Here's our super basic, super simple, super easy tutorial for roasting a super beautiful turkey this Thanksgiving.
Are you roasting a whole turkey for the first time this year? Or perhaps you've done this many times before, but you want a quick refresher to brush up on the basics? We'll help you make your mama proud with these step-by-step instructions for roasting a delicious turkey. Here's our super basic, super simple, super easy tutorial for roasting a super beautiful turkey this Thanksgiving.
Now, we know that many people have strong opinions on the best way to cook a turkey. You may fry it, roast it overnight, or do it in a slow cooker. You may brine religiously, or have a secret family spice rub.
But just to keep things simple and straightforward we are taking a completely no-frills approach in this tutorial. There are lots of places along the way where you can add some spice, flavor, or personal touches. Consider this a recipe template and feel free to play with it as much or as little as you like; our goal is simply to give you a foolproof way to get that turkey roasted and onto plates with as little stress as possible.
This method will work with any turkey: big or small, brined or not, free-range or otherwise. Cooking times will vary, but the basic technique will be the same. For reference, the turkey in the photos was a pre-brined 16-pound turkey from Williams-Sonoma (full review on the turkey itself coming tomorrow).
Thawing the Turkey
Be sure to let your turkey completely thaw before cooking. If it was frozen through when you bought it, the turkey will thaw within a few days in the fridge, approximately 24 hours for every five pounds of turkey. For quicker thawing, place the turkey in a cold water bath and change the water every 30 minutes until it's thawed.
For more information on safe turkey thawing, check out the USDA website:
• Turkey Basics: Safe Thawing from the USDA
Brining a Turkey
One thing we're not talking about here is brining the turkey. This method has become popular over the last few years and involves immersing the turkey in a salt water solution for a day or so before cooking. The end result of this process is moist, perfectly seasoned turkey meat. We've had great results with brining and heartily endorse it. For a full explanation, check out this post:
• Quick Tip: How to Brine Meat
Ready? Let's cook some turkey.
How to Roast a Turkey
What You Need
Ingredients
1 turkey, any size
2 cups broth or water
Melted unsalted butter (optional, for basting)
Equipment
Roasting pan (or alternative)
Roasting rack (or something to lift the turkey off the pan)
Turkey baster or spoon
Instructions
1. Prepare the Turkey for Roasting - About an hour before roasting, take the turkey out of the fridge. Remove any packaging and the bag of giblets (check in the body cavity and in the neck cavity). Set the turkey breast-side up on the roasting rack and let it sit. This takes the chill off the meat, which helps the meat cook faster and more evenly, and it dries out the skin, which promotes browning and crisping.
2. Heat the Oven to 450°F - Position an oven rack in the bottom third of your oven. If you brined your turkey, as we did, no need to do anything now. If your turkey is straight out of the package, rub it with some salt and pepper before putting it in the oven. We recommend leaving your turkey un-stuffed and un-trussed, both because it's easier and because the turkey will cook more evenly.
Optional Extras - Rub your turkey with butter or oil for a richer flavor and browner skin, rub minced herbs or ground spices into (or beneath) the skin for more flavor, place a few halved lemons or garlic cloves inside the cavity of the turkey.
3. Roast the Turkey - Pour two cups of broth or water into the roasting pan. Place the turkey in the oven and turn down the heat to 350°F. We're going for a breast-side up approach here. Some recipes advocate starting the turkey breast-side down to shield the breast meat, but the idea of flipping a hot, sputtering turkey is not our idea of a good time. Instead, we like to shield the breast meat with foil toward the end of cooking if it starts getting too browned.
4. Cooking Time - The rule of thumb for cooking a turkey is 13 minutes per pound. So our 16-pound turkey should have taken about 3 hours and 45 minutes to cook. However, some factors like brining the bird, cooking with an empty (un-stuffed) cavity, and leaving the legs un-trussed will contribute to much faster cooking. Plan on the 13-minute-per-pound rule, but start checking the temperature of your turkey about halfway through the scheduled cooking time to gauge how fast it's cooking.
