Moist, juicy and herb rubbed turkey is easy to make with some simple tricks. Dry brining is one of the easiest ways for a moist turkey every time. Check out the rest of the tips below for the perfect holiday turkey.
Next time try this air fryer turkey breast.
Save this recipe by clicking on the ❤️ heart on the right-hand side of the screen or in the recipe card.
Check out the farro stuffing, cranberry sauce, whipped sweet potatoes, or this sweet potato casserole for some side recipes.
Roast turkey is the centerpiece of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and also Ramadan. It feeds a crowd and gives this luxurious look to your holiday dinner table.
Jump to:
- ❤️ Juicy Thanksgiving turkey
- 📝 Ingredients you'll need
- 🥣 Before you begin: essential tools
- 🥄 Step by step: instructions
- 🔪How to carve a turkey
- 🍽️ Perfect pairings: what to serve with
- 👍 Let's make the perfect recipe: Amira's tips
- 💬 Your questions answered: FAQs
- Holiday Side Dishes
- Try something different
- Moist Turkey Recipe
❤️ Juicy Thanksgiving turkey
It is so frustrating to cook a turkey and end up with dry, flavorless turkey breast meat. No matter how much butter you add or what technique you follow, people almost always end up with dry breast flesh.
Then came the brining evolution that changed the whole game. Brining is the best way to cook a turkey. It is done by soaking it in salty water with herbs and spices. This wet brine method yields very tender white meat, but the problem was always in space.
Where can we find a space in the fridge big enough to hold a bucket of brined turkey? When I lived in a small apartment with a small kitchen, I used to leave it on the patio, which scared me a lot.
On the other hand, dry brining does not require this big space, and you get an even better, flavorful turkey without the mess. For maximum flavor and browning, apply softened flavored butter under and on the skin.
📝 Ingredients you'll need
Note: This is an overview of the ingredients. You'll find the full measurements and instructions in the recipe card (printable) at the bottom of the page.
🥣 Before you begin: essential tools
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- Different mixing bowl
- Heavy-duty aluminum foil
- Large container to hold the turkey
- Roasting pan
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🥄 Step by step: instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
- Prepare the turkey brine dry rub by mixing all ingredients together.
- Sprinkle half the salt mixture over the breast and rub all around. Turn the turkey to the other side and rub it with the remaining mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 day.
- Turn the turkey to the other side, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for another day minus 8 hours. In the last 8 hours, uncover the turkey and refrigerate.
- Take the turkey out and leave it at room temperature for an hour. Then, pat dry with a paper towel.
- In a bowl, mix the stuffing veggies and the cut up giblets if using.
- In another bowl, mix butter, olive oil, black pepper and parsley.
- Take a square piece of aluminum foil and fold it in half to form a triangle. Brush one side with oil. Place your turkey on a v-rack and cover the breast with foil to form a mold with the foil. Take the foil out, keeping its shape, and set aside.
- Carefully push your fingers to separate skin in the breast area from front and back. We need to separate the skin but not cut it completely.
- Stuff ¾ of the butter mixture under the skin, then massage the skin with your fingers to spread the butter evenly. Rub the remaining butter on the outside. and stuff the bird's cavity with the onion mixture.
- Preheat oven to 500F, adjusting the rack in the lower part of your oven. Place the turkey in the oven and bake until breast is golden brown, takes about 20-30 minutes. Take the bird out, lower heat to 350F then put the foil back on the turkey skin. Bake until done or the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees F when read using an instant-read thermometer. Let the turkey rests before carving.
🔪How to carve a turkey
- Before carving a turkey, allow it to rest for about 20 minutes after roasting. This allows juices to be redistributed.
- To remove the legs and thighs, cut through the joint where the leg meets the body using a sharp carving knife. Next, cut through the joints where the wings connect to the body to remove them. To carve the breast, make a deep cut along the breastbone, then separate the meat from the bone. Remember to slice against the grain for tender results.
🍽️ Perfect pairings: what to serve with
- A delicious and easy Cracker Barrel Sweet Potato recipe creamy rich and pleasantly perfumed with orange. A must try in holiday season.
