Sous Vide Thanksgiving Meal Prep Schedules

There is enough pressure and stress around the Thanksgiving holiday that cooking the dinner shouldn't contribute to it. Luckily when you use sous vide there are several things you can do to simplify your Sous Vide Thanksgiving Dinner with a little meal prep by splitting up the work.

There are several options for how to split up all the sous vide prep work for your Thanksgiving sous vide turkey. I highly recommend spreading it out over a few days to help reduce your stress.

Here are a few sample sous vide Thanksgiving Day schedules to give you some timing ideas from. Feel free to mix and match as it suits your needs.

And don't forget, you can cook all the meat ahead of time and refrigerate it until a few hours before you are ready to eat.

Three Day Plan with One Circulator

2 Days Before Thanksgiving

• Get the turkey and other ingredients, can be done several days in advance
• Break down the turkey
• Season, bag, and refrigerate the breasts, legs, and thighs
• Make the turkey stock, chill, and refrigerate it

Day Before Thanksgiving

• Sous vide the dark turkey meat for 6 to 12 hours at 148°F (64.4°C)
• Chill the dark meat and refrigerate
• Make gravy from the turkey stock

Thanksgiving Day

• Morning
• Sous vide the turkey breast and meat in a 141°F (60.6°C) bath 3 to 8 hours before dinner
• During the Day
• Work on sides and other accompaniments
• 1 to 2 Hours Before Dinner
• Toss dark meat into the same water bath with the white meat to reheat
• Finish sides and other accompaniments
• When Ready to Eat
• Remove the turkey from the sous vide, dry off thoroughly, then sear
• Plate the turkey, eat and enjoy!

Two Day Plan with One Circulator

1 Day Before Thanksgiving

• In the Morning
• Get the turkey and other ingredients
• Break down the turkey
• Season, bag, and refrigerate the breasts, legs, and thighs
• Make the turkey stock, chill, and refrigerate
• Make gravy from the turkey stock
• Late in the Evening
• Sous vide the dark turkey meat overnight in a 148°F (64.4°C) sous vide bath, about 6 to 12 hours

Thanksgiving Day

• Morning
• Chill the dark meat and refrigerate
• Sous vide the turkey breast and meat in a 141°F (60.6°C) bath 3 to 8 hours before dinner
• During the Day
• Work on sides and other accompaniments
• 1 to 2 Hours Before Dinner
• Toss dark meat in the water bath with the white meat to reheat
• Finish sides and other accompaniments
• When Ready to Eat
• Remove the turkey from the sous vide, dry off thoroughly, then sear
• Plate the turkey, eat and enjoy!

Two Day Plan with Two Circulators

1 Day Before Thanksgiving

• Get the turkey and other ingredients
• Break down the turkey
• Season, bag, and refrigerate the breasts, legs, and thighs
• Make the turkey stock, chill, and refrigerate

Thanksgiving Day

• Morning
• Sous vide the dark turkey meat in a 148°F (64.4°C) bath 6 to 12 hours before dinner
• Sous vide the turkey breast and meat in a 141°F (60.6°C) bath 3 to 8 hours before dinner
• Make gravy from the turkey stock
• During the Day
• Work on sides and other accompaniments
• Finish sides and other accompaniments
• When Ready to Eat
• Remove the turkey from the sous vide, dry off thoroughly, then sear
• Plate the turkey, eat and enjoy!

If you like this you can get more than 85 inspiring recipes to get you on your way to sous vide success. It's all in my best selling book Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Sous Vide - Get Your Copy Today!

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