How to Make a Classic Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner in Montreal — Or Skip the Work and Have It Delivered

There are two ways to do Thanksgiving dinner. You can cook the whole thing yourself, which is genuinely rewarding and genuinely a lot of work. Or you can have a chef-prepared version delivered, ready to heat and serve. This is an honest guide to both: a traditional turkey dinner preparation guide you can actually follow, and a straight look at what it takes, so you can decide which kind of Thanksgiving you want this year.

Prefer to skip the cooking entirely? Our Thanksgiving turkey dinner is cooked by our chefs and delivered fresh the Sunday before the holiday, ready for Thanksgiving Monday. There's a family-size version too, for the whole table.

We'll give you the full preparation guide first. It's the same classic approach behind the Thanksgiving dinner we cook in our own kitchen: herb-roasted turkey, homestyle stuffing, Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, buttered peas and carrots, and a gravy made from the pan drippings. No shortcuts hidden, nothing held back.

The Classic Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner, Step by Step

This is a traditional preparation guide rather than a precise recipe with exact measurements, because a turkey dinner scales entirely to the size of your bird and your table. Read it all the way through before you start, because the timing is the hard part.

What You'll Need

For the turkey: one whole turkey, butter (softened), salt, pepper, fresh thyme, fresh sage, garlic, onions, carrots, and celery.

For the stuffing: white bread (day-old works best), onions, celery, garlic, sage, thyme, butter, salt, pepper, and chicken stock or a gluten-free chicken powder dissolved in water.

For the mashed potatoes: Yukon Gold potatoes, butter, milk, salt, and pepper.

For the vegetables: green peas and carrots, butter, salt.

For the gravy: the trimmings and pan juices from the turkey, plus a little flour or starch to thicken, salt, and pepper.

Step 1 — Prep the Turkey (the night before, if you can)

Pat the turkey completely dry, inside and out. A dry bird is the single biggest factor in crisp, golden skin. Season it generously with salt and pepper, including inside the cavity. If you have time, leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight so the skin dries out further. This one step does more for the final result than anything else.

Step 2 — Build the Flavor Base

Soften your butter and mix in minced garlic, chopped thyme, and chopped sage with a little salt and pepper. This herb butter goes two places: rub it all over the turkey, and work some of it gently under the breast skin without tearing it. Under the skin is where it does the most good, basting the meat from the inside as it roasts.

Roughly chop onions, carrots, and celery and scatter them across the bottom of the roasting pan. The turkey roasts on top of this bed. The vegetables lift the bird off the pan, flavor the drippings, and become the backbone of your gravy.

Step 3 — Roast

Roast the turkey in a moderate oven, around 160–180°C (325–350°F). As a working guide, plan for roughly 13 to 15 minutes per pound, but temperature is what matters, not the clock.

Here is the part that matters most for safety. In Canada and Québec, a whole turkey must reach an internal temperature of 82°C (180°F), measured in the thickest part of the thigh. If you are cooking the breast on its own, 74°C (165°F) is the target, but a whole bird needs to hit 82°C (180°F). Use a food thermometer. Judging by color or by how long it's been in the oven is how turkeys end up undercooked.

If you choose to stuff the bird, the stuffing itself must also reach 74°C (165°F). Because stuffing inside the cavity heats slowly and is a common cause of food poisoning, the safest approach is to bake the stuffing separately in its own dish, which is how this guide handles it below.

If the skin is browning faster than the inside is cooking, tent it loosely with foil. Baste every 45 minutes or so with the pan juices. When it's done, move the turkey to a board and let it rest at least 20 to 30 minutes before carving. Resting is not optional. Carve too early and the juices run out onto the board instead of staying in the meat. Leave the pan and its drippings where they are. That's your gravy.

Step 4 — The Stuffing

While the turkey roasts, cut the white bread into cubes and let it dry out. Cook chopped onions, celery, and garlic in butter until soft, add plenty of sage and thyme, then combine with the bread. Moisten it with chicken stock (or gluten-free chicken powder dissolved in hot water) until the bread is damp but not soaked. Season, transfer to a baking dish, and bake in a moderate oven until the top is golden and crisp while the inside stays soft, around 30 to 40 minutes. If you baked it separately as recommended, you've also sidestepped the biggest food-safety risk of the meal.

