We all know that Thanksgiving isn’t complete without a turkey. Nearly 88% of households eat turkey at Thanksgiving. Turkey and Thanksgiving are pretty much synonymous with each other. But do you really need a turkey on Thanksgiving? Or are there some viable alternatives?
I think so. Like I mentioned, I am not a huge fan of turkey but I do love Thanksgiving dinner, primarily because of the sides. Mashed potatoes, dressing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and all the other standard sides are really the highlight of the meal for me. There are some great turkey alternatives that might make me reconsider that though. But there are some characteristics a turkey alternative must have though:
- It needs to feed a lot of people
- The meat needs to look great on the table
- And It needs to be easy to cook
With those criteria in mind here are 4 alternatives for the Thanksgiving Turkey:
- Ham
- Prime Rib
- Pork Roast
- Chicken
Let’s take a closer look at those 4 options and explore why they would be more than at home on a Thanksgiving table.
Disclosure: This post is monetized with affiliate links. If you buy something through them I earn a commission which helps support this site and lets me buy more meat so I can write about it.
Ham
I know ham is usually reserved for Christmas or Easter but I believe it is a much better option for Thanksgiving than turkey. You can easily feed a crowd with a good ham, it has a great presentation, and it is one of the easiest hunks of meat to cook.
Stay away from the spiral sliced hams you see in the grocery stores. Those dry out very easily and they are so pumped full of water that the flavor of the ham gets diluted. Splurge on a good ham if you want to do one for Thanksgiving. By far the best hams I have ever had have been from Snake River Farms. Snake River Farms uses Kurobuta hogs for their pork products and if you aren’t familiar with Kurobuta pork it is basically the pig equivalent of Wagyu beef. Start with a good animal and you have a good final product. Here are a few options depending on how many people you will be feeding.
UPDATE: This week (10/22-10/29) Snake River Farms hams are on sale. Get yours ordered today and save big. And order a couple more for Christmas while you are at it!
This whole bone in ham from Snake River weighs in at 14 pounds so you can probably easily feed 15 or so people with it. Yeah, there is a bone in it which takes up some of the weight but there is still plenty of meat to be had for all. And you will probably have some left over for some great ham sandwiches. Order your 14-18 lb ham for $179 Just $125 this week.
If you don’t have that big a crowd go for the half bone in ham. This is the same as the bone in ham above just smaller. You can order a 6 pounder for $119 ($83 on sale this week) or get an 8 pounder for $139 ($90 on sale this week).
If you want to save some headaches when it comes to carving you can opt for a boneless ham. The presentation isn’t quite as impressive but this ham will taste just as good. But you won’t have the bone to use for soup. These 7 lb boneless hams run $119 ($89 on sale this week).
Cooking these hams couldn’t be easier. Just set your oven to 350 and cook the ham until it gets to 140-150 degrees internal temperature. Of course you have good probe thermometer to measure the temperature don’t you? If you want to go a bit fancier check out some of these ham recipes from Snake River Farms. Any of these hams will look great on your Thanksgiving table and let’s be honest, ham tastes better than turkey.
Prime Rib
Again, Prime Rib is generally reserved for Christmas but why not cook up a nice rib roast for Thanksgiving? Again, it is a very impressive presentation and you will get just as many oohs and aahs when you bring your prime rib to the table as you would bringing a turkey. Many people are intimidated by prime rib but there is no need to be. With a good thermometer (you do have one of these don’t you?) you don’t need to be afraid of over or under cooking your prime rib. If it were me I would salt and pepper the roast 2-4 days ahead of time and put it on a rack in a sheet pan in the fridge. Set your oven to 200 degrees (you could also do this on a smoker or grill), cook the roast until it hits 115 internal temperature, rest it for 30-60 minutes, crank the oven as hot as it will go, and sear the roast for 10-15 minutes.
If you are more of a visual person and want some video explaining the process…
Like Kenji says in that video, start with high quality meat. Again, for that we turn to Snake River Farms:
If you want the best of the best you will be talking about this American Wagyu Rib Roast from Snake River Farms. The marbling on the Snake River Farms American Wagyu beef is insane and well beyond any prime grade roast you will find at your local butcher. The 3 bone roast (8 lbs) will feed probably 6-8 people and the 4 bone (10 pounds) will feed 8-10. These roasts aren’t cheap and will run you $399 for the 3 bone and $449 for the 4 bone. Order your American Wagyu Rib Roast for Thanksgiving today.
For a little more reasonably price roast give the Bone In Prime Rib Roast a look. It isn’t quite as marbled as the American Wagyu version but it will still be delicious. The 3 bone (8 pounds) roast runs $159 (on sale for $132 right now) and the 4 bone (10 pounds) is $189 (on sale for $155 right now).
Snake River even has a Prime Rib starter kit that includes a 3 bone prime rib, a nice thermometer, and some Jacobson Black Pepper salt.
