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Juicy, Oven Roasted Holiday Turkey

This is a turkey you will be proud to put on the table this Christmas/Thanksgiving! Follow this recipe to achieve both juicy, perfectly cooked turkey meat and surrounded by savory, crispy skin on the outside. Easy enough for a first timer to follow!

Equipment

  • Kitchen twine
  • Roasting pan
  • Oven safe thermometer

Ingredients

  • 1 Turkey I used a 15 lb bird!
  • 4 stalks celery rough chopped
  • 5 carrots rough chopped
  • 2 medium onions rough chopped
  • ½ butter room temperature / roughly mixed
  • 1 tbsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp salt

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 325 F.
  • In the bottom of the roasting pan, place a few handfuls of roughly chopped celery, onion, and carrot and pour in 2-4 cups of water (should be roughly ½ inch of water). Lay the roasting rack back on top.
  • Remove your thawed turkey from its packaging. Run under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.
  • Remove the bag of giblets and the turkey neck from the cavity of the turkey. If there is a plastic clip holding the legs together, remove this as well – otherwise it will melt in the oven.
  • Liberally season the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper. Insert a few handfuls of your celery, carrot, onion mixture into the cavity as well.
  • Starting at the neck side of the turkey, use a rubber spatula to loosen the skin from the breast and legs. Make sure that the spatula does not have sharp edge or you’ll rip the skin! For any areas that are harder to reach, use your hands.
  • Now that the skin is loose, spread ¼ cup of butter under the skin on the breasts and legs. After you’ve buttered under the skin, spread the remaining ¼ cup of butter on top of the skin and then season liberally with salt and pepper.
  • Tie the two legs together with kitchen twine (to keep the vegetables inside), and tuck the wing tips underneath to keep them from burning (see my video!).
  • To place the thermometer, you are basically going to insert the thermometer in the seam between the breast and the leg. Make sure it doesn’t hit a bone! (otherwise the reading will be off)
  • Before putting your turkey in the oven put a layer of aluminum foil loosely over the breasts. Remove half way through cooking.
  • Cook turkey 15 minutes per pound, or until the thermometer reads 165-170° F. This means the turkey is fully cooked. DON’T COOK TO 180-185°F (these are old cooking temperatures) – If you do your turkey will be very dry.

Video

Notes

NOTE: if any of these tips seem difficult to visualize, check out my video!