Figure out exactly what size turkey and how many sides you need
💡 Why This Matters Thanksgiving is the one meal nobody wants to under-cater — but an oversized turkey and mountains of untouched sides is its own kind of stress. Enter your guest count and leftover preference and this works out exactly what size turkey to buy and how much of each classic side to make.
🧮 Making your own stuffing? Scale the recipe to fit your guest count →
Benjamin Franklin reportedly wanted the wild turkey, not the bald eagle, as America's national bird — he called the eagle "a bird of bad moral character" and thought the turkey was a "much more respectable" choice.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We do our best to link products that we genuinely believe are organic, no disposable junk, sustainable, and built to last.
This calculator starts with 1 pound of raw turkey per person (or 1.5 pounds if you want guaranteed leftovers), multiplied by your guest count to get total turkey weight. Sides scale the same way: stuffing at 1/2 cup per person, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes at roughly 1/4-1/3 lb raw weight per person, carrots at about 1/4 lb per person, cranberry sauce at 1/4 cup per person, and salad mix at 1.5 cups per person. Wine or sparkling water is estimated at about half a standard bottle per adult guest, and pies are estimated at one 9-inch pie (8 slices) per 8 guests, rounded up.
The turkey weight is what to look for on the label when shopping — most turkeys are sold in fairly standard size increments, so round up to the nearest size available rather than down. Each side dish shows both a weight/volume figure and an approximate whole-item count (medium potatoes, carrots, cans of cranberry sauce) to make grocery shopping concrete rather than abstract. If you're cooking your own stuffing from scratch instead of buying a boxed mix, use the "Scale the recipe" link under your results to adjust any stuffing recipe's ingredient list to match your exact stuffing-cup target.
This assumes a fairly standard adult-heavy table with turkey as the centerpiece — if you're serving multiple proteins (ham alongside turkey, for instance) or have a lot of kids at the table, you can scale the turkey estimate down somewhat. It also treats stuffing and potatoes as flat per-person averages; adjust up if either is a particular crowd favorite at your table.
Buy your turkey a few days ahead if frozen, since it needs time to thaw safely in the fridge (roughly 24 hours per 4-5 pounds). Prep stuffing and potato components the day before where possible to reduce day-of stress, and bake pies a day ahead too — most hold up well overnight at room temperature or in the fridge.
Example: Say you're hosting 10 guests and want leftovers, with wine. Turkey: 10 × 1.5 lb = 15 lb turkey. Sides: 5 cups stuffing, ~3.3 lbs mashed potatoes (≈8 medium), ~1.75 lbs carrots (≈8 medium), 2.5 cups cranberry sauce (≈2 cans), 15 cups salad. Wine: 10 × 0.5 = 5 bottles. Pies: 10 ÷ 8 = 1.25, rounded up to 2 pies.
Plan on about 1-1.5 pounds of raw turkey per person, which accounts for bones and shrinkage while cooking and still leaves room for leftovers.
Yes — if you want guaranteed leftovers for sandwiches and soup, size up to 1.5 pounds per person instead of the standard 1 pound minimum.
Plan on about 1/2 cup each of stuffing and mashed potatoes per person as a standard serving, which this calculator scales directly with your guest count.
One standard 9-inch pie serves about 8 slices, so plan on one pie per 8 guests if offering a single dessert, or split across two pie flavors for variety with larger groups.