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.
Check out the farro stuffing, cranberry sauce and sweet potato casserole for some side recipes.
Roast turkey is the centerpiece in Thanksgiving, Christmas and also Ramadan. It feeds a crowd and gives this luxurious look to your holiday dinner table.
Why This Recipe Works
It is so frustrating to cook a turkey and end up with dry, flavorless turkey breast. 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 a turkey is done by soaking it in a salty water with some herbs and spices. This method is called wet brining which yields a very tender meat but the problem was always in space.
Where can we find a space in the fridge big enough to hold a bucket filled with water and a turkey? When I lived in a small apartment with a small kitchen I used to leave it in the patio which scared me a lot.
Dry brining on the other hand 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 both under and on top of the skin.
Recipe Ingredients
Recipe Instructions
- Wash the turkey perfectly and take out any giblets wash them as well. In this post I explain how my mom taught me to wash the birds. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels.
- Prepare the salt rub by mixing all ingredients together.
- Sprinkle half salt mixture over the breast and rub all around. Turn turkey to the other side and rub 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 in 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 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 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 breast. bake until done.
Expert Tips
- 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.
Recipe 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
Perfect roasted and moist Turkey dry brine
Ingredients
- 1 10-12 lb Whole Turkey, natural not previously brined.
For the dry brine:
- 2 Tablespoons kosher salt.
- ½ teaspoon paprika.
- ½ teaspoon oregano.
- ½-1 teaspoon rosemary.
Butter mixture:
- 1 cup 2 sticks butter, room temperature.
- 2 Tablespoon olive oil divided.
- ½ cup freshly chopped parsley.
- ½ teaspoon black pepper.
For the cavity:
- 1 large onion coarsely chopped.
- 2 celery ribs diced.
- ½-1 teaspoon black pepper.
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- Optional: Cut the giblets into small pieces and add to the cavity.
Instructions
- Wash turkey thoroughly. Pat dry the bird all over and set aside.
- Mix the brine ingredients together, sprinkle the turkey with the brine and rub well.
- 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 come to room temperature for a couple of hours.
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 skin from the turkey breast using your fingers gently from 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 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 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
Sign up and learn more about Mediterranean flavors
First published Nov 9, 2018. Last updated Nov 16, 2020 with important tips, step by step instructions and readability.
TIME TO SHOW YOU OFF!
Would you like to save this post?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
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.