Best Thanksgiving Convection Turkey Recipes

WORLD'S SIMPLEST THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Pull the neck and giblets out of the cavity; ditch the liver and save the rest of the giblets for gravy. Dry the turkey with paper towels, then season inside and out with salt and pepper. Fill the turkey with aromatics like chopped onions, carrots, apples and herbs, then place breast-side up in a roasting pan and brush with melted butter. Tent with foil and roast for 2 hours (for a 10- to 12-pound turkey; add an extra 15 minutes per pound for larger birds). Remove the foil, baste with more melted butter and crank the oven to 425 degrees F. Roast for another hour or until the meat at the thigh registers 165 degrees F. Let rest while you make the gravy.

EASY, NO FUSS THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Steps:

• If the turkey is frozen: Thaw in the fridge, 24 hours for every 5 pounds of Turkey. I like to give myself 1 extra day, just to be safe.
• Remove the thawed turkey from the fridge 1 hour before roasting, to let it come to room temperature.
• Adjust your oven rack so the turkey will sit in the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Make the herb butter by combining room temperature butter, minced garlic, salt, pepper, one tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary, one tablespoon fresh chopped thyme, and half a tablespoon of fresh chopped sage. (You'll use the remaining fresh herbs for stuffing inside the cavity of the turkey)
• Remove turkey from packaging and remove the neck and giblets from the inside the cavities of the bird. (Reserve them for gravy, if you want, or discard them). Pat the turkey very dry with paper towels.
• Season the cavity of the turkey with salt and pepper. Stuff it with the quartered lemon, onion and apple and leftover herbs.
• Use your fingers to loosen and lift the skin above the breasts (on the top of the turkey) and smooth a few tablespoons of the herb butter underneath.
• Tuck the wings of the turkey underneath the turkey and set the turkey on a roasting rack inside a roasting pan*.
• Microwave the remaining herb butter mixture for 30 seconds (it doesn't need to be completely melted--just really softened). Use a basting brush to brush the remaining herb butter all over the outside of the turkey, legs and wings.
• Roast at 325 degrees F for about 13-15 minutes per pound, or until internal temperature (inserted on middle of thigh and breast) reaches about 165 degrees.
• (I remove the turkey from the oven once it reaches 160 degrees. Then, I tent it with foil, and let it rest on the counter. It will continue cooking under the foil, to reach 165 degrees F.)
• ***Check the turkey about halfway through cooking, and once the skin gets golden brown, cover the top of the turkey with tinfoil, to protect the breast meat from overcooking. Alternately, you could start cooking the turkey with it tented in foil, then during the last hour or so of cooking you can take the foil off to let the turkey brown.
• Allow turkey to rest for 20-30 minutes before carving. https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/how-to-carve-a-turkey/
• Reserve any drippings and juice remaining in your roasting pan to make turkey gravy.

JUICY THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a turkey roaster with long sheets of aluminum foil that will be long enough to wrap over the turkey.
• Stir together the parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, lemon pepper, and salt in a small bowl. Rub the herb mixture into the cavity of the turkey, then stuff with the celery, orange, onion, and carrot. Truss if desired, and place the turkey into the roasting pan. Pour the chicken broth and champagne over the turkey, making sure to get some champagne in the cavity. Bring the aluminum foil over the top of the turkey, and seal. Try to keep the foil from touching the skin of the turkey breast or legs.
• Bake the turkey in the preheated oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear. Uncover the turkey, and continue baking until the skin turns golden brown, 30 minutes to 1 hour longer. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 180 degrees F (82 degrees C). Remove the turkey from the oven, cover with a doubled sheet of aluminum foil, and allow to rest in a warm area 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.

THE SIMPLEST ROAST TURKEY

Steps:

• Remove any feathers and quills with pliers (kosher turkeys tend to require this more than others).
• Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.
• Rinse turkey inside and out and pat dry. Mix salt and pepper in a small bowl and sprinkle it evenly in turkey cavities and all over skin. Fold neck skin under body and, if desired, secure with metal skewer, then tuck wing tips under breast and tie drumsticks together with kitchen string.
• Put turkey on rack in a large flameproof roasting pan. Roast, rotating pan 180 degrees halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted into fleshy part of each thigh (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, 1 3/4 to 2 1/2 hours.
• Carefully tilt turkey so juices from inside large cavity run into roasting pan. Transfer turkey to a platter (do not clean roasting pan) and let stand 30 minutes (temperature of thigh meat will rise to 180°F). Cut off and discard string from turkey.
• For a stuffed turkey:
• Twelve cups of stuffing will fill both cavities and leave you extra to bake separately. Just before roasting, spoon room-temperature stuffing loosely (stuffing expands as it cooks) into the neck (smaller) cavity. Fold the neck skin underneath the body and secure with a small metal skewer. Then loosely fill the body (larger) cavity, and tie drumsticks together. If you don't want any stuffing to spill out, cover the opening with a slice of fresh bread, tucking it inside the cavity before tying the drumsticks. Follow roasting directions above. (Timing for a stuffed bird may be slightly longer, but start checking the temperature at 1 3/4 hours.) Immediately transfer stuffing from body cavity to a shallow baking dish (separate from one for stuffing baked outside the turkey). Take temperature of stuffing in neck cavity and if less than 165°F, add it to the baking dish. Bake (covered for a moist stuffing or uncovered for a crisp top) until it reaches a minimum of 165°F. This can take 20 to 45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the oven, which you may have lowered to reheat side dishes.
• For a roast turkey breast:
• The same method used above can be applied to a whole turkey breast (instead of the entire bird). For a 6- to 8-pound breast (with skin and bone), reduce amount of salt to 1 1/2 teaspoons and pepper to 3/4 teaspoon. Use a V-rack instead of a flat rack. Roast, rotating pan 180 degrees halfway through roasting, until thermometer inserted in thickest part of each breast half (close to but not touching bone) registers 170°F, about 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 1/2 hours. Let stand 30 minutes (temperature in breast will rise to between 175°F and 180°F). (For a grilled turkey option, see Grilled Whole Turkey.)