That was the holiday I called my sister-in-law in a panic! Thanksgiving had always been such a wonderful holiday. We would travel South to see family, leaving the daily worries behind and go on, what felt like, a mini vacation. I loved it! But suddenly, it was MY turn to host and cook the Thanksgiving turkey. Well, it wasn’t actually suddenly. I was an adult with grown kids. But it felt too soon! But thanks to all my sister-in-laws secret turkey tips, I was able to put a moist perfectly browned turkey on the holiday table that year. So if you are in frenzy about your turkey, never fear. Here is the best tasting JUICY Thanksgiving turkey recipe that is sure to please your family and guests!
Jump to RecipeHow to Cook a Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey
Most Thanksgiving homemade turkey recipes include several steps. Some can be super elaborate to expensive! But this recipe has just the right amount of prepping to make your turkey moist and tasty without exhausting yourself or your budget.
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- Add Flavorful Spices to Turkey. My juicy Thanksgiving turkey recipe seasons your turkey overnight. The seasoning mixture is way more simple than a brine . I found brines to be a lot of work and sometimes extra expense. You simply mix your herbs and spices and rub over your turkey and let stand overnight!
- Butter. Do I really need to say more? Melted butter rubbed on and under the turkey skin will add the next level of juiciness to your Thanksgiving meal.
- Cook Your Turkey Upside Down. For part of your turkey cooking time, you will cook your bird upside down so the juices are flowing down into the white breast meat! Cooking upside down for half of the cooking time will help your turkey be super moist and juicy.
- Pick a turkey that is plenty big enough. You’ll want 1 1/2 lbs of meat per person. Once you put in all the work cooking a turkey, it will be nice to have meat leftovers for sandwiches, turkey pot pie and turkey soup!
- Make your own turkey gravy. Some turkeys come with a turkey gravy packet. I don’t use those, as the flavor is not the best. If you want to make your own gravy, simply use the turkey juices, a little butter, salt and flour. This Wondra gravy flour really makes is super simple!
Best Tasting Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey
Start by making sure your frozen turkey is completely thawed. This recipe is for a whole turkey that is around 20 lbs. That is enough to feed 12 people with some leftovers.
Next prepare your turkey by removing any plastic that may have been used to keep turkey intact. Also clean out the cavity of any ice build up, gizzards or turkey broth packets that were included.
Mix your seasonings and rub all over your turkey. Then wrap your turkey completely in plastic wrap. I typically need a plastic wrapping buddy to get my turkey completely wrapped! Place your wrapped bird in a roasting pan, as you don’t want juices leaking everywhere, and place in fridge.
Make sure to calculate how much time you will need to cook your turkey and allow it to rest. Then give yourself some wiggle room. A 20 lb turkey needs 5 hours or so to cook and then 1/2 hour to rest. Plus, you need to allow time for the oven to warm up.
On your Thanksgiving day, pull your turkey out of the fridge and turn on the oven to start warming up. Turn turkey upside down with the breast down! If you would like, you may add some quartered green apple, celery, and chunked onions to the turkey cavity.
Place turkey in oven on a high heat of 450 degrees. Cook turkey like this for over 30 minutes. Then turn heat down to 350 degrees for another 1 1/2 -2 hours, without opening the oven.
Then it is time to flip your turkey. Pull turkey out of the oven, and turn your turkey so the breast side is up. I typically need the help of my husband or another adult to flip over the turkey without burning myself or spilling the juices.
Put your turkey back into the 350 degree oven and cook another 2 1/2 hours or until the turkey reaches 165 degrees.
During this time, keep an eye that your turkey is not overly browning. It the outside is getting too brown, open oven and lightly put foil around the turkey.
Once your turkey reaches 165 degrees, when you insert a thermometer in breast, pull out turkey to rest on counter. Allow turkey to rest for 30 minutes, before carving!
How to Fool Proof Your Thanksgiving Turkey
There are a couple things that will ruin your turkey dinner. But once you know what they are, you can easily avoid these turkey recipe mistakes.
- Don’t Open Oven. Keep your oven door closed as much as possible. I read this in several places. The more you open the oven door the more likely your turkey is to dry out. For this turkey recipe, you really only need to open the oven door a few times. Once to flip your turkey over and once to check if your turkey is browning too much and needs to be covered with some foil. Otherwise, resist the temptation to keep checking on your turkey.
