If you’re hosting Thanksgiving this year, congratulations! You’ve just signed up for what amounts to an Olympic-level event involving a finicky bird, approximately 17 side dishes that all need to be hot at the same time, and enough family dynamics to fuel a reality show. No pressure, right? One of the biggest decisions you’ll have to make is what time to serve Thanksgiving dinner. And if you think this is a simple question, you’ve clearly never gone toe-to-toe with your mother-in-law over whether 2 p.m. or 6 p.m. is the “correct” dinner time. (Found out the hard way that feelings run deep on this one.)
MarthaStewart.com recently conducted a poll asking its Instagram followers when they prefer to eat their Thanksgiving feast, and more than 34,000 people had opinions. The winner? A solid majority voted for serving dinner between 2 and 3 p.m., with the 4 to 6 p.m. time slot coming in a close second. Eating at noon, like your grandma might have recommended, or after 6 p.m. were the least popular options. In other words, late afternoon to early evening is where most people land—but the responses were mixed enough to prove this is far from settled.
So I decided to do what any reasonable person would do: ask a whole bunch of experts from completely different fields—event planners to food-safety experts, pediatric experts to therapists, and yes, professional chefs who’ve cooked more turkeys than most of us will see in a lifetime—to settle this once and for all. Here’s who weighed in:
- Jordyn Koveleski Gorman, a licensed pediatric feeding specialist, child development expert and founder of Eat Play Say
- Amos Gott, the chief event architect at event-planning company AmosEvents
- Jason Reese, a food-safety expert and attorney who handles cases involving foodborne illness and unsafe food handling
- Cheryl Groskopf, a relationship therapist based in Los Angeles
- Jo Hayes, an etiquette expert and founder of EtiquetteExpert.Org
- Genevieve Dreizen, an etiquette expert and the author of Simple Scripts to Support Your People: What to Say When You Don’t Know What to Say
- Jessica Randhawa, the founder and head chef at the Forked Spoon
- Lanette Miles, a chef at Contessa Catering
As you’ll see, everyone has an opinion … and some surprisingly compelling reasons behind their preferred time slot. Read on to settle the debate once and for all and learn the “best” time for Thanksgiving dinner.
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Why is there such a debate over the best time to eat Thanksgiving dinner?
Turns out, the Great Thanksgiving Timing Debate isn’t really about the clock at all. It’s about juggling a million different factors: the age of your guests, where you live, family dynamics and good old-fashioned feelings.
“Thanksgiving looks completely different depending on the ages and needs of the people around the table,” Gorman explains. “For families with little ones, timing a big meal around naps, snacks and meltdowns is basically a sport. For adults, the day is more about tradition. Some people grew up eating at noon, others at 5 p.m., and everyone feels strongly about ‘their’ way because holidays are tied to memory and routine.” Plus, some families “always” do an early morning turkey trot, decorate the tree or watch football. Again, tradition!
Travel timing also plays a role. Night driving is nine times more deadly than daytime per mile traveled, and since Thanksgiving ranks as the third-deadliest holiday for drunk driving, Dreizen says you should consider both family traveling from out of town and guests who are splitting holidays. “You want to give people flexibility without making anyone feel guilty for leaving early or arriving later,” she says.
And sometimes? Timing is just about accepting the chaotic realities of the day. “A full Thanksgiving meal can be an all-day project, with a turkey being done early or late,” Randhawa says. “Well-intentioned plans to eat at a certain time can change quickly with the chaotic realities of Thanksgiving.” Truer words have never been spoken.
So what’s the best time for Thanksgiving dinner?
Short answer: It depends on what matters most to you and your family. (You knew we were going to say that!) But the good news is that our experts mostly agree on a general time window, even if their specific reasons vary wildly. Let’s break it down by what each type of expert thinks—and why.
For families with young children: 3–4 p.m.
If you’ve got little ones at your table, Gorman “thinks the sweet spot is just slightly earlier than a traditional dinner, so around 3 to 4 p.m.” Why? It’s all about working with, not against, your child’s natural rhythms. “It’s after nap time for most babies and toddlers, so you avoid trying to feed an overtired, overstimulated child,” Gorman explains. “And it’s early enough that kids are not starving, which means they’re more open to trying new foods. Over-hungry toddlers are usually too dysregulated to explore new textures or flavors, and that often leads to meltdowns and food refusal.”
