The simple secret to a truly juicy roast turkey is to season the turkey with a rub a couple of days before roasting. This is called dry brining and it makes the flesh beautifully moist, and you can even do it while the turkey is still FROZEN!
It cooks faster, has crispy golden buttery skin, and your turkey is going to be so amazing it’s going to be remembered for years to come!!!
🍁 2020 Thanksgiving timeline🍁
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Start Thaw Fridge Thaw turkey 24 hrs per 2 kg / 4 lb (or quick thaw in water)
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Tuesday 24th Nov: Rub turkey with seasoning, wrap and refrigerate upside down
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Wednesday 25th Nov: Turn so turkey is right side up
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Thursday 26th Nov: THANKSGIVING! Roast for lunch or dinner
What you need to know
10 years ago, dry brining was still relatively unknown but these days it’s a pretty broadly known fact that dry brining yields superior results to wet brining as well as being far more practical.
Because I want to arm you with everything you need to make the ultimate perfect roast turkey, this is a fairly long post, covering off on (hopefully!) all your questions. So starting off with a summary:
Summary:
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Brining is the path to moist turkey flesh
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Dry brining is far more practical and easier than wet brining
- Partially thawed turkey can be dry brined – handy!
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Brine time:
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1 (bare minimum)
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2 – 3 days (ideal)
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4 days (extra day adds nothing)
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Works with turkey breast (2 days)
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Start turkey roast upside down for extra juicy breast
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Roast turkey cook time 12 minutes per 500g / 1 lb (brined turkey cooks faster)
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75°C / 165°F using a meat thermometer inserted between leg and thigh
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30 minutes resting essential!
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Served with turkey gravy or Cranberry Sauce
Juicy Roast Turkey Guide!
This is a long post, to arm those who are new to roasting turkey with all the information they need. For the experienced, you can skip straight to the recipe or the section you are interested in!
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Internal temperature of cooked turkey (and how to do it)
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Jump to Recipe
Brining = JUICY Roast Turkey
I think we can all agree that there is nothing more devastating than labouring for hours over the Thanksgiving or Christmas table centrepiece only to find that it’s dry – especially the breast meat. Even drowning it in gravy can’t completely compensate.
And in this day and age, there’s pretty much full consensus amongst all the greatest food authorities of the world that brining is the path to Juicy Roast Turkey. It doesn’t matter how much butter you use, whether you roast upside down, spin it around, baste 50 times – if you don’t brine, your turkey won’t be as moist.
Full stop. End of story!!
Take a close look at the turkey slice below – look how juicy it is!!!
What is brining?
Brining is the method whereby meat (turkey, in this case) is soaked in a salty water mixed with aromatics like bay leaves, peppercorns and garlic for a couple of days. This has the effect of trapping moisture in the flesh while it roasts, yielding super juicy turkey.
The method of soaking turkey in a giant bucket of salty water is called wet brining. Dry brining has the same effect, but is done by rubbing the turkey with a seasoned salt then left to “marinate” for a couple of days before roasting.
Dry brining is easier, more effective and tastier than wet brining!
Why dry brining is best
Wet Brining is more well known than Dry Brining. While both methods will yield a juicy roast turkey, there are a number of very important advantages of dry brining:
1. No mopping – I guarantee if you’re manhandling a bucket large enough for a 6 kg / 12 lb turkey AND bringing solution, there will be mopping involved at some stage…. Not to mention the question of whether your fridge has space for said bucket!! (Note: If you’re determined to wet brine, use your vegetable crisper! Genius idea from TheKitchn.)
2. The turkey tastes like turkey. Not water. One of the grievances of wet brining is that while the turkey is moist, the moisture tastes bland – not like turkey. Which makes sense, right? The turkey sucks in the brine and unless it is heavily flavoured with broth, the turkey is sucking in largely flavourless liquid. Whereas with dry brining, the turkey releases its own juices then sucks its own juices back in. Turkey on turkey flavour!
