Classic Thanksgiving Sides: Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole and Cranberry Sauce

Work backward from the turkey

Cranberry sauce keeps up to 7 days in the fridge, so make it the weekend before. The green bean casserole can be assembled the day before without the fried onions. Cover it and chill it, then add 10–15 minutes to the bake time. The oven is the bottleneck, so bake the casserole during the turkey's 30–40 minute rest. If the oven is free earlier, you can also bake it alongside the bird at 325°F (165°C) for 35–40 minutes. Mashed potatoes go last so they finish hot. Put the potatoes on the stove about 1 hour before the turkey comes out, and you can mash them while the casserole bakes.

Mashed potatoes: where texture is won or lost

• Yukon Gold gives a creamy, buttery mash and russet gives a fluffy one. Avoid waxy red potatoes if you want them smooth.
• Start the potatoes in cold salted water so the outsides don't turn to mush before the centers cook. They're done when a knife slides into a chunk with no resistance.
• Use a masher or ricer, never a food processor or blender. Those turn the starch gluey, and you can't undo it.
• Heat the milk and butter before adding them. Cold dairy cools the mash and makes it stiff.
• Shortcut: hold finished potatoes in a slow cooker on Warm for up to 2 hours. Stir in a splash of hot milk before serving.

Green bean casserole without soggy onions

Fresh beans need only 4–5 minutes of blanching. They should be bright green and still have a slight snap. Frozen cut green beans, thawed and patted dry, are the time-saver most experienced hosts use, and they skip trimming entirely. Hold back half the fried onions until the last 5 minutes so the top stays crunchy. The casserole is done when the sauce bubbles around the edges. In the UK and Australia, look for condensed cream of mushroom soup and "crispy fried onions" in supermarkets.

Cranberry sauce: stop sooner than you think

Cranberries are full of natural pectin, so the sauce looks runny when hot and sets as it cools. Pull it off the heat once most berries have burst, about 10 minutes. If you overcook it, it turns into a rubbery jelly. Frozen cranberries work the same way, straight from the freezer. In Australia, where fresh berries are scarce in November, use frozen ones or a can of whole-berry sauce.