I'm honestly not under the dissolution that you haven't already picked out all your Thanksgiving meal recipes. I mean I know I have my go-to's. And I get why you wouldn't want to mess with that perfect recipe passed down from your grandma or try out a new recipe when you're cooking for a crowd. However, I thought it would still be fun to show you some traditional Thanksgiving meal recipes that incorporate essential oils into them. This way, even if you're not using them for your "big meal," you can still see how incorporating essential oils into your cooking is easy, safe, and delicious!
Let's talk about safety for a sec. In case you don't know who I am, I only use doTERRA essential oils. They have a Certified Pure Tested Grade (CPTG) standard, with a barrage of nearly 60 tests per batch of oil to ensure purity, potency and efficacy. If you use anything else, please check the labels and make sure you're only using essential oils that you trust are safe for internal consumption.
Okay, so with that said, pure essential oils are about 50 to 70 times more powerful than their herb counterpart, so a little goes a long way. One of the best tips I can give you is to use a toothpick. Yep! Take a clean toothpick and dip it into the bottle or do a drop of essential oil onto a spoon and dip your toothpick in it - either way stir the toothpick around in the dish and give it a taste. If you need more, add more. Just remember go slow - you can always add more, but you can't take it away once it's in your dish. Also, due to the chemical makeup of essential oils they will dissipate when exposed to heat. It's best to add the essential oil to your dish after being removed from the heat. But I understand that’s often not possible especially if you're baking. You're just going to have to use a little trial-n-error and perhaps use a little more so that it holds the flavor that you're looking for. Bottom line is, have fun with this!
I've pulled together some Thanksgiving meal recipes for you, so even if you're not going to try these this year, you can see how easy it is to incorporate essential oils into your cooking. And I don't know about your families’ traditions, but mine is that we have snacks and basically eat all-day-long! I always serve shrimp, crackers, meat and cheese, a relish tray, deviled eggs and yummy dips to name a few. So, we'll kick off the recipes with a sweet and slightly spicy dip.
Jalapeno Cranberry Dip
Ingredients:
1 12oz bag fresh cranberries
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 toothpick Cilantro essential oil
1–2 jalapeño peppers, seeded and minced
2 limes, juiced
1 toothpick Lime essential oil
¾ c white sugar (or sweetener of choice)
8 oz cream cheese
Instructions:
- Combine cranberries, cilantro, Cilantro oil, and jalapeño peppers in a food processor. Chop but do not purèe.
- Spoon chopped cranberry mixture into a bowl and add lime juice, Lime oil, and sugar. Stir.
- Cover and refrigerate at least three hours (overnight is best).
- Serve over a block of cream cheese with wheat crackers or tortilla chips.
Moving to the main course let's hit our featured dish first...our bird. Are you a traditional oven roasted turkey lover? Do you stuff your bird? My family has been deep frying our turkey since 2001. That means I can't stuff or baste it, however, I inject my bird with a creole butter and give'er a rub down with some delicious creole seasoning. Oh boy, my mouth just started watering! Perhaps I could add some black or pink pepper essential oil to my creole butter injection. Hum.
Citrus & Herb Butter Roasted Turkey 
Ingredients:
Citrus & Herb Butter:
4 drops Wild Orange essential oil
3 drops Lemon essential oil 3 cloves garlic, minced
4 tbls chopped fresh sage
3 tbls chopped fresh rosemary
3 tblp chopped fresh thyme
pinch of salt and pepper
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
For the Turkey:
14–16 pound turkey, thawed
½ large orange, cut in two wedges
1 lemon, cut in quarters
½ large granny smith apple, cut in two wedges
1 garlic head, cut in half
5 sprigs of sage
5 sprigs of thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
Instructions:
For the Butter:
- In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and stir together thoroughly. Set aside.
For the Turkey:
- Preheat oven to 500° F
- Rinse turkey inside and out. Pat skin dry and place in a roasting rack inside a large roasting pan. Stuff the cavity of the bird with the orange, lemon, apple, garlic, and herbs.
- Tuck wing tips under the turkey.
- Use fingers to carefully loosen skin around the entire bird. Take ¼ of the butter mixture and rub it, thoroughly, under skin making sure to coat as much of the turkey as possible. Brush remaining butter mixture over skin, making sure to cover the entire turkey.
- Sprinkle breast and legs with salt and pepper and tie legs together with kitchen twine.
- Roast turkey on the lowest rack at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and insert probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast. Cook until thermometer reads 160 degrees.
- Note: Cooking time depends on the size of the turkey.
- Remove from oven and cover with foil. Let turkey rest for approximately 30 minutes before carving.
