Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Dinner for Two

Yum

This is the perfect Thanksgiving dinner for those who are celebrating solo (or entirely virtually)! This entire meal can be made with just one sheet pan and one medium sized pot, and includes all the classic sides, like cornbread stuffing, green beans, potatoes, gravy and homemade cranberry sauce.

And the best part? There are (a reasonable amount of) leftovers built in!

Why you should make Sheet Pan Thanksgiving For One:

• Just because you’re solo, doesn’t mean you have to order takeout: enjoy all your homemade Thanksgiving favorites in perfectly sized portions
• Everything cooks in just over one hour: Because spending three hours just to cook for yourself, doesn’t feel worth it.
• Get the Thanksgiving food experience, without the annoying relatives: While, I, personally LOVE all of my relatives (hi, Grandma!), I’ve heard that some people have at least that one relative who maybe talks your ear off, or maybe asks you too many far too personal questions for only seeing them twice a year (again, not speaking from personal experience). This way, you can skip all of that, and get right to the reason why you would have gone in the first place—the food.

Okay, So What’s On the Menu in this “Sheet Pan Thanksgiving For One”

You’re getting all the important stuff, with some of tweaks to lessen waste:

• Cornish Hen (think of this as your personal-sized turkey, plus, chicken is juicier anyway)
• Cornbread Stuffing (so easy, so good)
• Smashed bite-sized potatoes (with lots of garlic, herbs and butter—I couldn’t stop “sampling” these while testing this recipe)
• Green beans (cooked with lemon, garlic, and shallot)
• Home made cranberry sauce (and it’s totally made in the oven!)
• Homemade gravy (so easy, a caveman could do it)

The best part? This post includes step-by-step instructions with lots of tips and tricks to make this all super easy!

What Ingredients Do I Need To Make Sheet Pan Thanksgiving for One?

The below may look like a long list at first, but a lot of the ingredients you’re using over and over again, and therefore can buy—and prep—in bulk and help move your prep and cook times along more quickly.

The ingredients you’ll be using the most are: minced garlic, minced shallot, thyme, rosemary and sage, butter, lemon (zest and juice), and salt and pepper.

This recipe assumes all salt is fine sea salt, and all butter is unsalted.

For the Cornish Hen

• 1 Cornish Hen
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• ½ lemon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper
• A small bundle of aromatics for stuffing the bird (I used half.a lemon, thyme, rosemary and sage, but you can use what you have on hand including cloves of garlic and extra pieces of shallot)

For the Cranberry Sauce

• 1 cup of fresh cranberries
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 small juice orange
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger

For the Smashed Potatoes

• 1 ⅓ cup of small baby yukon gold potatoes, about 15-17 (“one bite” kind. If you can’t find these, you can use small new potatoes and cut them in half once they boil before smashing them)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• Fresh cracked pepper (to taste)

For the Cornbread Stuffing

• 2 cups of chopped cornbread
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 very large clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon of minced shallot 
• ½ cup of chopped red, orange and green bell pepper, and celery medley (use about ⅛ of small peppers and ½ rib of celery)
• ½ teaspoon sage (finely chopped)
• ½ teaspoon of thyme leaves
• ¼ teaspoon rosemary (finely chopped) 
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• 1 cup of chicken broth 

For the Green Beans

• ½ pound of green beans (about 20)
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced 
• ½ teaspoon minced shallot 
• ½ teaspoon of lemon zest (about half a large lemon)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 tablespoon of butter (cut into small equal pieces on top of beans)
• ¼ teaspoon of salt Salt (more, if desired) 
• About ⅛ teaspoon of fresh cracked black pepper

For the Gravy

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of flour
• 2 cups of chicken Broth
• 1 large clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon of minced shallot
• ½ teaspoon of thyme leaves
• ¼ teaspoon of rosemary, minced
• ¼ teaspoon sage
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• ¼ teaspoon of fresh cracked pepper

What Kitchen Tools Do I Need to Make This Sheet Pan Thanksgiving Recipe?

One of my other favorite things about this recipe is how few tools you need to make it happen, compared to a regular thanksgiving recipe. There are no potato mashers, food processors or stand mixers involved.

Essential Tools

• 1 cutting board—for prep work
• 1 very sharp knife—for prep
• 1 large sheet pan—for cooking everything on
• 1 medium-sized saucepan (aka a pot) with lid—to cook the base for the stuffing, boil the potatoes and make your gravy
• 1 wooden spoon—to stir things in the pot and to smash your potatoes
• 1 oven safe bowl that can hold 2 cups (my glass Pyrex bowls were perfect for this)—to cook your cranberry sauce
• Foil—to cover your glass bowl and steam your green beans
• 1 teaspoon—for stirring melted butter and pouring melted butter onto various sides
• 1 tasting spoon—you gotta make sure you like it!
• Oven mitts—to shift things around the pan while cooking

• Small whisk—for making gravy

• 1 microwave safe bowl & microwave—to quickly melt butter (you can also do this in a small pot on the stovetop, if you don’t have a microwave)
• Zester—to zest lemon and oranges and grate ginger (if you don’t have one, use your sharp knife to cut off the skin of your citrus—avoiding the bitter white parts—or thinly slice your ginger and mince it)
• Meat thermometer—so that you know when your hen has reached 165 degrees f. Alternatively, you can use your knife to cut into the thickest part of the hen thigh—you know that it’s cooked when there is no red blood and meat looks white instead of pink.

How do I Make This Recipe?

The secret to making this recipe as easy is possible is handling all of your prep up front. Wash and dry all produce. Chop, mince or zest everything, measure out as many ingredients ahead of time as you can and make sure all your other ingredients (like butter, sugar, spices, etc.) are as close by as possible to make everything as quick and easy as possible and prevent any scrambling while you’re trying to cook.

