Welcome to the centerpiece of your holiday feast - the Perfect Roast Turkey! Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned pro, this easy recipe guarantees a juicy and flavorful bird that will steal the show at your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
Say goodbye to dry turkey! With this foolproof recipe, your Thanksgiving turkey will be the talk of the holiday season. Juicy meat, crispy skin, and a hassle-free cooking process make this perfect roast turkey recipe a must-try.
Serve this delicious roast turkey alongside my classic sage stuffing, celery root puree, creamed spinach, and acorn squash, and you've got a holiday dinner that's hard to beat!
If you're new to cooking turkey, the good news is that it's really not that hard to do. I season my turkey with a simple and flavorful herb butter and then roast it in the oven for a few hours. Brining it with a dry brine will add even more flavor and moisture, but it's optional.
If you're having a small Thanksgiving gathering and don't want to roast a whole bird, try my easy Air Fryer Turkey Tenderloin instead. It cooks in under 30 minutes!
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Dish
- Simple, Foolproof Process: A perfect recipe for first-timers or seasoned chefs.
- Moist and Flavorful: The combination of a dry-brine, and slow roasting guarantees a tender turkey that's bursting with flavor.
- Crispy Skin: Achieve the crispy skin that everyone loves.
- Holiday Triumph: This recipe will make your turkey the star of your Thanksgiving or Christmas table.
To Brine or Not To Brine?
Brining is a culinary technique used to enhance the flavor and moisture content of meat, especially poultry. It involves immersing meat in a mixture of water, salt, and often sugar or other flavor-enhancing ingredients.
As the turkey sits in the brine, the salt breaks down some of the muscle fibers, allowing them to swell and absorb water. This results in a juicier and more succulent final product. Salt is also a natural tenderizer and gives you very tender meat.
Beyond moisture, brining imparts additional flavors to the meat depending on what aromatics and spices you use. These ingredients can penetrate the turkey, enhancing its taste from the inside out.
You can buy pre-brined turkeys at the grocery store or brine your turkey yourself at home. There are two types of brine- dry brine and wet brine.
Dry Brine:
- Dry brining involves rubbing the turkey with a mixture of salt, sugar, and herbs directly onto the bird's surface. This method draws out moisture, creating a dry surface that enhances crispiness during roasting.
- The dry brine's concentrated seasoning penetrates the meat, resulting in a more intensely flavored turkey.
- Dry brining requires less space compared to a wet brine and doesn't involve submerging the turkey in liquid. This makes it more convenient if you have limited fridge space.
Wet Brine:
- In a wet brine, the turkey is submerged in a liquid solution containing water, salt, sugar, and various aromatics. This method introduces extra moisture, keeping the meat juicy during cooking.
- The wet brine uniformly seasons turkey as it absorbs the flavorful liquid.
- The extended soaking time in a wet brine allows for the incorporation of complex flavor profiles from herbs, spices, and other ingredients.
The duration of the brining process depends on the size of the meat. For turkeys, it's common to brine for 12 to 24 hours to give enough time for the salt and other seasonings to work its magic.
I used to rely on pre-brined turkeys every Thanksgiving because they're so convenient. Then, one year, the stores were all out of pre-brined turkeys so I decided to do it myself at home. I made a simple dry brine and it was a game-changer! It's was so easy to do and I ended up with a succulent and flavorful turkey with perfectly crispy skin.
To dry brine a turkey, I simply mix together salt, pepper, and brown sugar (but you can use other ingredients like dried spices, chopped up herbs, and lemon zest). Pat your turkey dry with paper towels, and then rub the dry brine all over the turkey, including inside the cavity and outside.
Place the turkey on a tray and let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hours, allowing the dry brine to work its magic. As the dry brine works, the skin also crisps up nicely, giving you that perfectly crispy skin everyone wants.
So, to sum it up, brining your turkey is totally optional. But, in my opinion, a dry-brined turkey is definitely worth the little bit of extra time it takes to do. See the full dry brine recipe in the recipe card at the end of the post.
Ingredients
Ingredient notes and substitutions. See recipe card at the end of the post for full ingredient list.
- Whole turkey- I use an approximately 18 pound turkey
- Fresh herbs- I use a mixture of fresh rosemary, thyme and sage; I usually buy them together at the grocery store as "poultry blend."
- Butter- I use softened, unsalted butter to make an herb butter
- Vegetables- I stuff the cavity of the turkey with onion, carrots, celery
- Lemon- I also add lemon to the cavity for flavor
- Turkey broth- I pour broth into the roasting pan to keep the turkey moist; you can substitute chicken broth. Use reduced sodium broth if you can find it or you can also use homemade broth.
- White wine- I pour some dry white wine (like a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
- Optional dry brine- I use a mixture of kosher salt, black pepper and brown sugar for my dry brine
How Much Turkey To Buy
A good rule of thumb is to allow for 1 to 1 ½ pounds of turkey per person, depending on how much you love leftovers!
