Thanksgiving Cooking Timeline Calculator
Pick your serve time, your turkey, and your dishes — get a reverse-engineered schedule: the day your turkey must start thawing in the fridge, when it goes in and comes out of the oven (from USDA tables), and a printable minute-by-minute plan for the day, with oven conflicts flagged before they happen. Everything runs in your browser — your plan is saved locally and never uploaded.
When is dinner?
Your turkey
Your dishes
Minutes and oven/stovetop tags are editable — set them to match your actual recipes. “Make ahead” moves a dish to the day before.
Your timeline
Food safety — the parts that are not optional
- Turkey is safe only at an internal temperature of 165°F, measured with a food thermometer in the innermost thigh, innermost wing and thickest part of the breast. Time tables are planning estimates; the thermometer is the test. (USDA — Let's Talk Turkey)
- Refrigerator thawing takes about 24 hours for every 4–5 lbs, in a fridge at 40°F or below. Never thaw a turkey on the counter. (USDA — Turkey Basics: Safe Thawing)
- Missed the thaw window? USDA's cold-water method takes about 30 minutes per pound, changing the water every 30 minutes — and the bird must be cooked immediately afterwards.
- Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours of serving.
FAQ
Where do the turkey times come from?
The thaw schedule and the roasting times are taken from USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service publications: Turkey Basics: Safe Thawing (24 hours per 4–5 lbs in the refrigerator — we schedule the conservative end, one day per 4 lbs) and the 325°F unstuffed timetable in Let's Talk Turkey — A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey (we schedule the upper end of each weight band so dinner is never waiting on the bird). Spatchcock times are a common planning estimate, not a USDA figure — either way, doneness is decided by a 165°F thermometer reading, never by the clock.
Why plan backwards from serve time?
Because serve time is the only fixed point. Working forwards ("start the turkey at 11") quietly accumulates errors; working backwards, every start time is derived from when the dish must be done — the turkey's rest, its roast, its thaw day, and every side dish all land automatically, and clashes (two things needing the oven at once) become visible before Thursday instead of at 3 PM on it.
What should I actually make ahead?
Anything that reheats well or is served cold: cranberry sauce and pies are the classic day-before wins, and casseroles can be assembled ahead and baked (or just reheated) after the turkey comes out — it rests for 30–45 minutes anyway, which is a free oven window. If the calculator flags an oven conflict, that's the fix it will suggest.
Do my details get uploaded? Are there affiliate links?
No and no. The page is fully client-side — your plan is stored only in your browser's localStorage. We currently have no affiliate relationships; the USDA links are plain references.