Consider this the definitive guide to preparing a little Thanksgiving feast for two. Almost everything is cooked on a single sheet pan and is done in less than 2 hours, with plenty of wonderful leftovers! I’ve even included a timetable chart with tips on what you may prepare ahead of time.
Preparing Thanksgiving dinner does not have to take all day, particularly if it are only the two of you! I’m trying to fulfill all of your Thanksgiving meal fantasies. Or, at the very least, provide a means for you to spend less time worried and more time enjoying it.
If you can’t spend Thanksgiving with your extended family, don’t miss out on the ultimate day of comfort food or the promise of Thanksgiving leftovers.
Contents
- What should I make for a small Thanksgiving dinner?
- What kind of equipment and tools do I need?
- 3 Tips for Making a Small Batch Thanksgiving
- Step by Step Instructions for Making Thanksgiving Dinner for Two
- The Other No Muss, No Fuss Sides
- Drink Pairings for Thanksgiving Dinner
- What Can I Make Ahead of Time?
- Want to Make the Gravy Taste More Homemade?
- Thanksgiving Dinner Timeline Infographic
- More Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas
- Thanksgiving Dinner for Two Recipe
- FAQs
- How can I have Thanksgiving for two?
- What do you eat on Thanksgiving for one person?
- What is a basic Thanksgiving dinner menu?
- What do you eat for a small Thanksgiving?
- How do you host a small Thanksgiving?
- How to do Thanksgiving without family?
- How do you plan a small Thanksgiving dinner?
- What to cook when alone on Thanksgiving?
- What are 3 main foods on Thanksgiving?
- What are the 12 most popular Thanksgiving dishes?
What you’ll find in this post:
- Step-by-step directions (along with photographs, of course!) for preparing your Thanksgiving meal for two, as well as the precise sequence of operations and time for everything.
- Shortcuts that make preparation simpler and less stressful
- Suggestions for cocktail pairings
- A list of items that can be made ahead of time
- For those who like to see things visually, here is a timeline infographic.
- Suggestions for what else you might offer if you want to be creative and serve something off the menu
And, since this is such a big and detailed piece, I’ve included a Table of Contents! Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
- What should I prepare for a little Thanksgiving meal?
- What kind of equipment and tools do I need?
- 3 Tips for Making a Small Batch Thanksgiving
- Making Thanksgiving Dinner for Two: Step-by-Step Instructions
- The Other No Muss, No Fuss Sides
- Drink Pairings for Thanksgiving Dinner
- What Can I Make Ahead of Time?
- Want to Make the Gravy Taste More Homemade?
- Thanksgiving Dinner Timeline Infographic
What should I make for a small Thanksgiving dinner?
If you’re just cooking for two people, you don’t need a dozen sides, in my opinion. This isn’t a potluck where everyone brings something to compliment the host’s turkey and you pick and choose from a variety of options. You’re having a private Thanksgiving meal with just the two of you, so prepare just what you want to eat!
Here’s what we’re making in one high-sided sheet pan:
- Juicy turkey breast (not a whole bird)
- Roasted sweet potatoes
- Green beans with garlic and almonds
- Simple filling (starts on the burner and ends on a sheet pan)
And here’s what we’re adding to our plates:
- Cranberry sauce
- Gravy
- Dinner rolls
- Your choice of festive cocktails
What kind of equipment and tools do I need?
Nothing out of the ordinary! There’s no need for an immersion blender, Instant Pot, or anything else that requires electricity. You’ll need:
- A big sheet pan with high sides This one, which measures 18 x 13 x 2, is the ideal size for us.
- Foil made of aluminum You don’t have to use foil if your baking sheet is nonstick, but it definitely makes cleaning easier!
- Thermometer I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: we adore our ThermoWorks ChefAlarm (affiliate link).
- Medium saucepan
- Small mixing bowl
- Cutting board
- Chefs knife
3 Tips for Making a Small Batch Thanksgiving
- Don’t bother purchasing a whole turkey. Simply choose a boneless, skinless turkey breast. It will cook in FAR less time, will not need basting, and you will still have leftovers!
I used a 2 pound unseasoned turkey breast for this article, but you may use 1 or 3 pound breasts, and if you want to omit the seasoning mix in the recipe card, you can also use a pre-seasoned one!
