Best Roasted Turkey Recipe-No Brine

[Breezy_Carol]

I always make mine with Alton Brown's recipe. The recipe has a brine but I never use it. I start at step 4 of this recipe.

Alton Brown turkey

 

[Praying Colonel]

I'm sold on spatchcocking turkey. Cooks quickly, cooks evenly, stays juicy. And super easy--after you take out the backbone, it's all downhill.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/11/butterfiled-roast-turkey-with-gravy-recipe.html

 

[fla4fun]

Your turkey roaster sounds like a great tool to maximize oven space. My kitchen is quite compact and counter space is at a premium so I opted for a convection microwave oven instead. My unit can fit up-to a 13 pound biird which explains why I buy smaller turkeys iin general . Nobody is advertising turkeys yet at my regular shopping places but since Im not doing a bird this year doesn’t matter.

Having a countertop roaster saved us the year the oven caught fire when we put it on to preheat. We have a countertop oven that holds a 9x13 pan, so we had sides and rolls covered with that. But the bird would not have fit, and it just barely fit in the countertop roaster. Our Black Friday shopping that year was a new oven element!

 

[FoodieFriend]

I'm sold on spatchcocking turkey. Cooks quickly, cooks evenly, stays juicy. And super easy--after you take out the backbone, it's all downhill.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/11/butterfiled-roast-turkey-with-gravy-recipe.html

After last year's very first attempt at spatchcocking, I'm SOLD! it's a quick cook & the bird stays juicy with crispy skin. I roasted 2x 13lb turkeys in about 90 minutes which really messed up my serving time, but oh well! the birds were delicious & everyone was happy. Instead of cooking 2 at the same time, I'd cook one at a time in the future which I think will reduce the cooking time to about 1 hour each. Amazing! The most difficult part is cutting out the spine, so get those heavy duty kitchen shears sharp & ready to go. I'm also short, so I also needed a stepstool to get above the bird & cut thru all the bones. I used the bones in my stock to make the gravy too. No waste, YAY!
I let the birds come to room temp, butter/oil under & over the skin then lots of salt & pepper under the skin & all over the outside as well. I've tried fancier seasonings in the past (pepperoni turkey a few years ago!), but the family seems to prefer the simple seasonings.
I did watch a few YouTube videos on the method of spatchcocking which helped a lot.

 

[NYCgrrl]

After last year's very first attempt at spatchcocking, I'm SOLD! it's a quick cook & the bird stays juicy with crispy skin. I roasted 2x 13lb turkeys in about 90 minutes which really messed up my serving time, but oh well! the birds were delicious & everyone was happy. Instead of cooking 2 at the same time, I'd cook one at a time in the future which I think will reduce the cooking time to about 1 hour each. Amazing! The most difficult part is cutting out the spine, so get those heavy duty kitchen shears sharp & ready to go. I'm also short, so I also needed a stepstool to get above the bird & cut thru all the bones. I used the bones in my stock to make the gravy too. No waste, YAY!
I let the birds come to room temp, butter/oil under & over the skin then lots of salt & pepper under the skin & all over the outside as well. I've tried fancier seasonings in the past (pepperoni turkey a few years ago!), but the family seems to prefer the simple seasonings.
I did watch a few YouTube videos on the method of spatchcocking which helped a lot.

I use an inexpensive factory stamped cleaver from a local Asian store (cost maybe 10 bucks back in the ‘80s) to cut out a turkey backbone. The bones are denser than that of the average American chicken and none of my poultry scissors cut it with the same ease. I save the back, neck, and wing tips to make a stock/broth that is the foundation of my gravy. Nice to be able to produce a sauce before, as opposed to after the meat is roasted.
Running short of time? Use AB’s make ahead stock to gravy using store bought turkey parts. Tastes divine.

 

[ronandannette]

After last year's very first attempt at spatchcocking, I'm SOLD! it's a quick cook & the bird stays juicy with crispy skin. I roasted 2x 13lb turkeys in about 90 minutes which really messed up my serving time, but oh well! the birds were delicious & everyone was happy. Instead of cooking 2 at the same time, I'd cook one at a time in the future which I think will reduce the cooking time to about 1 hour each. Amazing! The most difficult part is cutting out the spine, so get those heavy duty kitchen shears sharp & ready to go. I'm also short, so I also needed a stepstool to get above the bird & cut thru all the bones. I used the bones in my stock to make the gravy too. No waste, YAY!
I let the birds come to room temp, butter/oil under & over the skin then lots of salt & pepper under the skin & all over the outside as well. I've tried fancier seasonings in the past (pepperoni turkey a few years ago!), but the family seems to prefer the simple seasonings.
I did watch a few YouTube videos on the method of spatchcocking which helped a lot.

