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Thanksgiving dinner timeline: how to get everything on the table hot

Q: How long does it take to thaw a frozen turkey?

In the refrigerator, allow about 1 day for every 4 to 5 pounds, so a 14 lb turkey needs 3 to 4 days. If it's still frozen on Wednesday, thaw it breast-side down in a sink of cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes, and allow about 30 minutes per pound.

Q: What time should the turkey go in the oven?

Count back from dinner: take the turkey out about 45 minutes before you eat so it can rest while the sides bake, then subtract the roasting time. For a 3:00 PM dinner and a 12 to 14 lb turkey roasting about 3 hours 45 minutes at 325°F, it goes in around 10:30 AM.

By the Grocery Fresh Chef team · October 16, 2026

The hard part of Thanksgiving isn't any one recipe. It's that a turkey, five sides, gravy and rolls all want the oven at the same time, and they all need to be hot at the same moment. The fix is a timeline: do most of the work Wednesday night, then let Thursday be mostly oven timing. Here's the plan we use, hour by hour.

A Thanksgiving table with a roast turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, green bean casserole, rolls and apple crisp

⏱️ The short version. For dinner at 3:00 PM with a 12 to 14 lb turkey: the turkey goes in at 10:30 AM, comes out at 2:15 PM to rest, and the sides bake at 375°F while it rests. Everything you can make ahead, you make Wednesday night. Eating at a different time? Shift every step by the same amount.

🦃 How big a turkey, and when to buy it

Plan on about 1¼ pounds of whole turkey per guest. That covers dinner with some leftovers. Around 10 lb is the smallest whole bird most stores carry, so small groups end up with extra (or can roast a turkey breast instead).

Guests	Turkey size	Fridge thaw time	Roast time at 325°F (unstuffed)
4 to 8	10 to 12 lb	2 to 3 days	About 2¾ to 3 hours
9 to 11	11 to 14 lb	3 to 4 days	About 3 to 3¾ hours
12 to 14	15 to 18 lb	3 to 4½ days	About 3¾ to 4¼ hours
15 to 16	19 to 20 lb	4 to 5 days	About 4¼ to 4½ hours

Fridge thawing takes about 1 day for every 4 to 5 pounds, and roast times are the USDA's guidance for an unstuffed bird. Times are a guide: the turkey is done when a thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F.

When to shop: the Friday or Saturday before Thanksgiving (November 20 or 21 this year) is the sweet spot. Produce and herbs are still fresh on Thursday, and a frozen turkey bought that day has time to thaw in the fridge. Put it in the refrigerator the day you bring it home.

🌙 Wednesday night: the make-ahead list

Three hours on Wednesday evening saves you from a frantic Thursday. In order:

🧂 6:00 PM · Dry-brine the turkey. Pat it very dry, salt it all over and inside (about 1 tablespoon of kosher salt per 4 to 5 pounds), set it on a rack and refrigerate it uncovered overnight. The skin dries out and roasts up crisp.
🍒 6:15 PM · Cranberry sauce. Twenty minutes on the stove, then into the fridge. It sets as it chills.
🥧 6:40 PM · Desserts. Bake the pie or apple crisp now; both are better made a day ahead.
🍞 6:50 PM · Dressing prep. Cube the bread and leave it out to dry. Dice the onion and celery and chop the herbs.
🫛 7:40 PM · Green bean casserole. Blanch the beans, make the sauce and assemble it, but keep the fried onions in the pantry until baking.
🍠 8:20 PM · Candied yams. Parboil and slice the sweet potatoes, layer them with the brown sugar butter and refrigerate. Marshmallows go on tomorrow.
🥔 8:45 PM · Potatoes. Peel and cut them right into your pot, cover with cold water and refrigerate.
🍽️ 9:00 PM · Set the table. Put out every serving dish with a sticky note naming what goes in it. You'll thank yourself tomorrow.

🍂 Thanksgiving Day: hour by hour

Here's the schedule for a 3:00 PM dinner and a 12 to 14 lb turkey (about 3¾ hours in the oven).

