Bigger isn’t always better. But when it comes to holiday menus, it can feel as though there aren’t enough geared toward those planning a small holiday dinner. Since cooking a whole turkey can feel totally overboard when cooking for six or fewer people, here are some alternative menu options for more intimate gatherings, including main dishes, side dishes, and ideas for leftovers if you do end up with more turkey than you can eat in one sitting.
Small Holiday Dinner Meal Ideas
Turkey Legs or Turkey Breasts
Try cooking individual turkey parts instead of going all-in on a whole bird. Smoked turkey legs have a great wow factor when it comes to presentation and are a great option for those who prefer dark meat. Alternatively, Texas-style turkey breasts are easy to slice and preferable to those who desire white meat. In both cases, ATBBQ has the brines, seasoning rubs, and turkey kits that provide everything you need to cook moist and delicious turkey every time, even if you are just cooking individual turkey sections.
Spatchcock Chicken or Cornish Game Hen
Though chicken and turkey don’t taste exactly the same, the smaller member of the poultry family provides a reasonably similar alternative to cooking a whole turkey. Spatchcock the chicken and go with a traditional BBQ flavor profile, use the Savory Herb Turkey Kit for a lovely herb-roasted chicken, or fancy up your intimate holiday table by serving Grilled Cornish Game Hen with Cranberry Gastrique.
Grilled Turkey Roulade
Featuring homemade pesto inside a rolled turkey breast, the Grilled Turkey Roulade melds delicious holiday flavors into a tidy package. Grilling this dish provides a nice crispy exterior and utilizing the Sweetwater Spice Classic Holiday Turkey Bath to brine the turkey breast helps ensure it will turn out moist and juicy when cooked to an internal temperature of 160ºF. Great alternatives include Bacon Wrapped Turkey Roulade and Turkey Roulade with Maple Cornbread Stuffing.
Prime Rib
Eschew turkey altogether and beef up your meal with prime rib. ATBBQ Staff Chef Tom Jackson’s Reverse Seared Prime Rib recipe features the bold and herbaceous Cattleman’s Grill Tuscan Steak Seasoning, which brings a punch of flavor to the crusty exterior or the rib roast.
Turkey Leftover Ideas
The upside of cooking a whole turkey for a small holiday dinner is that leftovers can be utilized in plenty of great recipes. Some of our favorite ideas include:
Turkey and Dumplings
Comfort food at its finest. Turkey and Dumplings is a hearty dish that utilizes leftover turkey and also warms up or freezes well if you can’t finish it all off in one meal.
Turkey Pot Pie
Similar to turkey and dumplings, Turkey Pot Pie is a classic dish that incorporates a handful of veggies for a tidy all-in-one meal. And utilizing leftover turkey knocks out one of the more time-consuming preparation steps.
Leftover Turkey Sandwich
Chef Tom’s next-level Leftover Turkey Sandwich recipe uses savory sausage stuffing, soft brie cheese, turkey gravy and cranberry-orange relish to create a holiday flavor explosion that you can hold in your hand.
Thanksgiving Egg Rolls
This fusion egg roll recipe is a fun way to reuse holiday leftovers. It features a crunchy exterior and a warm, flavorful, holiday-inspired filling. Chef Tom’s cranberry sweet and sour sauce tops it off to add the perfect amount of zing to each bite.
Common Questions about Cooking Holiday Dinner for Six or Fewer People
What is on the small holiday dinner menu?
Anything you want! You can either opt for smaller recipes or fewer recipes to accommodate a smaller group.
How can I have a cheap holiday dinner?
Fortunately, veggies, potatoes, and rolls are all fairly inexpensive. The key to lowering holiday dinner costs is to opt for inexpensive meat options. It may make sense to cook a whole turkey for a small holiday dinner since turkeys are typically deeply discounted around the holidays, and the leftovers can be repurposed in any number of delicious recipes.
How do you simplify a holiday dinner?
Dividing the workload is a great way to simplify holiday dinner. A three-person gathering where one person provided the main dish, one person provided a dessert, one person brought drinks, and everyone brought a favorite side would make plenty of food to feast on.
What is the most popular side dish for Thanksgiving?
While there haven’t been any academic studies about the most popular side dishes for Thanksgiving, Campbell’s 2024 State of the Sides Report utilizes responses from 100 Americans in each of the 50 states to provide a window into the most popular Thanksgiving side dishes. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and mac and cheese all achieved top-5 status, according to the report.
Some of our favorite Thanksgiving side dish recipes (that can also be used all year) include:
- Fried Bacon Mac & Cheese - It’s tough to raise the ceiling on macaroni and cheese, but adding bacon and frying it up into balls that can be eaten without utensils certainly does the trick.
- Sweet Potato Casserole - This sweet potato mash with homemade marshmallow fluff is a dessert masquerading as a vegetable side dish.
- Twice Baked Potato Casserole - All the delicious joy of a loaded baked potato, but with the added ability to adjust serving sizes.
- Green Bean Casserole - Forego the canned soups and use this simple grill-to-table recipe that creates a holiday classic from scratch.
- Apple Cranberry Sausage Stuffing - Infused with sweet apples and tart cranberries, Chef Tom's delicious Apple Cranberry Sausage Stuffing if far more than just a plate-filler.
Looking for more pointers on how to prepare a memorable holiday dinner, like how to inject a turkey, or more guidance on how to spatchcock a turkey before cooking it? Be sure to subscribe to our email newsletter, where we share every new recipe video, check out some of our all-time favorite turkey recipes, and take a look at our turkey kits and accessories. You’ll find plenty of insights and pointers that we’ve learned over the years and continue to use when preparing holiday meals for our families.