- Choose just a few sides. When it’s only you two, you don’t need a million different solutions, as I already said. This decreases the amount of time you spend standing in front of the stove and is simply more practical and realistic.
Stuffing, sweet potatoes, and green beans are our three sides for this article.
- Shortcuts are quite acceptable. Some Thanksgiving mainstays are difficult to create from scratch in small numbers without expending a lot of time and energy (I’m looking at you, stuffing), so there’s no shame in adopting some shortcuts.
Shortcuts were used for the sweet potatoes, stuffing, and gravy (with the option of utilizing a shortcut for the cranberry sauce and dinner rolls as well). The idea here is to make this dinner as stress-free as possible!
Step by Step Instructions for Making Thanksgiving Dinner for Two
Step #1: Oven prep
Preheat your oven to 400°F (205°C) on the middle rack and prepare your baking sheet. Aluminum foil will be used to line a big, high-sided baking pan. You’ll need a couple sheets of foil to thoroughly cover the bottom and sides of the pan, folding the foil ends over the corners.
I use this 18 x 13 x 2 pan, which is about deep enough to keep everything in place.
If your skillet is nonstick, you don’t need to cover it with foil, but believe me when I say it makes cleanup a million times simpler. No soaking or cleaning necessary; just fold and discard.
Step #2: Prepare the sweet potatoes
Because potatoes are known for taking a long time to cook, we’re going to chop them in half widthwise to ensure they cook in the same length of time as the rest of our components.
Rinse and clean them well before patting them dry. Poke them all over with a fork to enable the steam to escape and prevent them from bursting. I’ve never personally seen a potato explosion, but since I’ve heard enough horror tales, let’s be careful, shall we?
After that, cut them in half widthwise and coat each half with olive oil and kosher salt. And you’re welcome to poke even more holes in the sliced sides.
Place the potato halves on one side of the prepared pan, cut side up. Don’t worry, they’ll just be lonely for a short time.
Step #3: Prepare the stuffing
We’re also cutting corners on the stuffing. I enjoy my cornbread and bacon stuffing recipe, although I admit it requires some effort. And, in order to reduce stress this Thanksgiving, we’re going to start with store-bought stuffing mix.
I prefer to use cubed stuffing since it has more bits than other types of packaged stuffing mixes, making it seem more handmade. Simply follow the package directions and add the other ingredients listed on the recipe card for more flavor and substance. Substance, substance, substance.
You will need the following items in addition to what is specified on the package:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup onion, diced (about 1 small onion)
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 cupchicken broth
- 1 cup cornbread, cubed
- 1 tablespoonsage leaves, chopped
- cupchopped fresh parsley
- Salt and pepper, to taste
You’ll begin the preparation in a medium saucepan over medium heat, then combine everything and move it to your baking sheet, where the sweet potatoes are already making themselves at home. Make a well in the middle for the turkey and place the stuffing on the other side of the sheet.
Do you want to cook cornbread? Purchase several large cornbread muffins and cut one into cubes! Then there’s the leftover cornmeal muffins, which is never a terrible thing. If you don’t like cornbread, just leave it out; no other changes are required.I don’t have
Step #4: Prepare the turkey breast
Here comes the main attraction! And the preparation is so simple that you’ll never want to prepare a whole turkey again. Unless you’re Bob Belcher, in which case you look forward to it every year for 364 days. To everyone his or her own.
Take the turkey breast out of its packing. If it’s tied with string, take it off and don’t worry about the lines left in the flesh; they’ll disappear as it cooks.
If it has one of those tiny plastic meat thermometers in it, leave it in, but don’t use it as your genuine indication of whether or not the turkey is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re just inaccurate, and we don’t want to jeopardize food safety.
Season and dry the turkey. Using a paper towel, pat the turkey dry. Season with salt and pepper all over. In a small dish, mix the melted butter, chopped garlic, sage, and thyme, and then coat the turkey with it. That’s all. You’re finished.
I told you it would be simple! Carefully place the turkey in the middle of the stuffing on the baking pan.
Step #5: Roast
Now that the potatoes, stuffing, and turkey are ready to put on the prepared baking sheet, we’ll roast them for 40 minutes at 400F (204C).
