Upside-Down Turkey

Omg this was so tender I didn’t even use my carving knife. Only thing I added was put it in a open turkey bag placed inside the covered roasting pan, and sprinkled with seasoning salt. Besides that I didn’t change the instructions. It was the best turkey I ever made! I forgot to take a picture though was in a hurry to gobble this bird up!

Works well. I do not roast turkey to 180 degrees, however. This leads to a dry bird. Removing the bird at 165 suffices, as the turkey continues to cook after coming out of the oven. We turned off the oven and let it sit a bit. We also do not use the water. We salt the outside of the turkey, adding butter inside as the recipe directs. We also add spices outside. We turn the bird over the last hour and remove the foil, basting several times. It’s easy to do with oven mitts and a turkey lifter, especially with a proper roasting pan with rack, not a cheapie aluminum one.

TIP!!!!!! Use rubber gloves to turn the turkey right side up. (much easier and safer) I have a pair of gloves I use just for flipping the bird!

We put it in the oven and left the house. Came back three and a half hours later and it was done! No basting. Never took the lid off and it was golden brown. Super moist and super delicious. Everyone raved! I ALSO followed another cook’s advice and used apple juice in the bottom of the pan and rubbed on melted butter with pepper, rubbed sage, garlic powder and poultry seasoning. Turkey fell apart on transfer. If you care about appearances more than flavor do not use the recipe. But, that would be a mistake. 🙂

Tried it last year and I will never go back! Added more seasoning and used orange juice instead of water. It’s not pretty but so worth it!

Ok, so every year I make a different turkey recipe, and they’ve all been good, but not over-the-top good. And they’ve all been a lot of work. I wanted an easy recipe this year because I only had one day off for Thanksgiving and didn’t want to spend it in the kitchen. I made this turkey recipe for Thanksgiving this year, but added MEAT TENDERIZER and POULTRY SEASONING to the inside and outside of the turkey, and I added chicken bouillon to the water that I put in the bottom of my Nesco. I then baked it in my Nesco for 4-1/2 hours. (We had a 10-1/2 pound turkey). It was by far THE BEST turkey I have ever made. And the extra time I baked it caused the meat to literally fall right off the bones…no knife was needed! It will be my “go-to” recipe from here on out.

Good

This is the basis for how I cook my turkey every year. I usually place 2 sticks of butter in the crevice and rub the bird with oil and spices (poultry seasoning, garlic salt and powder, salt and pepper then a pinch of cumin). Place it in a Reynold’s Turkey bag, breast side down and away it goes.

Easy and came out so juicy! I did season the turkey, buttered the skin and left foil on it until the last hour! Delicious!

I saw this method on a cooking show and used it when I cooked my first turkey several years ago…The only difference’s were and is what I did…stuff the bird with two apples, onions and garlic cloves with the tops cut off and add butter and any other desired spices on them before putting them in the bird. And It’s true! this is the BEST way to cook a turkey so that the juices and/or spices cook into the meat. It may not look very “pretty” like the “normal” way but your taste-buds and guests will love you!

Make sure you baste the turkey or it will dry out! Ours turned out beautifully! And plenty of leftovers for pot pie the next day! Yay!

The biggest problem with this recipe, is you don’t have nearly enough leftover! I did a few things differently — like used a combo of white wine and chicken stock in place of water. (I didn’t find prepared turkey stock). I also added a bit of poultry seasoning to the butter and creamed them together. I put it over the bird (not separating the skin) and into the cavity. I used more butter than the recipe called for. I also cooked the turkey in a sealed aluminum tent. I didn’t turn over until about 3/4 of the way through the cooking time. The bird really turned out ugly. You really couldn’t take it to table and carve– but it was the most delicious turkey ever. All agreed! The next day, even the leftovers were incredibly moist. However we had no crispy skin. Next time,I think I’d turn it right side up sooner, and remove the foil sooner — but only for the skin lovers. You could make a turkey just like this — if you want a great tasting, moist turkey. Also, next time I’d make a bigger one (ours was just over 11 pounds) — it was so good, we hardly had any left overs.

