The staff inside the test kitchens at Bon Appétit have cooked up a new approach to holiday hosting that will help ease home cooks back into turkey duty with a menu that prioritizes beloved flavors over fussy techniques.
With no more than 10 ingredients per recipe, these dishes check all the boxes without a laborious amount of time prepping.
Plus, if you can't find your roasting pan or don't feel like rearranging the kitchen to get to it, there's a simple solution for that too.
Stuffing biscuits
All the herby and aromatic flavors of a classic Thanksgiving stuffing -- sage, rosemary, fennel seed, oniony scallion -- are packed into this tender biscuit. Stacking pieces of dough before rolling out ensures plenty of tall, buttery layers. If you have any extra biscuits after the big meal, store them in an airtight container at room temperature overnight and prepare to have the most festive biscuits and gravy (featuring leftover Thanksgiving gravy, of course!) for breakfast the next morning.
Makes 12
Ingredients
1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher or 13⁄4 tsp. Morton kosher salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 4 scallions, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
3 tablespoon finely chopped sage
1 (heaping) tablespoon fennel seeds
1 1/2 cups chilled buttermilk, plus more for brushing
Directions
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 425 degrees. Whisk salt, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, pepper and 4 cups flour in a large bowl. Add butter and, using your fingers, work into dry ingredients, smashing and flattening and tossing to coat with flour, until you have some flat quarter-size pieces and some smaller pea-size pieces. Add scallions, rosemary, sage and fennel seeds and toss to evenly distribute. Add 1 1/2 cups buttermilk and stir mixture with a fork just until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead once or twice to incorporate any loose pieces.
Pat dough into a 10-by-8-inch rectangle. Using a large knife, cut in half crosswise, then stack one piece on top of the other. Turn rectangle so a long side is closest to you and cut dough in half crosswise again. Stack one piece on top of the other. (This process will build layers into your biscuits.) Turn dough and pat again into a 10-by-8-inch rectangle. Cut into 12 even pieces (you should have a grid of four on the long sides and three on the short sides). Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing evenly, and freeze 10 minutes.
Brush top of each biscuit lightly with buttermilk and bake, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until golden brown, 22 to 26 minutes.
Sheet-pan turkey and gravy
No fancy equipment required so stop hunting for that roasting pan you never use! This Thanksgiving turkey with a simple gravy made from the drippings requires nothing more than a trusty rimmed baking sheet and a wire rack that fits inside. Give the bird plenty of time to dry-brine in the refrigerator -- at least 24 hours and up to two days -- for maximum flavor. Once you get roasting, a 12- to 14-pound turkey will need only about two hours (plus 30 minutes of resting time) to turn golden brown and perfectly moist.
Serves: 8 to 10
Ingredients
1 12- to 14-pound turkey
1/3 cup Diamond Crystal or 1/4 cup Morton kosher salt
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, divided
3 cups turkey stock or low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
Assorted herb sprigs (for serving; optional)
Directions
Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack inside. Pat turkey dry with paper towels and place, breast side up, on rack.
Mix salt, brown sugar and paprika in a medium bowl to combine. Pat dry brine all over sides and in cavity of turkey, working into any crevices. Chill turkey, uncovered, at least 24 hours and up to two days.
When you are ready to roast turkey, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange turkey, breast side up, on a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet (if using the same baking sheet, throw away foil and rinse pan to remove any accumulated salty liquid). Pour 3/4 cup water into baking sheet (this will keep the drippings from burning). Roast, rotating baking sheet halfway through, until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt half cup butter in a small saucepan over medium.
Remove turkey from oven and brush or spoon half of the butter over turkey. Pour an additional 1/3 cup water into baking sheet.
Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Return turkey to oven (if any spots are overly dark, like the wing tips, cover with small pieces of foil) and roast, rotating baking sheet and brushing turkey with remaining melted butter halfway through, until well browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 155 degrees (temperature will continue to rise as the turkey rests), 70 to 80 minutes. Let rest on baking sheet at least 30 minutes.
Lift and tilt turkey so that all the drippings from the bird and inside the cavity run onto the baking sheet, and transfer turkey to a cutting board. Pour drippings into a large measuring glass, scraping in browned bits stuck to baking sheet with a spatula. Pour in stock as needed to measure 4 cups.
Melt remaining half cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until smooth and light golden brown, about 3 minutes. Gradually pour in drippings mixture, whisking constantly until combined. Reduce heat to low and simmer, whisking often, until gravy is thickened, about 5 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce and whisk well. Season gravy with salt and lots of pepper.
Carve turkey and arrange on a large platter. Tuck herb sprigs around turkey if desired. Serve with gravy on the side.
