With this recipe, you can learn how to prepare a brined turkey that is packed with juicy, tender, and moist meat. The holiday turkey is the dish with the highest stakes. Brining preserves a turkey’s natural juices so that they won’t evaporate when roasting, making it the ideal centerpiece for a delectable meal.
| Prep Time: | 45 mins |
| Cook Time: | 2 hrs 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 8 hrs 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 11 hrs 10 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
Ingredients
- 2 gallons cool water
- 1 cup Morton® Coarse Kosher Salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 (12 pound) fresh, whole, bone-in skin-on turkey, rinsed and patted dry
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup dry white wine
Instructions
- Stir cool water, salt, and sugar together in a large, clean stockpot until salt and sugar are completely dissolved. Submerge turkey in brine; cover and refrigerate for 8 to 14 hours.
- Remove turkey from brine; rinse inside and out under cool running water for several minutes to remove all traces of salt. Pat dry with paper towels. Discard brine.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place turkey on a rack in a roasting pan.
- Mix softened butter and pepper together in a small bowl; rub mixture under turkey skin. Brush melted butter onto turkey skin and pour wine into the pan.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Baste turkey and rotate the pan. Continue roasting until skin turns golden brown, about 25 minutes; baste again and rotate the pan.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and continue roasting, basting, and rotating the pan once more about halfway through the cooking time, until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).
- Remove from the oven and let stand for 20 minutes before carving.
- Do not brine your turkey if it includes basting liquids that contain salt. If your turkey came with a pop-up timer, leave it in place but ignore it. If removed, the timer will leave a gaping hole for juices to escape.
- You can use chicken broth or water instead of white wine.
- To brine your turkey in less time, use 2 cups kosher salt and 2 cups sugar. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 5 hours.
- Always brine foods in a food-grade, nonreactive container such as a stainless steel or enameled stockpot, a brining bag, or a food-grade plastic bucket.
- Nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of brine ingredients. The actual amount of brine consumed will vary.
Reviews
My family and friends said this was absolutely delicious. I made it for them but I didn’t eat it and I won’t make it again. We had a vegan Thanksgiving this year and everyone loved that just as much, perhaps more. But if you simply must eat a real bird, this recipe apparently brings good results, flavor wise
I would have liked to give this a 5 but this wasn’t quite to my taste. I followed the recipe exactly but found the meat to salty. The tenderness and moist meat was perfect but to much salt. I didn’t use any additional salt for the stuffing and gravy and they were perfect for flavour. Next time maybe not Brine it for the full 24 hours or reduce the amount of salt used in the brine. just a little tweaking.
Awesome recipe. First time brining my turkey and it turned out better than expected. Everyone usually fights for the dark meat. This year people went for the white meat because they’re so juicy. Delicious! We made a 24lb turkey and brined it for close to 2 days because the dinner got moved back. Wonderful results and thank you the the recipe!
First time I have ever brined a turkey and it turned out wonderful!
Spectacular! Perfect for the Holiday, the only amendment was adding a couple of bay leaves, sprig of rosemary, thyme, and 8 whole cloves following the brine time I added all the herbs to the standard stuffing along with a whole garlic sliced at the head.
I started hosted thanksgiving when I moved into my house 5 years ago for about 23 ppl. I always get a 23lb turkey, double this recipe, and it turns out juicy and delicious! This photo is from 2014 on my 1st try and I haven’t wanted to change it up ever since! Very simple.
So simple and yummy. Best chicken we have had. My family of 6 all loved it. (Kids age 1, 5, 9, and 10)
I usually use the “Out of this world turkey brine” or the plain “Turkey brine” recipe from this site, but decided to change things up a bit. Wow! Wow! WOW! I made a 22 lb turkey and tripled the recipe (probably was a bit too much). I have to admit I was very leery of using the sugar, but it had great reviews so I decided to go for it. The gravy was so good (and I’m not a real big fan of gravy). I admitted to my husband toward the end of dinner that I had changed the brine recipe and his response was “Well, looks like you found a keeper”. Definitely easy and definitely worth trying!
This turkey was exceptional! I followed the directions to a “T”. Thank you chef, it was a great thanksgiving!
Best turkey I ever cooked!! So tasty and moist. We usually have lots of white meat left over, but not this time.
5th turkey ive made and the BEST…by far.
My turkey turned out beautifully! This was only my second turkey and it turned out juicy, golden brown and absolutely perfect. I did brine it a lot longer, probably about 24-hour as compared to the 14-recommended. This may be the reason I didn’t really get a lot of juice for my gravy.
I’ve been making turkey for 30 years and this has got to be the best recipe yet. I usually don’t brine but decided the morning of Thanksgiving to give it a try and used the quick method (doubling the salt and sugar and letting it sit in the refrigerator for 4 hours) and it resulted in the most moist and flavorful turkey I’ve ever made. The other difference was that I used a fresh rather than a frozen turkey and it came out so tender and juicy, even the breast meat which typically comes out on the dry side. Even my mother (a very picky eater) enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!
This was my first turkey ever made solo and my mom loved it! I was worried since my turkey was a bit larger, so I just watched the thermometer and it turned out great. The brine is what makes this- you could anything to the butter when coating the bird, but the brine leaves the meat super juicy. Thanks for the recipe!!
I buy my turkey already brined, but otherwise follow these directions. I think it turns out much better this way than the traditional 325 from the beginning.
My first time making a turkey for thanksgiving so I had to try something simple but delicious. I did my trial and it came out great! I’m excited for my second turkey on thanksgiving using this recipe!
I’ve used the overnight method before with great results and was thrilled to see the quick brine method – I tried it and was happy with the results.