- For more dishes, check out this post about what to serve with turkey.
👍 Let's make the perfect recipe: Amira's tips
- This recipe is for fresh turkey that is not pre-brined.
- Turkey needs to be thawed in the fridge before proceeding with the recipe. According to the USDA you will need roughly 6 hours per 1 pound. This means an 8lb turkey will take 2 days and a 12 lb turkey will take 3 days and so on.
- Another way to thaw a turkey, especially if you are tight on fridge space is called the cold water method. Make sure your turkey is placed in a bag with no cuts or holes, fill your sink with cold tap water and submerge your turkey in there changing the water every 30 minutes. For this method allow 30 minutes/ lb. This means that an 8lb turkey will take 4 hours and a 12lb turkey will take 6 hours to thaw. Note that a turkey thawed this way needs to be cooked right away.
- You can dry brine partially frozen turkey if you are in a hurry. Although I prefer thawed turkey but at least make sure the skin has defrosted.
- I've used kosher salt to dry brine my turkey. Kosher salt is coarser than table salt. If you are using regular table salt, then use half the amount.
- This is my favorite herbs and spices to use but you are welcome to use your favorite fresh herbs and spice combination. Thyme and sage work great as well. You might also want to add a little amount of brown sugar to the brine mixture for a little sweetness.
💬 Your questions answered: FAQs
To avoid overcooking, hence dry, your turkey some methods start cooking the bird breast side down. I use Alton Brown method that has never failed me. It is simpler and produces a nice golden skin all over. A triangular tin foil piece is drizzled with some olive oil, molded over the breast then taken off. Place the turkey on high (500F) until the breast skin is golden then cover the breast with the tin foil and return the bird to now 350F oven.
Well, my 10lb turkey took about 2.5 hours. But, there are a lot of variables here, like oven accuracy and the size of your turkey. It is better to use meat thermometer, a perfectly cooked turkey should register 165F when inserted between the breast and thigh.
Here you have it, a centerpiece that is definitely a show stopper, bursting with butter with super crispy and perfectly browned skin. The flesh is juicy and moist with a delicious onion stuffing.
Holiday Side Dishes
Try something different
- This stuffed whole duck recipe is one that has been in the family for generations. Just a handful of everyday ingredients makes a wonderful duck with tender juicy meat and crispy skin.
- Here's the best Slow Cooker Cornish hen recipe, the whole family will love. This is a special occasion dish, but makes for a good hearty meal that can be served on a weeknight as well.
- For an elegant centerpiece, try our succulent leg of lamb recipe. It's perfect for special occasions and will impress your guests with its rich flavor and tender meat.
Moist Turkey Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 10-12 lb Whole Turkey, natural not previously brined.
For the dry brine:
- 2 - 2 ½ Tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½-1 teaspoon dried rosemary
Butter mixture:
- ¾ - 1 cup unsalted butter 1 ½ to 2 sticks butter, room temperature.
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup freshly parsley chopped
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
For the cavity:
- 1 large onion coarsely chopped.
- 2 celery ribs diced
- ½-1 teaspoon black pepper
- salt to taste
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
Optona:
- Cut the giblets into small pieces and add to the cavity.
Instructions
- Pat dry the bird all over and inside and set aside.
- Mix the brine ingredients together, sprinkle the turkey with the brine and rub well inside and outside.
- Place the turkey on a tray breast side down and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate.
- After 24 hours, turn the turkey to the other side so the breast side is up. Leave it in the brine for another day, uncover in in the last 8 hours but keep it in the fridge.
- Take the turkey out before baking and leave it to warm up a bit for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Prepare the filling:
- In a bowl combine chopped onion, celery, pepper, salt and diced giblets if using, mix well.
Prepare the butter mixture:
- In a small bowl, mix softened butter, oil, parsley and pepper.
- Preheat oven to 500F adjusting the rack in the lower part of your oven.
- Place turkey on the roasting pan.
