Turkey is a versatile protein in your kitchen, perfect for making sandwiches, soups, salads and potpies with its meltingly tender meat and golden skin. Not just an autumn staple but enjoy turkey year-round in turkey noodle soup or tortilla soup as well as pot pie, chicken salad or on leftover rolls - check out this recipe to learn how!
An essential key to creating a juicy, flavorful turkey is allowing it to cook at an optimal temperature for an extended period of time. Roasting at lower temperatures over shorter timeframes risks leaving its meat dry; to prevent that happening, this turkey recipe begins at high heat for one hour before gradually decreasing it over three hours for optimal roasting results in juicy bird that has cooked evenly and tender meat throughout.
Before roasting a turkey, take care to use paper towels both inside and out to achieve an evenly crispy skin. Season your bird generously with salt and pepper both inside and out, and fill the cavity with quartered onion halves, lemon slices and fresh sprigs of rosemary and thyme sprigs if desired. Tie legs together using kitchen twine.
For an authentic golden brown turkey, opt for a sheet pan lined with a wire rack instead of the traditional roasting pan. Without walls in between the bird and rack, this method ensures more even browning without dark spots or over-browning. While your turkey roasts, make rosemary-citrus butter (see recipe) while creating the rosemary-citrus butter. Once finished, let it rest at least 30 minutes before carving.