Sides! Delicious sides! My all-time favorite side for Thanksgiving is southern style dressing. What's yours? Does your family give you lots of choices for sides? We do green bean casserole, onion casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, and sweet potato casserole. Now none of that screams healthy choices, so I think it's important to give you some well-rounded choices starting with a healthier twist on sweet potatoes, plus some carrots.
Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients:
4 cooked sweet potatoes, peeled
¾ c canned coconut milk
1 tbls coconut oil
¼ c pure maple syrup
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ orange, juiced
salt and pepper to taste
4 drops Cinnamon Bark essential oil
Pecan topping:
1½ c chopped pecans
1 tbls melted coconut oil
1 tbls maple syrup
2 drops Cinnamon Bark essential oil
Instructions:
- Place cooked sweet potatoes, coconut milk, coconut oil, maple syrup, nutmeg, orange juice, and Cinnamon Bark oil into a large bowl.
- With a hand mixer, blend until everything is combined. If desired, you can add more maple syrup or Cinnamon Bark oil.
- Spread into an oven-safe dish and set aside.
- Combine all topping ingredients until pecans are well coated. Sprinkle on top of sweet potatoes.
- Bake in oven at 350° F for 50–60 minutes, or until pecans have slightly browned. Serve warm.
Tip: For more sweetness, drizzle maple syrup on top.
Honey Thyme Roasted Carrots
Ingredients:
2 lbs carrots peeled, tops removed
¼ c apricot preserves
2 tbls honey
2 tbls olive oil
1 tbls butter, melted
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp ground mustard
⅛ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried thyme
1 drop Thyme essential oil
1 tsp salt ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 375° F
- Grease a baking sheet. Add carrots to center of pan. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together ingredients and pour over carrots. Toss until evenly coated. Lay carrots in a single layer. Bake for 30–45 minutes, until fork tender. Stir after 20 minutes. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
I'm not sure why we do dinner rolls, it's certainly not because we're lacking choices or have foods that are filling. Maybe the tradition of dinner rolls started as a means so soak up all the juices and yummy turkey gravy. I'm thinking maybe I should make a rosemary essential oil butter spread, that way you can add what you want to your roll or none at all, if that’s not your bag. Wink.
Rosemary Dinner Rolls
Ingredients:
2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
½ c warm water
3 tbls sugar, divided
¾ c warm milk
1 large egg
3 tbls butter, melted
2 tbls chopped fresh rosemary
2 drops Rosemary essential oil
1 ½ teaspoon salt
1 egg for brushing rolls, whisked
3 ½ c all-purpose flour, then more as needed
Instructions:
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer whisk together yeast, warm water, and ½ teaspoon granulated sugar. Rest for 5 minutes
- Set mixer with hook attachment and mix in remaining sugar, warm milk, egg, melted butter, fresh rosemary, Rosemary essential oil, and salt on low speed.
- Add 2 cups flour and mix on low speed until combined. Slowly add in remaining flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Dough should be a little sticky.
- Knead for 7–10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Remove from mixer and cover bowl with a cloth for one hour or until doubled in size.
- Place dough on clean workspace and divide into 12 equal parts. Roll each part into a smooth ball and place into a greased 9x11 baking pan.
- Cover and let rise for one hour or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Gently brush tops of rolls evenly with one tablespoon whisked egg. Bake in preheated oven until tops are golden brown, about 23–26 minutes.
Who doesn't save room for dessert? I make both pumpkin and pecan pies, but also typically have a couple dozen cookies and a family recipe we call "Pink Stuff." It's a variation of ambrosia salad, easier to make, if that's even possible, and doesn't have marshmallows or oranges, but we add a can of cherry pie filling, which gives the Cool Whip base that pink color. I'm thinking I should add these mini pumpkin pies to the choices this year!
Mini Pumpkin Pies
Ingredients:
2 c pureed pumpkin
1 large egg
¼ c egg whites
½ c milk of choice
3 tsp melted butter or coconut oil
⅓ c brown sugar or honey
2 tbls vanilla extract
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
2 drops Clove essential oil
2 drops Ginger essential oil
3 drops Cassia or Cinnamon Bark essential oil
1 uncooked pie crust
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Take pie crust and cut out circles to fit inside greased muffin tin. Don't roll the dough out too thin or else the pie will fall apart after its cooked.
- In a blender or food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth.
- Evenly divide the pie filling into pie crust.
- Bake for 30–45 minutes or until crust lightly browns and when a toothpick inserted into the pies come out clean.
- Let sit for 10 minutes, or until cool. Gently remove from pan and refrigerate.
Tip: If you want to make a whole pie rather than mini pies, this recipe will make one medium sized pie.
I sure to hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family. Play around with essential oils in the kitchen throughout the year and get comfortable with using them. If you have the essential oil of an herb for a recipe, give it a try! Essential oils pack a powerful flavor punch to your meals.
xoDanette