I've never tried it on a turkey but I do game hen and chickens all the time. I use the (well scrubbed and sanitized) pruning shears from my garden - they make quick work of it.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

I've never tried it on a turkey but I do game hen and chickens all the time. I use the (well scrubbed and sanitized) pruning shears from my garden - they make quick work of it.

This is a good idea! I need to look at the sales that are going on now to see if any shears are marked down.

 

[FoodieFriend]

I use an inexpensive factory stamped cleaver from a local Asian store (cost maybe 10 bucks back in the ‘80s) to cut out a turkey backbone. The bones are denser than that of the average American chicken and none of my poultry scissors cut it with the same ease. I save the back, neck, and wing tips to make a stock/broth that is the foundation of my gravy. Nice to be able to produce a sauce before, as opposed to after the meat is roasted.
Running short of time? Use AB’s make ahead stock to gravy using store bought turkey parts. Tastes divine.

I've never tried it on a turkey but I do game hen and chickens all the time. I use the (well scrubbed and sanitized) pruning shears from my garden - they make quick work of it.

This is a good idea! I need to look at the sales that are going on now to see if any shears are marked down.

I have a set of Cutco Kitchen Shears that worked great on both turkeys once I got the hang of what to do. I know poultry shears are also sold but I don't own any of those. I hope more people try the spatchcock method because it turns out a great turkey! I've never actually tried this on a chicken or game hen yet.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I always make mine with Alton Brown's recipe. The recipe has a brine but I never use it. I start at step 4 of this recipe.

Alton Brown turkey

I’ve not had the pleasure of trying that AB recipe and it reads well from start to finish. Maybe next year? My all time favorite brined bird is this one from Wolfgang Puck and there is no getting around the brine since so much of the flavor is in it:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/brined-roast-turkey-with-pan-gravy-recipe-1941958Takes a lot of time management and money but it’s always the first bird on the table to disappear.

The fav non brined bird on this end is from Julia and Jacques and takes more effort than the CI version but each additional step makes sense and is perfect for large gatherings (less bones makes for easier carving and faster cooking) :
https://www.washingtonpost.com/reci...key-with-corn-bread-stuffing-and-gravy/11042/
For anyone who lives in the NE buying a hotel breast (regional cut) and separate legs makes for less prep time and gives a nice mix of dark and white meat.

@easyas123 - “True Confessions“. One year I decided that more is more was a good idea and stuffed 2 sticks of cold butter under the skin of the bird’s breast. Mind you I’d already switched to roasting in a sheet pan as opposed to a traditional roasting pan. Imagine my surprise when the apt filled with smoke and the sounds of the smoke alarms going off as I discovered that my oven was not level.

I have a set of Cutco Kitchen Shears that worked great on both turkeys once I got the hang of what to do. I know poultry shears are also sold but I don't own any of those. I hope more people try the spatchcock method because it turns out a great turkey! I've never actually tried this on a chicken or game hen yet.

My Mom sold Cutco cutlery back in the 60s and I inherited her remaining knives; unfortunately, her poultry shears where missing . I know exactly how my shears were broken (Pfft on teenaged children) and decided to use dollar store scissors instead. Does fine for chickens, game and Cornish hens but not for turkeys on this end.

 

[tasha99]

The fav non brined bird on this end is from Julia and Jacques and takes more effort than the CI version but each additional step makes sense and is perfect for large gatherings (less bones makes for easier carving and faster cooking) :
https://www.washingtonpost.com/reci...key-with-corn-bread-stuffing-and-gravy/11042/

I made that recipe for Thanksgiving several years ago, and it was delicious! While everyone thought it was tasty, the consensus was it was too fancy and French tasting for Thanksgiving. We're a bunch of uncultured rubes when it comes to the Thanksgiving menu, it turns out. I had forgotten all about that, though--I'd like to try something similar with a big roasting hen on a day without all the expectations that come with Thanksgiving.

 

[nolatravelgirl]

I am going to chime in and also recommend spatchcocking the turkey. It cuts down the cook time massively and since all of the skin is facing up it all gets a nice color. Since a lot of the hard work was already done spatchcocking it makes it super simple to cut and serve. I have also on occasion gone ahead and quartered the turkey which allowed me to take out the pieces or rearrange them in the oven if your oven doesn't cook evenly.

 

[dreamin_disney]

Does any cook their turkey in a Reynolds cooking bag?

 

[DisneyTeacher]

My in-laws use a cooking bag every year and it does a nice job. It allows the turkey to brown and I think it cuts down on the cooking time. They always have a moist turkey.