A flavorful, moist turkey is the centerpiece of every Thanksgiving dinner. Learn how to cook a turkey in the oven for a roast turkey that’s always juicy and moist, and proves that it’s 100% not as scary as it seems.
The thought of cooking a whole turkey can be intimidating. I mean, why wouldn’t it be? Thanksgiving is a big deal. Eager dinner guests are counting on a juicy, delicious turkey dinner, whether you’re a turkey master or not. Rest assured, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced cook, I have the best tips for how to cook a turkey. Thanks to hosting the past dozen or so Thanksgivings with plenty of recipe testing, I’ve discovered a few turkey cookin’ tricks that answer questions like how long to cook a turkey if you should cook a turkey covered or uncovered, and whether you should brine your bird or not. To get a deliciously juicy bird, there’s no need for special cookers or clumsy techniques like flipping a piping-hot, turkey upside down midway through roasting. Thank you, but not this year.
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How to Cook a Turkey: My 5 Big Tips
There are a couple of rules for cooking a tender and juicy, golden-skin-crackling, turkey every time. These tips do take some planning ahead, but the steps are so easy you’ll wonder why you don’t cook turkey beyond just for Thanksgiving Day. (Now you will!)
- If you do nothing else, do this: Make time to brine the turkey before cooking—24 to 48 hours before cooking day.
- Don’t cook the bird with bread stuffing inside. But do stuff the cavity with aromatics for a flavor that bakes into the meat from the inside.
- To give the bird that gorgeous, lustrous golden-brown color, cook the turkey on high heat for 1 hour, then lower the oven temperature to slowly roast.
- Know that suggested cook times are a gauge of how long it takes to cook a turkey. Depending on how big your bird is or how cold it is going into the oven, they are not absolute. Always rely on your thermometer to tell you whether that golden bird is really done or not.
- Always let it rest. Before carving, allow the turkey to rest and reabsorb all of the juices for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour.
What You’ll Need for Cooking a Turkey
The ingredients for cooking a turkey are super simple and require only a few basic kitchen tools.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 12-16 lb turkey (I use a basic grocery store frozen turkey)
- kosher salt and sugar for brine
- butter
- wine
- water
- fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, sage
- peppercorns
- carrots
- onion
- celery
- garlic
- don’t forget to remove the giblets and neck from the turkey
Turkey roasting tools:
- brining bags if doing a wet brine (try this brining bag)
- 12 X 16 roasting pan with V rack (I like this non-stick roasting pan for easy cleanup)
- kitchen twine to truss the legs
- silicone basting brush
- Thermapen instant read digital thermometer
- a sharp carving knife or 8″ chef’s knife
How to Prep a Turkey
I’ve cooked turkeys in bags, topped with a wine and butter-soaked cheesecloth, and I’ve started them breast up, down, and on the hour flipped them all around. But once I discovered how easy and delicious it is to brine my turkey first, all those extra methods went out the window.
Now, my method is easy and far more simple.
- Brine the turkey with a wet or dry method. Get my brining recipes and tips here.
- Place the turkey on a v-rack roasting pan (I love this inexpensive non-stick roasting pan) and stuff the turkey with aromatics and herbs, scattering more onion, carrots, celery, and garlic on the bottom of the pan with herbs.
- Gently pry the skin from the breasts with your fingers or the handle of a wooden spoon. Spread butter between the skin and meat, then baste the whole bird with a combination of melted butter and wine that has cooled so it’s just barely clumpy so it sticks to the skin and doesn’t roll off.
- Add a combination of water and wine, turkey stock, or chicken stock to the bottom of the pan to add moisture to the cooking environment and flavor the drippings for gravy later.
What Cooking Method is Best for Turkey
Brining and roasting is the way to go. Here’s how to cook this turkey:
My cooking method starts with roasting a 14-15 lb bird, breast side-up, at 425°F for 1 hour. Reduce the heat to 325°F for 1 ½-2 hours. The first blast of high heat gives the turkey a head start on achieving that golden delicious skin.
Don’t baste. You can baste the turkey if you want, but it’s not needed. You’ve already infused your turkey with flavor from the salt brine and basting softens your skin so it won’t be as crisp.
Do You Cook a Turkey In the Oven Covered or Uncovered?
After the first 45 minutes of cooking, loosely tent the top of your turkey (the breast and legs) with a piece of aluminum foil. Then, cook for 15 minutes more. Adding the piece of aluminum foil protects the breast meat by deflecting the heat to avoid overcooking.
Check the progress of your bird midway through your expected total cooking time. Use a digital thermometer to check the thickest parts of the breast, thigh, and leg. Continue to check every half hour or so. Add more water to the bottom of the roasting pan as needed.
How to Know When the Turkey Is Done
Turkey breast meat should be cooked to at least 160°F. The thickest part of the leg and thigh should cook to 170-180°F. Be sure to avoid touching the bone. I find that even registering 180°F—the recommended temperature for a fully done turkey—my brined turkey breasts are still juicy and delicious.