This timing also allows parents to feed their kids a solid breakfast and lunch, taking pressure off the main meal, and gets everyone home for a relatively normal bedtime. Some families even do Thanksgiving lunch around 11 a.m., before nap time, Gorman adds, “and that has worked out well.”
For food safety: 2–4 p.m.
Reese makes a compelling case for serving Thanksgiving dinner in this mid-afternoon time slot, and his reasoning is less about tradition and more about preventing food poisoning. “This midday stretch is ideal since you’ll be more focused on proper food handling and monitoring the temperatures before the exhaustion of the event wears you down,” he explains.
In other words, as the evening wears on and the wine flows, hosts get tired and distracted, and what started as a formal dinner devolves into a casual party atmosphere where people keep wandering back to pick at the food buffet-style. That’s when food safety goes out the window—literally no one is tracking how long that turkey has been sitting out or whether the mashed potatoes are still at a safe temperature.
Here’s the math that should matter to every host: If you serve dinner at 3 p.m., all leftovers should be in your fridge by 6 or 7 p.m. at the latest. “When food sits out for a long time, it gets into the danger zone … where bacteria rapidly multiply,” Reese warns. “One of the biggest dangers with this feast is that outbreaks of Clostridium perfringens peak at this time of year, causing 10% of all identified foodborne illnesses.” How do you get that delightful case of food poisoning? When cooked poultry cools slowly. Yikes.
For the best event flow: 3:30–4 p.m.
As someone who orchestrates events for a living, Gott votes for a late-afternoon start, around 3:30 or 4 p.m. “That timing balances energy management, the flow of the day and hospitality rhythm,” he explains. “Guests arrive fresh but not rushed.”
This schedule also allows space for all the Thanksgiving traditions—the parade, football games, family rituals—without anyone feeling like they’re in a sprint. Depending on your family traditions, you can do these together before the big meal or separately at your own homes, and the late afternoon time makes it so no one has to rush.
“A late-afternoon dinner creates a natural progression from cocktails and appetizers into dessert and coffee, much like the pacing of a grand event where guests feel lively but never left waiting,” Gott says.
For the best guest experience: 2 p.m.
From an etiquette perspective, Hayes recommends timing the meal for mid-afternoon, around 2 p.m. The thing is, good etiquette isn’t just about which fork to use; it’s about being thoughtful about everyone’s needs and energy levels. “This gives the hosts plenty of time to prepare the meal, without time pressures, and also gives everyone plenty of time to work up a good appetite,” she says.
It also means there’s “plenty of time to enjoy the meal, clean up, relax with a cup of coffee in the lounge afterward and get everyone home and in bed in good time.”
For emotional and psychological well-being: 2:30–3:30 p.m.
Here’s an angle you might not have considered: Your Thanksgiving dinner time could actually prevent family conflicts. Groskopf says serving dinner between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. “allows enough time for connection before everyone gets overstimulated or numbs out. Blood-sugar crashes amplify emotional reactivity, and eating earlier prevents that drop from happening.” You don’t need an expert to tell you that hangry relatives are more likely to start arguments.
She also notes that our willpower and decision-making abilities are stronger earlier in the day. “By evening, our brains are tired from a full day of decisions—kids, cooking, chaos. A 3 p.m. meal happens before that ‘my brain is fried’ moment where impulse choices take over.”
Plus, this timing creates a shorter pressure window. “If dinner is at 6 or 7, people often arrive at noon and spend hours and hours trying to be ‘on’ before food even hits the table. That’s just exhausting and way too overstimulating,” Groskopf adds. The earlier meal also creates space afterward for people to decompress, take a walk or split into smaller groups, “which helps avoid any post-meal arguments or awkward goodbyes.”
For the best culinary experience: 4–5 p.m.
When it comes to actually cooking and serving the meal, the chefs we spoke with have some interesting takes—and not all of them agree, which honestly tracks with the whole Thanksgiving timing debate.
Miles is firmly in the dinner camp, around 4 p.m. “From a chef’s point of view, I really believe Thanksgiving should be served at dinnertime,” she says. “You get the whole day to let the house fill with those cozy holiday smells, enjoy great snacks, sip something festive, watch the game, decorate and just breathe.” She loves that guests can drift in and out throughout the day or arrive later for the main meal, and if someone needs to have dinner at your place and dessert somewhere else, that flow works beautifully.
