

Find out why spatchcocking your turkey—that is, cutting out the backbone and flattening it out before roasting—is the fastest, easiest way to cook it.

The Food Lab: Roasting Turkey? Throw Out Your Roasting Pan and Reach for...

The secret to producing a beautifully burnished, deep-brown bird with evenly cooked, juicy meat? Harness the power of your baking stone.

How to Cook a Turkey in Parts

Cut it up, and choose your recipe.

How to Deep-Fry a Turkey Without Killing Yourself, Indoors and Out

Two methods for deep-fried turkey, indoors and out. Which do you think is safer?

The Food Lab's Step-by-Step Guide to Smoking a Turkey

The secrets to perfectly smoked turkey are butterflying, dry-brining, adding baking powder to the dry rub, slow-cooking over indirect heat, and carefully monitoring the turkey's internal temperature. Here's how to do it, step-by-step.

The Serious Eats Guide to Carving Turkey

For many folks, the hardest part of cooking a turkey is carving and serving it. Here's the easiest way to do it, whether it's roasted whole or spatchcocked.

Gravy

It's All Gravy

Arguably the most important part of the Thanksgiving meal, gravy is simple, delicious, and...the source of endless anxiety and frustration for some people. No more! We have tips for making gravy that's smooth as silk, tricks for getting lumps out if you didn't follow our tips, and a range of recipes, both traditional and nontraditional, to satisfy even the most discerning gravy hounds

Pour these silky-smooth gravies over everything

Gravy Recipes

The Best Turkey Gravy

A perfect accompaniment for turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

Basic Turkey Gravy

The traditional Thanksgiving gravy made with drippings from the bird, for a sauce that's pure turkey gold.

Rich and Creamy Gravy With Fresh Herbs

Heavy cream and fresh herbs enrich this twist on traditional gravy.

Gluten-Free Gravy

Rice flour takes the place of wheat flour in this gluten-free Thanksgiving gravy.

Cranberry Sauce

Get Saucy

We're here to tell you to kick the cranberry-sauce can. Cranberry sauce isn't just easy to make; it's easy to make ahead of time, and it can be customized however you like. From a classic cranberry sauce to a variation that includes apple, cinnamon, red wine, and candied pecans, this recipe collection has options.

Kick the canned stuff for good

Cranberry Sauce Recipes

The World's Easiest Cranberry Sauce

A simple Thanksgiving cranberry sauce with a perfect sweet-tart balance.

Apple-Orange Cranberry Sauce

Granny Smith apples complement the tart-sweet flavor of cranberries, with added brightness from orange juice and zest.

Spiced Red Wine Cranberry Sauce

Red wine and a medley of spices bring holiday warmth to this mulled wine–inspired sauce.

Pear and Ginger Cranberry Sauce

Pear and ginger lend autumnal sweetness and spice to the Thanksgiving staple.

Sweet Potatoes

Right in the Sweet Spot

While there may be some confusion about whether a sweet potato is a potato or not, there's no question that it deserves a place on your Thanksgiving table, either as a savory-sweet mash, a savory-sweet casserole, or in some other savory-sweet form. But if you have other questions about sweet potatoes, like how best to roast them or how to cook them sous vide, we've got answers.

Make it sweet but not too sweet

Sweet Potatoes Recipes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Peppery grated ginger, nutty brown butter, and woodsy herbs cut through the sweetness of this classic casserole.

The Best Mashed Sweet Potatoes

No need for marshmallows here; just butter, maple syrup, and a few sprigs of earthy thyme.

The Best Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Tender roasted sweet potatoes with olive oil, parsley, and a touch of honey.

Truly Candied Yams (Sweet Potatoes)

Sweet, but in a perfectly balanced way.

Stuffing

Our Favorite Ways to Get Stuffed

Stuffing, the most appropriately named Thanksgiving food, is always a crowd-pleaser, and the main dilemma you may face is what kind of stuffing to make. No matter which one you choose, whether it's Southern-style with cornbread or oysters, or something a little out there like stuffing muffins, we've got advice and ideas to help you do stuffing your way.

Perfect your stuffing (or dressing) game

Stuffing Recipes

Classic Sage and Sausage Stuffing (Dressing)

Keep it traditional with this sage and sausage dressing.

