MANY NOVEMBERS, I happily while away the better part of a week executing a Thanksgiving dinner strategy whose depth and precision could have won Napoleon Waterloo. There are notebooks brimming with timelines and shopping lists, deep dives into the relative merits of various turkey breeds, signature cocktails, canapés, course-by-course wine pairings and decorative gourds galore.  This is not one of those Novembers.  Thanksgiving will find me eight months pregnant, with an already ambulatory 1-year-old son hurtling around the kitchen like a heat-seeking missile. Making toast is a challenge, let alone the sort of elaborate feast that today’s Instagram-oriented holidays seem to demand. This year, I am dreaming of a different Thanksgiving ritual: one in which fireside relaxation supplants treks to specialty grocers and long walks in the fresh air replace hours pacing the kitchen floorboards. Please, this year, no anxiety dreams revolving around overcooked pumpkin pie.  I know I’m not the only one out of gas and quietly wishing for a Presidential pardon, turkey-style, from the whole affair. “Thanksgiving is starting to feel punitive,” an exasperated friend put it to me recently, bemoaning the pressure to produce ever-larger and more sophisticated holiday spreads. Blame social media. Blame food TV. Blame our ever-escalating national penchant for workaholism. Whatever the underlying cause, I’m over it. And so I sent out an S.O.S. call to some of the country’s top chefs, seeking their advice and recipes for a homemade, but drastically simplified, Thanksgiving dinner that requires less than 3 hours at the stove.  If pro cooks seem like the last people to turn to for tips on reducing culinary ambition, consider this: Chefs tend to be ruthless simplifiers when it comes to their own meals. Pressed with the grueling day-to-day demands of running restaurant kitchens, these men and women are experts at achieving maximum impact for minimal effort at home.  “Everyone is way overambitious when it comes to Thanksgiving,” said Jonathan Waxman, the chef of Jams and Barbuto in New York City. “It’s not a three-day journey. You don’t need to cook all week. That never made sense to me.”  Start with the turkey. One of the great lies we tell ourselves is that the quality of the cooked bird will be proportional to the effort expended. In fact, Mr. Waxman said, a great turkey needn’t involve an all-day roasting marathon, or a battery of treatments such as brining, trussing and lacquering. He simply starts with a fresh, free-range bird, rubs it with softened butter, salt and pepper, and sticks some citrus and herbs in the cavity. That’s it. Mr. Waxman says that today’s ovens, set to high heat, will cook a turkey in just 6 to 8 minutes a pound, which means most birds are done in two-and-a-half hours. Consistent basting will help keep the meat moist. Besides, Mr. Waxman said, whether or not a turkey turns out dry has more to do with the quality of the meat than the temperature at which it’s cooked.  Then there are the sides. Stephanie Izard, the executive chef and owner of Girl & The Goat in Chicago, is well acquainted with the tendency for their number to balloon out of control as cooks cater to the different whims and dietary needs of every guest. “Pretty soon, you find yourself making a 6-inch dish of sweet-potato casserole because only your uncle eats the stuff, but it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving for him without it,” Ms. Izard said. Instead, she recommends preparing one simple, original-but-not-too-original vegetable dish and inviting each guest to contribute a nostalgic favorite to the meal. “It’s a nice conversation piece, and means that everybody gets that one dish they were really looking forward to,” Ms. Izard said.  While I can rest easy outsourcing the likes of green-bean casserole and mashed potatoes, I wouldn’t dream of ceding control of the dressing—the sine qua non, to my mind, of a Thanksgiving meal. New Orleans chef John Besh offered a recipe for his hearty, no-fuss sausage and country-bread version and suggested assembling it on Tuesday or Wednesday, thereby freeing up enough time day-of for a game of touch football (a Besh family tradition). “Dishes like these are actually better when they have a chance for the flavors to meld,” Mr. Besh said. Pop it in the oven just before dinner, while the turkey rests, so it hits the table hot with a perfectly crisp crust.  When you’re possessed by a reductionist spirit, it’s tempting to nix the gravy, which rarely gets top billing on anyone’s list of Thanksgiving must-haves. Not so fast, said Mr. Waxman. Gravy pulls the whole meal together, dialing up the flavor of everything on the plate. “Turkey has the best sauce potential of almost any beast,” he said. In his recipe, a rich stock of necks and giblets is combined with pan juices and red wine for a deeply savory sauce—no flour-thickening necessary.  What’s for dessert? Stephen Collucci, pastry chef at Colicchio & Sons in New York, makes ornate, intricate plates to serve at the restaurant, but at home he tends toward single-component sweets like spice cakes, custards and quick breads. He has worked every Thanksgiving for the past decade, and that means his contribution to the Collucci family spread must be done a day or two in advance. He recommends a pumpkin flan, which shares a lot in common with the traditional Thanksgiving pie, minus the hassle of making a crust. “Baked custards like this are wonderful,” Mr. Collucci said. “They’re delicious, very easy and still look impressive.” Sounds like exactly what I’m craving this Thanksgiving.
Who says you have to send your blood pressure soaring to set out a satisfying holiday spread? This year, do as chefs do on their day off, keep things serene (but still special) and be present as you prepare. These recipes for turkey, gravy, dressing, sautéed squash and pumpkin flan won’t keep you at the stove all day.