My Favorite Roast Turkey

Thomas Keller’s bird recipes are the best. I use this for thanksgiving, as well as his roast chicken recipes. So simple; salted skin and high temp cooking, and these always turn out amazingly.

• Sonia B.

• Los Angeles, CA

• 11/23/2023

Ive made this for 8 Friendsgivings. So 4 stars because I pretty much follow it but I did tweak it some. I do the brine but use regular salt not kosher. I brine it from 7pm-7am the day before. Then I dry from 7-10am in the fridge. I take it out of the fridge at 10am and let sit for an hour before I bake it at 450. I also just baste with regular melted butter, not clarified. Now here's the biggest change...I bake on his belly for the first hour. Next I take him out and flip him breast up. Bake him for another hour and turn the oven down to 350 for the last 30 mins. I then take him out and let him rest. Everyone raves about how delicious the turkey is every single year.

• Hannah A

• Chattanooga, TN

• 11/19/2023

Hey Brandon Brown: Apparently your speed-reading is failing. I posted, "A 12 lb. turkey took around 1.5 hours." That was not brining time, that was cooking time, but yes, it was not clearly identified. The recipe clearly states 24 hours of brining, then 24 hours of air drying. There is a 2018 NYT article called, "The Rise and Fall of Turkey Brining—After two decades of flying high, the wet-brined bird has lost altitude with many of the food-media influencers who sent it soaring" stating that chefs are no longer wet brining because they say it waters down the bird.Even Christopher Kimball (who advised wet brining as the editor of Cook's Illustrated) no longer wet brines his turkeys. Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats claims: "I don't brine my birds because I like my birds to taste like birds, not like watered-down birds. Even advance salting is not a necessary first step. I see it more as a safeguard against overcooking. It provides a little buffer in case you accidentally let that bird sit in the oven an extra 15 minutes. As long as you are very careful about monitoring your bird, there's no reason to brine or salt it in advance." He also claims that roasting pans prevent even browning (the high sides block the turkey) so it's best to just use a V-rack on top of a foiled-lined rimmed baking sheet. I do allow the bird to air dry overnight for crispy skin but no brining my birds and I use a Thermoworks DOT alarm thermometer where the probe is inserted into the turkey and the thermometer stays on the countertop, beeping when it reaches the desired temperature (no opening the oven and losing heat). Turns out great with brown, crispy skin. Yes, wet-brining is no longer recommended, move along.

• NOSOCCERMOM

• Palo Alto, CA

• 11/13/2023

Don't consider myself an inexperienced cook, I will be trying this recipe for christmas, the brining and drying seems simple enough. What worries me is the oven part, I have a Wolf M series oven which has many modes to cook the turkey. Not sure what mode I should use: convection, bake mode, convection roast, roast. It also has a "gourmet" mode which the oven basically decides temp and mode depending on weight and whether it is brined or not; I don't think it would use the high temps called for in this recipe. The other dilemma I have is the temperature on the probe, this recipe calls for 150F on the thickest part of the thigh while most recipes call for 157F on the breast or 175F on the thigh (dark meat). I'll be starting the brine today so that I can cook on the 24th. Any help from people who have successfully made the recipe will be much appreciated!

• EAM

• Mexico City

• 12/22/2021

I have been making this recipe for 5-6 years now, and pretty much every year it has come out perfect. The only year it "missed" it was slightly salty and entirely my fault, which I will explain. That being said, with all the people complaining, I wanted to take a moment to share my experiences. For those who say that you need to adjust for your oven, you are completely right. You always need to do this no matter the recipe, so the idea that this recipe should be agnostic of that is simply an odd thought. My guess is this is why many of us have to tent the turkey in the oven, whereas professional-grade appliances may not need this step. The other consistent feedback is that you need to follow the recipe exactly, which is very true, especially when brining. If you are a home-cook like myself, you likely often tweak recipes (such as the potato gratin I serve with this turkey on Thanksgiving), but this isn't one of those. Brining is much more of a science when working with meat of this size. For instance, the year I messed up was during COVID. Smaller bird since smaller gathering AND I accidentally used Ice instead of Ice Water. Doing this I lose some of the water volume, which is going to increase the salt concentration. Combine this with a slightly smaller bird and you get a saltier meal. It wasn't inedible, but I could definitely tell the difference. Overall this recipe definitely requires a lot of preparation, but it is absolutely worth the effort. At this point no matter who is hosting Thanksgiving, I am cooking.