We’ll prepare the green beans while they’re cooking.
Step #6: Prepare the green beans
Another simple and pleasant step. Toss the green beans with olive oil, sliced garlic, salt, and pepper in a small mixing dish.
The end.
Step #7: Add the green beans
After 40 minutes of roasting, add the green beans to the middle of the sheet (between the potatoes and the stuffing) and return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes.
Sweet potatoes and green beans should be soft, and the filling should be faintly browned.
Step #8: Check the turkey
The most important aspect of all of this is that the turkey is cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit (you may remove it from the oven once it hits 160 degrees Fahrenheit since it will rise to 165 degrees Fahrenheit while resting).
To keep an eye on things, I use our Thermoworks ChefAlarm (aff link) and insert the probe into the thickest portion of the breast before placing it in the oven.
Don’t worry if your turkey isn’t fully cooked when the rest of the sides are. Place the turkey breast on a second baking sheet and return to the oven until it reaches the desired temperature.
While the turkey is cooking, wrap the second baking sheet with aluminum foil and leave it in a warm spot while you wait for the bird to complete.
Alternatively, if the turkey won’t be cooking for long, you may use aluminum foil to cover everything except the bird to keep it from browning too much while the turkey cooks.
Step #9: Slice the turkey
Once the turkey has reached 165°F, move it to a cutting board with a well around the sides to collect the juices and let aside for at least 15 minutes. I like to wrap it gently with foil as it rests to keep it from cooling too much.
You may now slice it as you like. I like thick slices, but you may do whatever you want.
Final Step: Ready, set, serve!
If you prefer a more formal presentation, place everything on a big plate and serve yourself at the table. Even though it’s only the two of us, I like to appear fancy, so this is my preferred option.
But if you merely want to eat quickly (and don’t have dogs who could climb on the counter to help themselves to your dinner), divide what you want between two plates and dive in! If you’re going back for seconds, cover the remainder with foil; otherwise, put it all in an airtight container and put it in the fridge.
And, no matter how you serve your dinner, don’t forget to top the green beans with some slivered or sliced almonds for a little something something.
The Other No Muss, No Fuss Sides
Remember how I mentioned these sides at the start of this article around six years ago?
- Cranberry sauce
- Gravy
- Dinner rolls
- Your choice of festive cocktails
Let’s keep things as simple as possible. Grab a can of whole berry cranberry sauce, a carton of the best turkey gravy you can find, and a bundle of dinner buns from your neighborhood bakery.
But what about something homemade?! My cranberry sauce recipe is fantastic, as are my rosemary sea salt dinner rolls. But guess what? You’re already working hard, so don’t worry about further preparation. If you’re feeling ambitious, create your own; you’ll earn a gold star from me.
And about those cocktails
Drink Pairings for Thanksgiving Dinner
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What Can I Make Ahead of Time?
You may cook these sides and sweets ahead of time to save even more time on Thanksgiving day.
Dinner Rolls or Bread
Rosemary Sea Salt Dinner Rolls and Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits are two of my particular faves. If you wanted to go all out, prepare a loaf of Cranberry Pumpkin Banana Bread instead (you’ll have plenty of leftovers for breakfast).
Desserts
Personally, I’m quite enough with a heaping spoonful of cranberry sauce and calling it a day. I’m not a big fan of pie, so it’s not a must-have on Thanksgiving. But if you’re like the other 99% of the regular people and like different sweets, prepare one of these.
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Want to Make the Gravy Taste More Homemade?
Stir in part of the cooked turkey juices, a bit of chopped thyme, garlic powder, and pepper, and you’re done! It will be a notable improvement worthy of your affection.
Because, again lets not stress ourselves out!
Thanksgiving Dinner Timeline Infographic
Using 6PM as a baseline, this infographic sets out precisely what has to go in the oven and when during the 2 hour period from prep to chowing down.
Simply alter the hours if you are not dining at 6 p.m.
More Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas
If you’re searching for some additional dinner ideas, check out these!