- Make Sure Turkey Is Completely Thawed. Give your turkey plenty of time to thaw. Turkeys need 1 day per 4-5 lbs. So a 20lb turkey will need at least 4 days to thaw. And you will want to thaw your turkey in the refrigerator. And yes, that can be a bit of a pain trying to get a big turkey in the fridge. But just think, afterward, your refrigerator will be cleaned out and ready for all those holiday dishes.
- Allow Plenty of Time for Turkey to Cook. The turkey will remain nice and hot tented under its foil. So when you are calculating your cooking time, be sure to calculate time for the oven to warm, to flip the bird, for the turkey to rest after cooking and carving time! For the turkey to be ready by 1 pm, I pull my turkey out of fridge around 6:30am. Then I also turn on my oven at 6:30am. Unwrap and put turkey in oven around 7:00am.
- Pull Your Turkey Out of Fridge 1/2 Hour Before Cooking. One thing I have learned is that meat does better if is not completely cold before going into the oven or on the grill. You don’t want to have meat sitting out on the counter all day. But pulling your turkey out of the fridge a 1/2 hour before it goes in the oven just allows your turkey to start cooking faster once it’s in the oven.
- Allow Time For Turkey To Rest. After taking your turkey out of the oven, make sure to allow time for you turkey to rest under the tented foil. The rest time, before carving your turkey, will give time for the turkey to soak up the flavorful meat juice. Rest time is one more tool in your turkey arsenal to keep your meat super moist. Your guests may be eager to start carving, but there are plenty of appetizers to keep the hungry family crowd at bay!
- Don’t Burn Outside of Turkey. While you want a nice crisp brown outside, you don’t want a turkey that looks sacrificed. Make sure to cover turkey, in the oven, with foil, when it starts to look brown. The turkey will still continue to brown some but won’t get burned. Your foil just needs to be lightly covering your turkey.
Cooking the Thanksgiving turkey is a little unnerving. But this turkey recipe has turned out well, every single time! So make time to sit down for a few minutes during the meal and enjoy your delicious turkey! Hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Best Tasting Juicy Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Roasting Pan
- plastic wrap enough to cover turkey several times
- meat thermometer
Ingredients
- 8 tsp salt
- 4 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 20lb fresh turkey completely unthawed
- 1 carrot chopped
- 1 celery stalk chopped
- 1 onion chunked
- 1 green apple quartered
- 1/2 stick butter melted
Instructions
- Completely thaw turkey in refrigerator. Will take about 4-5 days
- Remove any plastic and empty the cavity. Discard giblet unless you are using later.
- Rinse turkey, including the cavity. Pat dry.
- In a small bowl, mix together the salt, paprika, onion powder, dried thyme, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and garlic powder.
- Rub mix spices all over turkey. You can even rub under skin.
- Wrap spiced turkey in plastic wrap til it is completely sealed. Store wrapped turkey in roasting pan in refrigerator overnight.
- Next day, pull turkey out of refrigerator 1/2 hour before going into oven.
- Heat oven to 450 degrees.
- While oven is warming, remove plastic wrap from turkey. Take melted butter and rub all over turkey and under turkey skin.
- Place turkey, BREAST SIDE DOWN, in roasting pan. It will look upside down compared to what you are used to.
- Add chopped apple, celery, carrots, and onion to cavity.
- Add 1/2 – 1 cup of water, around turkey, just enough to barely cover bottom of pan. Turkey will release a lot of juice as it cooks!
- Put turkey in oven with breast side down, in oven at 450 degrees for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, turn oven temperature down to 350 degrees and cook another 1 1/2 (if your turkey is bigger, you may cook for 2 hours).
- After cooking turkey with breast side down for 2 – 2 1/2 hours, flip the turkey so breast is up. Cook another 2 1/2 hours.
- Check on turkey and If it is browning too much then cover lightly with foil.
- Cook turkey til it reaches 165 degrees.
- Pull turkey from oven. Let rest, tented with foil, for 30 minutes.
- All total, turkey will be in oven for about 4 1/2 – 5 hours.
