Homsy

Christmas Dinner Timings Calculator

Enter when you want to eat, the turkey's weight and your sides. You get a minute-by-minute plan worked back from serving time, every oven clash marked with a fix, a one-page printout and calendar alarms. Turkey times are the Food Standards Agency's; switch to US timings for pounds and °F.

When you eat
Timings
Ovens
The main

The source covers 3 to 11 kg.

USDA FSIS says 20 minutes for a whole turkey. Under foil a big bird holds its heat longer, and a longer rest is what frees the oven for the last dishes.

Your oven plan

  • Turkey goes in at 09:30
  • Dinner at 14:00
09:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 2 h 55 min Oven Hob Prep and rest 180°C (160°C fan) 180° 200°C (180°C fan) 200° Turkey — 09:15–09:30 · get it ready for the oven (15 min) 1 Turkey Turkey — 09:30–13:10 · roast (220 min) 2 Turkey Turkey — 13:10–14:00 · rest (50 min) 6 Turkey · rest Roast potatoes — 13:10–14:00 · roast (50 min) 7 Roast potatoes Roast potatoes — 13:00–13:10 · parboil (10 min) 4 Roast potatoes Roast potatoes — 12:45–13:00 · peel (15 min) 3 Roast potatoes Pigs in blankets — 13:30–14:00 · roast (30 min) 10 Pigs in blankets Pigs in blankets — 13:20–13:30 · wrap (10 min) 8 Stuffing, in its own dish — 13:20–14:00 · bake (40 min) 9 Stuffing, in its own dish Stuffing, in its own dish — 13:00–13:20 · mix (20 min) 5 Brussels sprouts — 13:52–14:00 · boil (8 min) 15 Brussels sprouts Brussels sprouts — 13:42–13:52 · trim (10 min) 11 Brussels sprouts Braised red cabbage — 13:50–14:00 · reheat (10 min) 14 Braised red cabbage Gravy — 13:45–14:00 · simmer (15 min) 12 Gravy Christmas pudding — 13:45–14:45 · steam (60 min) 13 Christmas pudding first check Serve 14:00
  1. 8Pigs in blankets · wrap
  2. 5Stuffing, in its own dish · mix
09:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 Oven Hob Prep and rest 180°C (160°C fan) 200°C (180°C fan) Turkey — 09:15–09:30 · get it ready for the oven (15 min) Turkey — 09:30–13:10 · roast (220 min) Turkey — 13:10–14:00 · rest (50 min) Roast potatoes — 13:10–14:00 · roast (50 min) Roast potatoes — 13:00–13:10 · parboil (10 min) Roast potatoes — 12:45–13:00 · peel (15 min) Pigs in blankets — 13:30–14:00 · roast (30 min) Pigs in blankets — 13:20–13:30 · wrap (10 min) Stuffing, in its own dish — 13:20–14:00 · bake (40 min) Stuffing, in its own dish — 13:00–13:20 · mix (20 min) Brussels sprouts — 13:52–14:00 · boil (8 min) Brussels sprouts — 13:42–13:52 · trim (10 min) Braised red cabbage — 13:50–14:00 · reheat (10 min) Gravy — 13:45–14:00 · simmer (15 min) Christmas pudding — 13:45–14:45 · steam (60 min) first check 1 Turkey get it ready for the oven 2 Turkey · roast 2 h 55 min with only the main cooking 3 Roast potatoes · peel 4 Roast potatoes · parboil 5 Stuffing, in its own dish mix 6 Turkey · rest 7 Roast potatoes · roast 8 Pigs in blankets · wrap 9 Stuffing, in its own dish bake 10 Pigs in blankets · roast 11 Brussels sprouts · trim 12 Gravy · simmer 13 Christmas pudding · steam 14 Braised red cabbage reheat 15 Brussels sprouts · boil Serve 14:00 Dessert 14:45

OvenHobPrep and restclashfirst check

No clashes. Every dish has an oven, a shelf and a heat of its own.

Sides and desserts

Tap to add or take away. Each dish finishes at serving time; desserts 45 minutes later.

Who is cooking

Optional. Add names and give each dish to someone; their name prints beside every line.

Add alarms to my calendar Back to the example

One calendar event per step, each with an alarm at its own minute. Works with Apple, Google and Outlook calendars.

