Thanksgiving Timeline Prep & Cooking Tips

Want an idea on how to prep the perfect Thanksgiving dinner with as much work ahead time done as possible? Check out this real timeline that I used to cook a previous Thanksgiving dinner.

For a successful Thanksgiving with reduced stress it is key to plan ahead and create a timeline of how you are going to execute the meal. My goal is to always do as much as I can ahead of time, so I can rest more, enjoy the Detroit Lions game, and have fun finishing up the meal.

Here is the menu I had for Thanksgiving Dinner in 2023. That year were staying at an AIrBNB in Utah and it was just my immediate family (so me, my wife, an 4 kids).

• Dry Brined, Spatchcocked Turkey
• Root Vegetable Panzanella
• Mashed Potatoes from Baked Potatoes
• Sous Vide Sweet Potatoes with Sautéed Shallots
• Pumpkin Yeast Rolls
• Sous Vide Cranberry Sauce
• Homemade Three Cheese Mac & Cheese
• Green Bean Casserole
• Pumpkin Pie
• Cranberry Curd Tarts

Let me now break down my schedule for preparing for the meal, which began on the Sunday before Thanksgiving. You will find some links below that will lead you to more information.

For tips on shopping for the Thanksgiving meal, make sure you check out my post on How Early to Shop for Thanksgiving.

📅 Sunday

🌅 Morning - Begin quick thawing turkey. Click that link to the left here so you can get all my tips on thawing a turkey safely and what equipment I use.

🌇 Late Afternoon - Spatchcock turkey and add dry brine. The brine mix I used last year was the Redmond Real Salt Turkey Brine kit.

📅 Tuesday

🌅 Morning - Begin sourdough bread dough process.

☀️ Afternoon - Bake fresh pumpkin to make pumpkin puree for pie and yeast rolls

🌙 Evening -

• Cook cranberries with brown sugar via sous vide.
• Push cranberries through sieve and refrigerate.
• Make cranberry curd for tarts and refrigerate.
• Shape and refrigerate sourdough loaves

📅 Wednesday

This is the busiest day for cooking. I got as much ready as I could to make the next day a breeze.

🌅 Morning

• Make homemade cream of mushroom soup for green bean casserole (eat what we don’t need for lunch) , bake sourdough bread to use for root vegetable panzenella
• Make crust for cranberry tart. Blind bake.
• Add cranberry curd. Bake tarts.
• Make pie crust for pumpkin pie.

☀️ Afternoon

• Make pumpkin pie filling and bake pie.
• Bake potatoes to make mashed potatoes with.
• Vacuum seal mashed potatoes for tomorrow.
• Sous vide the sweet potatoes & sauté shallots in butter, place in the fridge

🌙 Evening - Cut bread into cubes for root vegetable panzanella, leave out to dry out.

📅 Thursday

🌅 Morning - Make & bake pumpkin yeast rolls

☀️ Afternoon

• Keep vacuum sealed mashed potatoes warm in sous vide water bath.
• Start turkey in the oven.
• Cube up root vegetables
• Add the root vegetable panzanella.
• Pull turkey when it reaches temperature.
• Put prepped green bean casserole and sweet potatoes in the oven.
• Finish panzanella.
• Make the mac & cheese on the stovetop.
• Make turkey gravy from homemade stock.
• Make whipped cream for pies (get tips on making whipped cream)