You know it’s that time of year again when everyone starts asking how to roast a turkey. I can’t tell you how many questions I get every year from people who are completely intimidated by the idea of roasting this mighty* bird. Most of these people are great cooks, and in fact, have no problem roasting a chicken, but give them the bird over three pounds and apparently something starts breaking down.
Perhaps the problem is that they are presenting their roast turkey to anywhere from five to 20 picky people, or maybe it’s the fact that your dinner investment suddenly went from $9 to $45. Regardless, roasting a turkey is actually just as easy as roasting a chicken. It might take a little longer, but in the end, there’s no reason why you can’t have a tender, delicious, drama-free turkey dinner.
A few months ago I wrote a post on how to roast the perfect chicken. Misplaced modifiers aside, you don’t need to start with the perfect bird to end up with a finished product you can be proud of. That said, I will always endorse a free range, organic option, which I think in the end will not only tastes better, but will also support the kind of world we want to live in the future — but if you can’t afford a $50 locally farmed, pasture raised Turkey, you can still pull off the perfect Thanksgiving bird pretty easily.
Here are some tips to help you roast your Thanksgiving turkey to perfection. This is all common sense advice if you really think about it, but for whatever reason people seem to lose their minds when it comes to making Thanksgiving dinner. If you have any of your own advice on how to roast a turkey, please, PLEASE, I implore you, leave a comment at the end of the post. My goal is to create a pseudo-database of turkey tips (I have no idea why find that phrase so funny) that people will be able to refer to into perpetuity.
How to Roast a Turkey to Perfection
- First things first: thaw your bird completely before putting it in the oven. Thaw it in the fridge for a few days – up to four, depending on the size of your turkey.
- 400°F is the perfect temperature for cooking a whole turkey. You’ll get crispy skin without compromising tenderness.
- Depending on the size of your bird, it should take anywhere from 3-6 hours to roast at 400°F. I highly recommend a meat thermometer, one that stays in the turkey while it cooks and lets you set an alarm for when it reaches the proper temperature. This keeps you from continually opening the oven door, which will greatly increase your cooking time. Here’s a great time chart for turkey roasting.
- Basting the bird won’t give you crispier skin. In fact, you’ll get limp, soggy skin and it only marginally affects the flavor.
- Some argue that rubbing the entire bird with fat, inside and out, doesn’t affect the flavor, but I disagree. It depends on the fat, though – olive oil won’t give you a flavor boost, but butter mixed with a heaping dose of salt and herbs will yield a tasty dish indeed.
- It doesn’t matter what orientation you roast your turkey in. Breast up, breast down, flipped over halfway through or hanging from the rafters – no position will make the breast more moist.
- Stuffing some flavored fat (such as butter with salt and herbs) under the skin will help flavor meat, but don’t go overboard. Too much fat will just just make the meat greasy.
- They (whoever “they” are) say that you’re supposed to cook a whole turkey to 180°F, but I find that 170° yields a perfectly moist bird that’s still cooked completely through. Make sure to measure in the thickest part of the breast.
- I don’t recommend stuffing your turkey before roasting, and this can lead to all sorts of holiday misery – namely salmonella. If you insist on stuffing the bird, make sure you roast it until the stuffing has an internal temperature of at least 165°F.
- Let your bird rest for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven. A good 20 minute nap will let everything settle and keep the moisture where it belongs: in the meat.
- The easiest way to guarantee that pieces of breast will be moist is to let them soak in the turkey’s juices for a few minutes after they’ve been cut. This includes the fatty runoff from what you’ve rubbed over the surface or stuffed under the skin.
- You want the entire turkey to roast evenly and have crispy skin all over, so consider elevating it off the surface of the roasting pan. A good-sized roasting rack will do the trick, which allows air to circulate under the bird – crisping it all the way around.
- Get a decent oven thermometer, one for measuring the turkey and one for measuring your oven’s temperature. ‘Nuff said.
- Don’t waste the juices in the bottom of the pan! Reduce in a saucepan with a little white wine, add a little cornstarch and you’ve got an amazing gravy.
Do you have tips on learning how to roast a turkey? What are your secrets for creating the perfect roast turkey experience? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
Posts and articles with more tips on roasting the perfect turkey:
- Serious Eats explains how to make roast turkey for Thanksgiving
- Mark Bittman shares how a five minute act can save you hours of roasting
- Elise Bauer shares her mom’s turkey recipe
- Elana’s balsamic turkey with apple stuffing
*Mighty ornery, that is. Have you ever met a turkey in real life? Yikes.
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
This post made me regret not having a big enough oven. There’s nothing like a home, on Thanksgiving, smelling of roast turkey and I will miss that. This year my daughter has invited us to a restaurant. I always fear failure with turkey, but the bird usually cooks fine. Here’s my tip: I put an apple in the cavity, which keeps the turkey meat moist.
.-= ———->Alexandra´s last blog post – Brain Power Cogitates On Wellfleet’s Future =-.
Isn’t it funny that everyone intimidated by turkey? I can’t understand why… I’ve only every had one bad turkey, and it was burnt black. Pretty easy to avoid that error.
Roast turkey. I miss it. But a peanut oil FRIED turkey? Heaven.
.-= ———->Frugal Kiwi´s last blog post – The Rules of Engagement =-.
Fried turkey is the bomb. The process of frying a turkey, well, that’s a little scary. Jaden says she always fries her turkeys. May have to give it a try!
I’m sending this to my aunt since it looks like we’ll be making a turkey, even though my daughter and uncle are both vegetarian. I’m not one for roasting meats so I’m letting my dear auntie take care of things this year…
.-= ———->Jennifer Margulis´s last blog post – A Kind Letter From A Reader =-.
Thanks for passing it along! Let me know how it goes.
Thanks for posting this and for being so specific about the steps. Why does everyone have to make it so complicated? Breast up, breast down, cover it, uncover it, baste it, don’t baste it…You make it so easy!
But I always thought that the thermometer has to go into the thickest part of the thigh, since that takes longer to cook – no?
Thanks Sheryl
I always stick the thermometer in the thickest part of the breast, because testing in the thigh can cause the breast to overcook. There’s not a large enough margin of threat for salmonella to worry about it that much – for me at least. I guess that’s another reason to buy organic, local turkey… healthier birds make for less risk.
I always brine my turkeys. Last year I did a dry brine, which yielded the moistest bird ever, but it was a little salty. I think I may go back to a wet brine this year.
How did you do your dry brine? I’d love the recipe/steps!
These precise directions almost – almost! – give me the courage to roast my own turkey this year. How lame is that? I’ve only ever roasted a turkey once. I love making other parts of Thanksgiving dinner though!
.-= ———->Christine´s last blog post – Welcoming Anna =-.
Go for it! Turkeys so rarely turns out badly. Or at least, as badly as people fear.
If all else fails, you could just roast a breast. So much easier, and you’ll probably still have enough left over for sandwiches the next day!
OK. I know it’s totally cheating (and there are probably scary things about it), but I use a roasting bag. Perfectly browned and moist turkey every time.
Then, again, I’m the girl who buys a bunch of $5 turkeys and makes a full-blown Thanksgiving meal on a Thursday in August … because I can.
.-= ———->Roxanne @ Champion of My Heart´s last blog post – Ginko: The Kitchen Marauder Continues =-.
Actually, that’s not cheating at all! Whatever works, right?
This is a great post. I’m actually cooking a full-blown Thanksgiving dinner this year for the first time in about 7 years. The turkey is the scariest part!
.-= ———->Jen Haupt´s last blog post – A Tale of Two Fathers =-.
Thanks! Let me know how it goes! I’d love it if you reported back