There is a canonical Thanksgiving menu and almost everyone cooks some version of it. That is not a failure of imagination. The dishes have survived because they work together, and a table that departs too far from them tends to feel like a nice dinner rather than like Thanksgiving.

What follows is that menu, with the quantities and the schedule attached. The recipes are individually simple. The difficulty is entirely one of coordination: nine dishes, one oven, and a requirement that all of them are hot at the same moment.

The menu

The canonical set, in the order they appear on the table.

The bird

Roast turkey, brined. Everything else on the table is a supporting part. Dry brine it 48 hours ahead with a herb rub under the skin. Those two steps do more than any basting.

The stuffing

Either sourdough stuffing or, if you are Southern about it, cornbread dressing. Both baked in a dish rather than in the bird.

The gravy

Turkey gravy. Make the base days ahead from wings and stock, finish with the roasting drippings. This is the dish that goes wrong most often, and it goes wrong because it is left to the last five minutes.

The potatoes

Mashed potatoes. Made a day ahead and held in a slow cooker. Genuinely indistinguishable from fresh, and it removes the worst last-minute job.

The sweet one

Sweet potato casserole. Assembled two days ahead, topping added before baking.

The green one

Green bean casserole, or roasted brussels sprouts if you want something with char on it.

The sharp one

Cranberry sauce. Made up to two weeks ahead. The only bright, acidic thing on an otherwise rich plate, which is why it is not optional.

The bread

Dinner rolls. Baked and frozen a week ahead, refreshed in the oven for five minutes.

The dessert

Pie. Pumpkin at minimum, pecan and apple if you are feeding a crowd. Baked the day before.

How much of everything

Per adult, for a full meal with leftovers in mind.

• Turkey: 1¼ lb bone-in per person. That sounds generous; bone and carcass account for a lot of it. Full detail in Turkey Per Person Chart: How Much to Buy for 4–30 Guests
• Stuffing: ¾ cup. See Roasting Turkey? How Many Pounds of Stuffing for Thanksgiving?
• Mashed potatoes: ½ lb raw potato.
• Each other side: ½ to ¾ cup.
• Cranberry sauce: 2 to 3 tablespoons. It goes much further than people expect.
• Gravy: ⅓ cup. Make more than this. Nobody has ever complained about too much gravy.
• Rolls: 1½ each.
• Pie: 1½ servings per person across all desserts.

Scaling up to twenty or more changes the method as well as the numbers. See Thanksgiving sides for a crowd.

Six or seven sides, not twelve

More dishes does not make a better meal. Guests take a spoonful of everything regardless of how many things there are, so a twelve-dish table means twelve small spoonfuls on a crowded plate, twelve things competing for one oven, and a fridge full of leftovers nobody wants.

The classic menu above covers every job on the plate: a starch, a bread-based dish, a sweet-adjacent, a green, something sharp, and bread. Adding to it is optional and mostly costs you.

The schedule

This is the part that matters. The recipes are not hard; the timing is.

Two weeks out

• Order the turkey. Make cranberry sauce. Mix the turkey rub.

One week out

• Bake and freeze rolls. Make and freeze gravy base and pie dough. Dry the stuffing bread. Shop for everything non-perishable.

Four days out

• Start thawing the turkey in the fridge. Roughly 24 hours per 4 to 5 lb, so a 16 lb bird needs four days. This is the deadline people miss.

Two days out

• Dry brine the turkey. Assemble sweet potato and green bean casseroles, toppings separate. Bake the pies.

The day before

• Mashed potatoes into the slow cooker insert. Assemble the stuffing. Chop every vegetable. Set the table. Batch the arrival drink.

Thanksgiving Day, working back from a 4pm dinner

• 11:00: turkey into a 325°F oven (roughly 13 minutes per pound unstuffed).
• 1:00: casseroles out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Boards assembled.
• 3:00: turkey out at 160°F in the breast, tented with foil. It rests 30 to 45 minutes and this is not optional.
• 3:05: oven up to 375°F. All casseroles and the stuffing in together.
• 3:15: gravy finished with the drippings. Mash on Warm.
• 3:40: casseroles uncovered to crisp. Rolls in.
• 3:50: carve. Green vegetables finished on the stove.
• 4:00: on the table.

