Thanksgiving
2220 recipes found
Parker House Rolls With Black Pepper and Demerara Sugar
These tender, fluffy morsels are everything you want in a Parker House roll. The secret to their particularly moist interior is adding instant potato flakes to the dough, a technique adapted from King Arthur Baking Company. Softened butter, seasoned with black pepper and Demerara sugar, is brushed on top both before and after baking, giving these rolls a glossy, burnished crust that gets a little crisp at the edges where the sugar meets the pan. (For a more classic Parker House roll, skip the pepper and sugar.) Like all rolls, these are best served warm from the oven or on the same day they’re baked. Then split and toast any leftovers for breakfast the next morning.
Hash Brown Casserole
This cozy dish of tender potatoes, cheesy with sharp Cheddar and rich with sour cream, easily feeds a crowd for brunch or a holiday potluck. Store-bought frozen hash browns do most of the work here, but you also can use frozen cubed potatoes. Traditionally, this casserole, also known as “funeral potatoes”, is made with canned cream of chicken soup, but this version calls for making the soup from scratch. While that may sound fussy, the homemade soup comes together in less than 10 minutes — and of course you can use a 10-ounce can of soup instead. For extra crunch, be sure to try the optional cornflakes topping.
Pumpkin Empanadas
During the fall, many Mexican American households and bakeries simmer winter squash with sugar and spices to make a purée then stuff it into disks of dough to make pumpkin empanadas. This recipe from Yvette Marquez-Sharpnack, a cookbook author and food blogger, is similar to her grandmother’s, but opts for convenience with canned pumpkin. When Ms. Marquez-Sharpnack was a child living in El Paso, her grandmother – from Chihuahua, Mexico – would cut up an old jack-o’-lantern and simmer it to make the filling, similar to ayote en miel. While Ms. Marquez-Sharpnack recommends making the dough from scratch, you could also use store-bought empanada disks for baking, which are less sweet and slightly firmer but incredibly easy to work with.
Pumpkin Pie With Pepitas
Toasted, maple-coated pumpkin seeds baked directly on the surface of the filling gives otherwise one-note pumpkin pie a little bit of crunch. Thoroughly parbaking the crust before adding the custard as directed prevents a soggy bottom. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Caramelized Apple Pie
Like tarte Tatin, this pie combines the classic flavors of apples, butter, pastry and caramel, with no cinnamon or other warm spices needed. The filling is pre-roasted to draw out and concentrate the apple juices, ensuring soft, cooked fruit and a fully baked bottom crust in the finished pie. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Pumpkin Meringue Pie
Even though this dessert works for those who can’t eat gluten or dairy, it tastes as special as standard pies — maybe even more so. A toasty pecan press-in crust replaces a typical butter-flour dough and coconut milk gives the spiced pumpkin filling creamy richness. The fluff of a meringue topping delivers the airiness of whipped cream and the singed ridges offer the delightful bittersweetness of burnt marshmallow. To prepare this ahead, refrigerate the cooled baked pumpkin pie before the meringue is added for up to 2 days. You can top with the meringue and let stand at room temperature for a few hours before serving.