• Dan Doe

• New York, NY

• 11/23/2021

I have made this turkey for going on 5 years, and it is the best recipe. It takes a little planning because of the brining and drying, but it's completely worth the effort. The turkey is moist and flavorful, and the turkey broth is out of this world. I don't love turkey, but look forward to making this recipe every year.

• Twooftwosisters

• Denver CO

• 11/22/2021

The only problem with this recipe is the reviewers. I am reading through the comments and so many people don't know how to follow instructions. The first review--by NOSOCCERMOM---writes that she let the turkey brine for an hour and a half, and then wondered why it wasn't great. You HAVE TO LET IT BRINE 24 HOURS--not an hour and a half. It says five hours, and you divided for your turkey weight, but that is only the prep--not the brine. It needs at least a day for the salt to penetrate deeply in the meat. Other reviewers use different ingredients or also don't follow steps properly. These kinds of detailed, tedious, recipes are not for everyone, and if you can follow instructions, you will find that this is an amazing recipe.

• Brandon Brown

• Milford, PA

• 11/15/2021

I love his roast chicken recipe (450 for 50 minutes) so thought I'd try his turkey recipe. My husband is a foodie. I went around in circles about whether or not to wash off the brine, as some people here mention we should. But the recipe doesn't state that so I didn't wash off the brine and the bird was not salty. A 12 lb. turkey took around 1.5 hours. It was good but not outstanding—needs to be outstanding to make it into our book of recipes. Brining the turkey was a lot of work for questionable gain. I also was unimpressed with the clarified butter, as the skin started darkening too much, had to put a piece of foil on top. Yes, the skin was crispy but there are other ways. Clarifying butter was an extra unnecessary step. I didn't roast vegetables with it, as I would think that would add moisture to the oven and he claims that the skin should be dry both in the chicken and turkey recipes. Note, a 4-fork posting has many tips for the recipe. Why should we need any tips if it's a well-written recipe? Disappointing, not a fail, but I thought it would be the best turkey ever and it was not.

• nosoccermom

• Palo Alto, CA

• 12/2/2019

Easy to prepare, flavor of white meat is especially good. I agree that the gravy ends up being somewhat salty. I think the dark meat was a little underdone, despite the thermometer reading 165. I also think that I will drop the racj further next time. I think overall it was a sucess. next time I might do 425 with the convection oven.

• smashleyg

• Scottsdale, AZ

• 12/1/2019

I've made my turkey this way for several years now and will continue again this year. We're all very happy with the results. The most moist and flavorful turkey ever. However, there a are a few tricks to getting this right. First, for the brine, keeping the turkey in the brine over night is about right. Much longer and you might get a turkey that's too salty. Also, be sure to thoroughly rinse the turkey inside and out when you take out of the brine to wash away all the excess salt. Next, and this is a key step, put the rinsed turkey, naked, into a refrigerator for 24 hours before the day of cooking. Yes, this requires a lot of planning ahead, but it's worth it. The reason for this is to remove all the excess moisture from the skin so that it will crisp up perfectly. Note, this only removes moisture from the skin, not from the meat. In my oven the heating element is on the bottom and is covered. I realize that many home ovens have an open heating element at the top. I can see the problem with this causing burning on the turkey breast. The only thing I can recomment here is to put the roaster as far down in the oven as possible, maybe even sitting on the bottom and not on a rack. You may want to tent with foil for part of the time if necessary once the breast has fully browned and is just beginning to blacken. The only other thing I can say is that TKs high heat method really does work. I use it to roast chickens at 450 too. Also note that the turkey is not roasted with stuffing. The stuffing is made seperately. Stuffing the bird will throw off time and temperature. As for roasting vegetables in the roaster, given a shuffle from time to time to turn them over, and if they are starting to burn, remove them from the pan. Don't add liquid please. This will only add steam to the oven and stop the skin from browning properly. And finally, please, please use a meat thermometer. Don't rely on cooking time. There are far too many variables to make cooking time reliable. I do a couple of other things that aren't in the TK recipe, but may be too much extra effort for some people. I make a tarragon butter and then I distibute this under the skin and over the breast meat. It's a bit tricky to get that pushed in under the skin, but I get it done. Once the skin on the breast has fully browned, I shingle the breast with bacon slices until it's fully covered. I use toothpicks to keep the slices in place. One the bacon fat is fully rendered and the slices are firmly chewey but not crisp I remove them and the cut them into bits and add them to the brussel sprouts.

