A brined turkey is my favorite. Any fowl that will be cooked for a period of time longer than two hours should be brined or packed in saline solution. You won’t ever again eat a dry turkey. Your bird will become juicy and soft thanks to osmosis. For turkeys weighing between 12 and 22 pounds, use this recipe. As desired, roast.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 12 hrs |
| Total Time: | 12 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 16 |
| Yield: | 1 turkey |
Ingredients
- 2 quarts water
- 2 cups kosher salt
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 gallons cold water
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, or more to taste
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon crushed garlic
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 (16 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
Instructions
- Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large pot; stir kosher salt and white sugar into the water to dissolve completely. Remove from heat and let cool somewhat before transferring to a large food-safe container large enough to hold the brine and turkey, but small enough to fit in your refrigerator. Pour 2 gallons cold water into the container; add rosemary sprigs, thyme sprigs, garlic, Allspice, and black pepper.
- Gently submerge turkey into the brine; refrigerate for 12 to 36 hours.
- Remove turkey from the brine and rinse both inside and outside thoroughly. Discard brine.
- The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of the brine ingredients. The actual amount of the brine consumed will vary.
- Always brine foods in a food-grade, non-reactive container such as a stainless steel or enameled stockpot, a brining bag, or a food-grade plastic bucket. Never use ordinary trash bags, plastic trash cans, or metal buckets or containers not meant for food use.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 731 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 13 g |
| Cholesterol | 268 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 92 g |
| Saturated Fat | 9 g |
| Sodium | 11627 mg |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 32 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
All of my guests enjoyed this recipe. Although simple, it works well. I used this brine for my thanksgiving turkey and smoked my bird for 3 hours at 200 degrees F, then covered it with foil and cooked for 3 more hours. I caught all the drippings in a pan on a rack under the bird and used them to baste the bird while cooking and for gravy after.
I boiled 1.5 cups coarse salt with about 8 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon each pepper corns, tyme and rosemary in only 1 quart water (or 4 cups). Once salt dissolved I added another quart icy cold water and waited for water to cool before adding 15 lb turkey for 12 hours. Before putting in oven i stuffed 1 medium onion, 1 apple and 1 orange to turkey cavity and cooked breast side down. After only 4 hours the turkey fell apart before I could turn it breast side up — next time I will turn it over 2 hrs earlier instead — was DELISH — loved not having to use broth or cider in brine.
Turkey came out moist and delicious!
This was the first turkey I ever made. Everyone said it was so tasty and moist!
So easy to do – Our turkey was moist throughout and tasted fantastic.! We’ll definitely use this recipe again.
Yes!! Loved it however I added organic garlic, celery & onion FABULOUS!!!!
Took a while, but WELL worth it! All my turkeys will be brined from now on.
This is the first time using a brine. I can’t believe how it turned out. The turkey was juicy and delicious. We didn’t have any leftovers, none. That has never happened before. I used pieces instead of a whole turkey. Thank you for the recipe.
Did this last year, doing this again this year.
I will be using this every year! The turkey was amazingly juicy.
Great base recipe – This wasn’t my first brine so I went off the reservation and was rewarded with a great tasting turkey. I used fresh savory and sage in addition to thyme and rosemary (use what ever FRESH spices sound good), I omitted the all spice but maybe next time will try, added some fresh squeezed orange peal and all. I marinated for 5 hours – have gone as much at 48 hours if you start with a frozen bird – 48 hours is great and you will be rewarded. Remember, the brine has to be kept cold 34-38 degrees, so add ice if need be to maintain temp.
Made wonderful turkey and gravy! Brined the turkey for 30 hours.
I’ve never brined a turkey before but I think that I will use this brine recipe to brine my Christmas turkey this year just to see what the difference is between a non-brined and brined bird.