Hanukkah dinner planner
Latkes fried while a pot roast braises, homemade applesauce, challah, green beans and jam thumbprints.
Hanukkah's dates follow the Hebrew calendar. We start on the first night; pick the night you're hosting.
8 people · Friday, December 4 · served at 6:00 pm · start cooking at 2:00 pm on the day (plus the day before)
Print timeline and list Print the recipes
Your menu stays in this browser. Sign in to keep it on all your devices.
Everything fits: 1 oven and 4 burners are enough for this plan.
Cooking timeline
Worked back from serving time using each recipe's own steps and timers. Step links open the recipe at that step.
Days ahead: your make-ahead plan
Dishes ticked "Make it ahead" go on the day before, and up to 3 days before when a day already holds about 3 hours of work and the dish keeps (its own storage note says how long).
The day before: Thursday, December 3
- Shop Shop for the list below, and make room in the fridge for the dish made ahead.
- Make Make Challah: start about 1:21 pm, about 1 hr 7 min of work, oven at 350°F. (keeps 3 days at room temperature, covered)
- Make Make Thumbprint Cookies: start about 4:22 pm, about 58 min of work, oven at 350°F. (keeps 5 days at room temperature, covered)
- Make Make Applesauce: start about 5:10 pm, about 50 min of work. (keeps 1 week in the fridge)
On the day: Friday, December 4
What the recipes say you can do ahead
Make-ahead notes from the recipes
Up to 7 days ahead (from Fri, Nov 27)
- Applesauce: Make up to 1 week ahead and refrigerate. Serve cold, or warm it gently on the stove.
A day ahead (Thu, Dec 3)
- Pot Roast: Cook a day ahead, chill, lift off the hardened fat and reheat covered at 325°F for about 40 minutes.
- Challah: Freeze the baked, cooled loaf wrapped tightly up to 2 months. Thaw at room temperature.
- Thumbprint Cookies: Freeze the shaped, unfilled dough balls up to 2 months. Let them sit 10 minutes, press the wells, and bake as directed.
Any time ahead
- Potato Latkes: Fry ahead, cool on a rack and freeze in a single layer, then bag up to 1 month. Reheat from frozen at 425°F for 10 to 12 minutes.
The day before: Thursday, December 3
- ChallahPrep: steps 1–2, about 5 min
- ChallahMix, 2 min (step 3)
- ChallahKnead, 8 min (step 4)
- ChallahFirst rise, 1 hr 30 min (step 5)
- ChallahPrep: steps 6–11, about 19 min
- ChallahSecond rise, 1 hr (step 12)
- ChallahHeat the oven to 350°F
- Thumbprint CookiesCream butter, 3 min (step 1)
- ChallahPrep: step 14, about 3 min
- Thumbprint CookiesPrep: steps 2–5, about 18 min
- ChallahBake at 350°F, 32 min (step 15)
- Thumbprint CookiesChill, 20 min (step 6)
- Thumbprint CookiesHeat the oven to 350°F
- ChallahCool, 1 hr (step 16)
- Thumbprint CookiesFirst bake at 350°F, 23 min (step 8)
- ApplesaucePrep: steps 1–2, about 9 min
- ApplesauceSimmer apples, 25 min (step 4)
- Thumbprint CookiesPrep: steps 9–10, about 7 min
- Thumbprint CookiesFinish baking at 350°F, 7 min (step 11)
- Thumbprint CookiesCool, 20 min (step 12)
- ApplesaucePrep: step 5, about 7 min
- ApplesauceThicken, 5 min (step 6)
Hour by hour
- Pot RoastPrep: step 2, about 2 min
- Pot RoastStovetop: step 3, about 3 min
- Pot RoastBrown side 1, 5 min (step 4)
- Pot RoastBrown side 2, 5 min (step 5)
- Pot RoastHeat the oven to 325°F
- Pot RoastOnions, 4 min (step 6)
- Pot RoastTomato paste, 1 min (step 7)
- Pot RoastReduce wine, 3 min (step 8)
- Pot RoastPrep: step 9, about 4 min
- Pot RoastBraise at 325°F, 2 hr (step 11)
- Pot RoastPrep: step 12, about 3 min
- Pot RoastBraise at 325°F, 1 hr 15 min (step 13)
- Potato LatkesPrep: steps 2–3, about 6 min
- Potato LatkesPrep: steps 5–6, about 5 min
- Potato LatkesStovetop: step 7, about 4 min
- Potato LatkesKeep the oven at 200°F to hold finished batches warm
- Potato LatkesPrep: step 8, about 4 min
- Potato LatkesFry side 1, 27 min (step 9)
- Green BeansToast almonds, 4 min (step 1)
- Green BeansStovetop: step 3, about 3 min
- Pot RoastPrep: step 14, about 4 min
- Green BeansSteam, 5 min (step 4)
- Pot RoastStovetop: step 15, about 4 min
- Potato LatkesFry side 2, 3 min (step 10)
- Green BeansCook off water, 2 min (step 5)
- Pot RoastThicken gravy, 2 min (step 16)
- Potato LatkesPrep: steps 11–12, about 5 min
- Green BeansPrep: steps 6–7, about 5 min
- Pot RoastPrep: step 17, about 3 min
- EveryoneDinner is served
- EveryoneLeftovers in the fridge by now (2-hour rule)
How much to make for 8 people
Change "People" above and every dish, batch and the shopping list follow. Every side and bread is made for everyone.
