Thanksgiving
2220 recipes found
Deep-Dish Honey Apple Galette
Like a pie but with only one crust, like a galette but thicker, this deep-dish number is the best of all worlds. The buttery crust (made by hand for flakiest results) dramatically envelopes apples that are sweetened mostly with honey. A splash of vinegar is added for acidity, and, of course, there’s a little cinnamon (if you like). Truthfully, any apple is good here, but the tart baking varieties tend to hold their shape and give a bit more structure to the finished dish. Bake in a 9-inch springform pan for tall, festive sides, or a deep-dish 9-inch pie plate for a more rustic feel.
Spicy Caramelized Squash With Lemon and Hazelnuts
This ultimate sweet-and-salty squash recipe can be done with most hearty orange vegetables, like sweet potatoes or even carrots (no need to peel any of these). The vegetables are tossed simply with olive oil and something sticky, like maple syrup or honey, and roasted until tender and caramelized. To add some texture back into the mix, the vegetables are finished with toasted nuts and plenty of fresh lemon zest for some perkiness.
Lobster Mac and Cheese
This recipe for lobster mac and cheese, a variation on a classic plain recipe that Julia Moskin published in The Times, is a rich and shockingly flavorful addition to any feast, and requires only a single lobster to serve six or eight. Or try serving it as a main course for a weeknight dinner.
Dry-Brined Turkey With Sheet-Pan Gravy
For those who want to let the side dishes do the talking, this is the bird for you. Delightfully simple, it’s dry-brined (meaning highly seasoned) with only salt, pepper, some thyme and a little brown sugar, which helps with that golden-brown skin. It’s roasted on a sheet pan, and cut-up onions, garlic, lemon and herbs are scattered in and around the turkey to cook at the same time. They’re excellent served alongside the turkey, and are instrumental in flavoring the sheet-pan gravy.
Emily Luchetti’s Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies
These will seem soft when you remove them from the oven, but they will stiffen as they cool. Ms. Luchetti recommends Ghirardelli 60 percent chocolate chips or Guittard Extra Dark, and likes Valrhona cocoa powder.
Cheesy Cauliflower Toasts
Trust Ina Garten to take two big food trends — cauliflower and toast — and combine them into something completely fresh. This recipe, adapted from her 2018 cookbook, “Cook Like a Pro,” is a bit like an open-face grilled cheese sandwich with a nutty layer of roasted cauliflower, and spiked with nutmeg and paprika. We made it vegetarian by leaving out the prosciutto, and also lightened up on the cheese. It makes a vegetarian dinner with soup and salad, or a good snack with drinks.
Salmon Roasted in Butter
This simple fish dish is best made with wild salmon, but it works equally well with the farmed sort. It's astonishingly easy. In a hot oven, melt butter in a skillet until it sizzles, add the salmon, flip, remove the skin, then allow to roast a few minutes more. You'll have an elegant fish dinner in about 15 minutes. Don't be afraid to play with herb and fat combinations: parsley, chervil or dill work well with butter; thyme, basil or marjoram with olive oil; or peanut oil with cilantro or mint.
Puréed Potatoes With Lemon
Lemon isn’t a classic seasoning for mashed potatoes, but butter makes an excellent go-between. This variation on French pommes purée is just the kind of dish that Ina Garten, who shared this recipe from her book “Modern Comfort Food” with The Times, likes to perfect for home cooks. Cooking the potatoes in less water than usual and gradually mashing in bits of chilled butter are the details that make the recipe special.
Mustard-Shallot Vinaigrette
Store-bought salad dressings are an automatic shortcut for many cooks. But with their sweeteners and stabilizers, they aren't worthy of a well-made salad, whether your tastes run to iceberg and romaine or mizuna and mesclun. And — revolutionary notion ahead — they aren’t really more convenient than a basic vinaigrette like this one, made in big batches from real ingredients, which can also live happily and indefinitely in your refrigerator door.
Cranberry Curd Tart
If you are a fan of lemon curd or the classic French tarte au citron, you will love this cranberry version. To minimize kitchen time, make it in stages, preparing the crust and curd a day or two in advance. The finished tart keeps well for a couple of days too. The wheat-free hazelnut crust is adapted from a cookie recipe from the pastry chef and writer David Lebovitz’s popular website.
Hashweh (Spiced Rice and Meat With Yogurt)
Hashweh means stuffing in Arabic, hence the name of this dish that is used to fill chicken, lamb, pigeon and almost any other poultry or meat that can be stuffed. The combination of warm spices, fluffy rice and tender meat with the crispy, fried nuts is so delicious, it has become a meal in its own right. For a more elaborate presentation, you can top it with shredded chicken or lamb. Whichever way you serve it, you’re in for a real treat, with a recipe so simple it can easily make its way into your weekly dinner rotation. Hashweh pairs perfectly with a salad of finely chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and onions dressed with lemon, olive oil, salt and some dried mint.
Madeira Gravy
Maderia, a fortified wine, brings wonderful flavor to this Thanksgiving pan gravy, quickly whisked together after the bird emerges from the oven. As with any gravy, the flavor of the stock is essential here, so it's absolutely worth the time to make your own.
Ina Garten’s Make-Ahead Roast Turkey and Gravy With Onions and Sage
One of the most stressful things about Thanksgiving is the turkey: timing it, carving it, keeping it hot. As I mentioned in my book “Make It Ahead” (Clarkson Potter, 2014), I discovered that I could roast the turkey early in the day, carve it and arrange it on a layer of gravy on an oven-to-table platter. It changed my Thanksgiving game plan. I prepare the platter, set it aside at room temperature, then reheat it all before dinner. Delicious turkey without the stress!
