Pies and turkey in one oven: when to bake each
The turkey wants 325 °F and the sides 350 °F. The pies ask for something else again. King Arthur's pumpkin pie bakes at 400 °F, its pecan pie at 375 °F, and its apple pie starts at 425 °F. With one oven, that is three more temperature changes to fit around a bird that holds the oven for nearly four hours. The tables below show where the pies go for a 5 PM dinner with a 12–14 lb turkey, and what happens when you try to bake them late.
What the recipes say
- Pumpkin pie: preheat to 400 °F, bake 45 to 50 minutes until the filling is set 2 inches in from the edge. The center should still be wobbly, and it finishes cooking as the pie sits. The plan uses the 50 minute end.
- Pecan pie: the crust prebakes at 400 °F for 10 minutes, then the oven drops to 325 °F to toast the pecans, then rises to 375 °F for a 45 minute bake. The plan counts only the 375 °F bake. The prebake and toasting are extra oven time, so a pecan pie costs more than its number suggests. The recipe says to cool it completely before slicing.
- Apple pie: preheat to 425 °F, bake 20 minutes, reduce to 375 °F and bake 40 minutes more. It is the one pie that does not fit a single temperature, so I left it out of the tables. Treat it like the pecan pie: a bake of about an hour that is finished by lunchtime.
- Cooling and storage: Iowa State Extension's AnswerLine says homemade pumpkin and pecan pies are refrigerated after baking and cooling, should be completely cooled before they are covered, and should not sit at room temperature more than two hours. A pie kept refrigerated lasts 3 to 4 days, per its post on freezing pumpkin pie.
- Not found: how long a pie takes to cool. No source I opened gives a number, so the plan assumes 120 minutes out of the oven, the same as the planner's own menus. Your pie, pan and kitchen will differ. Move the pie to the refrigerator as soon as it is cool, not at the two-hour mark.
Where the pies fit
Menu: the turkey at 325 °F (3 h 45 min, the long end of USDA's range for 12–14 lb, see the roasting time chart), then stuffing, sweet potato casserole and dinner rolls at 350 °F, dinner at 5 PM, one oven. The pies are either cooled before dinner or baked late to come out warm. Every row is the planner's best placement.
| Plan | Pie in | Pie out | Turkey out | Turkey waits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pumpkin, baked first and cooled | 11:10 AM | 12:00 PM | 4:00 PM | 1 h |
| Pecan, baked first and cooled | 11:15 AM | 12:00 PM | 4:00 PM | 1 h |
| Both, baked first and cooled | 11:10 AM / 10:10 AM | 12:00 PM / 10:55 AM | 4:00 PM | 1 h |
| Both, baked late to serve warm | 3:10 PM / 2:10 PM | 4:00 PM / 2:55 PM | 1:55 PM | Warning: 3 h 5 min (over the 60 min limit) |
Where two times are given, the first is the pumpkin pie and the second the pecan pie. "Turkey waits" is the time between the turkey leaving the oven and dinner. The planner lets a turkey wait 60 minutes covered, so anything longer is flagged. A turkey that comes out more than an hour early is a carving and reheating problem. The 200 °F hold exists for that.
The last row is the reason to bake first. To serve a pie warm you would bake it after the turkey comes out, but the turkey's rest is short and the sides need that same window at 350 °F. With one oven, the pies take the afternoon, the turkey has to come out hours early to make room, and the last row shows how long it then waits.
The plan: both pies cooled before dinner
| Time | Step |
|---|---|
| 9:55 AM | Preheat the oven to 375 °F |
| 10:10 AM | Put Pecan pie in the oven (375 °F, 45 min) |
| 10:55 AM | Take Pecan pie out (6 h 5 min before serving) |
| 10:55 AM | Set the oven to 400 °F and let it get there |
| 11:10 AM | Put Pumpkin pie in the oven (400 °F, 50 min) |
| 12:00 PM | Take Pumpkin pie out (5 h before serving) |
| 12:00 PM | Set the oven to 325 °F and let it get there |
| 12:15 PM | Put Turkey, 12–14 lb in the oven (325 °F, 3 h 45 min) |
| 4:00 PM | Take Turkey, 12–14 lb out to rest, covered (1 h before serving) |
| 4:00 PM | Set the oven to 350 °F and let it get there |
| 4:15 PM | Put Stuffing (in a dish) in the oven (350 °F, 45 min) |
| 4:30 PM | Put Sweet potato casserole in the oven (350 °F, 30 min) |
| 4:45 PM | Put Dinner rolls in the oven (350 °F, 15 min) |
| 5:00 PM | Take Stuffing (in a dish) out |
| 5:00 PM | Take Sweet potato casserole out |
| 5:00 PM | Take Dinner rolls out |
| 5:00 PM | Serve |
The oven runs at 4 different settings that day (375, 400, 325 and 350 °F), and each change costs 15 minutes in the planner. Open this menu in the planner to swap in your own recipes and dinner time.
Cooling, then the refrigerator
Baking the pies in the morning also fits the storage advice. In the plan above the last pie leaves the oven at 12:00 PM. Allow the cooling time, cover it only once it is completely cool, and put it in the refrigerator before it has spent two hours at room temperature. A pie baked in the afternoon is the one that gets forgotten on the counter through dinner. If dessert is after dinner, take the pie out of the refrigerator when you sit down to eat.
If you want fewer oven changes
- Bake the pies the day before. The make-ahead timeline dates it, and the oven on Thursday is then only the turkey and the sides.
- Bake one pie at the temperature of the other when the recipe allows it. I did not find a source that says this is fine for a specific pie, so check the recipe before you change a number.
- Bake the pies in a second oven or a friend's, if one is available. The one-oven guide shows what a second oven changes.
- Buy one pie. A store pie needs no oven and keeps the schedule to the turkey and the sides.
More oven timing
- Side dish oven temperature chart for the 350 °F dishes.
- How long to rest a turkey, which sets how much of the 350 °F window you get.
- What time to put the turkey in the oven by weight.