Host Guide: Where to Order Thanksgiving Dinner in Texas

Thanksgiving is a cozy, festive time for family and friends to come together and celebrate. It can also elicit some stress — especially for hosts.

Although squabbles at the kids table may not be preventable, there’s one stressor you can diminish: food prep. Proactive planning, delegation, and ordering Thanksgiving dinner staples from local restaurants and specialty shops can take a few to-dos off your plate. You’ll be thankful you did!

Order Sides and Desserts From Local Shops

Even if you’re set on cooking most of the meal, getting a few sides and desserts from local shops can reduce your workload. Here are a few regional favorites:

Emporium Pies, Dallas

This adorable pie shop, originating from an old Victorian house in Bishop Arts, serves up slices and whole pies of Thanksgiving favorites, as well as their own concoctions, such as Lord of the Pies (caramel apple) and Smooth Operator (chocolate with a pretzel crust). Order a few weeks ahead and freeze or pick up a few days before your meal. 

Little Ola’s Biscuits, Austin

Rolls and biscuits take up a lot of oven space and burn easily, but packaged breads are never as fresh as homemade. Stop by Little Ola’s for flaky, scratch-made buttermilk biscuits instead. You can also pick up some of their spreads, such as salted honey butter and seasonal jams.

Stanley’s Famous Pit Bar-B-Q, Tyler

Stanley’s is the oldest family-owned and -operated barbecue joint in Tyler. It’s famous not only for its smoked meats but also for its sharables that will make your Thanksgiving dinner one for the books. Hello, barbecue sampler platter and smoked barbecue cheese ball! 

Delia’s, McAllen

Is it truly a Texas Thanksgiving dinner without tamales? Pick up tamales from Delia’s restaurants or have them come to you: Delia’s will ship tamales by the dozen to your door. Choose from pork, chicken, sweet cream cheese, bean, beef, and more. 

Magnol French Baking, Houston

The importance of bread at Thanksgiving cannot be understated. (That gravy isn’t going to mop itself up.) Do it right, and simply, by getting fresh, organic French-style loaves of bread from Magnol, which offers delicious options, such as organic seeded baguettes and cranberry walnut loaves. 

West Texas Charcuterie, Lubbock

Keep hungry guests satisfied while dinner finishes in the oven with a charcuterie board appetizer. But you don’t have to spend any time fussing over the perfect spread. You can leave that to the masters at West Texas Charcuterie, who know how to hit all the right flavors and textures in one spread. 

Desert Oak Barbecue, El Paso

Desert Oak began as a humble food truck and eventually became a mainstay of the El Paso barbecue scene (once featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives”). On top of your standard barbecue fare (sparerib, sausage, melt-in-your-mouth brisket), you can also order smoked wings, pork belly bites, and potatoes topped with just about everything under the sun. 

Get Your Bird From the Best

Turkey is notoriously fussy. It can take hours or even days to prepare, cooks unevenly, dries out easily, and takes up valuable oven space. Do yourself a favor: Leave the biggest, trickiest dish of Thanksgiving to the professionals.

Uncle Ray’s Fried Turkeys

These spicy Cajun bad boys are hand-selected and flash frozen immediately after they’re fried. You can get two heat levels, depending on how spicy your family likes to get around the table. They ship fast and are preserved over polar ice. Order early!

New Braunfels Smokehouse

This Central Texas vendor ships just about any smoked meat you can imagine, from brisket to whole hams and chickens, throughout the country. Come Thanksgiving, they’ll ship you an 8-10-pound hickory-smoked turkey speckled to perfection with cracked pepper. Not only is it delicious, but it also makes for an attractive centerpiece on your Thanksgiving table. 

Southside Market & Barbeque

This Elgin joint — the oldest barbecue shop in Texas — has been smoking meats since 1882 and now ships nationwide. The Thanksgiving turkey recipe has been perfected through generations, and the bird is smoked low and slow over post oak wood for maximum flavor. Recommendation: Add a dozen jalapeño cheddar smoked sausage links to your order. 

Kreuz Market

Lockhart is “The Barbecue Capital of Texas,” so you can bet there are plenty of slow-cooked turkeys mailing out across the country from this neck of the woods. Kreuz smokes turkeys over its famous brick pits until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Farm Pac Kitchens

Serving Texas for more than 60 years, this Yoakum meat vendor offers a wide variety of turkeys delivered to doors around the United States, including 9–11-pound lemon pepper smoked whole turkeys, easy-slice turkey breasts, and even entire giant turkey legs. Add on some ham, brisket, and sauces too.

Thanksgiving Prep Countdown

Start strategizing your spread now.

T-Minus 2+ Weeks:

Create a menu early. Make a comprehensive shopping list and identify special ingredients you might need.

Delegate. Assign certain dishes or responsibilities to family members or guests. Knowing someone else will tackle dishes can provide some peace of mind.

Buy nonperishables. Purchase canned and frozen goods now to avoid the possibility of empty shelves at the store the week of Thanksgiving.

1 Week Before:

Cook and freeze. Prepare casseroles, pie crusts, and certain desserts ahead of time and pop them in the freezer.

Create a cooking time line. Write out a schedule detailing what will be cooked when, so nothing is forgotten. Prioritize oven space and consider using alternate appliances where possible.

2 Days Before:

Chop and prep ingredients. Wash and chop veggies and measure out spices.

Set the table. Lay out the tablecloth, silverware, glasses, and décor.

Label serving dishes. Attach sticky notes to dishware and serving ware with the names of the foods they will hold.

Thanksgiving Day:

Give yourself some grace. Remember, connecting with loved ones is more important than getting every detail orchestrated perfectly.

Keep Calm and Gobble On

Thanksgiving can run hosts ragged. Remember that perfection is not a prerequisite for gratitude. It’s OK to break traditions for the sake of your sanity. The people at your table give your Thanksgiving meal meaning. All the rest is just … stuffing!

Who says you have to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving anyway? Try these non-turkey Thanksgiving mains instead.