Cooking a turkey seems like a big job. But don’t be afraid! You can cook the perfect turkey in under two hours, by following these 3 simple steps.
3 Steps to the Perfect Turkey
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After learning how to brine the perfect turkey, you need to learn how to cook the perfect turkey. All the prep work you do will be wasted if you overcook your bird. Nobody likes a dry turkey!
One note about the brine. When you take the turkey out – throw the brine away. It’s had a raw turkey sitting in it for 12-18 hours at this point, so there are some food safety issues. (You’ll be thoroughly cooking your turkey, so don’t worry about food safety there.) Do not try to use the brine liquid for cooking. Again, there’s the food safety issue, but it is also SO SALTY that anything you try to cook with it will be ruined.
This technique is from Alton Brown’s Good Eats. I love the way he approaches cooking with science!
1. Don’t Stuff the Turkey
I don’t put stuffing in my turkey. John’s family has an out-of-the-bird stuffing (aka dressing) recipe that they do every year. And there are way too many of us to fit all that stuffing inside the bird. And if you put stuffing inside the turkey, it just takes longer to cook which means you’re more likely to end up with dry meat. And no one likes dry meat.
But I do put a few things inside the turkey – onion, apple, a cinnamon stick, a few sprigs of rosemary, and a few sage leaves.
Before the turkey is ready to go into the oven, you need to tuck the wings under the back. Rotate the little flapper behind the turkey, so it looks like it’s resting with the arms behind the shoulders. That just keeps these little guys out of the way and keeps them from burning.
2. Make a Turkey Triangle
I think the turkey triangle is the single most important part of roasting a turkey. Brush the skin of your turkey with canola oil (I use a silicone brush like this one). Don’t be shy with the oil – if you think you’ve used enough, go over it one more time! Then grab a sheet of aluminum foil, and fold two corners in so you have a triangle shape. Press the triangle down so it forms to the shape of the turkey breast. Gently take the foil off, coat the part that will touch the turkey with canola oil, and set it aside. You’ll want to set it somewhere where it won’t get crushed, or accidentally thrown away. You don’t need the turkey triangle right now, but you’ll want it in about 30 minutes.
3. Cook the Turkey
Now it’s time to pop your turkey in the oven. I need you to take a leap of faith with me, or rather with Alton Brown. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yes, that’s right, I said 500 degrees.
Roast the turkey at 500 degrees, without the foil triangle, for 30 minutes.
That short, hot roasting does a couple of things. First, it gives the outside of your turkey a beautiful golden color (also thanks to the oil you brushed it with earlier). Second, it cooks the outside layer fast, which sears all the juices inside (just like cooking the perfect steak hot and fast).
After 30 minutes, take the turkey out, and lower your oven temperature to 350 degrees. Now, put on the turkey triangle. Remember, your turkey just came out of a 500 degree oven, so it is hot-hot-hot! This is why we shaped the foil to fit before. Now all you should have to do it place the foil triangle over the bird and give it a gentle pat to stay in place.
This is also the time to put in your meat thermometer (here’s how). Go right through the foil and into the turkey breast. You want the end of the thermometer to be in the middle of the thickest part of the breast. If you have a probe-style thermometer with an alarm (which I highly suggest you get), set the alarm to 161 degrees.
Put the turkey back in the oven, and ignore it until the thermometer alarm goes off. Seriously. Ignore it. No peeking, no basting, nothing. (With a brine and that first hot-hot-hot 30 minutes to get a good sear on the outside, there will be little to no drippings to baste with, anyway.)
When the middle of the turkey breast gets to 161 degrees, take the turkey out. Take the thermometer out (don’t forget, this part is hot, too!) and take the foil triangle off. Loosely tent the turkey under a large sheet of foil, and let it rest for 15 minutes. The turkey will continue to heat up a little bit to 165 degrees (which is the USDA recommended temperature for fully cooked poultry). Then carve away!
And did I mention that if you’re using a 12-16 pound turkey, it will be fully cooked in 2 hours or less? Seriously. It only took me about an hour and a half to cook this beauty!
Are you ready to roast your turkey this year? Don’t forget to take the turkey out of the freezer early!
Take the Fear Out of Turkey
Do you want even more tips about turkey? Check out these Top 10 Turkey Tips and never be afraid of cooking turkey again!
Enjoy!
- 1 12-14 pound turkey, thawed
- 1 red apple, sliced
- ½ onion, sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 sprigs rosemary
- 6 leaves sage
- 3 cups water
- Canola oil
- Brine the turkey overnight. Remove the turkey from the brine, rinse with cold water, and pat dry. Place the turkey on a roasting rack inside a pan.
- Put the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, rosemary, and sage in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with water. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Using tongs, loosely place the apple, onion, cinnamon, rosemary, and sage in the turkey's cavity.
- Tuck the wings under the turkey. Coat the skin with canola oil.
- Fold a large sheet of aluminum foil into a triangle shape and press to fit the turkey breast. Coat the underneath of the triangle liberally with canola oil and set aside.
- Roast turkey on the lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, put the triangle over the turkey breast, insert the meat thermometer, return the turkey to the oven, and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
- Cook the turkey until the center part of the breast reaches 161 degrees F (1.5-2.5 hours total). Let rest for at least 15 minutes before carving.
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