3. The roasting juices aren’t too salty to use for gravy. Another problem many people have with wet brined turkey is that the roasting juices can be too salty to use for gravy. You can compensate by plonking in raw potatoes into the gravy to suck out the salt, but….it’s just one more thing you can avoid by using dry brining!
4. You can start brining while the turkey is still partially frozen. It takes 3 days – yes, 3 WHOLE days – to defrost a 10 pound / 5kg turkey in the fridge. Whereas with this recipe I’m sharing, I accelerate the partial defrosting of the turkey in cold water then it finishes defrosting WHILE it is brining.
5. It roasts faster. It takes 1 hour 45 minutes to roast a 5.5 kg / 10 lb turkey. Compared to 2 1/2 hours for un-brined turkey.
Before we roast, we brine. And before we brine, we must thaw!
Turkey THAWING
A frozen turkey is a formidable block of ice that takes days to thaw. So you must factor this into your turkey-feasting timeline!
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Thaw in fridge (long thaw) – allow 24 hours for every 1.5 – 2 kg / 3 – 4 lb of turkey (my 5.5 kg/11 lb turkey took 3 days)
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Fast thaw in water – 30 minutes per 500g / 1 lb. Turkey needs to be in a leak proof bag / wrapping. Submerge in large sink of water, keep it submerged. Change water every 30 minutes.
Partially frozen turkey can be brined!
DRY BRINE CAN BE APPLIED WITH PARTIALLY THAWED TURKEY. You just need the turkey skin to be thawed enough to rub the salt in. Then brining + thawing will occur at the same time.
Cook times for turkey in the oven
How long to cook turkey in the oven:
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5kg / 10 lb: 1 hr 45 min – 2 hrs
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6 kg / 12 lb: 2 hrs 15 min
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7kg / 14 lb: 2 hrs 30 min
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8 kg / 16 lb: 2 hrs 45min
These are the cook times for a dry brined turkey (loosely stuffed with herbs and garlic) which cooks faster than un-brined turkey. Add an extra 15 – 20 minutes if your turkey is stuffed.
This is the total roasting time, including initial 30 minutes at high temperature. It works out at around 12 minutes per 500g / 1 lb.
Internal temperature of cooked turkey
75C / 165F using a meat thermometer inserted between the leg and the breast (see photo below for point to insert). This is the USDA recommended internal cooked temperature of turkey.
How to take the internal temperature?
Take the temperature of the turkey straight out of the oven. Insert the thermometer between the leg and the breast. Insert straight down until you hit bone, then pull back a bit. Hold still until the temperature registers on your thermometer and stays at the internal temperatures specified above.
How to make juicy roast turkey
I promised you easy, and easy you shall have! Here’s a rundown on the recipe:
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Rub with a simple seasoned salt mixture – salt, thyme, paprika, garlic powder and pepper;
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Wrap like a mummy in cling wrap (holds in all those juices!) and refrigerate for 2 days;
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Stuff with herbs, garlic and pour in a good slosh of butter;
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Slather with butter then roast upside down for 30 minutes (get those juices pooling in the breast);
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Roast right side up for 45 minutes;
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Baste with Garlic Herb Butter then roast for a further 30 minutes. (I do this at this stage to avoid burnt garlic-herb bits on the turkey)
When the internal temperature is reached (see section above), the most important thing to do is to rest the turkey for 30 minutes. This gives the turkey a chance to relax the fibres (ie more tender meat) and even more importantly, the juices get sucked back into the flesh (equals even juicier meat!).
Styling the turkey platter
Even if the turkey is only on the platter for a fleeting moment before being whisked away to be carved, I still feel like it’s worth making a wee bit of an effort so the turkey can have it’s moment spotlight.
While many opt for herb garnishes, I have a thing about making everything on a platter edible. So I create a bed of green leafage – watercress in this case (cheap, right shape, nice to “fan out” around edges) – with pops of colour from orange wedges (also for those creatures who like fruit with meat) and cranberries (thawed frozen ones).