Lemon Cream Pie With Honey and Ginger
A citrusy cousin of coconut cream and chocolate cream pies, this pie is filled with a lemon pudding that’s tart like curd but is also light, smooth and creamy at the same time. Infusing the filling with fresh ginger gives it a more autumnal flavor, but omit it you prefer. For the crust, make sure to use only very thin, very crisp, wafer-style gingersnaps, otherwise it will likely slump as it bakes. If you can’t find those, graham crackers work just as well. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Cranberry Cheesecake Tart
This easy cheesecake tart comes together in the food processor and bakes without a water bath. The key to the smooth texture of the filling is a very low oven, which means it bakes for a long time, so if you’re serving it on Thanksgiving, definitely bake it the day before to free up oven space. The shiny cranberry topping is made from unsweetened cranberry juice and whole cranberries that are just barely poached, so they preserve their bright, fresh flavor and satisfying pop. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Cranberry Sauce With Orange and Golden Raisins
This classic cranberry sauce, adapted from “Jambalaya,” a cookbook by the Junior League of New Orleans, is an ideal combination of tart, bitter and sweet flavors, with chewy bits of raisin and orange peel that provide much-needed textural contrast on the Thanksgiving table. A Saffitz family favorite, prepared every year by Claire Saffitz’s mother, Sauci, it keeps for weeks, so make it as far ahead as you like. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Caramelized Brussels Sprouts With Lemon
Separating the dark green outer leaves from the lighter green cores of brussels sprouts allows you to roast them so they’re both tender and crispy. Prep them ahead of time for an easy side dish. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Crispy Ginger Sticky Rice
Inspired by a Chinese classic that translates to “flavorful rice,” this dish lives up to the name. Chewy sticky rice has a natural faint sweetness and here it goes savory with bacon and mushrooms. A heaping mound of ginger sizzles in oil to mellow its sharp, hot bite to a fragrant crisp. Speckled throughout the rice, the ginger offers a tiny crunch and surprising pop of warmth. You can keep the rice warm for an hour on the stovetop or for a few hours longer if you return it to the rice cooker and turn on the warm setting. Stir in the ginger just before serving to keep it crispy. Serve it as stuffing in a Thanksgiving spread, with other dishes for a feast or simply on its own.
Pumpkin Roll
This basic pumpkin roll hits the spot. The cinnamon-scented cake has a soft, airy texture that works well with the decadent American buttercream filling. It’s simple and satisfying as is, but could also be a great jumping off point for experimentation: Fold a bit of chopped chocolate, toasted coconut, raisins or your favorite nuts into the cake batter, or flavor the buttercream with bits of spicy candied ginger, earthy molasses, maple syrup or floral honey. You could even swap the buttercream altogether and fill the cake with your favorite cream cheese frosting or a simple whipped cream. The possibilities are endless.
Easy Herb Stuffing
This recipe makes a simple, versatile Thanksgiving stuffing, flavored with sautéed onions and celery, savory herbs and chicken broth. Almost any kind of bread will work, but choose a fluffy white bread, like a Pullman loaf or French bread, if you can. Even sliced sandwich bread works — and it provides a great shortcut for cubing the bread. Be sure to toast the bread cubes in the oven if you’re using a fresh loaf of bread; the cooked cubes should be dry and firm to the touch, like croutons. If you’re rationing oven space on Thanksgiving Day, you can assemble the stuffing and refrigerate it up to 12 hours before baking. The stuffing will be crisp on top and moist underneath. The longer you leave it in the oven without foil, the crispier the bread cubes on the top will be.
Baked Brie and Caramelized Vegetable Pie
A vegetarian centerpiece inspired by baked Brie, this caramelized vegetable pie cuddles creamy, earthy molten cheese with a bevy of autumnal vegetables: roasted butternut squash, seared mushrooms, herbed brussels sprouts and tangy red onions, and enrobes the whole mixture in store-bought puff pastry. It’s significantly less work than this mushroom Wellington, but has a similar ceremonial pomp, with a delightful big reveal. Developed with ease in mind, this savory pie benefits from being prepared in advance: Cook the individual components at your leisure, even a few days in advance, and you’ll need only to assemble the pie and bake it off before dinner. This pie is relatively easy to engineer but it does require some patience. You’ll want to let it rest 30 minutes to 1 hour before cutting, to allow the puff pastry to maintain its structure — and for the cheese to firm up a bit before carving.
