Perfectly Easy Thanksgiving Turkey

Avoid the Holiday Headache

This Perfectly Easy Thanksgiving Turkey recipe will have you second guessing every turkey roasting process you have ever been told. Trust me when I tell you that this will be the BEST Thanksgiving turkey you ever make.

This recipes creates a juicy bird with crispy crackling skin and the juiciest white and dark meat you have ever sank your teeth into.

Start Thinking About Your Turkey About A Week Before Thanksgiving

This is especially important if you are a first time turkey roaster. Turkeys need to thaw in the fridge and they need time.

Some very large birds can take several days to thaw. It takes 24 hours in the fridge per every five pounds of bird.

Therefore if you have a twenty pound turkey, plan on it taking 4 days to thaw properly.

Sorry if you weren’t expecting to do any math this Thanksgiving but I won’t judge you for using a calculator!

For my perfectly easy Thanksgiving turkey you also need to let it sit in the fridge overnight uncovered, so make sure you factor this in as well.

No Basting, No Problem

My method of turkey roasting has you putting the turkey in the oven at a very high heat for a short amount of time, then turning down the temperature without opening the door.

If you follow the tips I share in the full, printable recipe below you will have your turkey in as small of a pan as possible which creates more juices and no need for basting. Remember that every time you open the oven door, you add 20 to 30 minutes of cook time and this ends up making the turkey take longer and in turn, drying it out.

Use A Small Roasting Pan

You want your turkey to fit in the pan and not be spilling out the sides but you wan it to JUST fit the roaster. This is because the more surface area you have in the pan, the more it allows the juices and drippings to spread.

This liquid gold is spreading on a hot surface and risks evaporating all those juices that you will want to use for gravy later. That’s why you want to keep it tight and bright when picking a roaster.

Slice and Season Your Butter

Everyone struggles to massage the butter all over their bird and under the skin as well as season it. I season my butter slices and when the butter melts it spreads, spreading the seasoning all on its own.

Let the bird work for you!

Let Your Bird Breathe

Dry off, salt, and pepper the inside and outside of your turkey the night before, then let it sit uncovered in your fridge overnight. This lets the skin dry out a little bit, yielding a crispier skin.

If leaving it uncovered weirds you out, you can very loosely cover it.

Then Let Her Rest

A lot of people ask me how they cook this turkey and then make their sides. My method is that I prepare this turkey without opening the oven. Then you can see in the recipe card that the turkey needs to rest, so I bake off all my oven dishes while this bird takes a moment.

When I carve my turkey and if she’s not hot enough I add some hot turkey stock to a pan and add the sliced turkey, cover it and let it sit in the oven, AFTER I take my sides out and turn OFF the oven, while the oven cools down. This is also usually only do this for the dark meat. I never really feel like the white meat is very hot anyway which is what the hot gravy is for.

I also let my bird rest ON TOP of my stove which has my oven under it so it stays pretty warm in the hot kitchen anyway.

The full recipe is below. You can print it and save it for the holidays.

I really recommend making a Sunday turkey for football watching in October. This way you can make some turkey stock for the Thanksgiving holiday as well as practice this method ahead of time.

This will prove to you that it is THE perfect method so you can feel confident for the big day.

I have another great Thanksgiving recipe for you for The BEST stuffing to accompany the turkey. I also have a method for making turkey stock for the big day.