Okay, Thanksgiving dinner, coming right up!

1. Prep Hen. Set your oven to 425 degrees f. After rinsing, thoroughly dry your hen (including under the skin). In a microwave safe bowl, combine your butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic and microwave for about 20 seconds before stirring to melt remaining butter and incorporate all ingredients. Place your hen on the top left hand side of your sheet pan and use your hands to distribute butter mixture on and under the skin, as well as in the cavity. Then stuff with the aromatics of your choosing.
2. Prep cranberry sauce. Put cranberries into an oven-safe bowl (discarding any wrinkled ones) that has at least a 2 cup volume. Add sugar, spices, zest, then orange juice, and stir with a small spoon to combine. Cover bowl completely with foil and use a knife to cut a 1 inch slit in the top to prevent any bubbling over. Place the bowl on the opposite diagonal from the hen and place in the oven to begin cooking. Set a timer for 1 hour.
3. Make potatoes. Add broth, water and salt to the saucepan, bring to a simmer then add potatoes. Cover pot with lid and allow potatoes to boil for about 20-25 minutes, or until just soft all the way through. While potatoes boil, in a small microwave safe bowl, combine butter, garlic, thyme and pepper and microwave for 15-20 seconds, and stir to combine.
4. Smash potatoes and season. Once potatoes are cooked, remove from the pot and place on a clean cutting board. Use the back of your wooden spoon to flatten your potatoes to about half and inch thickness. Taste one of your potatoes and decide if you need to add additional salt. Spoon butter mixture on top of each potato. Remove sheet pan from the oven, move cranberry sauce to the center of the sheet, and add potatoes along the right hand side of the pan and put back into the oven to cook for about 20-25 minutes. Clean out your pot. You should have about 30 minutes left on your timer.
5. Make stuffing. Melt butter in a saucepan. Once melted, add garlic, shallots and allow to cook until translucent. Add herbs then red, orange and green pepper and celery mixture, salt and cracked pepper. Allow to cook until vegetables are translucent, then add half of broth. Allow to cook for 30 seconds to a minute before turning off the heat and gently folding in your cornbread mixture, keeping as many cornbread pieces intact as possible. Pour second half of broth on top of cornbread mixture. Set aside. At this minute you should have about 20 minutes left on your timer.
6. Prep green beans, and place stuffing. Remove baking sheet from oven, move cranberry sauce to bottom right of the sheet pan, just under the hen. Check the crispness of your potatoes and cranberry sauce (they should each need at least about 10 more minutes, but if they are to your liking, remove them from the pan). Place stuffing in a rectangular shape, with even height in the top middle of the sheet pan. Get about a 1 foot piece of foil, and place the top half of the foil in the bottom middle of the sheet. You will use the remaining foil hanging off the bottom to make a pouch for the greens to cook. Place your green beans on the top half of the foil on the sheet pan, leaving about half an inch of space at the top of the foil. Sprinkle with garlic, shallots, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cover with the bottom half of foil and crimp the edges to make a pouch. Place everything back in the oven and make sure your timer reflects 20 minutes.
7. Make gravy. Clean your pot and small bowl you used to microwave butter. Melt butter on low heat. While the butter melts, pour broth into a bowl and whisk in flour until fully dissolved. Pour broth and flour slurry into melted butter while whisking. Turn heat up to medium-low, add garlic, shallots, herbs, salt and pepper and allow to continue to cook for another 5-7 minutes until reduced and thickened to the consistency of maple syrup. Once done, turn the burner off and let stand. In the meantime, check on your potatoes if you have not already taken them out. Remove if necessary. Allow everything else to continue cooking another 10 minutes, or until timer goes off.
8. Remove pan from oven. Check the temperature or doneness of your hen (you know it’s done when you cut into the thickest part of the thigh and breast and there’s no red blood), green beans (should be soft and no longer crunchy), cranberry sauce (all cranberries should have popped and should have more of a sauce-like consistency when stirred), stuffing (should be lightly browned on top), and potatoes, should be crunchy on the bottom and sides, but still a bit soft in the middle. If anything isn’t done, remove all sides that are done and allow those dishes to cook for about 10 to 15 more minutes.
9. Serve and enjoy your dinner! Happy Thanksgiving!

Pro Tips for Making this recipe

I’m all about an easy meal, so here are a few tips to make this one even easier:

• Do all of your prep work up front at once. I purposefully designed this recipe to have as much consistency in ingredients across each item as possible to make for easier prep work. For example, all garlic and shallots are minced. This recipe exclusively uses butter instead of swapping between oils (again, this blog is about balanced eating, so just eat a salad the next day or something…or feel free to sub butter for olive oil). Most items use lemon (zest and juice to make for less waste and leftover awkwardly naked lemons).
• To easily take off herb leaves, hold the top of your sprig with your non-dominant hand, then pinch the sprig using your index finder and thumb on your dominant hand, and run them from the top of your herb sprig to the stem, to go against the grain of the leaves. This should make the leaves fall off quickly and easily without having to pick off each one.
• For the hen. Be sure to dry the skin completely both on top of, and under the skin before seasoning the bird. If your bird starts to brown too fast, but still isn’t at 165 degrees f (when it’s considered done), then cover the top in foil to prevent it from browning further
• Stuffing. If you’re using very moist cornbread, bake your chopped pieces first for about 5-10 minutes to dry them out (but keep an eye on them) before combining it to your liquid mixture. This will keep your cornbread from falling apart while you mix it together and will also help it absorb all the flavors of the veggies and chicken broth.