Thanksgiving

A Perfect Thanksgiving, Just the Size You Like It

Thanksgiving is marketed as the year's fiercest family feast: a big dining room table packed with cousins, grandpas, and lots of turkey-loving toddlers. But the reality is that Thanksgiving is like everything else—no one size fits all. Sometimes the Thanksgiving herd is so large you need to rent out the local Elks lodge. And sometimes it's just you, your significant other, and your new baby. (Heck, sometimes it's just you.) So here's everything you need to throw a Thanksgiving for one. And a Thanksgiving for 40. And a Thanksgiving for every size of gathering in-between.
Thanksgiving meal for multiple people.
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Laura Rege
  • A dinner plate featuring a sliced turkey tenderloin green beans and a halved sweet potato topped with marshmallows.
    Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Anna Surbatovich, Food Styling by Olivia Mack Anderson
    1/5

    How to Cook Thanksgiving Dinner for One

    A secret cut of turkey, a genius double-stuff sweet potato technique, and a personal-size dessert are all it takes.

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  • Image may contain Cutlery Fork Food Dish Meal Plant and Lunch
    Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
    2/5

    Thanksgiving Menu for 2–4

    How do you make a menu of golden turkey breast, luscious spoon bread, and a pecan-cranberry galette actually easy? Make it for a party of four (or less).

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  • Image may contain Food Lunch Meal Dinner Supper Dish Cafeteria and Restaurant
    Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Billingskog
    3/5

    A Three-Hour Thanksgiving Menu for 6–8

    The secrets of the speed? A cut-up turkey and a puff pastry pie.

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  • Image may contain Food Meal Dinner Supper Furniture Dish Table Dining Table Plant and Tabletop
    Photo by Tara Donne, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Cyd McDowell
    4/5

    A Modern Thanksgiving Menu for 10–12

    The sweet potatoes, the turkey, the cranberry sauce—it's all there. It's just a little fresher, and a lot easier to pull off, than the menu Grandma would have made.

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  • Image may contain Lunch Food Meal Dinner Supper Plant and Dish
    Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Beatrice Chastka, Food Styling by Laura Rege
    5/5

    A Thanksgiving Menu for 20–40

    The first rule of hosting for 20 or more: let go of the Norman Rockwell turkey-carving moment.

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