Step 5 — The Mashed Potatoes

Peel and quarter the Yukon Golds and boil in salted water until a knife slides through easily. Drain well and let the steam escape for a minute, which keeps them from going gluey. Warm the butter and milk together, then mash everything to the texture you like. Yukon Golds are the right choice here. They're naturally buttery and mash smooth without turning to paste.

Step 6 — The Peas and Carrots

The simplest part, and better for it. Cook the carrots until just tender, add the peas near the end, then finish with a little butter and salt. That's all they need. This is the plate's bright, fresh counterpoint to everything rich around it.

Step 7 — The Gravy

This is where a home cook earns the meal. Set the roasting pan with its drippings and vegetables over the stove. Spoon off most of the fat, then sprinkle in a little flour and stir it into the drippings to cook off the raw taste. Slowly add stock or water, scraping up every browned bit stuck to the pan, and simmer until it thickens into gravy. Strain out the vegetables, season, and you have a gravy made entirely from the turkey itself. Nothing from a packet comes close.

Then You Plate, Serve, and Clean Up

Carve the turkey, plate everything while it's hot, and get it to the table before the mashed potatoes cool. Then, when dinner's over, there's the roasting pan, the saucepans, the baking dish, the mixing bowls, the carving board, and the plates.

An Honest Look at What This Actually Takes

The guide above is real and it works. It also represents the better part of a day.

Between prep, roasting, the sides, and the gravy, a full turkey dinner is a 5 to 6 hour commitment, and that's before the dishes. The turkey alone ties up your oven for hours and demands attention. The timing is a juggling act, getting the turkey rested, the stuffing crisp, the potatoes hot, and the gravy finished all at the same moment. And Thanksgiving falls on a Monday, which for a lot of people means doing all of this on a holiday when you'd rather be with the people you're cooking for.

For plenty of households, that work is the point. The smell of the turkey, the ritual, the pride of putting it on the table, that's Thanksgiving, and no one should talk you out of it. If that's you, the guide above is yours. Go make it.

Or Have Thanksgiving Dinner Delivered, Already Done

If what you want is the Thanksgiving meal without the day in the kitchen, that's exactly what our Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner is for.

It's the same classic plate, cooked by our chefs: tender roasted turkey, homestyle stuffing, creamy Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, carrots and green peas, with rich gravy made from the turkey's own drippings, served on the side. Cooked fresh, never frozen, and delivered the Sunday before Thanksgiving so it's ready to go for Monday. You reheat it, serve it, and sit down. No roasting, no juggling, no pile of dishes.

The individual dinner comes in two sizes, a Lunch portion with 150g of turkey and a Supper portion with 200g, each with mashed potatoes, stuffing, carrots and peas, and gravy on the side. If you're feeding the table rather than yourself, there's a family-size Thanksgiving dinner built for the whole gathering.

It's the same philosophy behind everything we make: real, chef-cooked food that gives you back your time. It's the difference between meal prep that's done for you versus done by you, applied to the one dinner of the year that takes the most work.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I buy a prepared Thanksgiving dinner in Montreal? Sublime Creations offers a chef-prepared Thanksgiving turkey dinner, cooked fresh and delivered the Sunday before Thanksgiving across Montreal, Laval, and the South Shore. It includes roasted turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots and peas, and gravy, ready to reheat and serve.

Do you deliver Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Monday? We deliver fresh the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so your dinner is in the fridge and ready to heat and serve on Monday. Our meals stay fresh for several days, so Sunday delivery keeps it at its best for the holiday.

What temperature should a whole turkey be cooked to? In Canada and Québec, a whole turkey should reach an internal temperature of 82°C (180°F) in the thickest part of the thigh, measured with a food thermometer. Stuffing, whether cooked in the bird or separately, should reach 74°C (165°F).

How many does the Thanksgiving dinner serve? The individual dinner comes in Lunch and Supper sizes for one person each. For a gathering, the family-size Thanksgiving dinner is made to feed the whole table.

What's in the Thanksgiving turkey dinner? Roasted turkey (white and dark meat unless specified), homestyle stuffing, creamy Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, carrots and green peas, with gravy made from the turkey drippings served on the side. It contains milk and wheat (gluten).

When do I need to order by? Ordering closes the Thursday before delivery, since everything is cooked fresh. Order by then for delivery the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Sublime Creations has been serving Montreal, Laval, and the South Shore since 2016. Fresh, chef-prepared meals cooked every Saturday and delivered every Sunday. Whether you cook Thanksgiving yourself or let us handle it, the point is the same: a real dinner, and time with the people at your table.