This Is the Best Time to Eat Thanksgiving Dinner

If you’re a first-time Thanksgiving host, be prepared to make some very important decisions. Will you be giving your turkey a dry or wet brine? Will you be serving homemade or canned cranberry sauce? And — the most important decision of them all — what time will you be serving Thanksgiving dinner?

There are the early risers — the ones who prep the majority of their dishes a day ahead and serve Thanksgiving lunch at 11 a.m. or 12 p.m. Then there are the middayers, who strive to put food on the table between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., sandwiched between football games. Finally, there are those who treat Thanksgiving like a proper dinner party, sitting down to eat only after the sun goes down.

Is there one true, correct time to serve your Thanksgiving feast? We asked some of the best chefs around the country this question, and the answer was clear.

Out of 15 chefs, 14 of them said that the best time to serve Thanksgiving dinner was between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Eleven of those chefs said 3 p.m. Here’s why.

The host has enough time to prep

“The best time for Thanksgiving dinner, if I’m in charge, is 3 p.m.,” says 1993 F&W Best New Chef Jody Adams, cofounder and CCO of A Street Hospitality, which owns Mediterranean restaurants such as Porto and Trade in Boston. “It gives me time to get the cooking done without waking up at 3 a.m. It also means I have time to escape, shower, and wash off the butter and turkey fat before we all gather around the table.”

Brady Williams, a 2018 F&W Best New Chef and owner of Tomo in White Center, Washington, argues that the 3 p.m. Thanksgiving lets him have a leisurely morning. “[There’s] time for a light breakfast, some football, and plenty of space to cook without feeling rushed.”

You can get the obligatory activities out of the way

No one wants to play a game of flag football with a belly full of pie. A midday meal means you’re giving your family time to participate in time-honored traditions while they still have the energy to do so. “We like to get the obligatory family photos in before we go into a tryptophan coma,” says 2019 F&W Best New Chef Caroline Glover, owner of Annette and Traveling Mercies in Aurora, Colorado. 

“It gives everyone a chance to work up an appetite with a long walk, or for some, the dreaded game of touch football that Uncle Joe always wants to organize,” says Adams. Guests can also watch a football game on ESPN early in the day so no one feels the urge to stream one on their phone at the dinner table.

You can start with snacks

At around 11 a.m., Glover sets out the appetizers. “I put out some crudités with substantial dips, chips and caviar, and some bubbles to hold people over,” she says. 2009 F&W Best New Chef Jon Shook, a 2009 F&W Best New Chef and co-owner of Jon & Vinny’s, Helen’s, and Cookbook in Los Angeles, encourages his guests to start grazing at 2 p.m. “Ham, mustard, pickles — little bites to get the day going.”

No one gets too hungry (or too full)

3 p.m. isn’t so late in the day that people saving their appetites will feel ravenous, and appetizers should hold them over until then. But if your feast is any later in the day, you risk your guests filling up on the snacks. “If you’re like me, you’ve been grazing on everyone’s dishes all day in anticipation,” says 2025 F&W Best New Chef Kelly Jacques, owner of Ayu Bakehouse in New Orleans. “If you delay dinner much longer, there will be nothing left — including your appetite.”

The dinner doesn’t have to be rushed

“Thanksgiving should be a combo of lunch and dinner and it should extend until the early evening,” says 2002 F&W Best New Chef Dan Barber, co-owner of New York restaurants Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Family Meal at Blue Hill. A later dinner means time constraints — adults have to put the kids to bed and your Aunt Sally needs to drive back to Iowa. “Eating midafternoon means we can enjoy one big, leisurely meal and still have the rest of the evening to spend with family and friends,” adds Williams.

You can squeeze in some leftovers

If you wrap up your Thanksgiving dinner at 5 p.m., that’ll give you at least several hours to get hungry again for “the late-night fridge raid,” says Shook. “That’s part of the tradition.”