How to Carve Turkey
I had ambitions to include a video of how to carve turkey, but doing such a video by yourself proved to be somewhat of a challenge. Turkey juice squirting everywhere, greasy hands, the challenge of new cameras and most frustrating, the hot breath of a fur ball under the table panting with excitement at the mere experience of being so close to such a giant hunk of meat.
Said video was a total fail. Will attempt again next year. In the meantime – this video is a good tutorial. 🙂
To Stuff or Not to Stuff?
This turkey is not stuffed with stuffing, just with garlic, herbs and a good slosh of melted butter (which does all sorts of good things to the breast when roasted upside down).
I do not stuff turkey because in order for the stuffing to be safe to eat, it needs to reach 75C / 165F – the same internal temperature of the turkey. The stuffing cooks last, so that means in order for the stuffing to be cooked enough to be safe enough to eat, the turkey is overcooked.
No thanks! Besides, stuffing baked separately SO much more delicious – here’s my all time favourite Stuffing recipe!
Cranberry Sauce or Gravy?
Why choose? Serve BOTH! Cranberry Sauce keeps for ages – make it well in advance.
As for gravy…. it’s not an option around these parts. My view is that it’s criminal to to waste those pan juices and NOT make a gravy!
What to serve with Turkey
A classic centrepiece for holiday occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas, here are my favourite sides to serve with turkey!
Thanksgiving sides for Turkey
Christmas sides for Turkey
So here’s my recipe for the Juicy Roast Turkey made by dry brining. It is based on this recipe from the LA Times which has a cult following – with good reason! I’ve added extra tips and tricks to help make this a breeze for you.
I have a feeling this Thanksgiving is going to be your BEST EVER!!! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Here’s the recipe video for the Juicy Roast Turkey. See below for gravy!
And here’s the video for the turkey gravy:
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Juicy Roast Turkey
Ingredients
- 10 lb / 5kg whole turkey , thawed (plain not pre brined) (Note 1)
Dry Brine Rub:
- 2.5 tbsp salt (Note 2)
- 2 tsp dried thyme , or other herb of choice
- 1 tsp paprika , sweet or ordinary
- 1 tsp garlic powder (optional)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
For Roasting
- 150g / 10 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 1 tbsp (in total) sage, rosemary and thyme , finely chopped (Note 3)
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 heads of garlic , halved horizontally
- 1 onion , halved (brown, yellow, white)
- 2 small bunch mixed herbs , sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley (optional, Note 3)
- 1.5 cups / 375 ml dry white wine , or water (Note 4)
- Salt & pepper
Gravy (~ 4 cups/1L)
- 4 cups (1 litre) chicken broth / stock , low sodium
- 5 tbsp (60g) flour , plain / all purpose
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Dry Brining Preparation.
- Rub: Mix together the Rub.
- Prep Turkey: Pat the turkey dry with paper towels., inside and out. Remove giblets or anything else inside the turkey. (Note 5)
- Sprinkle: Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of salt inside and use you hand to spread it (roughly is fine). Turn the turkey upside down, then rub 1 teaspoon of the salt mixture on the underside.
- Turn the turkey upright and rub the remaining salt on the turkey, using most on the breast - even some under the skin if you can.
- Wrap turkey mummy-like in lots of cling wrap or place the turkey in a sealable plastic bag (Note 6).
Brining (Note 7):
- Place turkey upside down in baking pan. Refrigerate.
- 24 hours later: Flip turkey so it's right side up.
- 24 (to 48 hours) later: unwrap turkey. The skin should be moist but not wet. If wet, pat dry. Leave out for 30 min before roasting.
Prepare for roasting:
- Preheat oven to 220C/425F (standard) or 200C/390F (fan).
- Place the onions and garlic in a roasting pan. Place a roasting rack on top - if you have one (Note 8 for sub).
