Recipe by Chef Heidi Fink
Simple Roasted Turkey
- Prep time 15 mins
- Cook time 3 hours 30 mins
- Ready in 3 hours 45 mins
- Yield Serves 10 to 12
Leave a Review
A focus on flavour, technique, and temperature results in a juicy, perfectly cooked bird. Perfect for your next holiday celebration.
Ingredients
Directions
- For the most simple No-Turn version, see Variation below.
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Empty the cavity of the turkey, saving the neck for turkey gravy. Pat the turkey dry. Salt liberally all over, inside and out. Brush all over the top with melted clarified butter or oil. Season the top with salt again.
- Stuff the cavity of the turkey loosely with the onion, garlic, and herbs, making sure that there is still room for air circulation.
- TIP: do not truss the turkey – you want the legs and thighs to get as much heat on them as possible, instead of being crammed up against the breast.
- Cover the breast side of the turkey with greased foil. Place the turkey breast-side down on a rack inside a roasting pan.
- TIP: use a roasting pan with low sides; high-sided roasting pans restrict the heat to the bottom of the turkey. The lower sides become especially important after you turn the turkey and the thighs are on the bottom.
- Place in the oven and roast for 1-1/4 hours
- Remove turkey from oven. Turn heat down to 350 F.
- Using paper-towel-wrapped oven mitts, carefully turn the turkey to breast side up, keeping the foil on the breast, and place back in the oven.
- Roast for 2 hours, then remove the foil to finish cooking and to brown the skin.
- Final temperature for the breast should be 160 F to 165 F and final temperature for the thigh should be 195 F, if possible. Turkey is safe to eat at 160 F, but dark meat is better after its cooked to a higher temperature.
- Remove turkey to a platter, tent loosely with foil and let the turkey rest for 20 to 30 minutes to allow the juices to settle into the meat fibers before carving. Use this time to make gravy, reheat sides, etc.
- Serve with Mostly Make-Ahead Turkey Gravy, Turkey Stuffing Casserole, Maple Glazed Yams, Cardamom Cranberry Sauce, and Garlic Butter Brussels Sprouts.
Variations
- No-Turn Turkey: if turning a hot turkey midway through cooking is not to your liking, try this method instead:
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Prep the turkey as in steps 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 above.
- Place in the oven on bottom rack. After 10 minutes turn the oven down to 350. Bake for about 2 hours. If pan is smoking, add a bit of water to it.
- After 2 hours, remove foil from breast and cook an additional 30 minutes.
- Breast should temp at 160 F and thigh should be over 175 F if possible.
- Let rest as in recipe above, before carving.
