Thanksgiving Turkey
October, 23rd 2022 By Recipes by Sugar
Recipe Credit: Cooking Classy
Thanksgiving Turkey! I have always been a ham person. I always thought turkey was on the drier side and did not have as much flavor as the ham would. A few years ago, I was tasked with cooking my first Thanksgiving for about 15 people. That is when I found this recipe and I have never tried anything else. I am amazed with the amount of flavor this turkey has. Although there are a lot of steps to cooking this, it is all very easy steps. Plus you will be prepping your turkey most likely before starting on anything else. I really have no changes to this recipe to add, it is just that great and I always get compliments on this.
Ingredients for Thanksgiving Turkey
- Turkey, thawed
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
- 8 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1/2 bunch Chopped fresh parsley
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Utensils Needed
- Roasting pan with rack
- Bowl
- Spatula
- Zester
- Scissors
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Tin foil
- Paper towels
- Twine, optional
Directions for Thanksgiving Turkey
Prep Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes / Cook Time: 15 minutes per a pound (most likely 2 – 4 hours)
- Cooking Classy
- Transfer oven rack, one notch below the middle in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lay the turkey out and pat dry with paper towels. If brined, wipe off any leftover herbs.
- While the turkey sits at room temperature, prepare the butter mixture.
- In a bowl, place the butter, lemon, thyme, rosemary and mix. Set aside.
- Cut up your onion, smash the garlic, and grab the parsley. Set aside.
- Pat turkey dry one more time and place in the roasting pan on top of the roasting rack.
- Salt and pepper inside cavity of turkey.
- Place turkey breast side up in the roasting pan with the roasting rack under it. Place the tip of the turkey wing, under the turkey leg, helps hold them in for a more even cooking.
- Next you will want to separate the skin from the turkey breast. Start on the open cavity side, opposite of the neck opening. The skin should separate easily from the turkey breast meat. Separate the skin all the way up the breast towards the neck. Do not go all the way through otherwise, the butter will just melt out.
- Place about 1/3 of the butter spread between the turkey breast and skin. Spread out as much as possible. I use my hands for this.
- Now add the remaining butter to outside of the skin of the turkey. Spread over wings and legs as well. May need to tuck wings under legs again.
- Next, stuff the turkey with the onion, garlic, and parsley.
- Optional, tie turkey legs together with twine. I always do as it helps hold everything in better.
- Place turkey in the oven and bake until thickest part of the thigh reaches 175 degrees, making sure probe is not touching any bone.
- If the turkey starts to brown on the outside too much, which it most likely will, you will want to just tent tin foil over it. About two hours in, is when I had to add mine
- Once turkey is cooked, you will want to let it rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour before carving.
Variations
- You can really stuff anything inside the turkey, I just keep it simple for the flavor.
- You can also add different herbs to the butter, but I love this recipe so much, I have no changes.
- I am not a fan of lemon but you really can’t taste it much with this recipe.
- I can never find fresh Rosemary at my grocery store, so I always use dried.
- I always plan to let my turkey rest the full hour. Gives me time to cook my sides and make my gravy before carving.
- I actually do not own a zester. My cheese grater has a zester on it so I use that.