Go Back
Jackie

Holiday Turkey (Unstuffed)

This recipe for a 20-lb turkey will easily feed 8-12 people with some good leftovers for everyone to take home. Besides the ingredients listed below, you'll need kitchen string, heavy duty foil, a heavy pan & rack that accommodates your bird, but isn't oversized, and a temperature probe. To calculate your cooking time, allow 20 minutes for the initial roast + 12 minutes per pound + 30 minutes of rest before carving + 10 minutes to get to the table. (Remember, your turkey will keep cooking after it's out of the oven and resting.) For example, if you are cooking a 20-lb turkey for a 3 p.m. dinner, plan to have your turkey in the oven by 10 a.m. (20 mins initial 430 degree roast + 4 hours cooking at 350 degrees + 30 minutes rest + 10 minutes for getting to the table).
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 18-20 lb turkey frozen or fresh, but prepare your plan a week ahead if frozen
  • Salt & pepper 1/2 orange for seasoning skin
  • FLAVORED BUTTER goes under & over turkey skin:
  • 2 4 oz sticks of unsalted butter softened
  • 2 tbsp olive oil plus a bit more to drizzle on top
  • juice from 1 large lemon or 2 small
  • 3 large garlic cloves pressed
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup freshly chopped sage
  • 1 tbsp minced fresh rosemary
  • STUFFING:
  • 1 large peeled onion quartered
  • 4 peeled garlic cloves
  • 1/2 bunch parsley
  • 3-4 sprigs of rosemary
  • 1 lemon quartered
  • 1 orange quartered
  • 1 apple with peel quartered
  • PAN VEGETABLES & BROTH:
  • 2 chopped carrots
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 3-4 stalks chopped celery
  • 4 cups chicken broth canned or from bouillon or maybe beer?

Method
 

  1. DEFROST YOUR FROZEN TURKEY: If you are using a frozen turkey, you'll need to defrost it in the refrigerator 1 day for every 5 pounds of turkey plus one additional day so you can wash up your turkey the day before cooking, i.e. 5 days for a 20-lb turkey. (For Thanksgiving Thursday, you'll want your 20-pounder in the fridge by Saturday in order to clean him up on Wednesday.)
  2. DAY BEFORE COOKING: Foil wrap your roasting pan completely and place the cooking rack inside. Take your turkey out of the plastic wrapping and remove the neck and giblets from the neck and rear cavities. Completely rinse the turkey inside and out and place breast side up on the rack in the pan. Paper towel dry outside & inside, and fold back wings against the breast. Separate the skin from the turkey breast and thighs by gently pushing your fingers under the skin from the front and back of the turkey, being careful not to tear the skin. (You can use latex gloves to keep it less gross.) Bag up your turkey & pan in a clean large garbage bag and put back in the refrigerator. (You can save your turkey neck to make broth for turkey gravy.) Then in a food processor add all flavored butter ingredients, EXCEPT parsley, sage and rosemary. After initial ingredients are well blended, transfer to a storage bowl and manually stir in herbs. Refrigerate until needed the next day, but take out 1-2 hours in advance to soften. Prepare chopped pan vegetables and store.
  3. DAY OF COOKING:
  4. Take turkey out of the fridge one hour before cooking time. Preheat oven to 430 degrees 30 minutes later.
  5. Squeeze your half-cut orange over the turkey and then rub all over the outside and inside of the turkey. Salt and pepper turkey inside and out.
  6. Pour pan vegetables under and around the pan rack.
  7. Stuff 2/3 of the butter mixture under the loosened skin, massaging into meat. Take remaining 1/3 and rub over the outside of the turkey.
  8. Drizzle olive oil over the turkey, and salt and pepper again for a crispy, salty skin.
  9. Stuff large (rear) and small (neck) cavities with onion, garlic, parsley, rosemary, lemon, orange and apple. Truss up the turkey legs by crossing together with kitchen string to keep stuffing items from falling out during cooking.
  10. Place the cooking thermometer deep in the thigh under the drumstick, not touching any bone.
  11. Pour chicken broth in the bottom of the roasting pan and put bird in the oven at the calculated cook start.
  12. While the bird is going through the initial roast, create a foil triangle by folding a large square of foil wrap at the diagonal. You'll use this to keep the skin and outer meat of turkey from getting dried out during cooking. Set aside.
  13. After 20 minutes at 430 degrees, reduce heat to 350 degrees and then take the turkey out of the oven and quickly baste. You can use a baster or tilt one side of the pan and collect drippings with a large spoon. (If you have a baster, that is best, especially if you have the kind that can inject the juice into the meat itself. Example baster is shown in the first picture below.) Cover turkey breast with foil triangle and return to oven.
  14. Baste turkey every 30 minutes. Add more liquid (water is okay) if necessary to pan bottom if needed to have enough basting liquid. If you want a crispier crust on your turkey, remove the foil cover for the last 30 minutes of cooking.
  15. Remove turkey from oven when done. Turkey thermometer in the thigh should register near 180 degrees. (Don't forget your turkey will continue cooking a bit while resting.) If you have an electronic thermometer, check the breast as well, which should be around 170 degrees.
  16. Transfer turkey to a serving platter and completely cover with foil. Let rest for 30 minutes, then carve for the table.
  17. Enjoy!