Time	What to do
9:30 AM	Take the turkey out of the fridge to sit for an hour. Move an oven rack to the lowest position.
10:10 AM	Heat the oven to 325°F. Rub herb butter under and over the skin, fill the cavity with lemon, onion and herbs.
10:30 AM	Turkey goes in. Tent the breast with foil if it browns too fast.
1:00 PM	Cook the onion and celery and toss the dressing together. Cover it with foil.
1:30 PM	Take the yams and green bean casserole out of the fridge.
2:00 PM	Start checking the turkey's temperature.
2:15 PM	Turkey out at 165°F in the thigh. Tent it with foil to rest. Save the drippings. Turn the oven up to 375°F.
2:20 PM	Dressing (covered) and candied yams (covered) go in.
2:25 PM	Potatoes on to boil in fresh salted water, about 20 minutes.
2:30 PM	Green bean casserole goes in. Cranberry sauce comes out of the fridge.
2:35 PM	Make the gravy on the stove from the drippings.
2:40 PM	Uncover the dressing so the top gets crisp.
2:48 PM	Marshmallows on the yams, fried onions on the beans, rolls in (wrapped in foil).
2:50 PM	Mash the potatoes and carve the turkey.
3:00 PM	Dinner. Turn the oven down to 300°F and slide in the apple crisp to warm while you eat.

🔥 How to do it all with one oven

🧊 The rest is your secret weapon. A turkey needs 30 to 60 minutes to rest before carving, and it stays hot under foil. That's exactly when the sides get the oven to themselves.
📏 One temperature for every side. Dressing, yams and green bean casserole all bake happily at 375°F, two dishes per rack.
🍲 Stovetop for the rest. Potatoes and gravy never need the oven, and cranberry sauce doesn't need heat at all.
🥧 Desserts go first. Pie and crisp are done Wednesday, so they never compete for oven time on Thursday.
👨‍👩‍👧 Cooking for 13 or more? Plan on two dishes of each casserole and use both oven racks, and give the sides an extra 5 to 10 minutes.

🧰 Check your gear on Tuesday

A roasting pan with a rack, an instant-read meat thermometer, a roll of foil, a big pot for potatoes, and a 9x13-inch baking dish for each casserole on your menu. Finding out on Thursday morning that you only own two 9x13s is a classic Thanksgiving surprise.

📱 Or let Grocery Fresh Chef do the math

Every time in this post is based on one dinner time and one turkey size. Change either, and the whole schedule moves. That's why we built the Thanksgiving Kitchen into the Grocery Fresh Chef app. It opens in the app's Holidays tab on November 8:

👪 Your guest count and dinner time. Pick 4 to 16 guests and when you're eating. Every recipe resizes, and the app tells you what size turkey to buy.
✅ Your menu. Turkey, gravy, sage dressing, cranberry sauce, candied yams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, apple crisp and pumpkin pie, plus roasted Brussels sprouts and a fall salad if you want them. Uncheck anything someone else is bringing.
🛒 One grocery list for the whole feast. Every ingredient for every course you kept, combined and matched to real products at your Kroger-family store (Kroger, Harris Teeter, Ralphs, King Soopers, Fry's, Smith's, QFC and more), including the right size turkey. Send it to your cart for pickup or delivery, or take the list to the store.
⏰ A plan timed to you. The Wednesday and Thursday schedule above, recalculated for your dinner hour and your turkey, showing only the courses you're making.
🔔 Cooking mode. Check off steps, start timers with one tap, open any recipe from the plan, and turn on step alerts so your phone tells you when it's time for the next one.

The Thanksgiving menu in Grocery Fresh Chef with a checkbox next to each course — Check the courses you're making.

Thanksgiving cooking mode with checked-off steps, a running turkey rest timer and the current step marked Now — Cooking mode: timers, alerts and what's next.

Your recipes and your personal prep plan also land in your inbox as a printable PDF, ready to stick on the fridge.

❓ Questions people ask

How long does it take to thaw a frozen turkey?

In the refrigerator, about 1 day for every 4 to 5 pounds, so a 14 lb turkey needs 3 to 4 days. If it's still frozen on Wednesday, thaw it breast-side down in a sink of cold water, changing the water every 30 minutes, and allow about 30 minutes per pound.

What time should the turkey go in the oven?

Count back from dinner. Take the turkey out about 45 minutes before you eat so it can rest while the sides bake, then subtract the roasting time. For a 3:00 PM dinner and a 12 to 14 lb bird (about 3¾ hours), that's around 10:30 AM.

How long can a turkey rest before carving?

At least 30 minutes and up to about an hour, loosely tented with foil. Forty minutes is plenty of time to bake the sides at a higher temperature.

Can I make Thanksgiving sides the day before?

Yes. Cranberry sauce, pie and apple crisp can be finished on Wednesday. Green bean casserole and candied yams can be assembled and refrigerated, then baked on Thursday. Dry the dressing bread and prep its vegetables Wednesday night too.

Should I stuff the turkey?

We bake the dressing in its own dish. It gets a crisp top, and the turkey cooks faster and more evenly without it. If you do stuff the bird, the center of the stuffing needs to reach 165°F too.