When thickening a fruit pie filling, there are several options to consider. Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency.

Find out which thickener won’t break down, preventing your pie from becoming a watery mess in Food Network Kitchens Pie Thickener 101 post.

Now that you’re armed with these tips, start baking these popular Thanksgiving desserts.

To cut 100 calories off your Thanksgiving meal, watch out for the fried topping on green bean casseroles. This casserole wouldn’t live up to the hype if it wasn’t for the crispy French fried onions, but each quarter cup will set you back 100 calories (and most recipes call for five times that amount!). Slim down portions to a light sprinkle and try these four other ways to cut 100 calories from Healthy Eats.

For crisper skin, unwrap the turkey the day before roasting and leave it uncovered in the refrigerator overnight.

Need help tackling the big bird? Continue reading Food Network’s Top 10 Turkey Tips.

Find the perfect turkey for your feast, starting with our most popular ever: Alton’s Good Eats Roast Turkey, an outstanding 5-star standby. Browse our top turkey recipes.

When it comes to Thanksgiving desserts, pies take the cake. But making the perfect pie crust can be daunting, right? Should you use butter, lard or oil — or all three? At what temperature should you keep these ingredients? How should you handle the dough? No need to stress, because we have an easy guide on How to Make Pie Crust and also traditional pie recipes that turn out sweet and flavorful desserts every time.

Fat Talk: Dough built with butter will yield the most flavorful crust, but it’s important to work with very cold butter so as to avoid a gummy finished product. Using shortening is the ultimate way to ensure a flaky consistency, but it is not as naturally tasty as butter, so most recipes that feature lard or shortening will often call for butter as well.

Don’t overwork the dough »

If you’re traveling for Thanksgiving and have been asked to bring a dish, keep food safety in mind. Here are some options:

• Dinner rolls: Freshly made bread, dinner rolls or a lightened version of cornbread are delicious and easy items to bring.
• Cookies: Fun to make and easy to carry, bake up some cookies. Keep cookie size small for portion-friendly dessert.

For more portable Thanksgiving ideas, check out these travel tips on Healthy Eats.

With so many Thanksgiving recipes to choose from, it can be deliciously difficult to pick out the ultimate, tried-and-true ones for this most important of food holidays. We’ve compiled a menu of our five best-ever Thanksgiving recipes, featuring traditional supper staples such as roast turkey and sweet potatoes, so set the table and serve up this classic holiday feast.

5. Traditional Southern Deviled Eggs — Light yet satisfying, these two-bite appetizers won’t fill up your guests before the turkey is carved.

4. Pumpkin Cheesecake — With an easy graham-cracker crust and pumpkin-cream cheese filling laced with ground nutmeg, clove and cinnamon, Paula’s down-home cheesecake is a favorite finish to any Thanksgiving dinner.

Get the top three recipes »

When glazing your vegetables, add a touch of butter and sugar with a pinch of salt. The sugar and butter add shine to the glaze. Aromatics like herbs, ginger or citrus zest will add some zing.

Follow this guide to learn how to make your veggie side dish extraordinary, then watch our how-to video.

Browse more of Food Network’s Thanksgiving side dish recipes.

Stuffing your turkey changes the way you should cook the whole bird. You’ll want to make sure the stuffing and the turkey reach an internal temperature of 170 degrees F at the same time. Watch Alton’s complete video for more tips.

Browse more of Food Network’s Thanksgiving stuffing recipes and tips.

One side effect of working as an editor for FoodNetwork.com is that you end up thinking about Thanksgiving starting in June, craving mashed potatoes all through the summer. This year, as I waded through Thanksgiving recipes on our site, familiar old faves and great new takes, I decided that this was the year I would revamp my family’s Thanksgiving bread basket.

Sometime in July I decided I would bake Alex’s Parker House Rolls for Thanksgiving — they look soft, buttery and oh, so classic. But this is one recipe I decided to take for a test drive before the big cooking extravaganza of Thanksgiving, where every bit of counter and oven space needs to be carefully budgeted and coordinated. So, like sydney1212, the latest reviewer of this recipe (glad I’m not alone), I baked a test batch of these rolls over the weekend.

Read more »

To create a smooth, rich gravy for Thanksgiving, gradually ladle the hot broth into the flour mixture, whisking constantly (this is key, or your gravy will be lumpy). Bring to a boil, then adjust the heat so the gravy simmers gently.

Try making: Ina Garten’s Homemade Gravy recipe

Food Network Magazine shows you how to make the perfect gravy in seven simple steps (photos).