5. Baste the Turkey - Every 45 minutes, remove the turkey from the oven, close the oven door (don't let that heat out!), and baste the turkey all over. To baste, tilt the pan and use a turkey baster or spoon to scoop up the liquids and drizzle them on top of the turkey. Basting with pan juices cools the surface of the turkey and slows down cooking, which in turn keeps the breast meat cooking at close to the same rate as the legs and thighs.
Optional Extra - In the last 45 minutes or so of cooking, baste the turkey with melted butter or oil. This helps crisp up the skin and turn it a beautiful deep golden brown.
5. Check the Temperature - To make sure that turkey is fully cooked through and through, we like to check its temperature in three places: the breast, the outer thigh, and the inside thigh (see photos above). In every case, the meat should be at least 165°F. If any place is under that temperature, put the turkey back in the oven for another 20 minutes. Shield the breast meat with foil if needed to keep it from overcooking.
6. Rest the Turkey - Grab one side of the roasting rack with an oven mitt and tilt the turkey so liquids inside the cavity run out into the pan. (These juices are used to make the gravy.)
Then, lift the whole turkey (still on the rack) and transfer it to a cutting board. Tent the turkey with aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. This gives time for the meat to firm up and the juices to be re-absorbed into the muscle tissue, making the turkey easier to slice and taste juicier.
7. Carve the Turkey - Carve the turkey the same way you would carve a chicken (click that link to see a video of the entire process of carving a chicken): Remove the wings first, then the thighs, then the breast meat. Once you have the meat off, you can separate the thighs into thighs and drumsticks and carve the breast meat into individual slices.
That's all there is to it! Roasting a turkey is really just like roasting a large chicken. The same methods and ideas apply. Even if you don't get fancy with spices or special basting liquids, your turkey will still turn out browned, moist, and flavorful.
One final note! Once you've sat down at the table, don't forget about the turkey back on the counter. The leftover meat needs to be refrigerated within two hours of cooking, after which the risk of something nasty taking up residence starts to increase exponentially. Be safe, kids!
What other tricks, tips, and bits of advice do you have for roasting a turkey?
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(Images: Emma Christensen)
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Comments (24)
1) Don't try and warm it with your body heat, and then put it in the dryer.
Easiest method: cook it breast down in a paper bag. No basting, no checking in until the thermometer reaches its goal temp. So easy.
@Melizza- I done the upside down method but not in a paper bag. How do you check the temp if it's concealed inside a bag?
Second the paper bag method. Don’t stuff the bird anymore either, bake separately. Not kosher, but a kosher bird has been prepared in such a way that the result is much like a brined bird.
I like using a roasting bag, the skin doesn't get as beautifully golden as your method, but the meat is always very moist and delicious.
Do you recommend a v-rack like you used, or is a flat rack OK?
@bodicegoddess OMG! yes! haha love that you said that.
@dakman - I think either is fine. A V-Rack is nice for keeping from sliding around as you take it in and out of the oven, but the main goal is just to lift the turkey off the bottom of the pan.
* That is to say, "...for keeping THE TURKEY from sliding around..." :)
I know it sounds heretical, but I don't baste. I do put some butter and herbs under the skin, or olive oil and herbs on top, but I do not baste. The turkey is still wonderfully moist. I think the real secret is tenting it with foil. If it isn't brown enough, take the foil off for the last hour.
Another super easy method: use a clay baker. Perfect bird, no basting, quick and easy.
Everyone shouls at least once, debone the bird , stuff it and roll it. It is not the most easiest but certainly is the most memorable and has a few bonuses, such as no bickering about the white Vs. Dark meat and more room in the refrigerator. I used the Martha Stewart recipe with Todd English.
Excellent instructions. Actually, in my opinion, the turkey is the easiest part of the Thanksgiving meal.
