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This one pan holiday meal is ideal for more intimate, budget-conscious, and fuss-free holiday gatherings! With turkey, stuffing, green beans, and sweet potatoes, it’s got all the must-haves of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, prepped and cooked in a fraction of the time thanks to this convenient sheet pan method.
See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.
Why This Is The Best Holiday Meal For Small Gatherings
- If you celebrate the holidays with a smaller, more intimate gathering that really doesn’t warrant a 10-pound turkey and more dressing than you know what to do with, this is exactly what you need. It has all the components you need for a classic Thanksgiving dinner for 4-5 people! Juicy turkey, tender sweet potatoes, crisp green beans, and an easy bread stuffing that may just rival grandma’s are all oven-baked right on one sheet pan, for the absolute easiest “traditional” holiday meal you have EVER cooked!
- So many sheet pan holiday meals don’t think about additional dishes — while this meal is still one pan, I’ve also included a recipe for a simple gravy you can throw together while the star of the show finishes up in the oven. All that’s left is cracking open a can of cranberry sauce, and warming up a few buttery dinner rolls.
- This recipe eliminates a huge chunk of that prep and planning and hands-on cooking time versus a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, giving you a holiday meal that’s ready to eat in less than 2 hours and freeing you up to actually enjoy the holiday with your family and friends.
- It’s super budget-friendly. Depending on the size of the bird and where you live, you can get turkey breast for this recipe for roughly half the cost of a whole turkey. Yes, the whole turkey will give you more food, but when you don’t need that much, why not save the money??
If you want to go the extra mile instead of making the quick gravy included below, you could also make my make-ahead turkey gravy, as it doesn’t involve any drippings!
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What I Learned Testing This Recipe
- If you don’t have a single baking sheet large enough to fit a bed of bread stuffing, I’ve had success making this recipe using 2 baking sheets instead. It’s better to split the components up than to crowd everything onto one pan — doing that will almost guarantee something doesn’t cook completely. I recommend using one sheet pan for the sweet potatoes and green beans, and the other for the stuffing and turkey.
- Also, follow the order of operations listed on the recipe card even if you divide things up onto more than one pan. Trust me — I’ve got it all timed just right and lined up in the best way to get you perfect results. If you start with the green beans and finish up with the stuffing, you’ll end up with an overcooked/undercooked mess of a Thanksgiving dinner that’ll have you at IHOP before the night’s over.
- And, make sure you cook the turkey on top of the stuffing. This will allow the turkey juices and garlic-thyme butter to flavour the stuffing as everything cooks together. It also keeps the turkey elevated slightly rather than sitting directly on the hot baking sheet, which would make the bottom a little dry.
- Not sure how much turkey loin or breast you’ll need to feed your group? I’ve got a simple turkey formula that’ll ensure you’ve got plenty to go around. In general, you’ll want to plan for a half pound of uncooked turkey breast per person (so to feed 6 people, you’ll want to buy a 3-pound turkey breast). Little children and anyone with a smaller appetite (or who just prefers Thanksgiving sides instead!) will likely only need a quarter pound of uncooked turkey breast.
Ingredients
Sweet potatoes – Choose sweet potatoes of the same size so everyone gets a similar portion, and so that they cook evenly.
Butter or mini marshmallows – If you’re a marshmallow on your sweet potato casserole family, add a handful of mini marshmallows to each split sweet potato and broil them briefly before serving. If you prefer to keep things plain, add a pat of butter to each split potato instead. Salted or unsalted, it’s up to you! You’ll also need butter for cooking the turkey and the stuffing.
High-quality bread – Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Honestly, everything from French bread, to cornbread, sourdough or Italian bread will work well to make the stuffing, but you want to avoid anything overly soft like brioche which will yield soggy stuffing. For best results, use a day-old loaf.
Diced onion and celery – To season the stuffing.
Dried thyme and sage – To flavor the stuffing. You could use fresh instead (helpful as you need fresh thyme for the turkey anyway), but use half the amount of each. You’ll also need dried thyme or sage for the gravy.
Chicken broth – This is for the stuffing, and for the gravy. You could also use turkey broth if you have it to hand.
Egg – For binding the flavorings to the stuffing and for helping the chunks come together into a more traditional stuffing / dressing format.
Fresh parsley – This is to give the stuffing a bit of a lift and add a little freshness; feel free to skip this if you’ve opted to use fresh herbs instead of dried.
Turkey loin or breast – You’ll need a 3 pound piece. If you have a choice, choose the most evenly-sized one so you get perfectly moist slices the whole way through.
Fresh green beans – To save time and effort (though they’re less budget friendly) buy a pre-trimmd variety.
Olive oil – To cook the green beans. It will do a much better job of cooking them than the butter we’re using as the cooking fat for the rest of the dish.
All-purpose flour – To thicken the gravy.
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Leftover Storage Notes
Once everything has cooled, store any leftover components separately from each other for up to 3 days. You can reheat all the different elements in the oven, adding a little leftover gravy or a splash of broth to the turkey if it seems a little dry. Smaller portions can also be reheated in the microwave, but the oven will help keep all the textures at their best.
Frequently Asked Questions
I wouldn’t recommend it, as I’ve designed the timings around a boneless piece, and a bone-in piece will take longer to cook.