- Stuff bunch of herbs + 2 garlic halves + 3 tbsp butter (45g) inside the turkey. Tie drumsticks together with kitchen twine (optional).
- Place turkey UPSIDE DOWN on the rack. Twist the wings so they are on top - see video. Brush with a bit of melted butter. Sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and pepper.
- Pour wine in roasting pan.
Roasting:
- Roast for 30 minutes.
- Use a tea towel to turn the turkey over. Brush with butter, sprinkle with a tiny bit of salt and pepper.
- Turn oven down to 165C/325F (standard) or 150C/300F (fan). Roast turkey 45 minutes.
- Mix remaining butter with garlic and herbs. Brush turkey generously with butter.
- Roast turkey for a further 30 minutes or until a) the thermometer that comes with the turkey pops up (America) b) a thermometer inserted between the breast and leg reads 165F/75C. (Notes 9, 10). Cover loosely with foil if browning too much.
- Remove turkey onto serving plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 30 minutes before transferring to platter for presentation and carving (see in post for styling idea).
- Serve turkey with gravy and/or Cranberry Sauce.
Turkey Gravy
- Place roasting pan (with garlic, onion etc still in it) on the stove over medium high heat. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add broth and use a potato masher to mash the onion and garlic into the mixture. Use a wooden spoon to scrap the bottom of the pan. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until thickened.
- Strain into a bowl, pressing down to extract all the flavour out of the onion and garlic. Transfer to gravy boat.
Recipe Notes:
* Fast thaw in water – 30 minutes per 500g / 1 lb. Turkey needs to be in a leak proof bag / wrapping. Submerge in large sink of water, keep it submerged. Change water every 30 minutes. Rub can be applied to partially thawed turkey as long as skin is pliable enough to rub salt in. Add 1 tsp extra salt. Expect lots of juices from the thaw/brining process - ensure turkey is patted dry before roasting. As it brines, liquid may be red from blood from the inside of the turkey thawing - do not worry. Won't affect end result at all. Do not rinse, just pat dry with paper towels. DO NOT:
* Use this recipe for "self basting" or pre marinated turkeys, will be too salty. Check ingredients or nutrition - if there's salt or flavourings, the turkey has already been brined. Typically these include boxed and frozen turkeys at the supermarkets in Australia. **See HOW TO COOK PRE-BRINED TURKEY box below recipe.** 2. SALT - Use 1 tbsp salt for every 2 kg / 4 lb turkey. Use kosher / cooking salt. If using fine grain table salt, reduce by 1/4 tsp PER 1 tbsp of salt called for in the recipe. Do not use salt flakes (too hard to measure equivalent). 3. HERBS - I used an equal mix of sage, rosemary and thyme to make up 1 tbsp in total for basting partway through cooking. Can also use dried herbs of choice - use 2 tsp. Doesn't sound like much but we don't want to put herbs on the skin until partway though cooking otherwise it just burns. So by the time we baste with the herb butter, there's not much butter left. Just imparts a subtle fragrance more than anything, could even be skipped. Need one bunch to stuff inside the turkey, the other for the pan. 4. WINE - I use sauvignon blanc, pinot gris (I get discount wine for cooking). Any white wine is fine as long as it's not too sweet or woody / oaky. 5. Giblets are a parcel of turkey offcuts that are usually stuffed inside the turkey and are used to make the gravy. It usually comprises of: neck, heart and liver. Use the neck and heart for turkey gravy. 6. BAG - you can get resealable bags in America that are big enough for turkey. But I've found that cling wrap is the most effective - keeps the brine right up against the turkey skin. 7. BRINE TIME: 48 hours (2 days) is my base recipe, 3 days also great (a bit more seasoned). Even overnight is better than not brining at all! I even did 4 days last year and it not any different to 3 days, from what I could tell. 8. RACK SUB: Need to keep turkey skin elevated out of liquid in pan. Get a long strip of foil, scrunch to make a thick "rope". Loop to make a circle and secure. Place on top of onion, place turkey on top. Just need something to keep turkey a bit elevated off base of pan and the onion. If skin is in contact with onion when upside down, the skin will brown unevenly once you flip. 9. ROASTING TIME:
- 5kg / 10 lb: 1 hr 45 min – 2 hrs
- 6 kg / 12 lb: 2 hrs 15 min
- 7kg / 14 lb: 2 hrs 30 min
- 8 kg / 16 lb: 2 hrs 45min
How to cook pre-brined turkey
If you went to use this recipe only to realise you have a pre-brined turkey (see Note 1 in recipe), do not use this recipe as the brining will make your turkey too salty. Instead, make this recipe as follows:
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Add better flavour – Make the Herb Garlic Butter in this Roasted Turkey Breast but only use 1/4 of the salt. Scale the recipe to your turkey weight – click on servings and slide until the turkey weight changes to the weight of your turkey. (Yeah, it’ll be a lot of butter! You can scale down if you want 🙂 ). Watch the video to see how I loosen the skin, then slather about 2/3 of the butter under the skin.