Easy Thanksgiving Turkey
Roasting a Thanksgiving turkey can get complicated, but with so many other dishes to prepare, the best approach is to keep it simple and focus on sound technique, such as choosing a smaller bird, then thoroughly seasoning it, roasting it from room temperature so it cooks evenly and letting it rest sufficiently before slicing. It may not produce a burnished, show-stopping whole bird, but the results will be juicy, flavorful and never overcooked. If you need more servings, roast two birds. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Pecan Slab Pie
This tart layers toasted, sugared pecans over brown-buttery pecan cream, recreating the flavors of traditional pecan pie but with greater depth of flavor and a lot less sugar. To prevent the filling from puffing and pushing out the walls of the tart during baking, it’s baked inside a 9-by-13-inch pan. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Sausage and Leek Stuffing
Heavy cream is a nontraditional addition to Thanksgiving stuffing, but in combination with the stock and eggs, it lends a special custardy richness to this otherwise classic, no-frills recipe. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Flaky Pie Crust
This pie dough requires no special equipment but uses two techniques to produce an ultra-flaky and tender crust: first, bringing the dough together on the work surface with a bench scraper, which keeps it cool and prevents over-working, and second, stacking it in layers, which creates a flaky texture. You can double the recipe to make two crusts at a time, but know that you’ll need to work a little more quickly to prevent the butter from warming up. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Roasted Chicken Broth
This broth is designed to be made in the days before Thanksgiving, which is why it calls for turkey giblets and trim pieces in addition to wings. Roasting the vegetables and turkey bits imbues the broth with the flavors of roast turkey drippings, making it perfect for make-ahead white wine gravy. Don’t be alarmed if your chilled broth gelatinizes – that’s a sign you extracted lots of collagen, a mark of good broth. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Make-Ahead White Wine Gravy
A flavorful make-ahead gravy depends entirely on a concentrated stock, so try to use homemade rather than store-bought. And remember: Chilling the gravy before reheating it will cause it to thicken, so it’s a good idea to reserve a little bit of stock for thinning it out to the desired consistency before serving. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Smooth and Creamy Mashed Potatoes
This recipe uses a masher and a mixer instead of a ricer or food mill to make smooth and creamy mashed potatoes. As long as you don’t mix excessively, the potatoes will come out light, not gummy. (Watch Claire make Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on YouTube.)
Deep-Fried Turkey
Deep frying a turkey can seem daunting, but it is incredibly simple and produces a superior turkey that is unexpectedly juicy and far more forgiving in far less time than conventional roasting. It is equipment heavy, yes. Buying a “rig” — the large pot, propane hub and hooks — is your best bet, because it gives you everything you need to complete the task without much fuss. (Here’s the turkey fryer Wirecutter recommends.) Some contain a thermometer to clip to the pot. If not, you will need one, along with one to check the bird. And yes, there will be a lot of oil left over to contend with (see Tips). But once you accept those two things, the path to a truly delicious turkey is easy. Keys to This Recipe How long does it take to deep fry a turkey? The oil should get to 350 degrees in anywhere from 15 minutes to more than a half-hour, depending on the weather and how strong your propane hub is. Frying in peanut oil is the classic way, but any vegetable oil with a high smoke point can work. When you slowly lower the turkey into the oil (with the propane off!) the temperature will drop. Frying at about 325 is optimum. Start checking the bird’s temperature at about the 30-minute mark. When the temperature of the breast reaches 155 degrees, turn off the propane and then remove the turkey to a sheet pan. The interior will continue to cook. Make sure to let it rest for at least 30 minutes; carving it too soon will release steam which means you will lose all that great moisture that comes with deep frying a turkey. How to set up equipment for deep-frying turkey: To start, find an even place outdoors to set up the frying rig away from any structures. Gravel or cement is great. A level patch of lawn will work. A piece of cardboard or tarp under the propane hub can help catch drips. Have safety equipment including heat-resistant cooking gloves and a fire extinguisher nearby and you’ll be ready to fry.
Sweet Potato Hash With Tofu
Hash, which comes from the French word for “chop,” can be made of any number of meats and proteins that cook and crisp on the stovetop. One of the most common might be corned beef and potato hash, but this recipe is more hands-off: It cooks on a sheet pan. This vegan hash is sweet, smoky and spicy, with cubes of sweet potato, tofu, peppers and onions. The potatoes and tofu are spunky with chili powder and crisp from cornstarch. Serve the dish for breakfast or dinner, with vinegary red onions for crunch, plus your favorite hash toppings.
Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Galette
This savory galette has a secret layer of herbed goat cheese underneath a pile of sweet butternut squash, savory herbs and smoked paprika. The key is to slice the squash nice and thin, so it has time to bake through as the crust gets golden and crisp. Though you could use store-bought pie crust for this recipe (see Tip), the homemade crust is flakier and tastes much more delicious. If you are making your own crust, make sure to leave some time for it to chill and relax; it will be much easier to roll out and will bake up light and flaky. Serve the galette warm or at room temperature, with a green salad on the side.