Fresh green beans are preferable here because they’re being roasted directly on the sheet pan — frozen beans contain more moisture and won’t develop the same lovely, roasted texture.
Wrapping them helps them steam until tender while the other ingredients roast, meaning they can cook alongside the turkey without drying out.
You want to pull the turkey around 160°F, then let it rest for 10 minutes. The temperature will continue to rise during resting to reach the target 165°F.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
One Pan Holiday Meal
Equipment
- Oven
- Fork
- Aluminum Foil
- baking sheet
- 2 large mixing bowls
- 2 small saucepans
- silicone or rubber spatula
- Cutting board
- Paper towels
- small mixing bowl
- Tongs
- whisk
- serving bowl or gravy boat
- internal meat thermometer
- Sharp knife
Ingredients
For the Sweet Potatoes
- 4 small sweet potatoes approximately 3-4 ounces each
- salt to taste, for serving
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste, for serving
- butter slices optional, for serving; see Notes
- 1 cup mini marshmallows optional, for serving
For the Stuffing
- 8 slices high-quality bread of choice cut into ½-inch cubes, see Notes
- 2 tablespoons butter see Notes
- ½ cup diced onion
- ½ cup diced celery
- salt to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon dried sage
- ½ cup chicken broth
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
For the Turkey
- 3 pounds uncooked turkey loin or turkey breast
- salt to taste
- 3 tablespoons butter softened, see Notes
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
For the Green Beans
- 1 pound fresh green beans ends trimmed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
For the Gravy
- 3 tablespoons butter see Notes
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- ½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- 1 pinch dried thyme or dried sage, optional
Instructions
For the Sweet Potatoes
- Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
- Use fork to poke small holes over entire surface of each sweet potato, then wrap each sweet potato tightly in aluminum foil.
- Place wrapped sweet potatoes on large baking sheet and place baking sheet in oven. Bake sweet potatoes 20 minutes. Prepare stuffing and turkey while sweet potatoes bake.
For the Stuffing
- Place bread cubes in large mixing bowl and set aside.
- Heat small saucepan over medium heat. When pan is warm, add butter and let butter melt completely, swirling pan occasionally to coat.
- When butter is melted, add diced onion and diced celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes or until veggies have softened.
- Remove saucepan from heat. Add salt, black pepper, dried thyme, and dried sage. Stir until spices are incorporated.
- Transfer onion and celery mixture to mixing bowl with bread cubes. Add chicken broth, large egg, and fresh parsley to bowl, then toss or gently stir until bread cubes are fully coated. Set aside to allow bread crumbs to absorb liquid.
For the Turkey
- Place turkey on cutting board. Pat turkey completely dry on all sides with paper towels, then liberally season all sides with salt.
- Add softened butter, minced garlic, and chopped thyme to small mixing bowl. Stir ingredients together until thoroughly incorporated, then rub compound butter mixture over entire surface of turkey.
- Remove baking sheet with sweet potatoes from oven. Use tongs to carefully move sweet potatoes, still wrapped in foil, to one end of baking sheet.
- Arrange prepared stuffing on opposite end of baking sheet, spreading stuffing out into one even layer while leaving enough space between stuffing and sweet potatoes for green beans to be added later. Place buttered turkey on top of bed of stuffing.
- Return baking sheet to oven and bake 20 minutes.
For the Green Beans
- Toward end of bake time, add trimmed green beans, olive oil, salt, and pepper to large mixing bowl. Toss or gently stir to fully coat green beans.
- Remove baking sheet from oven when 20-minute bake time has finished. Place green beans in center space between sweet potatoes and stuffing. Spread green beans out as well as possible, then return baking sheet to oven and bake 20 more minutes.
For the Gravy
- Toward end of baking time, heat small saucepan over medium heat. When pan is warm, add butter and let butter melt completely, swirling pan occasionally to coat.
- Sprinkle flour over top of melted butter, then whisk vigorously until paste forms.
- Add chicken stock to saucepan and whisk constantly until liquid is incorporated and mixture is smooth.
- Add salt and dried herbs (if using) and whisk to incorporate. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until gravy has thickened. Taste and add salt or dried herbs as needed to achieve desired flavor. When satisfied with flavor and consistency, transfer gravy to serving bowl or gravy boat.
To Serve Meal
- After baking green beans 20 minutes, remove baking sheet from oven and check turkey with internal meat thermometer. Internal temperature should read around 160° Fahrenheit. If temperature is below 160°, return baking sheet to oven and check periodically until temperature is reached. Note: If green beans or stuffing start to overcook before turkey is cooked through, remove them from baking sheet before returning pan to oven.
- When turkey reaches 160° Fahrenheit internally, remove baking sheet from oven and set aside. Let components rest 10 minutes.
- Unwrap sweet potatoes and discard foil. Slice each sweet potato open by cutting vertically down center of potato. Use fork to fluff insides of potatoes, then season with salt and pepper as desired and top with butter slices. For a marshmallow topping, scatter a handful (about ¼ cup) of mini marshmallows inside each split potato and broil until puffy and slightly browned.
- Transfer turkey to cutting board and carefully carve turkey into ¼-inch thick slices. Return sliced turkey to baking sheet.
- Serve holiday meal on baking sheet, or divide components of meal onto serving plates, and enjoy warm with gravy.
Approximate Information for One Serving
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
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