- Fold a square sheet of foil to form a triangle and rub with some oil from one side. Place that triangle over the turkey breast to shape it like the breast. Remove foil and set it aside keeping its shape.
- Carefully separate the skin from the turkey breast using your fingers from the front and back, paying close attention not to tear the skin.
- Stuff ¾ butter mixture under the skin then massage the skin from above to spread the butter evenly.
- Stuff cavity with the onion stuffing, tie turkey legs with kitchen twin. Tuck the wings too.
- Rub the remaining butter on the outside.
- Place turkey in oven and roast for 20-30 minutes.
- Remove turkey from oven, reduce heat to 350F.
- Cover the turkey with the foil mold that we've prepared earlier.
- Return to oven and let it cook for another 2 hours or until a meat thermometer placed in between the breast and the thigh reads 165F.
- Remove from oven and let it set for 20-30 minutes before carving.
Video
Notes
- This recipe for an all natural turkey which has not been brined or injected by any solution before. For store bought turkey like Butterball skip the brining.
- Turkey needs to be thawed in the fridge before proceeding with the recipe. According to the USDA you will need roughly 6 hours per 1 pound. This means an 8lb turkey will take 2 days and a 12 lb turkey will take 3 days and so on.
- Another way to thaw a turkey, especially if you are tight on fridge space is called the cold water method. Make sure your turkey is placed in a bag with no cuts or holes, fill your sink with cold tap water and submerge your turkey in there changing the water every 30 minutes. For this method allow 30 minutes/ lb. This means that an 8lb turkey will take 4 hours and a 12lb turkey will take 6 hours to thaw. Note that a turkey thawed this way needs to be cooked right away.
- You can dry brine partially frozen turkey if you are in a hurry. Although I prefer thawed turkey but at least make sure the skin has defrosted.
- I've used kosher salt to dry brine my turkey. Kosher salt is coarser than table salt. If you are using regular table salt then use half the amount.
- This is my favorite herbs and spices to use but you are welcome to use your favorite herbs and spice combination. Thyme and sage works great as well. You might also want to add a little amount of brown sugar to the brine mixture for a little sweetness.
- I like the onion stuffing a bit spicy so I put 1 teaspoon, go easy on black pepper if you do not like spicy food.
Nutrition
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First published Nov 9, 2018. Last updated Nov 16, 2020 with important tips, step by step instructions and readability.
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BJ
This is a keeper recipe. Delicious and it turned out tasty and moist. Truly one of the best birds I have ever made.
Amira
Thank you BJ for your feedback, glad you loved it.
Faten Mustafa
Amira, hello! I happen to hate celery, is this just to give it flavor? Is there something else I could use?
Thanks for all the great recipes.
Amira
Faten, just leave it out no problem at all.
Maggie
Hi Amira!
I love your recipes and I follow you from Yorkshire, England. My mom was a New Yorker and I really understand my American side. I am cooking a crown of turkey and not a whole bird as the restrictions here are making Christmas pretty solitary and Thanksgiving just isn’t happening in National Lockdown. Would you recommend brine for a crown and how would you do it? I am afraid it might be very dry, I haven’t cooked one before, we always have the whole bird but it just doesn’t make sense this horrible year! We are going to have to make up for it next year. Happy Thanksgiving! Maggie
Amira
Maggie, thank you so much for your sweet comment. I too always cook a whole turkey but after doing some research I have found out that yes you can dry brine the turkey crown and cook much as you do with a whole turkey.
Lili
Amira I was looking for an easier way this year than wet brining. We will be using this and thinking of you on Thanksgiving! Blessings.
Sam
The recipe isn’t clear ,Is the turkey roasted breast side down . Then flipped or breast side down the whole time , if so. Where and when do you use foil? Ty
Amira
Sam, bake the turkey breast side up, I did not flip it over as shown in the video and the step by step photos above. When the breast skin is nicely browned, take the turkey out and cover with the foil that was previously shaped then pop it back in the oven. I hope this clears any confusion you have.
Evelyne
That turkey looks amazing Amira! I love the idea of adding roasted pine nuts inside and brinning makes all the difference for sure.