I am giving you Five Tips to Cooking a Perfect, Juicy Turkey! Your turkey will be so good, you will want to cook it all year!
Perfectly Cooked Turkey
Growing up, I would listen to the adults talk about how difficult it was to cook a turkey. They described it as labor intensive and stressful. The end result of this stressful, labor intensive turkey didn’t always go well either. Quite frankly, I always thought turkey was a plain, boring, dry meat that I would prefer not to eat other than for tradition sake. When it became my turn to break into the Thanksgiving Rite of Passage, I was terrified. After doing a little research and experimenting, I discovered that cooking that bird is quite easy; even for a novice. My turkey always turns out beautifully brown, moist, and full of flavor. I had no idea what I was missing out on. So today I am sharing with you Five Tips to Cooking a Perfect, Juicy Turkey! Now you can “Gobble, Gobble” a beautiful, moist, flavorful turkey too!
Perfectly cooked, juicy turkey
First Tip is to COMPLETELY THAW YOUR TURKEY!
You can buy a fresh turkey and alleviate some of the stress, but odds are you are going to buy a frozen turkey. You must give yourself adequate time for thawing out your turkey. If you cook a half frozen turkey in the oven, you will have a nightmare in the kitchen. TRUST ME!! It will not cook evenly and the frozen part probably will not cook to a done temperature at all. Thawing your turkey out is probably the most crucial part of cooking your turkey. There is NO buying a 20lb turkey the night before Thanksgiving, then waking up that morning to cook it for lunch or dinner. It takes 24 hours for every 4lbs of turkey, so keep that in mind when purchasing your turkey. If you don’t have the time or the room in your refrigerator to thaw the turkey for days, you will need a smaller turkey.
You can also cold water thaw it. Butter Ball says: Thaw breast side down, in an unopened wrapper, with enough cold water to cover your turkey completely. Change water every 30 minutes to keep the turkey chilled. Estimate a minimum thawing time of 30 minutes per lb.
Perfectly cooked, juicy turkey
Second Tip is to BRINE YOUR TURKEY.
*THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE OR REFERRAL LINKS. IF YOU MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH ONE OF THESE LINKS, I WILL BE COMPENSATED AT NO EXTRA CHARGE TO YOU. I ONLY SHARE PRODUCTS I USE OR BELIEVE IN.
I had never heard of brining a turkey. My grandmother never brined her turkey. My mother never brined her turkey. And my husband’s mother never brined her turkey. Then years ago I came across a magazine called Cuisine at Home
Why brine? It enhances the flavor of your turkey and most importantly, it keeps that bird moist!!! If you brine your turkey, you almost can’t mess it up…. I did say ALMOST. Brine your bird for at least 2 hours. I often brine my bird overnight.
Perfectly Cooked Turkey
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 cups hot water
- 2 cups apple juice
- 4 cups ice
- Dissolve salt and brown sugar in hot water.
- Stir in apple juice and ice.
- Submerge turkey in brine for 2 or more hours.
**This recipe is for an 8lb turkey. Adjust and double to the size of turkey.
Third Tip is to use a MEAT THERMOMETER.
Look, you are dealing with a BIG bird and estimating baking time based on the size of that bird. Key word is ESTIMATING. Your bird may cook slower or faster then planned. The only way to know it is exactly the temperature you want is to use a thermometer. If you use a thermometer, you can stop cooking it the minute it reaches perfection. People will argue about what temperature you want to cook the bird. I have seen everything between 165 degrees to 185 degrees. We don’t take chances in our house. I have a convection oven and I cook it until it reaches 180. My bird has always been fully cooked and fully juicy. You can cook it to the temperature you are comfortable with. Keep in mind it will cook a little more as it rests, which brings me to my fourth tip.
Perfectly cooked, juicy turkey
Fourth Tip is to LET IT REST.
Resist any temptation to carve the turkey the minute it comes out of the oven. You have to give it time to rest. Resting allows the juice in the meat to redistribute evenly. If you carve it too soon, you will lose some of that lovely juice. Also, resting allows the meat to firm back up a bit, allowing it to be easier for carving.
Fifth Tip is to BASTE YOUR TURKEY.
See that pretty brown color of my turkey? All of my turkeys look this way. Do you know why? I lovingly baste them. I slather them up in an AMAZING butter and maple syrup recipe I found in that same issue of Cuisine at Home. I start basting my turkey about the last hour of cooking every 15 minutes. It makes that skin a beautiful color and it makes my turkey taste WICKED GOOD!
Baste the turkey with maple syrup and butter
For the Baste:
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup of melted butter
Mix butter and syrup together. Baste the turkey the last hour every 15 minutes.
So follow these tips. Allow yourself plenty of time to cook the turkey. And save plenty of room in your belly to eat it, because you will want seconds and thirds!! Enjoy!!
Check out my dressing recipes to go along with your turkey! Granny Moore’s Dressing, Pumpkin Chorizo Dressing, and Individual Bread Dressing with Pears, Bacon, and Blue Cheese.