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Flip turkey then rub just a bit of butter on the underside sprinkle with salt and pepper,. Roast per this recipe for 30 minutes on higher temp.
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Flip turkey right side up then slather skin with 1/2 of the remaining butter sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast per this recipe for 45 min, then slather with remaining butter. Roast to finish cooking per this recipe. ,Voila!
Life of Dozer
That turkey leg is the size of his head!
Like all Aussies, I lap up the Thanksgiving turkey recipes to use at Christmas. I must admit I have never bothered to brine turkey before, but I am liking your dry brine. Oh and the photo of the turkey being brined in the crisper, love it!
It’s insane, but honestly, the next time I wet brine a turkey, I’m doing it IN THE CRISPER!!
Looks incredible Nagi! I have never been in charge of meat for a Christmas meal before (we don’t have thanksgiving, but sometimes have turkey at xmas!), but will try this method for sure when it happens in the next few years. Such a fantastic idea, and it sounds WAY less stressful and time-consuming when trying to feed a crowd and cook a whole lot of other things at the same time! Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving xx
Thanks Claudia! I don’t official celebrate Thanksgiving because we don’t have it here in Australia BUT it didn’t stop me from putting on a Thanksgiving dinner!!! 🙂
Hi Nagi, we don’t celebrate thanksgiving here in the U.k either, but I was thinking about doing this for our Christmas Day roast dinner, but I was wondering, if the turkey doesn’t come with giblets, what would you suggest doing then??? Because I live with a household of gravy lovers, all their food ends up drowning in it, so I always have to make loads of it lol.!!!
Hi Bobbie! I’m a gravy lover too! 🙂 So here are a couple of options – you can chop off the flaps of meat / skin on either end of the turkey, usually mine come with excess bits (neck / tail) and removing them doesn’t affect the overall look of the turkey. 🙂 And use that in place of the giblets for the extra flavour. The other option is to get a chicken frame or remove the meat off chicken yourself – drumsticks, thigh, anything – and use the chicken bones to add extra flavour into the stock (again, just add them at the time the giblets are added in the recipe).
Hi Nagi,
Do you recommend rinsing the turkey before cooking it? Also its the cooking temps / times for a convection (i think this is a fan forced oven) or conventional oven?
Hi Joe! Definitely not 🙂 You don’t want to add moisture to the skin! And yes this is a fan forced oven, thank you for asking, I will update the recipe 🙂
I’m all about the dry brine – it’s my favorite thing to do with chicken, but I haven’t done it with turkey. Guess what I’m doing this year? 🙂
Love this whole menu, Nagi. You have a way of making awesomeness look easy.
