Good Eats Roast Turkey

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Show: Good EatsEpisode: Romancing the Bird (A Good Eats Thanksgiving)

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (2340)

Cook Time:
2 hr 30 min
Level:
Easy
Yield:
10 to 12 servings

Times:

Prep: 15 min
Inactive Prep: 7 hr 0 min
Cook: 2 hr 30 min
Total:: 9 hr 45 min

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Ingredients

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water

For the aromatics:

1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Canola oil

Directions

Click here to see how it's done.

2 to 3 days before roasting:

Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.

Combine the vegetable stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Place the bird on roasting rack inside a half sheet pan and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and 1 cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Add steeped aromatics to the turkey's cavity along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck the wings underneath the bird and coat the skin liberally with canola oil.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Good Eats Roast Turkey
Nicole Bothell, WA 11-20-2009
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@Chris, larger bird... (and gravy issue!)
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

This will be my third year and my 5th (and 6th!) turkey done with this method... it is so popular among my friends and family... I have started to make two turkeys two days apart so we can continue to enjoy the leftovers... (I re-use the brine!) Anyway, a digital thermometer with an alarm is worth the investment of $30. Once you're up past the 15 lb mark, the 10-minutes per lb ratio doesn't really hold... as the bird cooks, the bird itself speeds the process up. This also is altered if you use a convection oven. For a standard oven, I usually find that my 22-25lb birds are done within around 3 hours depending on how truly thawed the bird starts out and how open the cavity is (bigger bird, bigger cavity, if you keep the aromatics ratios the same, it compensates there too). Once you pull it from the oven, it should rest for at least 20 minutes anyway, and can sit for up to an hour covered in foil and towels to stay warm and redistribute the juices before carving. Also... I totally agree with the other posters about the gravy issue... I've taken to cheating with stock and the neck and giblets on the stovetop, adding a small amount to beef stock to round out the flavor with sage and rosemary and garlic etc. then making gravy out of that. Happy Eats!Read more
recipe Good Eats Roast Turkey
Patty N Tonawanda, NY 11-20-2009
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Comment to Patricia and to James re: Gravy
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Patriicia: Don't worry, we did NOT use the brine to make the gravy. (YUCK!) we wouldn't even think of it. We found the... DRIPPINGS too salty when we made the gravy. James thanks for the suggestion. We just got an order from the Spice House. Probably too late to order for this thanksgiving. We will see if we can find any locally. Happy Turkey Day everyone!Read more
recipe Good Eats Roast Turkey
Kelli Hesperia, CA 11-20-2009
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AMAZING!!!!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I made this turkey for the first time last year and I will be doing it again this year. All of my guests thoroughly enjoyed... it! Not only is the turkey wonderful but the aromatics add such wonderful flavor that it makes for a SUPERB gravy as well. Highly recommend this recipe!!Read more
recipe Good Eats Roast Turkey
Chris Chicago, IL 11-20-2009
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I really want to try this one but.......
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I bought a 23 lb Butterball frozen bird. Will it take to the brine as well as a fresh or organic turkey? Iam concerned... because I know they are injected prior to packaging. Did anyone figure out the time for larger birds? Is about 10 min per lb correct at 350???? Appreciate any help you might have to offer.Read more
recipe Good Eats Roast Turkey
Andrea Peoria, IL 11-20-2009
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Stuffing question
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Hey!! I just wanted to let you know that if you go to the "videos" tab on this page, or on you tube search this recipe and... you can watch Alton's show, if you have not seen the actual show (it was a while ago this aired). Alton suggests that you do not use stuffing in a turkey at all. The stuffing is actually a bad idea to cook with it from the bacteria that can seep into it and survive. In order to cook the stuffing to the temp to kill off bacteria you will over cook your bird, and you will dry out the inside of it anyhow. I made two of these turkeys last year and the breast meat was so juicy I got many complements and I am ready to do it again this year! I can't wait for it to turn out once again. If you don't want to use these aromatics, use your own version (like carrots, onions, celery) Good luck! Happy Thanksgiving!! Thank you Alton for this recipe as well!! Read more
recipe Good Eats Roast Turkey
LeAnn Puyallup, WA 11-20-2009
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Best Turkey Ever!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I made Thanksgiving dinner for the first time last year and decided to use this recipe. Noone in my family who makes... Thanksgiving usually brines their turkey, so when I said I was going to, most people were a little skeptical. This bird was the juiciest thing I have ever had in my life. The instructions were easy and it came out fabulous. This recipe will be a staple in my household! The aromatics inside the cavity made it great. My mom usually stuffs the bird, but I made separate stuffing and it was delicious. For those of you asking about stuffing the bird--I read an article with Alton Brown last year where he says that stuffing the turkey is one of the fastest ways to get bacteria growing, because most times the stuffing doesn't cook all the way through without overcooking the turkey. I told my mom that and last year she didn't stuff her turkey either!Read more