Randhawa aims for a 5 p.m. Thanksgiving dinner. “I like to start my family’s day with a turkey trot and then have a brunch afterward,” she explains. The later brunch is meant to hold everyone over until dinner, and 5 p.m. gives her “enough time to get everything done without feeling too rushed and still have a bit of buffer time.” As a California resident, she notes that 5 p.m. is “slightly after sundown where we live, so it gives us a dinner time dusk feeling.”
So what’s the verdict?
After talking to all these experts, a clear winner emerges: The sweet spot for Thanksgiving dinner is somewhere between 2 and 4 p.m., with 3 p.m. being the golden hour that makes almost everyone happy.
This timing thread runs through most of our experts’ recommendations, whether they’re concerned about food safety, family harmony, event flow or keeping toddlers from having meltdowns at the table. It’s late enough that you’re not forcing anyone to start cooking at dawn, but early enough that you avoid the hangry hour when everyone’s blood sugar (and patience) is running dangerously low.
As Groskopf points out, “We are wired for shared meals to happen closer to midday. Before electricity, most cultures gathered and ate together well before sundown. Our bodies still respond best to that rhythm.”
That said, the chefs make a compelling case for going a bit later if your family dynamics and cooking schedule allow it. A 5 p.m. or even later dinner gives you breathing room in the kitchen and creates that cozy, intimate dinner atmosphere.
What else should you keep in mind when planning your Thanksgiving festivities?
Beyond nailing the perfect dinner time, here are expert tips for keeping your Thanksgiving running smoothly from morning to evening.
- Create a detailed timeline. “Just like any event, map out the timeline,” Gott advises. “Know when the turkey goes in, when guests arrive and when you invite everyone to be seated for dinner.” Don’t be shy about sharing this schedule with guests—a little structure prevents chaos.
- Prep like a pro. “Prep as much as possible the day before, so the only thing you’re doing at the end is the mashed potatoes and sliding prepped dishes into the oven,” Miles says. “It keeps the day calm, warm and enjoyable for everyone, including you.”
- Work backward from your dinner time. “I start with a timeline from our planned 5 p.m. dinner, and work backward for the turkey, sides and appetizers,” Randhawa says. This prevents the all-too-common scenario of everything being done at wildly different times.
- Have snacks ready early. “Have really good snacks and a signature cocktail ready early so people feel welcomed and settled while you finish the bigger dishes,” Miles advises. This keeps guests happy (and out of the kitchen) while you’re putting the final touches on dinner.
- Set the table in advance. “Set the table the night before, arrange seating with place cards to encourage conversation, and make sure the flow from the food display to the table feels easy and comfortable,” Gott recommends. Event planners never wait until guests arrive to set up—neither should you.
- Delegate, delegate, delegate. “In events, we never let one person juggle everything,” Gott says. Assign someone to handle drinks, another to manage food presentation and someone else for dessert duty. Even young kids can help by opening canned goods or folding napkins.
- Give yourself a reset moment. Before everyone sits down, give yourself five minutes to breathe, step outside or light a candle, Dreizen suggests. “When the host is grounded, everything else tends to follow.”
And remember: Thanksgiving isn’t just about the food, it’s about creating a warm, memorable experience for everyone at your table. And that starts with choosing a dinner time that sets you and your guests up for success. Ultimately, the “right” time is the one that keeps your specific people fed, happy and speaking to one another by the time dessert rolls around.
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Sources:
- Martha Stewart: “When to Serve Thanksgiving Dinner”
- National Safety Center: “More Than 500 People May Die in Preventable Traffic Crashes Over Thanksgiving”
- Jordyn Koveleski Gorman, licensed pediatric feeding specialist and founder of Eat Play Say; email interview, Nov. 20, 2025
- Amos Gott, chief event architect at AmosEvents; email interview, Nov. 20, 2025
- Jason Reese, food safety expert and partner attorney at Wagner Reese; email interview, Nov. 20, 2025
- Cheryl Groskopf, LMFT, LPCC, relationship therapist based in Los Angeles; phone interview, Nov. 19, 2025
- Jo Hayes, etiquette expert and founder of EtiquetteExpert.Org; phone interview, Nov. 19, 2025
- Genevieve Dreizen, etiquette expert, event planner and COO and co-founder of Fresh Starts Registry; email interview, Nov. 19, 2025
- Jessica Randhawa, founder and head chef at the Forked Spoon; phone interview, Nov. 19, 2025
- Lanette Miles, chef at Contessa Catering; email interview, Nov. 20, 2025
The post This Is the “Right” Time to Eat Thanksgiving Dinner, According to Experts appeared first on Reader's Digest.
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