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The ONLY Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe You Need

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Prep Time 3 days
Cook Time 3 hours
Course: Holidays 2024, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Turkey
  • 2 Gallons Brown Sugar and Herb Brine
  • 3 tbsp Whole Butter

Equipment

  • 1 Large Brining Bag
  • 1 Roasting Pan
  • 1 Roasting Rack
  • 1 Boning Knife
  • 1 Slicing Knife
  • 1 Cutting Board
  • 1 Baster (This is all up to you. I just use a large spoon to baste my turkey.)

Method
 

Preparations leading to Turkey Day
  1. Have your turkey thawed out by the Monday leading to thanksgiving.
  2. Remove from bag and drain well. Make sure to remove the neck, giblets and any chunks of ice that may be stuck inside.
  3. Place the turkey breast side down in your brine bag, add about 2 gallons of your prepared brine to your bag and seal up well. You can place this into a large pot, clean bucket or even one of the drawers in your refrigerator.
  4. For a turkey under 20#, brine for about 36 hours. Anything larger you can go up to 48 hours.
  5. By Wednesday your turkey should be ready to come out of the brine. Remove it from the bag, rise it off gently and pat dry.
  6. Make sure the legs are secured in the plastic holder that comes with your turkey, and I like to tuck the wings under the body. It just gives a better presentation and helps the turkey sit up better.
  7. Place your turkey into a roasting pan on a roasting rack, put back into your refrigerator and allow to air dry until Thursday.
Cooking your Turkey
  1. Preheat oven to 325℉, fan on if you have that feature. If not id do 350℉
  2. Rub your turkey down with some whole butter, you don't need a lot. This just helps the skin start browning.
  3. Place your wired thermometer between the thigh and breast, into the thickest part of the turkey.
  4. Put your turkey into the oven and baste about every 45 minutes. If your skin is getting a little darker than you'd like, you can tent it with some foil. Make sure to rotate occasionally so the skin browns evenly.
  5. When your turkey reaches around 145℉ internal, I bump the oven up to 350℉ just to help the skin brown more and get nice and crispy. Finish cooking until it reaches an internal of 165℉. At this point you can remove from the oven and let rest for at least 30 minutes.
  6. Your welcome to carve it up anyway you'd like, but I like to remove the breasts and slice them individually, and the shred the dark meat from the legs.