I use the upside down method using recipes I pull from various articles. About 3/4 of the way through I turn the bird over to brown the skin. The bird is always moist and I love how much time you shave off cooking it this way. Turning the bird over can be messy but I am prepared! By the way…sometimes I brine the bird and sometimes I don’t and it still works.

I did it on 350 with no additional water other than what leaked out of the turkey after washing it. I rubbed it with olive oil first, then mixed all the spices with a stick of butter and threw a bay leaf inside. I also chopped up a small onion, 3 carrots, and minced one clove of garlic and threw those all over around the turkey just for flavoring. Cooked it upside down for 2.5 hrs and right side up for 1.5 hrs (after I turned the temp down to 300.) It was perfect. The best turkey ever! Spices I used: Onion powder garlic powder celery salt seasoning salt black pepper savory Italian seasoning bay leaf

Turning over a hot turkey isn’t the easiet job so be sure you don’t get much bigger. I did 1/4c olive oil/butter blend inside & only olive oil on the outside. Used 1c water, 1c apple juice in the pan. Also 2T Kosher salt, 1T freshly ground black pepper, 1T poultry seasoning, 1/2T sage. Yummy coating & it didn’t need covering.

I have roasted many turkeys over the years the usual way of breast side up, but after seeing the recipe for roasting breast side down I thought why not give it a try. Fantastic! The turkey was soooo moist and tender. I basted the bird every half hour. I flipped it breast side up for the last hour. I had to let it roast for about an extra half hour or so to get the breast skin brown. The only disappointment was that usually we have a house full of family, but this year it was just my husband and me and I had no one to show it off too.

The method works great, however this recipe itself doesn’t produce a flavorful enough bird for me personally. I miss the usual herb rub when using this recipe, so now I just go ahead and do an herb rub too. I flip it for the last half hour, spritz with PAM spray, and reapply a sprinkling of herbs so it gets pretty. The only problem I run into is that it’s quite hard to flip the bird at the end — some birds, it’s impossible for me due to how hot the grease is, just too dangerous for large turkeys. That’s not a fault with this recipe at all, just a caution to those of you who also plan to flip the bird to get a pretty bird – you will need help and you will need good strong utensils. Thanks for the recipe! (P.S. I had a 13.25 lb frozen turkey, which had been thawing in the fridge; the neck was still frozen and the inside of my turkey was icy when I removed the neck. It took slightly less than 3.5 hours to get completely done.)

The method of cooking upside down, does keep the turkey moist. I used 1 cup of apple cider instead of water, and that added a nice flavor to the turkey. As far as the cooking time, I had a 13.25lb fresh turkey and after 4 hours the turkey was still not cooked. I don’t know how long it would have taken, because I was out of time. I cut the turkey up and put it on the grill. Will try again, but leave more time for cooking.

I had to work untitl 430 one Thanksgiving, and I left my friends in charge of cooking the turkey that year, I came home to find four men standing around the turkey wondering what they had done wrong. I could tell right away that they had cooked it upside down. To everyones suprise it was the best turkey we had ever eaten!!! I now only cook the bird upside down and in a cooking bag. The bag really speeds up the cooking proccess. You can have 25 pounds cooked in a bout four hours. The turkey does not look as pretty sitting in the middle of the table so I usually carve it and put the slices on a big platter and just leave my guests guessing how I get it so moist.

YUM!!! Best turkey ever. I cooked mine in an oven bag and added pepper and garlic powder. My husband also got a little crazy with the flavor injector. It was SOO moist. Never again will I cook my turkey the other way.

Whats funny is I mistakenly put the bird in upside down. Best thing I ever did to a turkey. The meat was so moist I am a fan. I basically smear the much butter in and around the entire turkey. Be sure to separate the skin from the meat and place butter in there as well. Salt and pepper to taste. Place uncovered in oven, wait for 40 minutes then cover lightly with tin foil, then every 25 minutes soak up juices with a basters and spread over turkey generously.