Secrets to a Successful Thanksgiving | Fast, Easy, Make Ahead

20 delicious recipes that are fast, easy or make ahead

Soups & Starters

Sounds crazy, but the key to a sane Thanksgiving is to start cooking well ahead. The recipes here were created with this idea in mind. Only the salad needs a quick last-minute tossing.

Main Course

Turkey is so traditional, so satisfying, so...predictable. But give it a curry sauce or a teriyaki glaze and you've added an element of surprise. An even bolder move: Serve a juicy pork rib roast instead.

Breads & Condiments

Making rolls or condiments from scratch might seem like a chapter from an over-achiever's Thanksgiving guide. But because they can be prepared days in advance, they're really the easiest part of the meal.

Side Dishes

Beige, brown, more beige, more brown: A Thanksgiving plate can be a little drab.That's where great side dishes come in, adding a hit of color—not to mention texture and flavor—to the pigment-challenged turkey and gravy.

Desserts

Desserts make us greedy. Appealing to our want-it-all urges are recipes that combine several favorites in one: pumpkin cheesecake with a brownie crust, say, or macaroon bars topped with chocolate-covered chestnuts.

Published November 2002