Thank you so much Marissa!!! You know, I can’t believe I’m about to say this – I haven’t tried it with chicken! I just realised!! I always use a wet brine 🙂 Guess what I’m doing very soon?? 😉
Hi Nagi- Thanks for the dry brining instructions. I need to try this out! It’s fun to learn new techniques. In the US, most people buy anywhere from a 15 pd to 24 pd turkey, so we can’t fit in our crisper drawer. 🙁 It’s easy to find brining bags at the store which is what I use in a beer cooler packed with ice. Works really well when you don’t have fridge space. Tips to reduce the sodium: If people are concerned about the meat getting too salty from a wet brine, they can reduce the amount of salt since it’s not necessary as a preservative (typically it’s 3/4 cup of kosher salt per gallon of water), or they can brine for the lessor amount of time. Brining time does not have to be set in stone. Recommended brining time for turkeys should be 1 to 2 days for a wet brine. So it’s fine to brine for 12 hrs to 1 day to reduce the sodium too. Then before cooking they can do a quick rinse of the turkey before patting dry.
Gosh, that big??? It reminds me of a time a friend bought a giant turkey and was so proud, stuffing it, dressing it up….and it didn’t FIT IN THE OVEN! We had to hack it up to roast it – so sad!!! Thanks for your awesome tips Brenda!!
Oh my word! I have been looking for years for a recipe on how to not have a dry turkey. This is fantastic. Thanks for sharing! I can’t wait to give it a go! 🙂
Oooh! I hope you do try it – and love it!!!
This turkey looks fantastic! Luckily, I am not in charge of making our turkey…I’d gladly make the 8 sides I am in charge of than worry about the guest of honor. ha ha Happy Thanksgiving!
Ba ha ha!! I’m the other way! I’m not a fan of making sides – give me ONE big meaty project!! 🙂
Wow, Nagi – what an impressive Thanksgiving feast with such quick prep! That trick for the mashed potatoes is great – thank you for sharing 🙂
Pretty cool, isn’t it? I love restaurant secret tips!!!
Totally lacking in sleep and thought my other comment didn’t go through – just realized it was a totally different post haha, my bad!
Ba ha ha! I didn’t even realise!
This sounds and looks amazing. 🙂 Such a gorgeous and flavorsome turkey. 🙂
Thank you very much Krista! N x
You are amazing! And I love your sense of humor!! I am definitely going to try the dry brine. Happy thanksgiving from Oregon.
Hi Nancy! Thank you so much for your lovely message. Happy Thanksgiving to you! I have some friends in Oregon, I hear its an amazing place! N x
Wow….just….WOW!! That turkey looks amazing. Dry brining definitely seems much easier to do. What a great suggestion! I’ve used large coolers (you know, the kind you bring to the beach or on a picnic ) to brine huge turkeys in just so I could fit all of the liquid in with the turkey. I would add ice and have to keep checking on it every other second to make sure the water was still cool because of course I couldn’t fit the cooler in my fridge. It was just too much! I think the next year I suggested we just have lasagna or something for thanksgiving! Haha!
I know!!! The stress of wet brining!!! 🙂 HA, I bet next year I end up sharing a turkey lasagna for Thanksgiving – ba ha ha!!
What a thorough explanation and the turkey looks so gorgeous in the pictures! And I love the idea of brining the bird in the fridge drawer! I use gallon bag for smaller bird, the they always ended up squeezed. Will definitely try this out next time.
We haven’t nailed down the turkey recipe this year, and I’ll pass this one to my family. We will probably use dry brine and use duck fat to baste it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Oooh, duck fat…..makes everything better! Happy Thanksgiving to you too Maggie! N x
YES NAGI! YES!!! Preach girl!!! I have been trying to do a dry brine for FOREVER because wet bringing is such a pain in the ass!!! But when I saw the post that Serious Eats did and there was practically zero difference I was SOLD! All jokes aside tots doing this, this year! What a gorgeous and GENIUS post!!! Recipes like this are what make your site so damn good!
It works Mila, it really works! I like wet brining chicken because it’s much more practical but turkey is impossible! 🙂 Hope you do try it, very curious to hear what you think!