The Best Vegan Stuffing

Mushrooms give this vegan dressing a hearty, meaty feel.

Oyster Stuffing With Fennel, Tarragon, and Sausage

Briny oysters are mixed with wheat bread, sausage, aromatic vegetables, and herbs.

Cornbread Dressing With Sausage and Sage

This dressing gets a Southern spin with homemade cornbread.

Potatoes

Plenty of Spuds, Zero Duds

There are so many ways to make potatoes delicious that it's difficult to choose just one for Thanksgiving, but no matter what you choose—super fluffy and creamy mashed potatoes, an over-the-top Hasselback potato gratin, a Spanish-inflected potato salad with chorizo and sherry vinegar—we have tips, tricks, and techniques, all of them backed by science, to ensure your potatoes are always delicious and never gluey.

See casseroles, mashes, and roast potatoes galore

Potatoes Recipes

Pommes Aligot

Pommes aligot combines mashed potatoes with half their weight in melted cheese for a winter dish that will warm you from the inside out.

Hasselback Potato Gratin

Crisp-but-moist ridges on top, rich and creamy potatoes underneath, with cheese underscoring the whole affair.

Rich and Creamy Mashed Potatoes

The key to creamy mashed potatoes is retaining their starches by cooking them directly in their jackets.

The Best Crispy Roast Potatoes Ever

These are the crispiest, most flavorful roast potatoes you'll ever make.

Green Beans

So Fresh and So Green

Can't have a Thanksgiving dinner without a side of green beans. But should you blanch them? Buy them pre-trimmed? If not, how much should you trim off? We have answers to these questions, along with recipes for green bean casserole, sautéed haricots verts, and more variations to complement your holiday feast.

Get the most out of your green beans

Green Beans Recipes

The Ultimate Homemade Green Bean Casserole

The ultimate homemade version of the classic green bean casserole, with fresh green beans, a rich mushroom sauce, and crispy fried shallots.

Sautéed Green Beans With Mushrooms and Caramelized Cipollini Onions

Green beans, mushrooms, and onions in a stove-top side dish that brings out the flavors of a classic green bean casserole.

Haricots Verts Amandine (French-Style Green Beans With Almonds)

The classic French side dish in its simplest, most perfect form.

Bacon-Braised Green Beans

Tender braised green beans are brightly flavored with bacon and vinegar.

Side Dishes

Salads, Rolls, and Other Sides

Once you cover the necessities, anything else you put on the table is up to you, but what's a Thanksgiving spread without dinner rolls or salads, if only for the sake of a little variety. How about some glazed carrots? A light, autumnal soup? No matter what you choose, we've got recipes and advice for making those entirely optional sides so good they might just steal the show.

Find more sides to complete your meal

Side Dish Recipes

Roasted Pear Salad With Endive, Pomegranate, Blue Cheese

A hearty, sweet-and-savory salad for wintry weather.

Parker House Rolls

These no-nonsense rolls are just the right amount of buttery and sweet. The secret to making them extra fluffy? Instant mashed potato flakes.

Roasted Shallots With Buttery Sweet-Tart Glaze

These shallots are roasted whole and served in a flavorful glaze, for an easy and elegant holiday side.

Charred, Oven-Roasted Carrot Salad With Feta Cheese

Oven-roasted, lightly charred carrots benefit from a blast of vinegar, lemon, and salty, crumbled feta.

Over-the-Top Creamed Brussels Sprout Gratin

A rich, cheesy casserole packed with bacon and Brussels sprouts.

Easy Roasted Mushrooms

Easy roasted mushrooms with olive oil and herbs.

Pie

Everything You Need to Make It Easy As...

Second only to gravy in the Thanksgiving food pantheon, pie is sacred; pie is expected; pie is unequivocably, undeniably good, so you're going to need pie. We've got pie recipes galore—apple, pecan, pumpkin, sweet potato, double chocolate, butternut squash...the list goes on! And we can give you everything you need to know about mastering pie dough, from making it and blind-baking it to creating lattice crusts (and even a tutorial on herringbone lattice, too!).

Master Thanksgiving pie

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