Sometimes the best Thanksgiving is the simple kind, no giant turkey, no crowded kitchen, and no piles of dishes. This Slow Cooker Thanksgiving Dinner for One or Two brings all the flavors of a traditional holiday meal into a single pot: tender turkey tenderloin, savory dressing, fresh green beans, and roasted yams. It’s perfect for a cozy celebration, whether you’re cooking solo, sharing with someone special, or even just creating your own little leftover stash after a family gathering.
Would you like to save this recipe?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Find more great recipes in my Easy Recipes for One Collection.
This small batch and easy Thanksgiving dinner is proof that holiday comfort doesn’t require a crowd or an oven. A perfectly portioned meal feeds one with generous leftovers or two people comfortably. You gonna love the convenience of making everything in your slow cooker, so you can enjoy the day watching the parade in your jammies!
When going solo, you can enjoy a tasty Turkey thanksgiving meal on Day One and a “secret sandwich stash” the next day.
Ingredients
- Turkey Tenderloin – juicy, quick-cooking, and the right size for one or two people. Substitute with boneless turkey breast if preferred.
- Green Beans – fresh or frozen work; they add a crisp, earthy balance to the meal.
- Roasted Yams – cubed and lightly seasoned; can swap for sweet potatoes.
- Dressing (Stuffing) – for simplicity I use a box dressing mix, however you can also use a small batch of cubed bread with broth, herbs, and a touch of butter. Use cornbread or ciabatta for variety.
- Turkey Seasonings – salt, pepper, and a touch of garlic powder or sage for that classic Thanksgiving flavor.
Recipe Notes
- A 5 quart slow cooker is ideal for this recipe. You can use the smaller 4-quart if only cooking on piece of turkey.
- To crisp up the dressing, pop it under the broiler for 3–5 minutes after cooking.
- If you want a more traditional yam then make these small batch candied yams.
- Prepared everything : Clean, peel and dice your yams ahead of time. Rinse your green beans and cut (if not leaving long) ahead of time. Allow the turkey tenderloin to come up to room temp before cooking.
- Don’t Skip the Spice!: Make sure you season all your dishes. Seasoning brings out the flavor of each dish. Season your dressing if it is not already pre-seasoned with a little poultry seasoning, salt and pepper minimum.
- Double Up: You may want to double up your tinfoil if it’s thin or use a heavy duty foil so that it does not collapse in the crock.
FAQs : Slow Cooker Turkey Dinner
You will need a larger slow cooker or crock pot, a 5-quart works well. tinfoil, measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowls, stirring spoons and small whisk.
While everything tastes great when it’s on your plate and you may do a little “mixin and matchin” with your foods when you’re eating them, you want to cook them separately because they all have their own individual ingredients and spice levels.
Sure! If you add other veggies to one or more of these dishes, you can add them while the dish is cooking. For example, if you like onions in everything, add some diced onions to your dishes. If Grandma added a special spice to her green beans, go for it! Maybe you like mushrooms in your dressing, go ahead and add those.
It will be easier to stir everything together and make sure all your seasonings evenly coated each piece in your dishes in a mixing bowl first rather than trying to do it in flimsy tinfoil.
They could, that’s why you want to stir and check them about every 30 minutes. If a dish “finishes” early, remove it in its tinfoil bowl and set it on a plate. Rearrange the other dishes in the crock so they continue to be supported as the cook. When the other dishes are close to being cooked, return the dish that finished early to the crock to reheat if needed.
Serving Suggestions
- Plate the turkey with sides directly from the slow cooker for a classic dinner feel. Use your prettiest serving plate.
- Drizzle a little homemade cranberry sauce over your turkey slices before serving.
- Add a quick bread option like cornbread or warmed small batch ciabatta rolls.
- Pair with a sweet treat like my mini pumpkin pie dolloped with homemade whipped cream for the perfect ending.
How to Store
- Refrigerate: Store leftovers in airtight containers for up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Turkey and dressing freeze well; green beans and yams may soften but still taste great.
- Reheat: Warm in the microwave or oven. For best results, add a splash of broth when reheating the dressing to keep it moist.
Step-by-Step Process Images
Make the foil bowls for the slow cooker.
Mix the spice blend.
Mix the juice, and brown sugar for the yam.,
Combine yams and juice mixture.
Season the Turkey.
Melt butter and spice blend for the beans.
Mix green beans and butter mixture.
Mix for the dressing.
Mix the dressing.
Assemble in the slow cooker
Enjoy your dinner!
Mini Thanksgiving Dinner
Ingredients
Recipe Directions
- Turn the slow cooker on LOW to preheat.
- Make three small foil “bowls” (about ¼ the size of your slow cooker each). These will hold the yams, green beans, and stuffing. The turkey will cook directly in the crock.
- In a small bowl, mix together paprika, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and black pepper. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, stir together the brown sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, vanilla, and butter.
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add the yam cubes and boil for about 10 minutes, until just starting to soften.
- Drain and toss the yams in the sugar.juice mixture. Set aside.
- Place turkey tenderloin pieces on a plate. Rub with olive oil to coat evenly.
- Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of spice blend per side, rubbing it in well. Set aside.
- Melt butter in a small bowl (microwave works).
- Stir in 1 teaspoon of the spice blend.
- In a small bowl toss the mixture with the green beans until coated. Set aside.
- Heat chicken broth until hot (microwave ~60 seconds).
- Stir in butter until melted.
- Pour over cornbread stuffing and mix until evenly moistened. Set aside.
- Spray the section where the turkey will sit with nonstick spray.
- Place the turkey tenderloin(s) directly in the crock.
- Nestle the foil bowls around the turkey: one each for yams, green beans, and dressing.
- Pour any extra liquid over their respective ingredients.
- Arrange so all bowls are supported and stable.
- Cook on HIGH 3-3.5 hours or on LOW for 4-5 hours.
- Stir gently every 30 minutes to keep everything cooking evenly. Start checking for doneness after 2 hours. Yams should be fork-tender and may need longer to cook. Green beans should be tender with a slight snap. Cornbread dressing should be moist and fluffy.
- Turkey is ready at a minimum 165°F in the center (rest 10 minutes before slicing).
- Serve directly from the crock or transfer to serving bowls. Enjoy your small Thanksgiving feast!
Would you like to save this recipe?
We’ll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!