Commercially brined poultry has more than salt and water in it (mystery chemicals, too), and can taste really awful if it accidentally processed through more than one brining cycle. Last brined turkey I had did not render the fat out in the roasting as the brining chemicals created striations of stinky bee bee sized fat lumps in the breast meat. Absolutely disgusting and ruined a thanksgiving dinner. I'll have a natural free range turkey henceforth. And something like 15% of turkey weight of these chemicals are allowed in US poultry by law. Shudder.
I think it's very important to give the turkey a day, two days, three days if you can, to dry out (uncovered) in the fridge... I also swear by brining, and most importantly NOT overcooking the bird! I use a digital meat thermometer that stays in the bird. I baste with butter every 20 minutes, and never cover the bird. In my experience, the skin does not overcrisp if you're cooking at a low temperature.
I also don't use broth or anything in the pan because I would think that would create steam in the oven and I'm all about the crispy skin.
I don't have a nice roasting tray, so I use a "vegetable trivet" to lift the turkey (or any meat I'm roasting) from the pan. I loosely pile carrots, skin-on onions, whole heads of garlic, and celery, and I think the "vegetable trivet" flavors the pan drippings for gravy.
Also, I roasted the turkey neck the day before (I had to celebrate Thanksgiving early this year) and used it to make flavorful turkey stock for gravy... Not only was it delicous, but I was also able to control the saltiness of the gravy that way, since the turkey was brined and canned stock has so much sodium in it.
I also use a bag and it's always delicious. However for those of you who use bags -- how do you make gravy? All instructions say to drain off the drippings and make gravy in the roasting pan, but obviously there's no "delicious brown bits" to make gravy out of in the bottom of my pan -- it's all in the bag. Suggestions?
In the past when I cooked a brined turkey, I always rinsed the salt off afterwards, and then followed that with an immersion in apple cider. With commercially brined birds, I like to soak in cold water for a few hours to try to remove more brine. Thanksgiving is salty enough.
I've just converted from a committed briner to an even more committed "no baste". I had the chance to be on a photo shoot recently where they did a recipe for a no baste. I was expecting it to be dry and disappointing. Hardly. It was best turkey ever. I think it was the low temp and foil. Here is the video of the recipe, in event you want to try.http://plainvillefarms.com/recipes/recipe-videos/roasting-a-turkey-with-meryl/
Q for @All the Calories: Planningwise, do you brine for a day THEN dry out in the fridge for several days? I am also all about crispy skin but we get ours only two days before T day.
Another general Q - we're getting a free-range, heritage blah blah turkey for the first time this year. Should I adjust my expectations for it to be less juicy, quicker cooking or anything like that that might adjust my cooking methods?
Did my Thanksgiving today: followed the instructions (except for the basting, couldn't find the baster) and thought that the turkey was best ever! Did notice that some of the slices were on the salty side, but it wasn't a deal breaker. A guy on NPR today recommended a dry brine, might try switching next year.
Is it mean that I gave my mom some helpful hints on how to make her Turkey more juicy this year?..I'll have to forward her this article. If you're not cooking your turkey this year and want to help contribute with some easy to make sides check out my Trader Joe's list>> http://www.skinnyscoop.com/list/claudia/thanksgiving-sides-your-trader-joes-cheat-sheet
@tasterspoon - I use the dry-brine method, and I dry out the turkey the night before. Try to put it in by the fan in the fridge. If you're wet-brining, you may need more drying time. Then again, last year I forgot the drying out process, and we did it with a hair dryer (set on cool) the morning of Thanksgiving! That made for some good pictures.
If you want to get a turkey - or anything else - brown, use butter. Butter browns better, at a lower temperature, than oils.
Use unsalted butter if you want to avoid having the turkey or gravy become too salty (especially if you're cooking a brined turkey).
Putting water in the bottom makes it a huge battle to create decent gravy.