If you're not going to make turkey sandwiches or soup the next day, then 1 pound per person is all you will need. If you look forward to leftovers almost as much as the main event, go for 1 ½ pounds per person.
How To Roast a Thanksgiving Turkey Step-By-Step
1. Preparing the Turkey
Proper preparation of the turkey is key. Before the big day, make sure you do the following:
- Thawing: If using a frozen turkey, allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. Estimate approximately 24 hours for every 5 pounds.
- Remove the giblets: Remove the bag of giblets and the neck, found in the large cavity and sometimes the smaller neck cavity. You can save these items for gravy or discard them.
- Drying: Pat the thawed turkey dry with paper towels, inside and out.
- Brining (optional): Apply the dry brine and let the turkey sit, uncovered, at least 12 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Seasoning and Roasting the Turkey
Once your turkey is prepped, here's what you need to do on the big day. See recipe card at the end of the post for full recipe instructions.
- Step 1- Preheat oven to 325°F and adjust oven rack to lower third of the oven so there's enough space to fit the turkey. Stuff the cavity of the turkey with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, whole herbs, and lemon.
- Step 2- Mix softened butter with chopped herbs and salt.
- Step 3- Carefully lift the skin of the turkey on the breast side and rub about half of the herb butter underneath the skin, spreading it around.
- Step 4- Rub remaining butter mixture on the entire turkey and season with salt and pepper. Tie legs with kitchen twine. Tuck the wings of the turkey underneath.
- Step 5- Scatter onion, celery, carrots and a few sprigs of thyme around in the bottom of the roasting pan. Pour in the white wine and broth.
- Step 6- Place turkey breast side up on a roasting rack and place it inside the roasting pan. Cover it loosely with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning, and roast in the oven at 325°F for about 3 ½ hours.
- Step 7- Then, take the foil off and increase temperature to 400°F. Roast another ½ hour until done.
- Step 8- Insert an instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh and breast without touching the bone. Remove turkey from oven when it reaches an internal temperature of 160°F. Rest for at least 30 minutes before carving. As the turkey rests, the temperature will continue to rise to 165°F.
As the turkey rests, you can make a pan gravy (see recipe card for instructions). Then, carve the turkey as desired and arrange the pieces on a platter and serve.
Cooking Time Guide:
The final cook time will depend on the size of your turkey. Plan for roughly about 15 minutes per pound of turkey. Here's a chart for turkey cooking times based on the size of your bird.
| TURKEY WEIGHT | COOKING TIME |
|---|---|
| 10 to 12 lb | 2 ¼ to 2 ¾ hours |
| 12 to 14 lb | 2 ¾ to 3 hours |
| 15 to 18 lb | 3 ¼ to 4 hours |
| 18 to 20 lb | 4 to 4 ¼ hours |
| 20 to 22 lb | 4 ¼ to 4 ¾ hours |
| 23 to 24 lb | 5 to 5 ¼ hours |
Chef's Tips
- Make sure you let the turkey rest for at least 30 minutes before carving to let the juices redistribute. Otherwise, all the juices will run all over your board instead!
- You can strain the pan drippings and use them to make a delicious turkey gravy. See recipe card for details.
- I like to roast my turkey at a low temperature, covered loosely with foil to prevent over-browning. Then at the end, I remove the foil shield and turn the oven temperature up to get it nicely browned. Keep a close eye on it during the last 30 minutes. You can always put the foil back on or lower the temperature if it's getting too dark.
What To Do With Leftover Turkey
Looking for some leftover turkey recipes? Here are some ideas:
- Turkey and Cranberry Panini: Assemble a festive panini with leftover turkey, cranberry sauce, and your favorite cheese.
- Turkey Casserole: Bake a savory casserole using leftover turkey, combining it with pasta, rice, or vegetables for a hearty meal.
- Turkey Stock: Use the leftover turkey carcass to make a delicious homemade turkey stock to use in soups and stews.
- Turkey Salad: Dice turkey into bite-sized pieces and toss it into a refreshing salad with greens, cranberries, nuts, and a zesty vinaigrette.
- Turkey Soup: Transform leftovers into a comforting soup by simmering turkey with broth, vegetables, and herbs.
- Turkey Quesadillas: Layer turkey with cheese between tortillas for quick and tasty quesadillas.
- Turkey Tacos: Spice things up by crafting tacos or wraps with shredded turkey, adding salsa, guacamole, and cheese for a flavorful twist.
- Turkey and Stuffing Stuffed Peppers: Combine turkey and stuffing, then stuff bell peppers for a creative and delicious meal.
- Turkey Fried Rice: Stir-fry leftover turkey with rice (or quinoa), vegetables, and soy sauce for a flavorful and quick meal.
