Thanksgiving Tips from the 'America's Test Kitchen' Hosts

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America’s Test Kitchen’s Bridget Lancaster likes to think of a Thanksgiving menu as “like an extended family get-together,” she says. “You’ve got your old favorite: you hear from Aunt Dottie once a year. But then you’ve got new people at the table.”

In the same way, you can keep your stalwart recipes year after year – for Lancaster, a decades-old America’s Test Kitchen pecan pie that utilizes a double boiler. But you can also try out novel dishes or twists on classics, which might become part of your permanent roster just like a boyfriend who becomes an in-law. For instance, Lancaster makes sous-vide turkey breasts to supplement the extra demand for white meat.

Those immersion-cooked turkey breasts certainly don’t take the place of a full turkey at Lancaster’s Thanksgiving, however: She still roasts a full bird – and also some extra thighs and legs, too. “I make enough turkey, probably, to feed a small army,” she says. “Or, as I like to call them, my children.”

For Lancaster and everyone else at America’s Test Kitchen, “Thanksgiving is our Super Bowl.” They work on recipes for the holiday year-round, with an intense period of focus roughly six months in advance, “though it can be really hard to find turkeys in the middle of April,” she says.

They test out new dishes, like air fryer Brussels sprouts. “I’m not a huge Brussels sprouts fan, but I tested this recipe with my husband,” says Lancaster’s fellow host, Julia Collin Davison. “We ate the whole thing standing up in the kitchen. We just could not stop.”

Or they look for tweaks or new versions of old recipes, like introducing an all-butter pie crust that’s “a little firmer” than their famous “pastry-like” vodka crust, according to Collin Davison.

“I can eat my own weight in pie,” Lancaster says. In addition to pecan, she also makes a lemon meringue pie – an homage to her grandmother, who would always bake one for Lancaster’s birthday, which is around Thanksgiving. Plus, the citrus cuts through the richness of a heavy meal.

As does the young brightness of a Beaujolais Nouveau, which Collin Davison likes to serve at Thanksgiving. Red wine is her favorite dish at the holiday, she jokes, and she finds Burgundy or Pinot Noir and Sancerre satisfy anyone at the table who likes wine. “They go with everything – or nothing,” she says with a laugh. Who can blame a harried host for enjoying a glass while they cook?

To avoid becoming an overwhelmed host, Collin Davison suggests making a timesheet, a technique she picked up while working in catering. Combining that with Lancaster’s reminder that “it’s OK to ask for help” can ease the stress; Collin Davison suggests having people sign up or assigning them tasks on the timesheet, so that others can pitch in and know when and how to do so. She once hosted a Thanksgiving at someone else’s house, and thanks to that system was even freed up to take a walk at one point.

Do as much as you can ahead of time – America’s Test Kitchen has a make-ahead gravy, saving you the scramble to make a roux and stir constantly after the turkey has come out of the oven. And don’t feel bad ordering some dishes or asking guests to bring things.

“A lot of bakeries can make dinner rolls very well,” says Lancaster. “What’s really important is everybody sitting down and enjoying a meal together.” 

Try a new America's Test Kitchen recipe worthy of the Thanksgiving table: shaved celery salad with pomegranate-honey vinaigrette.