I’ve been dry brining for years too, Nagi, also wet brining using lots of flavors to keep turkey from being bland. My trick is planing turkey in oven bags, like you do, and then in a cooler with ice cubes or ice packs to keep it cool. Thanks for sharing the “research” that dry brining works as well. Less mess, for sure. I love using smoked paprika and brown sugar in my rubs, among other things. We’ve been having Thanksgivng at other family members’ house since 2011; I miss hosting! I’m on dessert and appetizer duty this year. Have a grant “friendsgiving” to share your yummy meal. And kudos for feeding the homeless man, too. Regards from Boston, where our kids are.
YES YES YES!! See, I knew there was a reason we are friends! I don’t know anyone else who dry brines – except you!! N x
This looks absolutely amazing – I am always a bit nervous to cook turkey but I will give it a try this Christmas!
Thanks,
Miriam x
http://www.londonkitchendiaries.com
I hope you do Miriam! This one really is the easiest turkey I know 🙂 Just get a meat thermometer! I promise it makes all the difference – takes the stress away! 🙂
This turkey looks glorious and I’m 100% convinced about dry brining. I’ve actually been planning on a dry-brined turkey for weeks! I’ve always done a cider-brined (wet) method but this year I’m game to try something new. I just wanted to chime in with a suggestion- if fridge space is an issue (which it always is for me!), storing the turkey on paper towels, in a roasting pan, over a bag of ice in the beer cooler is a great option! I do this every year, and in the past when I’ve done the wet brine, I just put turkey + brine in one of those jumbo zip-top bags. It frees up tons of space in the fridge! PS- gravy + cranberry sauce is more than ok! It’s necessary!
Gosh, that’s a really clever tip Allie! I bet some people could even fit a bucket in their beer cooler – I know I can! I’m so glad you explained your way of doing it because I’ve seen other recipes that recommend just putting the turkey in the cooler but I don’t recommend that personally and so glad you agree! I was always too scared to use ziplock bags for wet brine but it sounds like it worked for you so I think I’ll give that a go!!
Have you got your cider brined turkey on your site? I have never tried one before because I was worried about what the cider would do to the skin of the turkey. I know it’s ok on poultry for overnight marinading but I thought with more than 24 hours, it might do something funky to the skin. But I’d use your recipe in a heartbeat -> http://bakingamoment.com
Yes it’s worked really well for me in the past. As long as you don’t open the cooler too much it will stay good and cold in there for days. And the extra-large zip-top bags are thicker than the smaller ones, so it’s pretty secure. I do still try to point the business end up though!
I used to have the recipe on my site years ago, but since I rebranded and went desserts-only, I took it down. It’s basically this one: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cider-brined-and-glazed-turkey-233148, but I do a different gravy with it. The skin is always beautifully bronzed and quite crisp. I think the glaze probably does it!
Thanks so much Allie! I was always cautious of cider brined turkey since I read it makes the skin wrinkly and rubbery. I’m keen to try this! I think I’ll try it with Turkey breast – maybe even for this Christmas! 🙂 N x
Can this method be used with just the turkey breast or does it need to be a whole bird?
Hi Geni! Yes it works with turkey breast too. Follow the recipe notes to reduce the amount of salt rub based on the breast weight and rub the breast all over. You will only need 2 days of brining for a breast. 🙂 I will probably make a breast for Christmas using this method and I’ll share the photo!
Works with breast as well, and keeps it moist. Enjoy!
Now that is one handsome bird – Nagi – think I will give this one a go for Christmas – thanks:-)
Oooh…..so keen to hear what you think Rachel!!! 🙂
Hi Nagi, this sounds great! I’d read about dry brining and want to use your recipe this week for Thanksgiving.
There is a problem with missing text, though, at the beginning of your dry brining instruction #7 – as well as no mention of refrigerating the turkey, which I’m sure you want people to do! 🙂