Don’t overlook a nice prime rib as an alternative to turkey this Thanksgiving. It is quite a bit more expensive than a turkey but it is also quite a bit tastier.
Pork Roast
Before I started thinking about alternatives for Thanksgiving turkey I never really gave much thought to pork roast. But why wouldn’t a pork roast be a great addition to a Thanksgiving table? It looks great, you can feed quite a few people, and it is easy to cook. You could just get a pork loin roast from the grocery store for about $2 per pound, season it up, and cook it to 145 internal temperature. Or you can get a Kurobuta pork loin roast to take things up a notch. But if you really want a striking presentation take a look at these two options:
This Kurobuta crown roast is cut from a 10-12 bone rack of pork. The bones have been frenched which makes for a beautiful presentation. You can do pretty much any sort of rub or glaze you want on this roast. Anything from a nice jerk rub to some Asian flavors will accent the flavor of the meat. And if you are really into “stuffing” on your Thanksgiving table you can fill the middle of this roast with a variety of stuffings. I would think some sort of cornbread stuffing would go well with this meat. Heck, you could even just fill the middle with sliced apples with some brown sugar and cinnamon and combine your dessert with the main course.
These roasts are 4-5 pounds so you can probably feed 8-10 people. It will take about 2 hours or so to cook a crown roast. I would start it in a 250 degree oven and then finish in a super hot oven to give some color to the outside. Order your Kurobuta Crown Roast for $135 from Snake River Farms.
The Kurobuta Rack of Pork is pretty much the same cut as the crown roast, just a different presentation. Again, just season it however you want (I would keep it simple) and roast until it hits 145 degrees. This would go great on the grill as well as the oven.
The rack of pork is 2 pounds heavier than the crown roast (~6.5 pounds) and costs a bit less ($129). Order your Rack of Pork from Snake River Farms.
Chicken
Wait a minute, aren’t chickens just small turkeys? Aren’t turkeys just big chickens? By no means! I think chickens are superior to turkeys in almost every way. The flavor of chickens (good chickens at least) is much better than turkey. Since chickens are smaller they will cook much quicker and more evenly. And properly prepared chickens will look just as great as a turkey.
Just like with turkey I think the best way to cook a chicken is to spatchcock it. Remove the backbone and flatten out the bird. This will give you crispy skin across the whole bird and really helps everything cook evenly. Since the thighs and wings are towards the outside if a spatchcocked bird they will reach their temperature (160) right about when the breast meat is cooked (145 degrees).
But like I mentioned earlier you need to get good chickens. The chicken you get at the grocery store has been bred to grow quick and have a lot of white meat. Once processed they are pumped full of a salt solution as well. Most marketing terms like free range or organic really don’t mean much. What you want to look for is pasture raised chickens. These chickens are free to forage for bugs, grass, worms, and other things chickens are supposed to eat. Pasture raised chickens are also usually older than commodity chickens so they develop a much deeper, richer flavor.
Porter Road is a butcher from the Tennessee area. Their chickens are 3-4 pounds and run $23 each. Yeah, that is about $7 or $8 per pound for chicken but quality costs money. And Thanksgiving is the time to pull out the quality. Porter Road has free shipping when you order $100 worth of meat as well. Their steaks are amazing and their chickens are great as well. I had one earlier this week and was very impressed. Order your chickens from Porter Road.
Crowd Cow would be another place I would look for chickens. They have partnered up with PastureBird in California to offer some awesome tasting chickens. they sell a 3 pack for $60 and a 4 pack for $80. Order your chickens from CrowdCow.
You can probably plan on 3 or 4 people per chicken depending on what sort of appetites you are looking at. Roasting the chickens in a hot oven will probably take less than an hour. Chickens smoked at 350-375 degrees will have some incredibly crispy skin and some great smoke flavor.
If you want an “all in one” Thanksgiving meat solution Porter Road just launched their Holiday Boxes. There are 5 different boxes to choose from each containing different cuts. All the boxes come with a large cut like a rib roast or ham or tenderloin roast but also comes with some different bacons and sausages for Thanksgiving breakfast or to include in your side dishes like bacon wrapped brussel sprouts or sausage dressing. The boxes at just $87 for a box with a 3 pound pork roast, 1 pound sage sausage, 1 pound pork bacon, 1 pound ham bacon, and 1 pound sausage patties. that box will feed 6-8 people. If you have a crowd the Whole Ham box is for you. It contains a 10-12 pound ham and 9 pounds of bacon and sausage and runs $224. My pick would be the rib roast box (pictured below) that will feed 10-14 people with a 5 pound rib roast and 6 pounds of bacon and sausage for $170.
There are many other alternatives we could talk about but I think these four meet the criteria I want for a big meal like Thanksgiving. You can easily feed a crowd, the presentation of the meat is beautiful, and they are all easy to cook.
