Roasting a turkey can sometimes be intimidating, especially when cooking for a crowd. But I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way. I will forever be thankful to my Mother-in-law for teaching me her fool proof method of roasting a turkey to perfection each and every time. Gone are the days of expensive Butterball Turkeys, perfect thawing methods, basting, thermometer checking, exact timing and of your turkey taking up all the precious space in your oven all day long!
I purchase the cheapest turkeys I can, and getting them free from the local grocery stores holiday promotions is even better.
Thawing your turkey takes time…. and lots of it. The beauty of this method of roasting is that it doesn't require you to always have a fully thawed bird! Complete thawing is OPTIONAL!
The Morning Before I plan on serving the turkey I pull it from the freezer.
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Pictured is a 16 lb turkey, but have roasted a 26 lb turkey in this same pan, with this same method.
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By The Evening Before, it’s usually partially thawed, at least enough to clean it. Pull everything out you can, wash the turkey but if center is still too frozen to clean, run warm water over the inside to thaw, this usually only takes a couple extra minutes if needed, and continue cleaning.
Set aside, everything you just pulled out, we will use it later.
Once your bird is clean, set it in a large roasting pan and brush with butter.
Even though this bird is small enough for the lid to my roasting pan to fit over it, I will show you with foil as you would for a larger turkey. You want a good seal with the aluminum foil. I like to fold two sheets in the middle twice to create a seam. Then seal all your edges around the pan.
ROAST ALL NIGHT! Yep, you read that right, the key to the most delicious, moist, juice, falling off the bone turkey is to seal it and slow roast it all night.
Place your turkey in the cold oven and turn on to 400* F. If you have a smaller turkey 16 lbs or under, keep at this temperature for about two and a half hours. If over that 16 lb mark or still pretty frozen, roast for about three to three and a half hours at this temperature.
Once you start to smell your turkey a little, turn your temp all the way down to about 200* F
(Anywhere between 175* and 225*F will work). Leave on low all night.
In The Morning check on your turkey. You should find that, even though it has been covered all night, the skin is nicely browned. Doing a skin test, you should also find there if very little if any fat left under that skin. That's because it has self basted ALL NIGHT LONG!
Be very careful when pulling the turkey from the oven, it will be very full to drippings. And the bigger the turkey, the less room for drippings there will be.
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| Pictured are homemade eggnoodles with buttery parmesean, prepared by my daughter M2, and steamed broccoli with homemade cheese sauce, prepared by my son D. |
Because the main dish was so easy, it was like it prepared itself, I had two of my kiddos jump in and do some of their own cooking.
Now this method of cooking does not create the picture perfect turkey for carving at the dinner table. In fact, I can't even remove it from the pan, because it is so moist the meat just falls off the bones! Instead, I slice the turkey in the kitchen and serve to the table light and dark meat arranged on a platter.
It is the most delicious and moist turkey you will ever roast, and I can almost guarantee you compliments and guesses on how you cooked this years turkey.