Minute by minute

The days before

  1. Thu 24 Dec Braised red cabbage: make it today and keep it in the fridge (about 75 min)

On Friday 25 December

  1. 09:15 Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)
  2. 09:15 1Turkey: get it ready for the oven (15 min)
  3. 09:30 2Turkey into the oven at 180°C (160°C fan)
  4. 12:45 3Roast potatoes: peel (15 min)
  5. 12:55 First check: Turkey must be steaming hot with no pink meat where the leg meets the breast, juices clear — or a probe there reading 70°C for 2 minutes
  6. 13:00 4Roast potatoes: parboil on the hob (10 min)
  7. 13:00 5Stuffing, in its own dish: mix (20 min)
  8. 13:10 Set the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)
  9. 13:10 6Turkey out to rest under foil for 50 minutes
  10. 13:10 7Roast potatoes: roast in the oven at 200°C (180°C fan) (50 min)
  11. 13:20 8Pigs in blankets: wrap (10 min)
  12. 13:20 9Stuffing, in its own dish: bake in the oven at 190°C (170°C fan) (40 min)
  13. 13:30 10Pigs in blankets: roast in the oven at 200°C (180°C fan) (30 min)
  14. 13:42 11Brussels sprouts: trim (10 min)
  15. 13:45 12Gravy: simmer on the hob (15 min)
  16. 13:45 13Christmas pudding: steam on the hob (60 min)
  17. 13:50 14Braised red cabbage: reheat on the hob (10 min)
  18. 13:52 15Brussels sprouts: boil on the hob (8 min)
  19. 14:00 Serve
  20. 14:45 Dessert

What prints

This is the sheet itself, not a preview of it.

Christmas dinner timeline

Serving at 14:00 on Friday 25 December · Turkey, 5.5 kg

  • Thu 24 Dec Braised red cabbage: make it today and keep it in the fridge (about 75 min)
09:15 Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan)
09:15 Turkey: get it ready for the oven (15 min)
09:30 Turkey into the oven at 180°C (160°C fan)
12:45 Roast potatoes: peel (15 min)
12:55 First check: Turkey must be steaming hot with no pink meat where the leg meets the breast, juices clear — or a probe there reading 70°C for 2 minutes
13:00 Roast potatoes: parboil on the hob (10 min)
13:00 Stuffing, in its own dish: mix (20 min)
13:10 Set the oven to 200°C (180°C fan)
13:10 Turkey out to rest under foil for 50 minutes
13:10 Roast potatoes: roast in the oven at 200°C (180°C fan) (50 min)
13:20 Pigs in blankets: wrap (10 min)
13:20 Stuffing, in its own dish: bake in the oven at 190°C (170°C fan) (40 min)
13:30 Pigs in blankets: roast in the oven at 200°C (180°C fan) (30 min)
13:42 Brussels sprouts: trim (10 min)
13:45 Gravy: simmer on the hob (15 min)
13:45 Christmas pudding: steam on the hob (60 min)
13:50 Braised red cabbage: reheat on the hob (10 min)
13:52 Brussels sprouts: boil on the hob (8 min)
14:00 Serve
14:45 Dessert

Times are approximate (Food Standards Agency, 180°C). Check it is steaming hot with no pink meat where the leg meets the breast, juices clear. Leftovers into the fridge within 1 to 2 hours.

Made with the free holiday dinner timeline at gethomsy.com/tools

No printer? The print button saves it as a PDF from the print dialog.

Turkey roasting times by weight

USDA FSIS timetable, oven at 325°F. These times are approximate; check with a food thermometer.

WeightUnstuffedStuffed
8 to 12 lb2¾ to 3 hours3 to 3½ hours
12 to 14 lb3 to 3¾ hours3½ to 4 hours
14 to 18 lb3¾ to 4¼ hours4 to 4¼ hours
18 to 20 lb4¼ to 4½ hours4¼ to 4¾ hours
20 to 24 lb4½ to 5 hours4¾ to 5¼ hours
WeightFridge thaw
4 to 12 lb1 to 3 days
12 to 16 lb3 to 4 days
16 to 20 lb4 to 5 days
20 to 24 lb5 to 6 days

Cooking from frozen is safe but takes at least 50 percent longer (USDA FSIS); this planner plans a thaw instead.

