How to make an entire Thanksgiving feast in your multicooker

When it comes to Thanksgiving, most of us are looking for a way to make things faster and easier. Enter the Instant Pot or its electric multicooker cousins.

The kitchen device that has recently taken America by storm is not just good for weeknight one-pot soups or stews. It is also an invaluable tool for preparing what can be an intimidating celebratory feast.

Because it sautes, steams and cooks under pressure, the appliance can handle just about anything in the Thanksgiving kitchen. It also can be used as a shortcut for prep work - producing rich and flavorful turkey stock, for example, and speedily softening hard cubes of butternut squash for a gratin. It braises tough winter vegetables in minutes, transforming them into spectacular sides such as sweet and tangy red cabbage with apples and chestnuts, and silky celery root puree.

Its hot and steamy environment lends itself to producing custardy desserts such as pumpkin creme brulee, without the mess and fuss of a traditional hot-water bath in the oven. You can even use the multicooker to prepare your festive bird - and both light and dark meat will be succulent and tender.

About that bird: It does not go into the pot whole, so sharpen your butcher skills or come home from the store with turkey legs, thighs, wings and bone-in breast halves. A six-quart multicooker can handle the parts from a bird that weighs up to 13 pounds.

Is the multicooker a miracle worker? Will it allow you to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner in an instant - or, say, an hour? Alas, no. The multicooker can, however, significantly shorten your prep work. I recommend starting to prepare your Instant Pot dishes one or two days ahead of time, then reheat them on the big day. And, most useful to the novice or less-than-confident home cook, the appliance offers quick and reliable results.

To help you get started, here's a simple menu of recipes, and a timeline. Recipes whose names are capitalized can be found in our Recipe Finder at washingtonpost.com/recipes.

Two days before

• For my Instant Pot Thanksgiving Turkey, rub the turkey breast, legs and thighs with the dry-rub mixture.

• If desired, make turkey stock with the remaining wings and carcass. Make the pureed squash for the Winter Squash Gratin.

• Make the Celery Root Puree.

The day before

• Braise the turkey legs and thighs.

• Cook the red cabbage.

• Make the Pumpkin Crème Brulees (minus their final sugar topping).

Thanksgiving Day

• Finish the Winter Squash Gratin (the casserole goes in the oven).

• Make the turkey breast; while it's cooking, reheat the turkey legs and thighs in their braising liquid on the stove top. When the turkey breast has finished in the multicooker, broil it on the same baking sheet as the turkey legs and thighs.

• While the meat is resting (before you carve up the pieces), reheat the red cabbage and celery root puree on the stove top.

• Make gravy with the leftover braising liquid.

• Just before dessert, add the sugar topping to the pumpkin crème brulees, broil and serve them right away.

Last year, I cooked my Thanksgiving turkey in the Instant Pot. This year, I'm going for the whole meal. A dinner cooked with ease and speed is one more thing to be thankful for.

• Ann Mah is a Washington author, most recently, of "Instantly French! Classic French Recipes for Your Electric Pressure Cooker" (St. Martin's Griffin, 2018).