We love a good plan—and when it comes to Thanksgiving, having the menu mapped out is the surest way to keep the day both delicious and stress-free. To make it easy (and inspiring), we’ve put together five custom menus designed to help you plan, prep, and savor the holiday. From the turkey-free menu below to a decadent vegetarian spread, you’ll find these—and more—in our Ultimate Guide to Thanksgiving.
I may have roasted my first turkey this year, but I will always think fondly of my turkey-free Thanksgivings past (and future, I reckon). Every time I hear the collective tizzy about “how to roast the best turkey” I think, “Just roast a chicken instead!” Or a nice leg of lamb, or even two whole sides of fish. All loads easier than wrangling an ungainly bird half the table doesn’t really much care for anyway (what? it’s true!). Here’s my chicken menu in keeping with the bird theme lest you have strong turkey withdrawal symptoms. It’s a nice combination of things that can be made ahead (the leeks, the rolls, the chocolate pie) and two that are breezy enough to make the day-off with little to no anxiety (the chicken and the salad). Chicken and leeks are a stalwart pairing, and the bacon in the salad dressing is the knot that ties this feast together.
This recipe is salad as performance art. Pouring hot bacon fat directly over a bowl of vinegar dressed greens feels so wrong but the snap, crackle, pop is theatrical and guaranteed to impress the crowd.
Anything I can make ahead for this holiday, I endorse. These leeks in a kicky mustard vinaigrette are all the better for sitting in the fridge overnight. They go particularly well with the chicken (a bite with the rolls tastes uncannily like chicken pot pie), and compliment the indulgent richness of the salad with their herbaceous, cooling bite.
It isn’t a holiday gathering if there aren’t dinner rolls on the table. It’s our house rule. These double-dill rolls brushed with garlic butter are the ones I’ve made every year since I worked on the recipe. Soft and so squishy they go boing, boing, boing when you press down on them, they’ve replaced the ritual of Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. And when you drag that last roll through the dregs on your plate, saturating it with cognac sauce and maybe a nubbin of bacon from the salad, it’s transcendental.
Greek-god level bronzed chicken that will make everyone question why turkey is the de facto ambassador for the holiday. Partway through roasting, you have to flip the chicken on its side, where it will sit rather jauntily on the baking rack, looking like a languid male model in a Calvin Klein ad.
The moment my colleague Jesse came out with this pie I knew it was going on my Thanksgiving table. The rich chocolate filling is like an ultra luxe version of the inside of a Mars bar, somehow fluffy but with gravitas, exhibiting an almost gelato-like stretch and chew from the whipped eggs. I made it to much acclaim. One guest who was visiting from Ireland said, “This is the best thing I’ve had in America so far.”