Food Standards Agency rule, oven preheated to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4), unstuffed bird.

  • Under 4.5 kg: 45 minutes per kg, plus 20 minutes
  • 4.5 to 6.5 kg: 40 minutes per kg
  • Over 6.5 kg: 35 minutes per kg

Thawing in the fridge: allow around 10 to 12 hours per kg. A 6 to 7 kg bird can take as much as 4 days.

The side dishes, and the minutes we give them

These are Homsy's own working times for a family-sized dish, not a source's. Your recipe wins where it differs.

DishStepsOven
Roast potatoes peel 15 min → parboil 10 min → roast 50 min 200°C
Pigs in blankets wrap 10 min → roast 30 min 200°C
Stuffing, in its own dish mix 20 min → bake 40 min 190°C
Brussels sprouts trim 10 min → boil 8 min —
Roast parsnips and carrots peel 15 min → roast 40 min 200°C
Braised red cabbage shred 15 min → braise 60 min —
Bread sauce infuse and simmer 20 min —
Cauliflower cheese trim 15 min → make the sauce 10 min → bake 25 min 200°C
Yorkshire puddings whisk the batter 5 min → bake 25 min 220°C
Gravy simmer 15 min —
Cranberry sauce simmer 15 min —
Mashed potatoes peel 20 min → boil 25 min → mash 10 min —
Nut roast mix 20 min → bake 45 min 180°C
Christmas pudding steam 60 min —
Mince pies, warmed warm 10 min 180°C

How the timings are worked out, and where they come from

The plan is worked backwards from the minute you sit down. The main leaves the oven one rest before serving time and goes in one roasting time before that; each side dish's steps are laid end to end so the last one finishes at serving time, and desserts 45 minutes later. The oven is put on 15 minutes before its first dish, and turned up or down a preheat ahead of any dish that needs a different heat.

The turkey times are the Food Standards Agency's, for an unstuffed bird in an oven preheated to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4): 45 minutes per kg plus 20 minutes under 4.5 kg, 40 minutes per kg from 4.5 to 6.5 kg, and 35 minutes per kg over 6.5 kg. The FSA gives one time rather than a range, so the plan puts a first check 15 minutes before it. A frozen bird is thawed in the fridge at 12 hours per kg, the slow end of the FSA's 10 to 12. On US timings the page switches to the USDA FSIS timetable at 325°F, stuffed or unstuffed, starting the bird at the long end of each range and checking at the short end. Ham is the FSIS ham timetable at 325°F and rib of beef the FSIS beef timetable; the °C beside them is 325°F rounded to 165°C. The 20-minute rest is USDA FSIS's for a whole turkey; the 15 minutes for ham and beef is ours, longer than the 3 minutes FSIS sets.

The side dishes' minutes and oven heats are Homsy's own working figures, written for this tool and listed on the page; no source publishes one right time for roast potatoes. So are the rules that find a clash: the main fills its oven while it roasts, two dishes share an oven only if their heats are within 25°F (about 15°C), an oven holds three dishes on three shelves, and the hob has four rings. Prep that can wait, like peeling, is moved earlier so one person never has two hands-on jobs at once.

All of it is approximate. Ovens run hot or cool, and a full oven is slower than an empty one. Whether the bird is cooked is decided by checking it, not by this page.

Where these numbers come from

  1. 1. Christmas food hygiene — Food Standards Agency
  2. 2. Let's Talk Turkey — A Consumer Guide to Safely Roasting a Turkey — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
  3. 3. Hams and Food Safety — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
  4. 4. Beef From Farm to Table — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service

Every figure above was read out of the code that runs on this page. Where a number is our own judgement rather than a published one, the note says so and cites nothing. Method last checked 23 October 2026.

Why Christmas dinner is planned backwards

Christmas dinner is the one meal of the year with a fixed finishing time and more dishes than ovens. Plan it forwards — bird in, then see — and the potatoes, the pigs in blankets and the stuffing all arrive at the oven door in the same ten minutes. Plan it backwards from the minute you sit down and the clash shows up on paper at nine in the morning, when it can still be fixed by resting the bird longer or making something the day before.