• jawoida

• Portland, OR

• 11/23/2019

I honestly don't understand the low percentage that would make again. I think this is fantastic and my family raved about how juicy and flavorful the turkey was!

• TheGlenster

• 11/9/2019

A few pointers to people complaining it doesn’t work... 1. Are you DEFINITELY using the right salt? TK uses Diamond Crystal for his brines. Other salts may have a different volume so need the amount adjusting. Too much salt in a 24 hour brine is never going to be good. Some chefs follow the brine stage with a short soak in clean water to partially debrine and remove excess salt - could be worth it here if you are worried - you should DEFINITELY rinse thoroughly at least. 2. Are you used to pro-restaurant salt levels? Michelin star restaurants are often heavy on the salt. If you usually use very little salt this may taste over seasoned to you. 3. Cooking times are a guideline only - the oven used, the size and quality of bird, the ambient temperature it tempered at - all these things affect cooking time. A few extra pounds can mean a lot longer cooking time. Get a probe and learn to use it, you cannot solely rely on time with such a big bird. Also use an oven thermometer - domestic ovens are often poorly calibrated. 4. Somebody complained the meat had a “wet” texture. That’s what we are looking for here - this recipe is designed to avoid dry turkey! 5. It’s worth reading Keller’s books to understand his techniques and philosophy better - internet recipes that omit some of the finer details can mislead you. His recipes do work but are often technically demanding and require precision - if they arenkt working it is probably the cook to blame, not the recipe!

• epicurious209

• Sheffield, UK

• 12/24/2018

Maybe I’m missing something, but where are some people getting that the recipe calls for 5 gallons of water to dip the bird in? Based on the recipe I call a total of 10 quarts for an 18 to 20 pound turkey (4 quarts for brine and 6 additional quarts to cover the bird). Altogether that’s 2.5 gallons total. Again, am I missing something?

• mel.niev5260

• Philadelphia, PA

• 11/20/2018

I've made this for four years now and it always is delicious. The cooking time and temperature may need to be tweaked for your oven. I always end up tenting my turkey once the skin browns and rely on my thermometer to ensure its done. First year I made a traditional roasted turkey and this one for a taste test. Hands down this one was the winner! Well worth the extra effort!

• kschenck

• Austin, MA

• 11/12/2018

I made this recipe to the letter for my Thanksgiving turkey and it was entirely too salty and the meat had a decidedly "wet" texture. It was inedible and no one finished the turkey on their plates. I used a natural turkey with no salt added, I used kosher salt measured exactly,and timed it exactly according to the recipe. It also started burning at that temp. Luckily I caught it and turned it down. I had to cover it with foil to prevent further burning so that nixed the crispy skin. I have the feeling this recipe was designed for commercial cooking equipment and not a home oven. It honestly ruined Thanksgiving dinner. And since it is a big turkey it's not like you can do a test run of this recipe.

• higgink

• Milwaukee, WI

• 12/19/2017