All 10 ‘Friends’ Thanksgiving Episodes, Ranked

Friends has become nearly synonymous with Thanksgiving, and for good reason — the sitcom’s turkey-themed (sorry, Chandler!) episodes are iconic.

The NBC sitcom, which ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004, featured a Thanksgiving episode each year, giving us many meme-able moments to gobble up. From Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) dancing with her head stuffed into a turkey, a weird meat trifle accidentally cooked up by Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) and the fight for the infamous Geller Cup, no Turkey Day is complete without catching up with these friends.

Over the years, the show has had celebrity guests gracing Monica’s table, including Brad Pitt, who was then married to Aniston, and Christina Applegate, who won an Emmy Award for her performance as Rachel’s sister Amy.

It’s hard to pick a favorite, but just like another Thanksgiving staple — football — there must be a winner. Here’s our definitive list of all 10 Friends Thanksgiving episodes, ranked from worst to best.

10. Season 7: “The One Where Chandler Doesn’t Like Dogs”

Seven seasons in, Friends produced the cranberry sauce of Thanksgiving episodes. Between Chandler Bing (the late Matthew Perry, who died at 54 after an accidental drowning in October 2023) hating dogs and Tag’s (Eddie Cahill) car being stolen, it’s a bit of a downer. Plus, there’s a continuity error: Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) says he hates ice cream, but any Friends fan could tell you that he ate it on a date with Elizabeth the season before.

It’s still a Friends Thanksgiving, but if you’re going to skip an episode in your marathon, make it this one. Thankfully, the season more than made up for the lack of holiday cheer during this episode when a few weeks later, it gifted fans with an all-time Friends classic: “The One with the Holiday Armadillo.”

9. Season 2: “The One with the List”

Part of the reason this one lands so low on the list is that it barely feels like a Thanksgiving episode at all. The holiday gets a couple of mentions — Monica is stuck attempting to make synthetic chocolate a Thanksgiving thing! — but that’s about it.

However, the episode is a pivotal one in the Ross and Rachel romantic saga, which keeps it from coming in last place. Ross attempts to decide between Julie (Lauren Tom) and Rachel by writing an ill-advised list of pros and cons. We get to see Rachel and Ross together briefly before they fight and end things, marking the first of their many roller coaster on-and-off moments.

8. Season 10: “The One with the Late Thanksgiving”

It’s a bit blasphemous for this episode to kick off with Monica, the chef who loves to host anything and everything, saying she doesn’t want to host Thanksgiving. However, once Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow) nudges Monica’s competitive side by telling her their previous Thanksgiving dinner wasn’t that great, Monica changes her tune and decides she’ll instead make the best Thanksgiving meal ever.

Despite everyone wanting Monica to cook, they all go off to do other things — Phoebe convinces Rachel to enter her and Ross’ daughter Emma into a beauty contest, while Ross and Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) go to a New York Rangers hockey game. Unsurprisingly, everyone shows up late to dinner, and fighting ensues — and then Joey crashes into the Thanksgiving dinner.

A lot is happening, but the episode redeems itself with the announcement that Monica and Chandler are going to be parents — one of the most heartwarming moments of the entire series. It’s also Friends’ last Thanksgiving episode since it aired during the show’s final season, which imbues it with some nostalgic longing.

7. Season 4: “The One with Chandler in a Box”

It’s never fun when Joey and Chandler fight, but that’s what we got for this Thanksgiving episode. Chandler spends the bulk of the holiday in a box to show Joey how sorry he is for kissing Joey’s girlfriend, Kathy (Paget Brewster). Just try not to feel something when Chandler sticks one finger out to the box to “wave” goodbye to Kathy after she tells him that she’s going to leave town for all of their sakes. Don’t worry! All ends happily for Chandler, Joey and Kathy.

What keeps this episode low on the list isn’t that love triangle but the beyond-awkward flirtation between Monica and Tim (Michael Vartan), the son of her much older ex-boyfriend Richard (Tom Selleck). By the end of the episode, the two realize their pairing is a bad idea, but that doesn’t make it any less cringeworthy to watch up until that point.