| Dish | Servings | Batches | Makes | Spare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pot RoastMain | 8 | 1½ | 9 | 1 |
| Potato LatkesSide | 8 | 1½ | 9 | 1 |
| ApplesauceSide | 8 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Green BeansSide | 8 | 2 | 8 | 0 |
| ChallahBread | 8 | 1 | 12 | 4 |
| Thumbprint CookiesDessert | 8 | 1 | 36 | 28 |
Oven schedule and stovetop
One row per dish, from its own temperatures and times. An oven holds 2 racks; dishes within 25°F can share it (the plan says which temperature to keep), anything else that overlaps is flagged.
The oven on the day
| When | Dish | Oven | Racks | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2:14 pm–5:47 pm | Pot Roast | 325°F | 1 of 2 | Fits |
| 5:17 pm–6:00 pm | Potato Latkes (keeping warm) | 200°F | 1 of 2 | Fits |
Busiest stovetop moment: 4 burners at 5:51 pm (you have 4).
Food safety
- Pot Roast: 145°F in the thickest part.
- Keep hot food at 140°F or hotter and cold food at 40°F or colder; food shouldn't sit out more than 2 hours.
- Reheat leftovers to 165°F. Most leftovers keep 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
Safe temperatures follow the USDA safe minimum internal temperature chart. Check with an instant-read thermometer.
Keeping kosher? Check each recipe for butter, milk or cheese before serving it with the meat, and swap where needed.
Shopping list
35 items, merged across the menu, scaled to your headcount and rounded up.
Produce
- Homemade Stovetop Applesauce
- Homemade Stovetop Applesauce
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Lemon Almond Green Beans
- Homemade Stovetop Applesauce, Lemon Almond Green Beans
- Lemon Almond Green Beans
- Classic Crispy Potato Latkes
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast, Classic Crispy Potato Latkes
Dairy and eggs
- Classic Crispy Potato Latkes, Three-Strand Braided Challah, Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Classic Crispy Potato Latkes
- Lemon Almond Green Beans, Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Meat and seafood
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
Pantry
- Classic Crispy Potato Latkes, Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Classic Crispy Potato Latkes
- Classic Crispy Potato Latkes
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Three-Strand Braided Challah
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Homemade Stovetop Applesauce, Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Three-Strand Braided Challah
- Three-Strand Braided Challah
- Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Lemon Almond Green Beans
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
Spices
- Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast
- Homemade Stovetop Applesauce
- Three-Strand Braided Challah
- Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Already have it? (6)
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast, Classic Crispy Potato Latkes, Lemon Almond Green Beans
- Classic Crispy Potato Latkes
- Homemade Stovetop Applesauce
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast, Classic Crispy Potato Latkes, Lemon Almond Green Beans, Three-Strand Braided Challah, Buttery Jam Thumbprint Cookies
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast, Classic Crispy Potato Latkes, Three-Strand Braided Challah
- Sunday Dutch Oven Pot Roast, Lemon Almond Green Beans, Three-Strand Braided Challah
How the plan is worked out
- Mains and desserts are shared: two pies for 8 people means each pie serves about half. Every side and bread serves everyone, so expect leftovers.
- Batches round up (whole batches for baked things). A big roast is one piece scaled by weight; a whole turkey's roasting time follows USDA's timetable for its weight.
- An oven holds 2 racks: a roasting pan fills it, sheet pans take a rack each and baking dishes go two to a rack. Dishes within 25°F of each other can share an oven.
- Hot sides finish within 30 minutes of dinner (longer when the recipe says it keeps warm); breads, desserts and cold dishes can finish any time that day. When a dish doesn't fit near dinner and its recipe says how to reheat it, it's cooked earlier and reheated.
- Untimed steps share the recipe's prep time; ovens get 15 minutes to heat. Real kitchens vary, so check doneness as each recipe says.