I have hosted enough Thanksgivings to know the oven is the real bottleneck, not the turkey and not the guest list. Every casserole wants 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes at the exact moment the bird needs it, which is why I now build most of mine the day before and bake them while the turkey rests. These all hold up to that treatment, and a few are better for it. The oven schedule is the whole game.
1) Cheesy Potatoes Au Gratin
Slice the potatoes on a mandoline at about 1/8 inch, because uneven slices are how you end up with a gratin that is half mush and half crunch. Layer them with cream, garlic, and Gruyère, then bake covered at 375°F (190°C) for 45 minutes before the foil comes off. The last 20 minutes uncovered is where the top goes deep golden. I make this one on Wednesday and reheat it, and nobody has ever noticed.
2) Baked Creamed Corn
This is the side that disappears first at my table every year, and I have stopped trying to understand why. Frozen corn works fine here, and I will defend that position to anyone. Simmer it with butter, cream, and a spoonful of sugar, then bake it in a buttered dish at 350°F (175°C) until the edges bubble, about 25 minutes. A little cream cheese stirred in at the end keeps it thick instead of soupy.
3) Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel
I have nothing against the marshmallow version, but a pecan streusel holds up much better on a crowded buffet. Roast the sweet potatoes whole instead of boiling them, which concentrates the sweetness and keeps the filling from going watery. Mash them with butter, a little brown sugar, and an egg, then cover with a crumble of pecans, flour, and butter. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
4) Baked Mac and Cheese
A Thanksgiving mac and cheese has to survive an hour on a buffet, so the sauce needs to be looser than feels right going into the oven. The pasta keeps drinking it as it bakes. Cook the noodles 2 minutes short of the package time, fold them into a sharp cheddar sauce, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes. Skip the breadcrumb topping if you are reheating it later, since it goes soft anyway.
5) Green Bean Casserole
This is the one casserole I make almost exactly the way the soup can told my grandmother to make it. The only change is fresh green beans, blanched for 4 minutes, which hold their snap in a way canned beans simply do not. Everything else stays: cream of mushroom, a splash of soy sauce, and a heavy hand with the fried onions. Save half the onions for the last 5 minutes of baking so they stay crisp.
6) Make-Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole
Mashed potatoes made the morning of take up a burner you will badly want for gravy. I mash mine the day before with butter, sour cream, and a block of cream cheese, which is the part that keeps them from drying out when they reheat. Spread them in a baking dish, refrigerate, and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes while the turkey rests. The top even picks up a little color.
7) Cornbread Dressing
Bake the cornbread 2 days ahead and leave it out to dry, because fresh cornbread turns to paste the second the broth hits it. I crumble it with sautéed onion, celery, sage, and enough chicken broth to make it look slightly too wet. It firms up in the oven at 350°F (175°C) over about 45 minutes. A couple of beaten eggs hold the whole thing together so it scoops instead of crumbling.
8) Shepherd’s Pie
This is the best thing that can happen to Thanksgiving leftovers, and I say that as someone who loves a cold turkey sandwich. Chopped turkey or ground beef goes into a gravy with peas and carrots, and the leftover mashed potatoes get spread right over the top. Rough up the potato layer with a fork before baking so the ridges brown. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 25 minutes and Friday dinner is done.
9) Broccoli Rice Casserole
This is a church potluck classic and it deserves more respect than it gets. Cooked rice, chopped broccoli, sharp cheddar, and a creamy sauce bake together at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes until the cheese on top browns. Use rice that was cooked the day before. Fresh rice is too soft and the whole dish ends up gluey.
10) Chicken Pot Pie
I make this with chicken in November and with leftover turkey the weekend after, and it is honestly better the second way. The filling is a thick, peppery gravy with carrots, celery, and peas, topped with a sheet of store-bought puff pastry. Cut a few slits in the top so the steam has somewhere to go. Skip them and the pastry puffs up like a pillow, then collapses into the filling.
11) Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole
I started making this for a vegetarian cousin and it has since become one of the most requested things I bring. Wild rice takes about 45 minutes to cook on its own, so I do that part the day before. Brown the mushrooms hard in butter before they go anywhere near the rice, then fold everything together with shallots, thyme, and a little cream. It bakes covered for 25 minutes and holds well on a warming tray.
12) Turkey Enchilada Casserole
Not every Thanksgiving dish needs to taste like sage. Layer corn tortillas with shredded turkey, red enchilada sauce, and Monterey Jack, then bake covered at 375°F (190°C) for 20 minutes and uncovered for 10 more. It feeds a crowd for about $15 and makes good use of the leftover bird. My family started requesting it for the Saturday after, which I take as a compliment.
13) Cheesy Chicken Bake with Cracker Topping
Every family has at least 2 people who do not care about turkey, and this is what I put out for them. Cooked chicken gets folded into a creamy sauce with sour cream and cheddar, then buried under buttery crushed crackers. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes, until the sauce bubbles up around the edges and the topping goes crisp. It can be assembled the night before, but hold the cracker layer until it goes into the oven or it turns soggy.
14) Butternut Squash Gratin
Thin slices of butternut squash bake in garlicky cream with Parmesan and a few sage leaves, and the result is sweeter and lighter than a potato gratin. Peel the squash with a sharp Y-peeler and slice it as thin as you can manage. I have decided it is worth buying the pre-cut neck pieces if your knife is not up to the job. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for about 50 minutes, until a knife slides through with no resistance.
15) Everything Bagel Breakfast Casserole
Thanksgiving morning is not the time to stand over a griddle. Torn everything bagels soak overnight in eggs, milk, cream cheese, and green onion, then bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes until the center is set and no longer jiggles. The bagel seasoning on top gets toasty and crunchy. I slide it into the oven before anyone is up, and it keeps people out of the kitchen until noon.
16) Pineapple Casserole
If you did not grow up in the South, this one sounds strange, and I understand that. Crushed pineapple, sharp cheddar, sugar, and a buttery cracker topping bake together into something sweet, salty, and genuinely good next to ham. It takes about 10 minutes to assemble. Bake it at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes and watch the skeptics go back for seconds.
17) Churro Bread Pudding
Pie is the obvious dessert, and I am not here to argue with pie. But a pan of churro bread pudding feeds 12 people for about the price of 1 store-bought pie, and it is built to be made ahead. Cubed brioche soaks in a cinnamon custard overnight, bakes at 350°F (175°C) for 40 minutes, and gets a final shower of cinnamon sugar while it is still hot. Serve it warm with whipped cream.
18) Pumpkin Dump Cake
This is the dessert I make when the pies are spoken for and I have 15 minutes to contribute something. A spiced pumpkin custard goes in the bottom of a 9×13 pan, a box of yellow cake mix gets sprinkled over the top, and melted butter goes over that. The butter soaks down and turns the cake mix into a crisp, crumbly crust at 350°F (175°C). Chopped pecans on top are optional, but I always add them.
19) Baked Cinnamon Apples
These sit somewhere between a side and a dessert, and on Thanksgiving that is a useful place to be. Slice firm apples like Honeycrisp, toss them with brown sugar, cinnamon, and a few pats of butter, and bake covered at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes. Soft apples like McIntosh collapse into applesauce here, which is the mistake I made the first year. They are excellent next to ham or pork.
20) Cauliflower Cheese Bake
Cauliflower cheese is the British cousin of mac and cheese, and it makes a good case for itself on a table full of starch. Steam the florets until just tender, about 5 minutes, then let them drain properly. Wet cauliflower thins out the sauce, which is the mistake almost everyone makes the first time. Cover with a mustardy cheddar sauce and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
21) Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole
Frozen shredded hash browns, sour cream, cheddar, and a crushed cornflake topping. That is the whole recipe, and it has fed more family gatherings than anything I could invent. Thaw the hash browns fully and pat them dry before mixing, or they release water and the casserole never quite sets. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 45 minutes until the edges crisp.