6. Season 9: “The One with Rachel’s Other Sister”

We don’t meet any of Rachel’s sisters until season 6, and it takes nearly 10 years for us to meet Amy, the ultra-self-involved sister with a sorely missing moral compass. However, when she does appear, Applegate’s Amy steals the show.

Her anger over not getting guardianship of Emma if Ross and Rachel face an early death — even though she can’t remember her niece’s name — is comedic gold. Plus, Monica’s, well, Monica-ness about her wedding china provides some laughs, too. The royal family definitely won’t be able to visit after this Thanksgiving mess.

5. Season 3: “The One with the Football”

It’s hard to have Thanksgiving without football, and Friends knows that. Their homage to the classic American sport made it one of the most iconic Thanksgiving episodes of the series.

We get a glimpse into the Geller family’s past Thanksgivings with the introduction of the famed Geller Cup, a.k.a. “a troll doll nailed to a two-by-four.” The gang plays football with hilarious results, and we get to see the guys make fools out of themselves while trying to hit on the sole person (Susanna Midnight) watching their game. There’s even a chance Ross and Monica are still at that city park, fighting over the football.

4. Season 1: “The One Where Underdog Gets Away”

The first-ever Friends Thanksgiving episode earned a spot near the top of the list, in part, because it marked the annual thematic episodes, setting the precedent for more holiday episodes to come. Though it’s not a great Thanksgiving for Rachel, who misses her flight to Vail despite the gang contributing to buy her a plane ticket, their show of friendship makes us feel all gooey inside, just as Thanksgiving should.

However, the best part of the episode has nothing to do with Thanksgiving at all, but when Joey gets put on a poster for VD awareness. The look on his face after he rips back old ads before finding a headline he finds suitable is a golden way to wrap up Turkey Day.

3. Season 5: “The One with All the Thanksgivings”

Many Friends flashback episodes are missable — we’re talking about the bottle episodes, where 90% of the screen time is filled with clips from previous ones. Still, this season 5 episode was different, as it wasn’t repurposed scenes but rather a memorable glimpse into the gang’s lives before Friends.

We learn what led to Monica losing weight (Chandler calling her fat!), why Monica “accidentally” dropped a knife on Chandler’s foot and what Phoebe was doing during the Thanksgivings of her past lives. Plus, it features one of the most indelible images in Friends history — Monica dancing around with her head shoved into a sunglasses-wearing turkey to cheer Chandler up over the fact that she’s the reason he’s missing the tip of a toe. Sorry, Sir Limps-a-Lot.

2. Season 6: “The One Where Ross Got High”

There’s just so much to love about this episode. Ross and Monica’s parents — Jack (Elliott Gould) and Judy Geller (Christina Pickles) — have joined the crew for Thanksgiving, and Chandler spends most of their time in the city trying to convince them to like him. That’s no small feat considering Ross, his college roommate, had convinced his parents that Chandler had been the one smoking pot in their home years earlier.

There’s also Phoebe recalling her romantic dream about Jacques Cousteau, and later proclaiming her love for him. Plus, Joey and Ross keep trying to leave to go hang out with Joey’s roommate, Janine (Elle Macpherson), and her dancer friends.

However, the most memorable part of this revelatory episode was Rachel’s attempt at dessert, which resulted in her making half an English trifle and half a Shepherd’s pie. The concoction led to Joey’s delightful line: “Custard? Good. Jam? Good. Beef? Good.” Thanks, Rachel!

1. Season 8: “The One with the Rumor”

There’s one big reason why this one nabs the first-place spot: Pitt. He was hilarious as Will Colbert, Ross’ nerdy, formerly overweight high school friend and Rachel’s enemy. The storyline was even funnier, knowing Pitt and Aniston were married in real life at the time.

Some of the best acting of Pitt’s career went into the looks of disdain Will gives Rachel. Bring on the yams!

“Mr. Pitt was wonderful,” Aniston told PEOPLE in 2021, with Kudrow adding, “He was fantastic.”

Phoebe and Chandler’s attempts to pretend they understand football to get out of meal prep are also top-notch, as is Phoebe’s face when she first meets Will. This is also the episode with Joey’s famous line about being able to complete a whole turkey in one sitting, complete with him donning Phoebe’s maternity pants to take on the task.

The episode is an all-around winner — just call it “The One That Deserves the Geller Cup.”