Here’s an easy recipe and tips for how to roast a turkey! This is the best roast turkey recipe ever and everyone raves about how moist and delicious it is!
How To Roast A Turkey
Turkey isn’t expensive at all so stock up now. I got two turkeys today for .39/lb. I had the butcher cut them in half just like last year and the year before! If you know how to roast a turkey, you can stock up during the holidays, serve turkey in place of chicken and save a bundle on your food bill! Tawra
Thawing
Sometimes turkeys do not cook properly because they don’t get thawed. You need to allow 1 day of thawing time for every 4 lbs. of turkey plus you can keep a thawed turkey in the fridge for at least 3-4 days. Thaw your turkey with the breast side down so the juices will run into the breast.
Roast Turkey Recipe
1 turkey, 20-22 lbs.
1 stick margarine or butter
Defrost frozen turkey for several days in the refrigerator according to the directions on the package. Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil. Remove the insides of the turkey and save for giblet gravy or for fried livers and gizzards.
Lay turkey, breast side down, in the pan and place the stick of butter on the inside. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 250° for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 200° and roast for 10-15 hours. Cooking time can be longer to fit your schedule. Test with a meat thermometer to make sure the temperature in the thigh is 180°.
If I have a 20-22 lb. turkey, I put it in the oven one hour before I go to bed (that way I can turn it down to 200° and sometimes I go down to 180° before I go to bed.) It will be done by noon the next day. Because it is at such a low temperature, if you aren’t going to eat until 1-2 PM, it will stay just fine in the oven until then.
If I have a 10 lb. turkey, I put it in the oven early on Thanksgiving morning (about 6 or 7 AM in order to eat at noon. You don’t need to worry too much about it getting done. An hour or two before the meal, check it and see how it is doing. If it isn’t cooking quickly enough, you can always raise the temperature to 350°. With a 10 -12 lb turkey you only need to use half of a stick (about 4 Tbsp.) of butter. You can place it in a large crockpot on low, too.
This is the best turkey you will ever eat. The meat will just fall off the bones so you will have to serve it already carved. It will be very juicy and moist.
-Jill
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What about for a 15 pound turkey?
You can put it in over night for about 10 hrs. The thing is with baking this way it is ok to leave it in for an hour or so longer and because it is well sealed and baking at such a low temp it won’t hurt it. If you can think of it as using your oven as a crockpot it might help.