Recipe FAQs
A good rule of thumb is to allow for 1 to 1 ½ pounds of turkey per person, depending on how much you love leftovers! If you're not going to make turkey sandwiches or soup the next day, then 1 pound per person is all you will need. If you look forward to leftovers almost as much as the main event, go for 1 ½ pounds per person.
Plan for roughly about 15 minutes per pound of turkey. Refer to the "Cooking Time Guide" in the blog post for specific turkey cooking times based on the size of your bird.
You can brine your turkey to prevent it from getting dry. Brining results in a juicier and more succulent final product. Salt is also a natural tenderizer and gives you very tender meat.
The best way to check for doneness is with an instant read thermometer. Insert it into the thickest part of the thigh and breast without touching the bone. Remove turkey from oven when it reaches an internal temperature of 160°F. As the turkey rests, the temperature will continue to rise to 165°F.
More Tasty Holiday Recipes
YOUR PATH TO WELLNESS STARTS HERE!
Get my best healthy recipes and tips sent straight to your inbox!
Recipe
Perfect Roast Turkey
Equipment
Ingredients
Roast Turkey
- 1 turkey, approximately 18 pounds
- 1 medium yellow onion, halved
- 1 carrot, cut into large pieces
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 lemon, halved
- few sprigs thyme
- few sprigs rosemary
- few sprigs sage
Herb Butter
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped thyme
- 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
- ½ tablespoon chopped sage
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (optional)
For The Roasting Pan
- 2 cups reduced sodium turkey or chicken broth
- 1 cup dry white wine (like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)
- onion, carrots, celery, peeled and roughly cut into chunks
Dry Brine (optional)
- 3 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
Turkey Gravy (optional):
- 3 tablespoons fat from pan drippings or butter
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups drippings and/or chicken stock
- Salt and pepper
- ¼ cup half and half
Instructions
- Unwrap the turkey and remove the giblets. Pat it dry with paper towels.
- Place the turkey on a sheet pan. If you are going to brine the turkey, mix the salt, pepper, and brown sugar together in a small bowl. Rub the dry brine all over the turkey and inside the cavity. Place the turkey in the refrigerator, uncovered, and refrigerate for 24 hours. This will help the skin dry out so that it crisps up nicely as it cooks.
- On the day that you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 325°F. Stuff the cavity of the turkey with the onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, lemon, thyme, rosemary, and sage. Tie the legs of the turkey with kitchen twine. Tuck the wings underneath.
- To make the herb butter, mix the softened butter with the garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, and salt (skip the salt if you have brined the turkey). Loosen the skin of the turkey gently by sliding your fingers underneath. Rub about ⅓ of the herb butter between the skin and the breast.
- Rub the remaining herb butter all over the entire outside of the turkey.
- Put the turkey on a roasting rack and place it in a roasting pan. Scatter some chunks of onion, celery, and carrots around in the pan. Pour the turkey broth and white wine into the bottom of the pan.
- Cover the turkey loosely with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning and transfer the roasting pan to the oven. Roast at 325°F for about 3 ½ hours. Then, take the foil off and increase temperature to 400°F. Roast another ½ hour until done. Insert an instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh and breast without touching the bone. Remove turkey from oven when it reaches an internal temperature of 160°F. Let the turkey rest for at least 30 minutes before carving. As the turkey rests, the temperature will continue to rise to 165°F.
To Make Turkey Gravy:
- While the turkey is resting, you can make a quick turkey gravy, if desired. To do this, remove the vegetables from the bottom of the roasting pan and strain the pan drippings through a strainer to remove any large solids. Pour the strained drippings into a gravy separator. If you don’t have one, pour the drippings into a bowl. The fat will rise to the top after a few minutes. Spoon out 3 tablespoons of the fat and add it to a large saucepan (or you can make the gravy in the roasting pan on the stove). Discard the remaining fat. If you don’t have quite 3 tablespoons of fat, you can use some butter. Pour the drippings into a large measuring cup and add enough turkey/chicken stock to make 3 cups.
- Heat the fat in the saucepan or roasting pan on the stove over medium heat and add the flour. Whisk together for 1-2 minutes. Add the drippings and whisk continuously until smooth. Simmer a few minutes until gravy thickens. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add half and half, if desired, for a richer gravy.
- Pour gravy into a gravy boat and serve alongside the carved turkey.
Notes
- Make sure you let the turkey rest for at least 30 minutes before carving to let the juices redistribute. Otherwise, all the juices will run all over your board instead!
- I like to roast my turkey at a low temperature, covered loosely with foil to prevent over-browning. Then at the end, I remove the foil shield and turn the oven temperature up to get it nicely browned. Keep a close eye on it during the last 30 minutes. You can always put the foil back on or lower the temperature if it's getting too dark.
Comments
No Comments