I pinned this immediately!! Great post & great tips for cooking a turkey. Loved all your pics too. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family, Katie 🙂
All your tips are so right on! I totally agree, cooking a turkey shouldn’t be scarey! I’ve always found it weird that people approach it with such hesitation and fear… i mean, it’s just a big chicken! And we all know most people out there cook chicken for dinner all the time. #enigma Your tips are all ones I follow, so I’m happy to hear I cook my turkey in A Forks Tale approved manner! 😉 pinning this to my Thanksgiving board! Cheers and warm wishes for a beautiful Turkey Day!!
Now all I can think of is turkey for breakfast 🙂
These are fantastic tips! There’s so much conflicting advice out there when it comes to turkeys, but you made it really straightforward and easy. Despite all the arguing people do about it, it really doesn’t have to be so hard! 🙂
What great tips! And I’m so with you on using a meat thermometer. It takes SO much stress out of cooking meat!
Perfect tips before the holidays roll around!
Fabulous as always! Love the Brine idea. Never thought of that. Thanks Katie!
Do you leave it brine in the fridge? And what would I do for a 12 pound turkey? Thanks going to try it
Hi Jade,
Yes, marinate the turkey in the brine in the refrigerator. For a 12 pound turkey, it would be okay to double the brine. I hope your turkey turns out amazing!
How do you submerge an 8# turkey in just 8 cups of liquid to brine? This hardly seam like enough liquid. Did I miss something?
Susan, if your turkey is big, you may have to double it. I usually double the recipe. I put the turkey in a bag and submerge it in the brine. Doubling the recipe has always worked for me.
For the baste, would you apply to turkey before putting in the oven, and then baste with the juices in the pan for the hour? Or just wait to put baste on until the last hour? Would this recipe still work with a turkey bag? Sorry, first time hosting and I’m clueless! Sounds delicious and hopefully I don’t mess it up!!
Trish, You don’t want to baste until the last hour because the skin will darken too fast if you do it too early and eventually burn from the cartelizing of the sugar. If you baste in the last hour, it will have the beautiful skin you see pictured in my blog. I keep the skin covered with tinfoil until I start basting. I do not cover the whole pan in tinfoil because I don’t want to steam cook it, so I just take the tinfoil and cover the top of the bird that gets the most direct heat. I have never cooked a turkey in a bag. I heard it is very good, however, I assume it stays in the bag until cooked. If that is the case, you would not be able to baste it at all… However, if you remove it from the bag in the last hour or even the last half hour of it’s cooking, you could incorporate the basting. Hope this helps.
Do you bake the turkey covered or uncovered?
I cover my turkey directly on the turkey with tinfoil, just covering the exposed top areas so the skin doesn’t cook too quickly. On the last hour, I remove the tinfoil completely.
What temperature do you cook it on?
Whitney, you roast the turkey at 325 degrees until the internal breast temperature reaches between 165 to 185. Good luck!
Hi! Thanks for the great tips! This looks amazing! Do you stuff your bird with stuffing or veggies or anything? If you do, does that alter the taste or how juicy the turkey turns out?
Maggie, I don’t stuff my bird, so I can’t give you an experienced answer to that question. However, I have friends that have stuffed their turkey with apples and oranges to keep it even more moist. They discarded the fruit once the turkey was cooked. They said the fruit made the turkey even juicier and a bit sweeter. I personally have not tried that.
I’m going to try this out- my first turkey!What temperature do you cook it and how long, total?
Thanks!
Jeanie, you roast it at 325 degrees until the internal breast temperature reaches between 165 to 185. Good luck!
This will be my first go round hosting Thanksgiving, so forgive the novice question, but what temp do you cook your bird at?
Sarah, you roast the turkey at 325 degrees until the internal breast temperature reaches between 165 to 185. Good luck!
Love this idea! This year will be my first time hosting Thansgiving . Question after you brine the turkey do you still smother it in butter and stuff the cavity?
I do not stuff my turkey… I also do not smother it in butter until the last hour when I put a maple butter glaze on it.
Going to attempt to brine a 21 pd turkey. Husband thinks using an ice chest would be okay for overnight but I feel like we should refrigerate it. Any thoughts on this? Cooking my first turkey so I’m clueless!
Jen,
If the ice chest is filled with ice, I assume it would keep it cold enough. I am not an expert though…
Have you brined a turkey that was frozen and already had the solution injected when you bought it? I want to try your tips for Thanksgiving but, don’t want to ruin the turkey if I am not suppose to brine it since it was pre-injected.
Thank you!
I am sorry, but I have not tried anything with the pre injected solutions, so I can not answer that.
Do you rinse your turkey after brining? And how long do you let the turkey dry before roasting?
Rinse the turkey before you brine. Do not rinse after. You can pat it dry with a paper towel if it is excessively wet.
This will be my first year making a turkey and your tips are so helpful! As far as brining overnight is it possible to OVERbrine? Also do I rinse the turkey once I’m ready to roast?
I don’t think you can overborne if you don’t go longer than 24hours.
Hi Katie,
How long do you recommend letting your turkey rest before carving?
Thanks!
10 to 15 minutes.