Your Thanksgiving Menu for 6, 8, 10 or 12: A Stress-Free Plan

Thanksgiving is a big meal, and it's easy to panic over the quantities. Don't. The menu barely changes whether you're feeding six or twelve. What changes is the size of the bird, the number of pies and how much you do ahead. Here's the plan, plus the shortcuts that keep you out of the kitchen on the day.

The core menu: a roasted squash and sage soup to start. Dry-brined roast turkey with gravy for the main. On the side, sage and onion stuffing, crisp roast potatoes, buttery sweet potato mash, green beans with lemon and a bowl of fresh cranberry sauce. To finish, pumpkin pie with softly whipped cream. Simple, familiar and very hard to get wrong.

Start with the turkey, because it sets the timetable. Dry-brine it 24 to 48 hours ahead. Rub in about 1 teaspoon of fine salt per 500g (1lb) of bird, pop it uncovered in the fridge and leave it alone. You get crisp skin and well-seasoned meat, and there's no bucket of brine to wrestle. On the day, roast at 180°C (160°C fan/350°F). Allow roughly 3 to 3½ hours for a 4.5kg (10lb) bird, a little more for bigger ones. Trust a probe thermometer, not the clock: you want 75°C in the thickest part of the thigh. Then rest it, loosely covered with foil, for at least 45 minutes. Your oven is free for the sides while it sits. If you want a quicker version to cook check out Spatchcock Thanksgiving Roast Turkey recipe we have in our Directory.

Cooking for 6: a 4.5kg (10lb) turkey, or a large crown if you want less fuss. Make the soup with 1.2kg (2lb 10oz) butternut squash, 2 onions and 1.2 litres (5 cups) of stock. You'll need about 1.2kg (2lb 10oz) potatoes, 900g (2lb) sweet potatoes and 400g (14oz) bread for the stuffing. One pumpkin pie will do.

Cooking for 8: a 5.5kg (12lb) bird. Make the soup, stuffing and sides 1½ times over. Bake two puddings, such as a pumpkin pie and an apple crumble. Keep the cranberry sauce to one batch and let people help themselves.

Cooking for 10: go for a 6.5 to 7kg (14 to 15lb) turkey if your oven takes it. Otherwise cook a smaller bird plus a crown. Double the soup and the sides, and add a tray of honey-roast carrots so nobody leaves hungry. Two pies, plus a bowl of whipped cream, covers dessert.

Cooking for 12: don't squeeze a giant bird into a home oven. Roast a 5kg (11lb) turkey and a 2kg (4½lb) crown side by side if there's room, or cook the crown while the first bird rests. Crowns cook faster and carve easily. Double the sides, make two stuffing dishes and serve three puddings so everyone gets their favourite. Make the soup in a slow cooker and keep it warm there, which frees a hob ring.

The cranberry sauce is the easiest thing on the table. Simmer 300g (3 cups) fresh cranberries with 150g (¾ cup) caster sugar, the zest and juice of 1 orange and 100ml (scant ½ cup) water for about 10 minutes, until the berries pop. It keeps happily in the fridge for days. Scale it up as needed.

Now the time-savers, because this is where the day is won.

Three days ahead: make the gravy. Roast 1kg (2lb 4oz) turkey wings with an onion and a carrot until deep brown. Simmer them in 1.5 litres (6 cups) of stock, strain, then thicken with a roux of 3 tablespoons each of butter and plain flour. Chill or freeze. On the day, you only need to reheat it and add the roasting juices.

Two days ahead: bake the pumpkin pie. Whisk a 425g (15oz) tin of pumpkin purée with 2 eggs, 350ml (1½ cups) evaporated milk, 150g (¾ cup) light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ginger and ¼ teaspoon cloves. Pour into a blind-baked pastry case. Bake at 220°C (200°C fan/425°F) for 15 minutes, then 180°C (160°C fan/350°F) for 40 to 45 minutes, until just set with a slight wobble. Cool and chill.

The day before: make the soup, assemble the stuffing ready for baking, peel the potatoes and keep them in cold water, and trim the beans. Par-boil the roast potatoes, rough them up in the colander and leave them to steam dry. Cook sweet potato mash and reheat it with a splash of milk.

On the day: put the turkey in, then do almost nothing. Potatoes and stuffing go into the hot oven while the bird rests. Soup warms on the hob. Beans take five minutes. You carve, and sit down with everyone.

A few last tips. Write the timetable on paper and stick it on the fridge. Hand out jobs: someone pours drinks, someone mashes, someone does the washing-up. And save your finished plan to a RecipeFiler cookbook, so next year you can copy it instead of starting from scratch.