Save those drippings! They’re the key to the best gravy. Strain the veggies from the drippings then use the residual with flour and chicken stock or water to make the best gravy ever.
How Long Should You Roast Turkey
First, let’s talk turkey timeline for prepping your bird.
- 1-2 days for thawing the turkey in the refrigerator
- 24 hours for wet brine time, plus 12-24 hours uncovered in the refrigerator to dry the skin
OR - 24-48 hours for dry brine time
So, how long should you roast turkey?
Cook times for turkeys depend on the size of the bird. After years of cooking 20+ lb birds stuffed with my favorite bread stuffing, I’ve changed my ways. Now, I cook two smaller birds, 12-15 lbs each, unstuffed. This makes cook time faster and more consistent.
Instead of a hard rule, use suggested cooking times for poultry as a gauge. And that little red-nosed pop-up plugged into the breast? They can be an indicator of the breast being done, but what about dark meat? Let’s talk about that below.
Is it Better to Cook a Turkey at 325 or 350?
My cooking method starts the bird at a higher temp (425°F), then reduces the heat to 325°F so the bird gets a caramelized head start on that delicious golden skin.
Always depend on the temperature reading of an instant-read digital thermometer as your guide.
Turkey breast meat should be cooked to at least 160°F, up to 175°F to 180°F in the thickest part of the leg and thigh not touching the bone. However thanks to the brine beforehand, I find that my brined turkey breasts that register at 180°F (which is the recommended temperature for a fully done turkey) are still juicy and delicious.
- When cooking at 325°F, plan on 13 minutes of cooking time for every pound of empty roasted turkey.
- If the turkey is stuffed, plan on 15 minutes per pound. For a 12-16 lb bird, that equates to 3 to 3 ¾ hours of cooking time.
Another sign of a turkey being done is when the juices run clear, not pink. If you’re off in your time and your turkey isn’t done, just open another bottle of wine, and stick it back in the oven to continue cooking.
For more info on cooking times, check the USDA Safe Cooking Turkey Basics.
Brine the Turkey for More Flavor
Brine your turkey for the best juicy bird. Brines are a great flavor infuser for lean proteins like poultry and pork, tenderizing the meat while keeping it firm, juicy, and well-seasoned.
In recent years, brining has become more popular and can be done with either a wet or dry brine.
- A wet brine involves immersing the turkey in a salt-water solution for 12-24 hours.
- Dry-brining is where salt is rubbed over the turkey skin for 24-48 hours before cooking.
After testing both methods, my taste testers chose the wet-brined turkey as their favorite. But there are many devotees of dry brines too.
I do a deep dive into the recipes and steps of both wet and dry turkey brines here.
The one downside about wet brines is a sometimes less than golden skin. To create a crispier skin, pat the turkey dry with paper towels and pop it into the refrigerator, uncovered, for 24 hours before cooking.
Leave Your Bread Stuffing On the Side
I grew up with my mom’s easy stuffing cooked in the bird. It’s probably why it’s my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. But I’m all in favor of not stuffing your bird, and here’s why:
Cooking the turkey unstuffed creates a more level cooking field so the white and dark meat can be done at the same time. Dense bread stuffing reduces airflow inside the bird and slows the cooking time. Dark meat cooks slower than white breast meat, and stuffing the bird compounds the issue.
Unstuffed birds cook more evenly, and faster. It also reduces the chances of salmonella infiltrating your stuffing if it isn’t cooked internally to 165°F.
Let the aromatics work their magic. While I don’t stuff my turkey with bread stuffing, I do stuff it with aromatics like onion, celery, garlic, carrot, and herbs. These lend flavor to the turkey from the inside as it cooks. A perfectly juicy turkey is why I’m learning to love my stuffing on the side.
Should I Cover My Turkey with Foil While Cooking?
I roast my turkey uncovered for 45 minutes, then loosely tent it with foil the rest of the way. This ensures the top won’t get too brown.
Give Turkey a Rest
Have you carved a turkey or roasted chicken and been left with a drippy, leaky mess? Before jumping in to carve the turkey while it’s still piping hot, give that baby a rest.
Give the turkey time to sit and relax, redistributing those delicious juices back into the meat. So the juices settle, allow at least ½ to 1 hour before carving. I don’t tent the turkey while it’s resting. A turkey tented with aluminum foil emits steam as it rests, making the crispy skin soften. It will still stay hot untented, where the hot bones and cavity keep the meat warm from the inside out and even continue raising the temperature.
PRO TIP: Remove the turkey from the oven to rest and free up oven space. Once the turkey is done, have your other Thanksgiving side dishes ready to go in once the turkey is done and you’ll be on the fast track to a great dinner served.
How to Carve a Turkey
When it comes to the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner, presentation is everything. Carving a turkey right calls for separating the light meat from the dark with little waste and less destruction.
Carving a turkey is a whole lot easier to do than you might think.
Here’s a great video on how to carve your turkey right.
And once you’re done carving the turkey, use the same method when you carve my favorite roast chicken too.
