Ina Garten-Inspired Roast Turkey
A turkey is two different birds attached to each other, and roasting it right side up asks you to ignore that.
The breast is done at 68°C and the thigh is not properly cooked until 74°C — yet the breast is on top, exposed to the hottest air, and gets there first. That gap is why the standard roast turkey has dry breast meat. Start the bird breast-side down for the first hour: the legs face the heat and get a head start, while the breast is shielded and sits in the juices running down into it. Turn it over for the rest, and the two finish together.
It is awkward to flip a hot turkey. Two clean tea towels and someone to hold the tin.
Jump to the recipe ↓Ina Garten-Inspired Roast Turkey
Serves 12 · Main
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 3 hr
- Total
- 3 hr 45 min
Moderate8 steps, over two hours
Ingredients
- 1 turkey, 6 kg
- 60 g kosher salt
- 150 g softened butter
- 2 tbsp chopped thyme and sage
- 1 lemon, zested and halved
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 head garlic, halved
- black pepper
- 500 ml chicken stock, for the tin
Method
- Salt the turkey all over and refrigerate uncovered.48 hours
- Take it out before roasting. Heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan).2 hours
- Mash the butter with herbs, lemon zest and pepper. Push most of it under the breast skin; the rest goes over the outside.
- Put the lemon halves, onion and garlic in the cavity. Tie the legs.
- Sit the bird breast-side DOWN on a rack in the tin. Pour the stock into the tin.
- Roast at 220°C, then drop to 165°C and continue for 30 minutes more.30 minutes
- Turn the bird breast-side up. Roast a further 45 min – 2 hr, until the thigh reads 74°C and the breast about 68°C.1 hr
- Rest , loosely tented.40 minutes
Dry brine, and give it two days
Salt the bird all over and leave it uncovered in the fridge for 48 hours. Wet brining adds water, which then has to evaporate before the skin can crisp, and it dilutes the flavour of the meat. Dry brining seasons all the way in and leaves the skin parchment-dry.
Stuffing inside the bird is a bad trade
To be safe, stuffing has to reach 74°C, and it sits in the coldest part of the bird. By the time it does, the breast around it is far past done. Cook the stuffing in a dish alongside and put aromatics — onion, lemon, herbs — in the cavity instead.
Rest it far longer than feels right
Forty minutes on a 6 kg bird is not too long — it holds its heat easily, and the juices need that time to redistribute. It also frees the oven for everything else and takes the gravy off the critical path, which is the real reason to do it.
Storing
Four days. Strip the carcass the same evening while it is easy, and keep the meat in a little stock. The bones make the best stock of the year.
Questions people ask
What temperature should turkey be?
74°C in the thickest part of the thigh. The breast should be around 68°C at that point.
Why start it breast-side down?
The legs need more heat than the breast. Starting inverted lets them catch up.
Should I stuff the turkey?
Cook the stuffing separately. Inside the bird it forces you to overcook the breast to get the stuffing safe.
Do I need to baste it?
No. Opening the oven repeatedly costs more heat than basting gains, and the butter under the skin is already doing the job.
More like this
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Bourguignon: Garnish ApartThe onions and mushrooms are cooked separately and added at the end. Simmered in from the start they are what turns it into ordinary stew.
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Stroganoff: Not Stewing SteakStroganoff is a fast dish and stewing beef needs hours. Use fillet or sirloin, seared in seconds, or it turns grey and tough.
Ina Garten-Inspired Beef Tenderloin: Tuck the TailA whole tenderloin tapers from thick to thin. Fold the narrow end under and tie it, or that end is well done before the middle is warm.