Thanksgiving is rarely a small production, but it doesn’t have to be stressful! The best advice I can give is to LET guests bring something when they offer to (this is for all you control freaks out there) and prep as much in advance as possible. As guests begin to arrive you don’t want to spend all of your time sweating in the kitchen, alone. You should be celebrating with friends and family, Thanksgiving tipple in hand!
Here are some Crate Cooking tips on what recipes you can make in advance and how far ahead to do them.
Up to 6 Months Ahead: Make Your Stock
You can make and freeze stock up to 6 months in advance, giving you plenty of time to finish other fun Thanksgiving tasks. Is it worth it to make your own stock? Yes! Store bought stocks contains TONS of sodium and artificial ingredients. By using your own homemade stock you can control the amount of sodium going into your food. And what to do with that homemade stock? Use it to moisten (yeah, sorry – used that word) any dressing or stuffing recipe before baking and also for gravy or jus. I generally use about 1 cup for dressing and 4 cups to make a pan-drippings jus. What to do with extra stock? Save it for a day-after Leftover Turkey Curry Ramen!
3 Days Ahead: Cook that Cranberry Sauce
Skip the canned sauce, please. My Cranberry Ginger Compote takes only 10 minutes, I swear, to cook and can be made 3 days in advance. Delicious served hot or cold, the ginger gives this sauce a little sweet-heat that is perfect with turkey! And double it if you love cranberry sauce with your day-after sandwiches.
1 to 2 Days Ahead: Season the Bird
The only thing worse than a dry Thanksgiving turkey is a bland Thanksgiving turkey. Meat gets its flavor from good seasoning. And when you’re cooking something big like a 14 pound bird, letting that seasoning set in for a day or 2 before allows it to successfully flavor the skin and meat. I prefer a rosemary and thyme dry-brined turkey over a liquid brine as I live in an apartment, am short on refrigerator space and want to skip all the fussy liquid and mess.
1 Day Ahead: Roast Those Sweet Potatoes
Get a head start if you’re making a sweet potato Thanksgiving side dish (like a pudding) or dessert (perhaps this yummy tart); it’s a two part process. You’ll need to roast your sweet potatoes before you make your dish to get them nice and tender. Roasting the potatoes at a high temperature keeps them sweet and creamy and not watered down. Once cooked and cool, you can scoop the sweet potato flesh out of the skins and store in an air-tight container up to 1 day in advance.
1 Day Ahead: Prep the Dressing
Make your dressing or stuffing all the way through, minus the baking, the night before. Pour your entire dressing recipe into a generously buttered baking dish. Cover the dish with buttered aluminum foil (buttered-side down) and refrigerate until ready to bake the next day! Take the dressing out to sit at room temperature 1 hour before baking so that it doesn’t go in the oven cold. If the dressing seems dry before baking, add a bit more turkey stock to moisten (sorry, again).
Get more Thanksgiving menu planning ideas with Crate Cooking’s Build Your Own Thanksgiving!