Coconut Butternut Squash Soup
Once you’ve got the squash baked, this soup comes together quickly. The mellow flavors of squash, kale and red onions synergize delectably and look gorgeous together as well.
Red Wine Cranberry Sauce With Honey
What does a chef in Napa Valley do to jazz up her cranberry sauce? Add wine, of course. This recipe was inspired by Cindy Pawlcyn, the Napa Valley chef and cookbook author, and includes smashed fresh ginger for extra verve. It’s more tart than most cranberry sauce recipes, so if you like yours sweeter, feel free to add more sugar or a little more honey.
Cranberry Martinis
For a delicious and festive holiday drink you can make quickly, simply combine the ingredients in advance and shake them up when guests arrive.
Slow-Roasted Turkey With Apple Gravy
Padma Lakshmi likes big, bold flavors — spices and citrus especially — and infuses her Thanksgiving turkey with them. She prepares the bird over a bed of herbs and produce, then uses those pan juices to create a fruity yet savory gravy. To keep the turkey moist, Ms. Lakshmi starts with a buttermilk brine, then roasts the bird at a low temperature to make sure it cooks through but doesn’t dry out. But first, an initial blast in a very hot oven darkens the turkey in spots thanks to the sugar in the buttermilk brine. A final basting and uncovered cooking in the oven helps even out the mottled skin and ensures a delicate crispness. You can garnish the platter with the fruits, vegetables and herbs used in the recipe or serve the bird unadorned.
Vegetarian Mushroom Wellington
Classic beef Wellington is a technical feat in which a tenderloin is topped with foie gras or mushroom duxelles, then wrapped in puff pastry and baked. This vegetarian version is less exacting yet just as impressive. Seared portobello mushrooms are layered with apple cider-caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms, which are seasoned with soy sauce for flavor and bolstered with walnuts for texture. The rich mushroom filling is vegan, and the entire dish can easily be made vegan, too. Swap in vegan puff pastry, a butter substitute in the port reduction and caramelized onions, and an egg substitute for brushing the puff pastry. You can assemble and refrigerate the dish up to 1 day before baking it. Prepare the port reduction as the Wellington bakes, or skip it entirely and serve with cranberry sauce for a touch of tangy sweetness.
Zucca in Agrodolce (Sweet and Sour Butternut Squash)
Squash marinated in vinegar is prepared differently from region to region in Italy. In Sicily, an agrodolce (sweet and sour) marinade, along with thinly sliced garlic and fresh mint, enlivens the palate. Typically, the squash is pan-fried, but it works just as well baked in the oven, as done here. How much sugar you use depends on the zing of your vinegar and the sweetness of your tooth. Zucca in agrodolce is best served at room temperature, and it’s left to rest for just long enough so that the butternut squash soaks up the sweet and sour syrup. You can also make it a day in advance; just remember to it bring to room temperature before adding the final garnish of fresh mint and serving.
Braised Goat Leg in Obe Ata
Obe ata is my versatile, back-pocket Nigerian recipe. A bright purée of red bell peppers, onions, tomatoes and habaneros, this stew is the base of several dishes, such as jollof rice and stewed amaranth greens, and accompanies starchy mains as a sauce. This tangy recipe, enhanced by the lingering heat of habanero chiles, uses goat, but you can substitute lamb, beef or pork cuts of a similar size. Any large bone-in cut of meat will do, and will be coaxed into tenderness after a slow braise. The best way to serve this is right in the pot or on a large platter for guests to share, garnished with a mess of fresh herbs and citrus zest and served alongside steamed rice, jollof rice, fried plantains or crispy yam fries.
Ultimate Pumpkin Pie
The type of pumpkin used to make canned pumpkin purée is very close to sweet winter squashes like butternut and honeynut. Making your own fresh purée from these varieties will give you the best possible pumpkin pie, one that’s both ultracreamy and richly flavored. Just don’t be tempted to halve the whole squash and bake it still in the skin. Cutting it into cubes allows for the most evaporation and condensation for the best texture and taste. If using a glass or ceramic pie pan, you might want to parbake the crust. Since glass doesn’t conduct heat as well as metal, the crust may not cook through if you don’t parbake.
Herby Bread-and-Butter Stuffing for Two
This fairly classic stuffing recipe has been scaled down to feed two (generously). Filled with buttery sautéed shallots and plenty of herbs, it’s rich and soft in the center, and golden and crunchy on top. A small shallow gratin dish, about 6 inches in diameter, is your best option for baking, but any dish, loaf pan, or skillet with a 3- to 4-cup capacity will work.
No-Bake Butterscotch Custards
Based on a traditional British pudding called posset, these ultrasilky custards set without the need for cornstarch, eggs or gelatin. (The acidity in the crème fraîche and brown sugar helps do that instead.) A dash of molasses is stirred in for complexity and to accentuate the bitterness of the brown sugar. But for a sweeter and more traditionally butterscotch flavor, you can leave it out.
Make-Ahead Gravy
You need gravy on Thanksgiving to aid the turkey, moisten the potatoes, douse the stuffing. But traditionally it's made at the last minute, after the turkey has been removed from the roasting pan. Here’s a secret: There's no need to make gravy right before serving. You can make it up to five days ahead. Then, as you reheat it, whisk in the turkey pan drippings for extra flavor. The result is every bit as good as last-minute gravy — and far less crazy-making.