Thanksgiving can be a whole lot less stressful with tried and true cooking tips and tricks meant to make cooking your meal easier.
Here are 6 LIFE-CHANGING THANKSGIVING COOKING HACKS that will save you time, make your food taste better, and free up stove and oven space so that you can cook everything you need to when you need to.
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BAKE YOUR STUFFING IN A MUFFIN TIN
Baking stuffing in the bird not only prolongs the cooking time of the turkey it produces a wet stuffing. If you like a fluffier, crispier stuffing, cook your stuffing in a muffin tin.
Not only does this cut WAY down on the cook time, but it also makes really fabulous crispy-on-the-outside serving-sized portions. We don’t like our stuffing cooked any other way!
DO THE SLICE AND BOIL METHOD WITH POTATOES TO AVOID PEELING
Peeling potatoes is one of the biggest time sucks on Thanksgiving day. You may have heard about boiling your potatoes and then twisting the potato peel off once they were cool, but we have an even easier method!
Rinse your potatoes and then make a slice around the middle of the potato with a sharp knife (on the short side) and then let boil for 20 to 30 minutes depending on the size of the potato. Drain, let cool, and then peel off the potato skins. They practically fall right off.
ADD BAKING SODA TO MASHED POTATOES TO MAKE THEM FLUFFIER
Make sure you start with russet potatoes. Other varieties can get a gluey consistency which you don’t want! Make your mashed potatoes like you normally would (I like to add butter and heavy cream to mine) but also add a pinch of baking soda to your potatoes while you are mixing them! The baking soda fluffs them up. Seriously. We’ve also read that baking powder will do the trick.
HAVE KIDS MAKE YOUR WHIPPED CREAM
Homemade whipped cream is traditionally made with heavy cream in a stand mixer. However, you can save time, counter space, and dishes by having your younger kids make the whipped cream. Put the heavy cream (and vanilla and sugar if you add that to the heavy cream) in a large Mason jar and let the kids shake the jar until the whipped cream forms.
PREPARE VEGETABLES THE DAY BEFORE
Most vegetables needed for your Thanksgiving meal can be washed and prepared the day prior to Thanksgiving. Some of the vegetables that can be prepared ahead of time are celery, carrots, onion, broccoli, and herbs. Rinse, chop, and refrigerate vegetables in individual Ziploc bags.
USE YOUR SLOW COOKER TO MAKE SIDE DISHES
If you are like me, then you have several slow cookers. Let them take the pressure off of you, your stove, and your oven on the big day! Make a side in your slow cooker. There are tons of excellent slow cooker recipes to choose from in cookbooks and online, so make your side or sides early in the day and free up time and space in your oven or on the cooktop. I love this Programmable Crock-Pot!
Do you have any great Thanksgiving cooking hacks I’ve missed?
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