The turkey is the fixed point. Its roasting time comes from its weight, and its rest is the useful part: twenty minutes is the USDA's figure, but a big bird under foil stays hot for much longer, and that is the stretch when the oven is free and can go up to full heat for the roast potatoes. Everything else is arranged around those two numbers, which is what this calculator does, dish by dish, in minutes.

A timeline is the last of three sheets. The menu and who is making what come first — planning Christmas dinner covers the guest count and the names, and our printable Christmas planner puts the menu, the gift list and a six-week countdown on paper. The shopping is the second: the printable Christmas grocery list splits it into the early shop and the fresh one. If the meal is a bring-a-dish one, the potluck sign-up sheet has a Christmas version, and the people bringing a dish take it off your oven plan altogether.

The honest limit of the timings is that ovens differ. A fan oven runs hotter than its dial, a full oven runs slower than an empty one, and a bird straight from a cold garage is not the bird the tables assume. That is why the plan puts a thermometer check in before the turkey is due out, and why the check, not the clock, says when it is done.

Frequently Asked Questions

What time should the turkey go in for Christmas dinner?
Work back from the time you want to eat: take off the resting time, then the roasting time. The Food Standards Agency's rule, in an oven preheated to 180°C (160°C fan, gas mark 4), is 45 minutes per kg plus 20 minutes for a turkey under 4.5 kg, 40 minutes per kg from 4.5 to 6.5 kg, and 35 minutes per kg over 6.5 kg. So a 5.5 kg bird needs 3 hours 40 minutes. To eat at 2 pm with a 50-minute rest, it comes out at 1:10 and goes in at 9:30, with the oven heating from 9:15. The calculator above does that sum for your bird and your time.

How long does a frozen turkey take to defrost?
In the fridge, the Food Standards Agency says to allow around 10 to 12 hours per kg, and a 6 to 7 kg bird can take as much as 4 days. Do not defrost it at room temperature. Tick "It is frozen" above and the plan counts back at 12 hours per kg from the minute the bird goes in, and puts the day it has to go into the fridge at the top of the list.

How long should a turkey rest before carving?
USDA FSIS gives 20 minutes for a whole turkey, for the juices to set and the bird to carve more easily. Under foil a big bird holds its heat for longer than that, and a longer rest is useful: it is the stretch when the oven is free and can go up to full heat for the roast potatoes. The plan starts at 50 minutes and you can set anything from 20 to 75.

How do I fit Christmas dinner into one oven?
By using the turkey's rest. The bird fills the oven while it roasts, so everything else that needs the oven goes in after it comes out, and has to fit inside the rest. The calculator marks the minutes where two dishes need one oven at once — the turkey and a side, two dishes more than 25°F (about 15°C) apart, or more than three dishes on three shelves — and offers the fixes: rest the bird longer, use a second oven, or make a dish the day before.

How do I know when the turkey is cooked?
Not by the clock: the times are approximate. The Food Standards Agency says to cut into the thickest part, where the leg meets the breast, and check the meat is steaming hot with none of it pink and the juices running clear. With a probe there, 70°C held for 2 minutes is one of its safe combinations. USDA FSIS uses 165°F (74°C) in the innermost part of the thigh and wing and the thickest part of the breast. The plan puts a first check in the timetable before the bird is due out.

Should I cook the stuffing inside the turkey?
The Food Standards Agency says to cook it in a separate roasting tin, not inside the bird: a stuffed turkey takes longer and may not cook through. Its cooking times are for an unstuffed bird, which is why the UK timings here have no stuffed option and the stuffing is its own dish. On US timings you can tick "Stuffed", and the plan switches to the USDA's stuffed timetable.

Can I print the timings or put them in my calendar?
Both. "Print the timeline" prints one sheet with every step, a column for who is doing it and a box to tick; choose "Save as PDF" in the print dialog for a file instead. "Add alarms to my calendar" downloads a calendar file with one event per step, each with an alarm at its own minute, which Apple, Google and Outlook calendars all open. The plan lives in the page's address, so copying the link keeps it, or sends it to whoever is cooking with you.

Where do the side-dish times come from?
They are ours. The turkey, ham and beef times come from the Food Standards Agency and USDA FSIS and are cited in the method note; nobody publishes one correct time for roast potatoes, so the minutes and oven heats for the sides are Homsy's own working figures for a family-sized dish. They are listed in full on this page. If your recipe says something different, your recipe wins.

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