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Thanksgiving Dinner for Two Recipe
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Description
Equipment
- High-sided sheet pan
- Medium saucepan
- Thermometer (ChefAlarm)
- Mixing bowls
- Cutting board
- Chefs knife
- Aluminum foil
Ingredients
For the sweet potatoes
- 2small to medium sweet potatoes
- olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Toppings: butter, brown sugar, honey, cinnamon, or small marshmallows (optional).
For the stuffing
- cupunsalted butter
- 2clovesgarlic, minced
- 1cuponion, diced (about 1 small onion)
- 1cupdiced celery
- 8ounceschicken broth
- 6 oz. cubed stuffing mix (half of a 12 oz. box)
- 1cupcornbread, cubed (optional, but encouraged)
- 1Tablespoonsage leaves, chopped
- cupchopped fresh parsley
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the turkey
- 12-pound boneless, skin-on turkey breast
- Salt and pepper
- 2tablespoonsunsalted butter, melted
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- 1teaspoonminced sage
- 1teaspoonminced thyme leaves
- salt and pepper
For the green beans
- 6ouncesgreen beans
- 1clovegarlic, thinly sliced
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- sliced or slivered almonds, for topping
Instructions
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400F (204C).
- Line a big high-sided sheet pan with aluminum foil, making careful to cover the bottom and sides and folding the foil ends over the pan’s edges.
For the sweet potatoes
- Rinse and scrape the outsides of your sweet potatoes before patting them dry.
2 medium to small sweet potatoes - Slice each sweet potato in half width-wise.
- Rub them with just enough olive oil to coat them, then sprinkle with kosher salt.
salt & pepper, olive oil - Place four potato halves, cut side up, on one end of a baking sheet coated with foil.
For the stuffing
- Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium high heat.
1 pound unsalted butter - Stir in the garlic, onion, and celery until soft.
2 garlic cloves, 1 cup onion, 1 cup chopped celery - Stir in the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
8 oz. chicken broth - Remove from fire and whisk in the stuffing mix, cornbread (if using), sage, and parsley to coat and incorporate. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6 oz. cubed stuffing mix, 1 cup cornbread, 1 tsp. sage leaves, 1 cup chopped fresh parsley, salt and pepper - Transfer to the baking sheet on the other side from the potatoes, leaving a well in the middle for the turkey. Make a space for the green beans between the potatoes and cornmeal.
For the turkey
- Pat the turkey breast dry and season with salt and pepper all over.
1 pound boneless, skinless turkey breast seasoned with salt & pepper - In a small mixing dish, combine the butter, garlic, sage, and thyme.
2 tbsp unsalted butter, 2 garlic cloves, 1 tsp chopped sage leaves, 1 tsp minced thyme leaves - Rub the butter mixture all over the turkey with a pastry brush or your fingertips.
- Place the seasoned turkey breast directly on top of the stuffing, not on top of the filling.
Time to roast: Part I
- Place the prepared baking sheet with the sweet potatoes, stuffing, and turkey in the oven on the center rack and roast for 40 minutes at 400F.
Prep the green beans
- Toss green beans with a sprinkle of oil, sliced garlic, salt, and pepper in a small bowl.
6 ounces green beans, 1 garlic clove, salt & pepper
Time to roast: Part II
- After the other ingredients have roasted for approximately 40 minutes, gently remove the skillet from the oven and place the green beans in the middle.
- Return to the oven for 15-20 minutes more, or until the sweet potatoes and green beans are soft and the stuffing is golden brown.
- Of course, the most important aspect of all of this is that the turkey is cooked to 165F (you may remove it from the oven at 160F and it will rise to 165F while resting). If your turkey isn’t done when the rest of the sides are, put it on a separate baking sheet and return it to the oven until it’s cooked to the right temperature.
- While you wait for the turkey, cover the second baking sheet with aluminum foil and put it in a warm area.
- Alternatively, if the turkey won’t be cooking for long, you may use aluminum foil to cover everything except the bird to keep it from browning too much while the turkey cooks.
- When the turkey reaches 165°F, move it to a cutting board with a well around the sides to collect the juices and set aside for at least 15 minutes. Cut into desired shapes.
Serve!
- If you prefer a more formal presentation, place everything on a big plate and serve yourself at the table.
- If you want to eat quickly, divide what you want between two plates and dive in!