Classic Thanksgiving Turkey
Updated Nov. 18, 2025
- Total Time
- 3½ hours, plus at least 12 hours’ brining time
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 3 hours 20 minutes, plus at least 12 hours’ brining time
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1(10- to 12-pound) turkey, fresh or thawed if previously frozen
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper, as needed (see Tips)
- Optional dry brine seasonings (see Tips)
- 1cup dry white wine, plus more as needed
- 1 to 2cups chicken or turkey broth (or water), plus more as needed
- 2medium red or yellow onions, peeled and quartered
- 12garlic cloves, smashed and peeled (optional)
- 3bay leaves (optional)
- 1small bunch fresh thyme, rosemary or sage
- Olive oil or melted (or softened) unsalted butter, as needed
Preparation
- Step 1
At least 1 day (and up to 3 days) before roasting the turkey, remove any giblets from the turkey cavity and reserve them for stock or gravy. Pat the turkey and the turkey neck dry with a paper towel.
- Step 2
In a small bowl, mix together salt, pepper and any optional dry brine seasonings. Rub this mixture all over the turkey, inside and out, including under the skin of the breasts and thighs (don’t stress about this part, but if it's easy to separate skin from the flesh, seasoning the meat under the skin will deepen the flavor). Season the turkey neck.
- Step 3
Place the turkey, breast-side down, on a rack on a baking pan along with the neck. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 12 hours and up to 3 days, turning the turkey so it’s breast-side up about halfway through the brining time.
- Step 4
When you are ready to cook the turkey, remove it from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature for 1 hour (this helps the meat cook evenly).
- Step 5
Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the turkey neck in the bottom of a large roasting pan; add the wine and enough broth to fill the pan to a ¼-inch depth. Add half the onions, half the garlic (if using) and the bay leaves (if using) to the liquid in the pan. Stuff the bunch of herbs, the remaining onion quarters and the remaining garlic into the turkey cavity. Brush the turkey skin generously with oil or butter. (Using softened butter rather than melted allows you to add more since it clings to the skin better; if you like, you can smear some softened butter under the skin, too.)
- Step 6
Place turkey, breast-side up, on a roasting rack set inside the roasting pan. Use kitchen twine to tie the legs together if you like. (It makes a neater presentation but doesn’t affect the cooking time.) Transfer pan to the oven and roast for 30 minutes.
- Step 7
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thigh and the breast (making sure not to touch bone) reaches a temperature of 155 degrees, 1 to 1½ hours more (or longer for a bigger bird; calculate a total cooking time of about 12 minutes per pound). If the liquid in the bottom of the pan begins to dry out before the turkey is cooked through, top it off with a generous glug of wine, broth or water.
- Step 8
Transfer the turkey to a cutting board to rest for 20 to 30 minutes (you can tent it with foil if you like) before carving. The temperature of the bird will rise to 165 degrees during this resting time. Be sure to save the drippings; you can use them for gravy (pour them into a batch of make-ahead gravy or start from scratch) or add them to any stock you make from the turkey carcass.
- You want to add about 4 grams of salt per pound of bird. For a 10- to 12-pound bird, use 40 to 50 grams; 3 to 4 tablespoons Morton’s kosher salt or fine sea salt; or 4 to 5 tablespoons Diamond Crystal. For a 13- to 15-pound bird, use 50 to 60 grams, 3 to 5 tablespoons Morton’s kosher salt or fine sea salt, or 5 to 6 tablespoons Diamond Crystal. For a 16- to 18-pound bird, use 65 to 75 grams; 5½ to 6½ tablespoons Morton’s kosher salt or fine sea salt, or ⅓ cup to ½ cup Diamond Crystal.
- For the dry brine, you can use any combination of the following: 1 tablespoon ground spices, such as smoked or sweet paprika, mild chile powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala, baharat, za’atar or another spice blend; 2 teaspoons granulated garlic or onion powder; 4 finely grated garlic cloves; finely grated zest of 1 to 2 lemons or 1 orange; 2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary, thyme, marjoram or oregano leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried).
Private Notes
Comments
Melissa, the recipe and video are amazing! One question. How far ahead can I make the turkey and then reheat it before Thanksgiving dinner? Couple of hours? Does it need tenting under foil, etc.? Thanks for whatever guidance you can provide.
Groceries for this kind of feast are out of our reach this year; it’s frozen pot pies I think. It’ll still be a great day with family, and that’s the important thing.
Use the Tip to figure out the right amount of salt for the dry brine, then double the other dry brine seasoning ingredients. Leave the liquid, onions, garlic etc the same.
Don't be intimidated by the length of the recipe. You can do this if you can follow directions. I decided not to and started at Step 5, choosing not to season and "dry" ahead of time and my natural Butterball was still crazy good. You must do the spiced butter under the skin to get the most out of this recipe. Mine was delicious with butter, salt, coriander, orange zest, white pepper and thyme. The resulting gravy was also to die for. Never basted. Did have to tent top to prevent burn.
Dry brined for 48 hrs. and followed recipe exactly. 1/2 way through thanksgiving meal I realized I had never set knives out for guests ( they were still in dishwasher). I apologized and everyone at the table grinned back at me...the turkey was so tender and moist no one needed a knife! Winner, winner, turkey dinner!
Best turkey I have ever cooked! Everyone raved about it.