A printable version is in the Thanksgiving prep timeline, and the full shopping list is in the Thanksgiving food list.

The rest is the trick

Worth isolating, because it is the thing that makes the schedule work.

A turkey must rest 30 to 45 minutes. During roasting the muscle fibers contract and squeeze juice toward the centre, and resting lets it redistribute. Carve immediately and it runs onto the board instead of staying in the meat.

That resting window is also the only free oven time you get all day. A large bird holds heat for well over an hour under foil, so there is no risk in it. Turn the oven up, put everything else in, and the entire logjam resolves itself. The rest is not dead time; it is the schedule.

20 traditional Thanksgiving dishes

The full canon, for reference. The streamlined menu above covers nine of these. The rest appear on tables across the country and most of them are simple. Picking a few extra from this list is fine; making all of them is not the point.

1. Roast turkey. The centrepiece. Brined, with an herb rub under the skin.
2. Stuffing or dressing. Bread-based, baked in a dish. Sourdough or cornbread.
3. Gravy. Made from pan drippings and a base prepared ahead.
4. Mashed potatoes. Can be made a day ahead and held in a slow cooker.
5. Sweet potato casserole. Topped with pecans or marshmallows, or both.
6. Green bean casserole. Cream of mushroom soup, fried onions, the classic.
7. Cranberry sauce. Homemade or canned. The acidic thing on an otherwise rich plate.
8. Dinner rolls. Baked and frozen ahead, refreshed before serving.
9. Pumpkin pie. The default dessert. Pecan and apple are the usual seconds.
10. Ham. Glazed, as a second protein for a crowd. Fully cooked and just needs reheating.
11. Corn. Creamed corn, roasted corn, or corn pudding.
12. Carrots. Roasted with honey or maple. Simple and reliably eaten.
13. Salad. A bitter green with a sharp vinaigrette to cut the richness.
14. Mac and cheese. Standard at any Southern table and increasingly everywhere else.
15. Cornbread. Separate from the dressing, as a side in its own right.
16. Pecan pie. The second most common pie after pumpkin.
17. Sausage. In the stuffing or on its own. A make-ahead that earns its place.
18. Turnips. Mashed or roasted. A root vegetable that is not sweet, which balances the table.
19. Celery root gratin. Thinly sliced, cream and Gruyere, baked until golden. Elegant and entirely make-ahead.
20. Deviled eggs. A starter that keeps people occupied while the turkey finishes.

Most of these are already familiar. The menu above covers the core nine, and anything from this list can join it without disrupting the schedule. The dishes that hold their own in a make-ahead freezer or slow cooker are the ones worth adding.

Frequently asked questions

What is on a traditional Thanksgiving menu?

Roast turkey, stuffing or dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, a green vegetable, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, and pumpkin pie. Six or seven sides is plenty. The classic set already covers every job on the plate.

How much turkey do I need per person?

About 1¼ lb bone-in per person, which allows for the weight of the carcass and leaves leftovers. For a 10-person dinner that is a 12 to 14 lb bird.

How many side dishes for Thanksgiving?

Six or seven. More dishes does not improve the meal. Guests take a spoonful of everything regardless, so extra dishes just mean smaller portions, more oven traffic and more leftovers.

What time should I start cooking Thanksgiving dinner?

For a 4pm dinner, the turkey goes in around 11am at 325°F, allowing about 13 minutes per pound plus a 30 to 45 minute rest. Everything else is baked during that rest.

How do I get everything hot at the same time?

Use the turkey’s resting window as your oven slot. The bird holds heat under foil for over an hour, so turn the oven up to 375°F and bake all the casseroles together while it rests.

The bottom line

Nine classic dishes, six or seven of them sides. Most of it made before the day. The turkey in at eleven for a four o’clock dinner, out at three, and every other dish baked in the window while it rests. The menu is the easy part; the schedule is the whole job.

Save the schedule — the turkey’s rest is the oven slot that makes the rest of it possible.